Cerro Castillo To Coyhaique To Rio Simpson

Accomplishing our walk and seeing Cerro Castillo in full glory (we missed it on the way down due to the weather being closed in) we headed north.

First up back over the highest pass on the Carreterra Austral, this time with Autumn colours in full swing

P1240488 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1240480 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Our MT 21 was dieing prematurely because of the hard winds so we needed rubber sooner than we thought andcaused the bulldozing or ploughing effect taking its toll.

Our options were extremely limited as it turned out, we had three choices for shops, but two of them bought their tires from the 3rd shop so yeap 1 option.... my favourite shop anyway

They had dunlop road tires or Chinese Duro 3.00 x 21 … hmmmm.

The only tire that was of any use to us was the Chinese Duro, the tread patten looked ok and the casing seemed thick enough and it was cheaper ….take a punt on that, it only needs to do 3000 - 4000 km to see us to the finish …will be interesting.

Finally getting sorted we left Coyhaique, was a town that neither Ellen or I liked so we decided not to stay, some places gel and some don't.

The cyclists we met in Cerro Castillo told us of a place about 40 km north, although it was raining we pretty much knew we could camp under cover so we made a break for it.

Arriving at the camp it was very wet and cold, we cooked up some hot soup and got sorted, the owner of the camp Nacho lit a fire which we all (4 cyclists, 2 Brasilians and a yank) sat around having a chat.

Maya parked outside the door (with no door) but she was undercover

IMG_7852 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

During the afternoon our stay included Mate lesson of drinking and handling, very informative

IMG_7853 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We also had an organic garden vege tour tour on how to grow stuff properly, not much new for here though, still nice to see how the other side does it.

IMG_7862 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Nacho the owner on the guitar ... he was good too.

IMG_7858 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The Brasilians asked if anyone was a vegetarian and said he had a big pile of meat and he would be happy to share it, a Brasilian charrasco ….in Chile WOH HOH.

Wine and charrasco was had along with discussions of travel etc …just the usual.

Our intent from here was to get to Chaiten to see the volcano so the next morning was to be a good ride north again.