We arrived in Puerto Natales today, after a week of diverse and challenging biking. Leaving El Carafate, the westerly winds were with us and we flew through the pampa again, climbed a big hill with great views over the plains, and then found ourselves on a kind of 800 m high plateau that reminded Tim of Tibet. The clouds were so low that they almost seemed within reach. Cool place, and literally freezing cold in the wind. The winds were with us until Rio Pelque, a police station in the middle of nowhere by the only river within 100 km. It was also the best campspot for miles, and since we were exhausted from a long day in the wind, that was now really picking up and coming from the side, we asked for permission to camp nearby. We first got shown to the shed for shelter out of the wind, and after a chat in broken Spanish to the policemen, Fabian, and his two teenage kids who were with their dad on holiday, we got invited in to sleep in the guestroom on for dinner. It turned out to be a real fun eve with a lovely meal and the best coffee of the trip in the morning. Great experience, and extremly kind of Fabian who proudly showed us pictures of other cyclists he had hosted.
We needed it for the next day that was hard going on the now increasingly rough road into the wind. After a few more km the road turned to custard (or river bed like state), and so did our mood. By the time we hit the seal again, some 45 km on and hours later, we were in no state to battle on against the head wind. We even thought about hitching a ride, but there was no traffic. So we sat in the shade and shelter of another police station (apparently all these station are a remament of the days of bandits), comtemplating what to do, when the local policemen came out and invited us to camp in his shed! Sweet, out of the wind, and a relaxing afternoon.
We started biking againn the next morning at 6 am and it paid off since there was not a bit of wind. Unfortunatly it only lasted for three hours, but by that time we were nearly at the Chilean border. After a feast in Cerro Castillo, the chilean boreder town, we set off again into the now roaring wind, mostly hitting us from the front and the side, but we were eager to make some progress towards the National Park Torres del Paine. What we had no realised is that there were a lot more roads than on our map, but as we sat in a bus shelter debating which road to take, the local carabinieri drove past and gave us directions and a map of the park. Perfect timing!
Found a good camnpspot by a river, and the next day was stunning, as we slowly approach the Torres del Paine. Had amazing views of the Torres. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy the next day, but it was still a nice walk right up to the base of the mountains from the Camping/Hosteria Las Torres. The one thing that spoilt our experience of the park a little was that everything was ridiculisly overpriced and some of the peopele working there were obviously over it and rather rude.
We decided to not do any more walking, due to lack of time, but instead had one of the nicest days cyling thought the park. The road took us above on of the lakes, nearly at the base of the Towers, Horns and glaciers. Truely stunning riding, only interupted by 10 km of freshly garded gravel.. urg.. Marveled at the waterfalls between the lakes, more amazing views, then slowly cycled away from the mountains. Last night we camped at Rio Serrano, at the edge of the park, in a real nice campsite. Our Chilean neighbours from Punta Arenas were lovely people, offering us hot water for tea, biscuits, beer and peanuts. The beer was from a brewery in Punat Arenas and real nice. They were son and dad on a fishing trip, of croatin decent, they spoke pretty good English and we had a fun evening.
Today a 90 km push to Puerto Natales on good gravel road. The first 25 km took us more than two hours, with a lot of climbing and decending, but then the road became more level. Again, great views over the lakes back to the mountains. Glad to get here though, we are pretty tired after a week of reasonably hard riding, so are going to have a rest day tomorrow. Already had a big feed of fresh fruit and a big salad! Yum!
Hope all is well! Lots of love Tina
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