Jorge's Casa de Ciclistas

December 29, 2022

Once again it rained overnight and was still drizzling on and off this morning. But the important thing was that there was very little wind and what wind there was was blowing from the north.

I was just about to start cooking our porridge for breakfast when Lauren, the South African lass with whom we had camped at Rio Grande, came by. It was great to see her again. She had caught the last ferry yesterday evening and had slept in an abandoned shack a few kilometers back. One of the clips on one of her panniers had snapped and she had secured the pannier to the rack with a cable tie. I am carrying a stock of cable ties so I gave her some extras because the chance of a single cable tie lasting until she gets to Ushuaia is low.

The first fifteen kilometers of today's route was pretty flat but then we started the first of a series of stiff climbs. All we wanted to achieve today was to get them behind us because the second half of the route from Puerto Bravo to Villa O'Higgins is pretty flat.

We initially thought we might spend the night at a refugio just after the last climb but on reaching that point the weather cleared and the northerly wind started to blow more strongly. So we pushed on for another twenty odd kilometers to the next refugio. We had spent a night here with five other cyclists five years ago but we have it to ourselves tonight. Jorge, the rather rough and ready man who used to live on the farm next to the refugio, is no longer there and a couple from further north in Chile are the current occupants.

I am a wildlife lover and such try to remain unsentimental about the natural cycle of life and death. But when I inadvertently cause an animal to die I cannot help but feel guilty. When fetching water from the stream near the refugio I spooked a hare which dashed into the road. Luck would have it that one of the very few cars to pass by this evening did so at the critical moment. EDIT: What made me feel a bit better was that the hare was gone by the next morning so hopefully some other animal has made good use of it.

Villa O'Higgins is thirty one kilometers away so tomorrow's task has been made easier by cycling a bit further today.

Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 5,141 km (3,193 miles)

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