Day 17 - to Villa Cerro - High Maintenance - 6 Week Carretera Austral - 2024

February 4, 2024

Day 17 - to Villa Cerro

We actually woke up to real water, not real non-brown water. The camp guy whoever you wanna call him, came up and fixed the water last night, then locked the door to the eating area, common room, thank God we didn’t leave anything plugged in. The water came out cold and clear, however to be on the safe side we still ran through the water treatment.

More caterpillars again, at least this were not biting. Everywhere, remember to shake everything before you pack it up

Kinda hard to see, the one on your right, as you were packing up your gear they ended up everywhere. I’ll take them over Bert and his relatives.

Finally after 3 weeks got the water sterilizer working. I was a slow learner

It was chilly getting up cloudy and cool, needed a few shirts and my raincoat to stay warm. Well it was free and always an adventure so no big deal. David made his perfect coffee, still real coffee and not Nescafé. Wholesome breakfast of muesli, chia seeds and raisins then on our way. Very cloudy and looked like rain however the rain held off as we cycled to the top of villa cerro. The scenery just got better and better.

Another great ride to contemplate life. Greta Thunberg joined me on the ride, and we definitely solved the global warming crisis. If you don’t know who she is Google her 😃

Never a long stretch of straight roads, sweeping turns. Times I wish I was also riding my motorcycle.

Coming to the spot where we descend for about 4k

This is where riding a motorcycle comes in handy. We are taught to look through the corners, you go where your eyes 👀 go. Hitting the switch backs at 60+ then a brake check and let her rip. Remember the extra weight you have on the bike.

We came to the point where you decent into the town. It is such a small world we were talking to a young gentleman that was riding north and said he met 4 young people from Barcelona. They were the same we rode with. It is great swapping stories about our travels. Another tip make sure you have good nutritional snacks, after some steep hills an orange and nuts go a long way. Also never assume parks etc will be in good shape. David stayed at the provincial park before and it was great. It went steadily downhill. Some survived Covid, and some things didn’t.

Stunning scenery after our descent and a great lunch. We had only 15km after lunch so took a relaxing break

There is an awesome 6 hour return hike the mountain to see a lagoon, however between rain in the forecast and cloudy weather we decide to not do it.

Tip, plan to stay a few days here to check it out. Since we will be at Mt Fitz Roy at the end of our trip we have plans to hike there

Bridge after we came out of town. Nice chasm.

When you get out of town a few km you see the stunning mountains on the right.

The sign that says strong crosswinds and they are not joking.

David warned me about the winds! You literally turn the corner and they hit you in the face. I swear I have never had to pedal down a hill before !

Even after having to ride hard to go downhill you see this

So neat how they control runoff from the mountains

My daily dog picture, poor guy needs a brushing

We only had a short ride to our camp site, we would have camped however due to our chilly night the night before we decided to get a cabana.

Our home for the evening. When you do the math, free last night warm cabana tonight. Lodging was just 25,000 pesos a night each for lodging. 30$ roughly

The cost was 100,000 pesos could sleep 5 with a great kitchen. The good way to make a trip like this affordable is to mix and match camping with cabana/hostel

Behind the cabana llama, I didn’t get too close, I heard they spit !

Extra dog picture in case I don’t see one in the morning. This one followed us around and wanted the typical dog scratch.

Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 949 km (589 miles)

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