Cycling The Globe

Distance: 82.72 km
Ride time: 5:48:21
Average: 14.27 km/h
Total: 22876 km

When you are wild camping there is no excuse but to get up and ride – even though it is raining. Luckily the rain was not too heavy this morning.

The nice sealed road I had been enjoying for 3 days soon turned into a dirt road, just as a climb up to a 500 m pass was about to begin. The road was narrow and steep as it climbed up through a forest. On the top of the climb a few tourists were getting ready to hike the two hours up to a glacier viewpoint. I could see the glacier from the road, and although I thought it would have been a nice walk, I was a bit too tired and cold to consider going for it.

Instead I was rolling down the other side of the hill into Puyuhaupi, a cozy little village with German history founded in the 1930’s. I think it must rain a lot on this part of Chile because the whole camp site was covered with roofs, almost like sleeping in a garage. Something I was glad about as the raindrops continued to fall.

As I’m only spending a limited amount of money for sleeping (a 5$ camp site every 3rd night or so) there is more money to spend on food. Today I went to a nice restaurant overlooking the cloudy lake and ordered a 3 course meal! The best thing was probably the salad as that is not something I have been eating a lot of lately. Vegetables and fruits are expensive in this isolated spot of the world.

My camp site had a kitchen, and as with almost any kitchen in Patagonia the central piece of furniture was the wood stove. Not only good for cooking, but also for keeping warm and drying clothes.