The Carretera Austral

Finally the morning has come to start cycling. Everything needed, hopefully, is on the bicycle and I´m raring to go, maybe.

This area is not exactly Los Angeles!

At my first stop, a hostel, I made friends with this cat. Wanted to take him/her home with me - so much fun. Picked him up and gave him a stroke and he started purring immediately. He´d then run off, then jump back up again. If I walked back to my room he´d run ahead and then, claws scrabbling desperately, skid to a halt on the smooth wooden floor.

On the Carretera you have to take ferries across the bits that are water.

The Chileans put a lot of flowers in their cemetries.

On the road, it here is tarmac. Not for long  though.

Dense vegetation and trees with pretty flowers.

Now the road is "ripio", loose gravel and rocks, and it gets worse. Due to it being dry you gan get a bit of dust when a truck goes by!

Quick tyre change at my next stop, which came just in time as it was late and I was tired and it had started to rain. Took a little while, but then I am not McLaren and I don´t have air tools, except for the pump.

Very rustic round here.

Nice wood burning stove, many places seem to have them.

Quite pretty views here - on the fuschia you see small green hummingbirds feeding from the flowers. I think there is one in this picture, but not sure. As I said they are small and green, and well...

Another ferry, this one three hours. Some more cyclists from Belgium.

Scenery simply gorgeous.

The next ferry is 10km and timed with the last one, so you have 45  minutes. They ask you to get a lift, so this is the view from the pickup. The two guys were a lot of fun and very friendly.

They laughed a lot at me, now covered in dust. Glad to arrive in one piece as the road was very bumpy.

First night camping - home, sweet home.

Quite tired when I got to this bridge. Not paying much attention I vaguely wondered why the sign only three people were allowed in the campground. Seemed strange. It was only for hikers  and cyclists etc, no cars. So maybe something to do with this.

Stepping boldly on I suddenly realised that the sign meant something different. Now you have to understand that this bicycle is very heavy and also top heavy, so quite difficult to keep upright.

Within seconds the bridge was swaying from side to side and also tilting. This was to say the least quite alarming, if not terrifying. The drop was quite a lot, the rails low and the possibilty of falling high. Please forgive me as I did not actauly get a photo of his moment. Harrison Ford has stuntmen who do things like this. I work in IT.

Another, slightly firmer bridge.

Next campground with a nice view of a volcano.

Amazing plants.

The result of a volcano eruption a few years ago.

The road suddenly got a lot wider. Never cycled down a runway before. Had a few quick glances behind and above me!

Ha, great - a little shop - first one in 100km. Chance for a coke and some crisps. And the road is tarmac, only for 10km though.

South America - Chile

The start of my latest adventure - after long flights and a bit of a melee at the airport, finally I get to the appartment booked for the first night. This is on the 15th floor and I  make note to self - when coming back after a beer, "Stay away from the balcony!". There is a pool on the roof just above, so a nice start to the next day after a long sleep. It won´t all be like this though. In Panama I once stayed in a tiny room with an awful bed over a petrol station, spending the night listening to the musical sound of large trucks pulling in and filling up with diesel :-(.

A new day, out for a wander, a beer and a bit of lunch.  Some people met up in places like this for their midday work break, "Not a bad idea" me thinks. Beats a sandwich in front of your pc.

I´m on the other side of the planet now, but life is not so different.

I need a haircut, so I find a small barbers near the hostel. When I get it done in Petts Wood it takes about 5 minutes and costs 9 quid. This chap carefully tucked my collar inside my shirt, put a towel around my neck, then a cape and then tucked bits of cotton wool inside the towel. Then each time he made a cut with the scissors he clicked them thre times, making me wonder how many times he´d done this - millions at the minimum.

He worked on my hair like it was a masterpiece, took over half an hour and then tidied up with a razor. Cost - 3800 pesos, or about 4 pounds.

He then proudly showed me a sign on the wall with some dates and a picture of himself when young. - He had had the shop since 1950, i.e. 64 years. He then explained that he was 82 years old! Lovely man!

Took a trip into the centre on the metro, green line - number five. Red is one, orange is two. What happened to three and four?

Some views of the city and the tour guide demonstrating the Chilean national dance - not the Samba(Brazil) or the Salsa(Cuba), but the Cueca.

That is the the statue of Virgin Mary, top left.

Statue for the Mapuche, native people.

Now back to the hostel - this is Ivan cooking the barbeque. Great food, conversations and fun with people from France, Norway and Brazil. Topics included the frustrations of travelling - such as the problems when lost and asking directions. Quite often you will get the answer - "Two blocks". This does not mean the junction one after the next, it means that the person you have asked doesn´t know, but doesn´t like to admit it. After two blocks you could ask again. However you might get the same answer!

Not exactly a highlight - 15 hours and a thousand odd miles to the south, on a bus. Bus stations are not theraputic at the best of times. When transporting a bicycle in a huge box, even worse.

Finally we have got to Puerto Montt and a new hostel. Not a bad view - that is the Andes in the background, at least I think so - they look quite hilly!

Now time to unpack my new bicycle "Fiona" and check that she has survived the trip - all OK except for a small bend in the rear rack. Put the handlebars back on pump up the tyres and so on - fortunately I had some helpers, though they didn´t do very much. Except for the kitten who liked attacking my tyres!