Puerto Rio Tranquilo to Patagonia Baker Lodge (3/1 Mon)

Stats:
- 44 miles (all dirt)
- 4100 feet of climbing
- roadkill: 2 dead rabbits
- time...roughly 6 1/2 hours

We enjoyed another fantastic breakfast and this time with the company of a couple from Santiago. They were in Coyhaique for a wedding having left before the earthquake.  They hope to fly home tomorrow, but the flight situation is unknown. After breakfast, we talked bikes and pricing with the lodge owner. He expressed interest in buying them for he and his wife.  There was no alignment in our thinking, so the ponies continue to be ours. In all honesty, we both admitted later that we were not really ready to part with them. 

We rolled out of town on the late side for us (9:30am).  It was the warmest start of a ride and I started in my tank top and no additional layers. The sky was completely cloudless and brillant blue. The was not even a hint of breeze. So, while my body is screaming for a day of rest, this is definitely not the day. The legs, the triceps, the hands and the butt had to "man up".  The rough ripio has made for upper body workouts to keep the bike upright. My triceps are sore to touch. My hands (thumbs, wrists and forearms) are feeling trashed from the banging despite riding with a nice shock. We both have butts that have been spanked by the ripio. The legs are just tired. 

Our ride started out along the lake. We climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed.  The lake was royal blue. It was beautiful with snow covered mountains in the distance. As the second largest lake it South America, the lake was enormous. After roughly an hour, we had been passed by 2 motorcycles, 1 tractor, 5 sheep and 2 cars. Most of the passes were pretty good.

We continued to climb and descend around the lake. We gained and lost the same 300 feet over and over. Eventually, the road headed away from the lake. The valley was enormous.  The mountains came closer into view and they looked more like photos of the Himalayas than the Andes. Glaciers were wrapped over, around, ontop, and between everything.  Today was our hottest day of the trip so far. It was strange to be dripping in sweat and seeing a landscaped frozen in ice. Our ride through the valley was nice --- huge views, straight road with long sight lines, good quality ripio and no cars. In was in this stretch I drew an important conclusion about assessing your death potential on the Carretera Austral. If you have long, straight, flat stretches of ripio and the surface is horrible with potholes and washboard, then you are screwed and taking your life into your own hands. The road is giving you evidence of a lot of bad driving --- high speeds, sudden braking. Today's long, flat, straight section had reasonable ripio to ride indicating our relative saftey on the road. 

For the first time in many days, we enjoyed a snack break unhassled by horseflies. They are still around, but not as numerous and not as voracious. It was really nice to have the "calma and tranquilo" of the Carretera back today. 

Now, I must tell you, today's climbs were the steepest in the trip so far. Arn admitted to using his granny gear - which is more like my 3rd from granny because he has a road cassette on his bike instead of my beloved mountain cassette - for the first time out of need and preference. I've been in that gear a lot, but today it was a stiff grind.  Some were short, but others went on and on and on. 

Around mile 27, we arrived at a fishing lodge. The lodge was set on a stunning lake. The water was the color of blue Powerade (the sports drink).  We were planning to stop in another 30 minutes for lunch, but this looked like a better option. And, it was!  Cold Diet Cokes on ICE and cheeseburgers!!! We sat outside, enjoyed the views, the food, the silence without the hum of horseflies. It was totally awesome. 

After lunch, we continued south expecting to find a possible place to stay for the night in about five miles. It came up in three miles and didn't look too special, so we rode on. With a cheeseburger in his belly, Arn seemed to come to life.  There was the usual, "Isn't this great?  Look at that -- isn't that awesome".  Frankly, my legs had trouble getting started again.  It was hot and the road continued to climb. We had one serious slog up from the lake. With views of the mountains on our right (the ones that looked like the Himalyas, we crossed into an area that looked like riding in the desert!  It was totally crazy -- ice in the distance and scrubby bushes and sand nearby. The immediate surroundings were a perfect match to the temperatures. The climbing went on and on and on and on and on and on. Okay, perhaps when you are climbing as slow as I was, then it goes like this. 

Eventually, we reached a downhill with a few miles to go until Puerto Bertrand (our next place to stop for the night).  Arn asked, "Do you feel lucky?" He meant --- do you think we can coast downhill into town?  I didn't feel lucky, I felt dead. The legs were empty. Luck was with us and we cruised downhill and stopped at the supermarket. It was smaller than our kitchen at home, but we still found two juice boxes of pineapple juices and two bottles of sparkling water. I had been riding with an empty water bottle and 1/3 of a bottle on "must conserve" mode. (We filled up at lunch, but today was a soarcher in the sun and heat).  Refreshed with fluids, we started shopping our options for the night. Again, they ranged from dreadful to dreadful that you can make work. We also knew about a place three miles south of town, but we had no idea if they had room and we didn't have a phone number for them --- not like we really had a place to call from in Puerto Bertrand (you gotta think small place).  I was whipped from the ride and Arn left the decision to me. So, here it was -- the bird in the hand was really bad, the bird in the bush could be better OR we could be wild camping and eating PBJ sandwiches for dinner. I decided to roll the dice and we continued. 

Now, after climbing what felt like all damn day, the road turned to follow the Baker River. In fact, we rolled past the "birth place" of the river as it is the lake outlet. The Baker is the largest river by volume in Chile. It was huge volume. Of course, we are now distracted looking at eddy lines and hoping to see some good rapids. 

And then, we passed another fishing lodge. Arn asked, "Do you want to check it out?" He added, "I think this place is really fancy and like $800 a night".  Now, we have stayed in SO many $30 per night places drinking $2 per box wine that I figured I could price average my way into something really special. Arn then said, "You be the one to look at it and decide". This was a shift in roles as I have stayed with bikes and let Arn handle the arrangements. As we rolled down what felt like a long steep hill, I thought, 'This is going to suck to climb back up'. And then I looked around and thought, 'Nope, I can't do $800 for this'. Arn must have heard my thoughts and said, "Come to think of it, I think the $800 was an all in package with food, guide and fishing".  So, paroting all the Spanish I have heard Arn use, I asked about room availability, could I see a room, what was the price, do they have dinner and is breakfast included. It looked great --- just over $100 with breakfast, a view of the river, and they serve dinner.  I said, "Yep, we will do it". We later learned that the lodge had had all kinds of cancellations due to the earthquake.  They had six rooms. One other was occupied by a Chilean couple. One more couple from Spain was scheduled to arrive the next day (they were in the country before the quake).  The woman even said we were lucky to be traveling by bike as people are concerned about running out of fuel along the Carretera.  This left some lingering thoughts about buses, ferries, planes, and ATM machines.

We did the typical unload rountine, locked up the bikes, and enjoyed the attention of a very friendly kitten. Arn went to check out the river while I enjoyed a hot shower. He returned offering salty peanuts. This was the point at which I crossed to the dark side --- food was no longer interesting. Fatigue had taken over and this was the day I could have gone to bed without dinner.  Not a good sign.

Despite my lack of interest, we enjoyed an awesome dinner with great chicken, a steak, and a salad with fantastic tomatoes. Really, in a place so far from anything and without the right conditions, it is magic how they turn out tomatoes from these plastic sheeted greenhouses. Dessert was described as lemon ice cream, but it was more of a frozen lemon merguine ice cream thing with strawberry sauce. 

With two queen sized beds in the room and my level of exhaustion, I claimed a bed all to myself and fell dead asleep.