Day 28 - Camp to Villa O’Higgins - High Maintenance - 6 Week Carretera Austral - 2024

February 16, 2024

Day 28 - Camp to Villa O’Higgins

Today is the day !

Well, this is a day to get to the end of the ride. To be honest, it was kind of sad, we’ve ridden for almost 6 weeks, and it was gonna be the end of a great ride. Although you’re excited to do the last 30 km to Villa O’Higgins, you almost didn’t want it to end.

The owner saying goodbye getting our picture too. Again people so very friendly!

My random dog picture, the owners dog who is as he said a city dog. Not a sheep herder.

Ripio suppression shot. However really for a few spots a great ride, one of the better days.

We rode around a lake from the last camp site into Villa O’Higgins

David and I peddled hard and also used our right assist just to get there quicker. The road was not bad so it was a pleasant surprise. However of course there were sections of the road where we’re going up and down reminded you that you were on ripio.

There was an abundance of beautiful scenery as we got closer.

The sign that says Villa, O’Higgins is not really the end of the Carretera Austral. You need to go another 9 km to get to the very end of the road.

David and I of course did the touristy thing and get out at the sign.

Tada !!! We arrived ! It was only 30km so arrived pretty early

Another random dog picture, they sleep everywhere.

The tire that popped off, finding out it’s pooched !

Never a dull moment on the wheels the last few days!

Small town. Packed with cabanas and camp sites. Filled with cyclists from all over and backpackers.

David admitted that he prefers cats over dogs and one struck his fancy

We found out previously, that if you take your picture to the Tourist. Office along with your passport they will give you an official stamp and certificate that you completed the ride. Since Pedro was in town already, and given us a good recommendation for hostel, we met up with them to have a quick coffee and get caught up. So, after three flats, I figured that was it for any issues with my bike, but I was sadly mistaken. We unpacked our bikes and were to head into town for a coffee and I looked down and wondered why the hell was my tire off coming off my front wheel. I did not get a good picture of it but the wire that’s on the inside of the tires which gives it to shape had snapped and a huge piece, but it was sticking out, so therefore there was no real form of keeping the tire on the wheel. These tires were not brand new, but they were in good shape which David let me use when we left Canada. If you recall, reading David’s top 10 rules about the ride, one of the rules was to have brand new tires. The decision to use his older tires was based on the fact that he looked at my tires, that were on my bike when we were packing up the bikes, and he determined that even his older ones were better than my brand new ones.

Although we had theoretically finished our ride, we still had a night another 9 km to get to the ferry to get over to Argentina. Where you take the ferry it’s the actual end of the highway and the official sign.

It was a good thing that we arrived early just after lunch to Villa O’Higgins, since we had to organize our ferry from Villa Higgins to the spot where we go across the border into Argentina. We also had to organize for the ferry from the Argentinian side across the lake to ride to El Claltén. It was a huge bonus to have Pedro with us since he got Dr. as a translator when organizing all these different ferries to get from A to

B. Our Spaniard friends, Pedro, David and I were on the same schedule for the next three days. As David had explained, this becomes a logistical potential nightmare. It is hard to pre-book the ferry to go anywhere when you don’t know when you’re going to arrive in Villa O’Higgins. the other factor that comes into play is that if the weather is really bad and the lake is choppy, the ferry simply won’t be running. So this becomes basically a crapshoot on when you’re going to leave Villa O’Higgins to get to Argentina. I cannot stress enough that we were so fortunate to have someone who spoke fluid English and and of course, Spanish to help us guide us into making all the arrangements. Of course, this can be done without being fluid in Spanish because David and Janice did this four years ago.

So , after all the arrangements, We all got together to have a great dinner just outside of town. Our ferry to leave Villa O’Higgins was going to leave at 11 AM the next morning so we had a relaxing night get packed up and head out in the morning.

The dinner was outstanding, it was great to relax laugh have a beer talk about the days of riding, it was kind of like a celebration dinner.

We did still have a pretty gruelling 17 km ride up a hill and then a 4 km walk down the mountain, camp, then the next day a 40 km ride to El Chaten. The town is a hub for all the hikers to go to Mtn Fitz Roy.

So another tip for you new riders, as David said, get new tires, the best you can get. I was very fortunate to find a local repair person that sold tires.

The town has NO ATM‘s, luckily they take credit cards if you have no pesos. We were trying to get to zero pesos since we were leaving Chile. Argentina has there own and as I said bring US dollars, more on that later.

We got the last executive suite. 2 bedroom 3 beds building.

Again lousy WIFI and no cell service. If I held up my phone above my head in bed on the second floor I’d pick up service from the gas station down the street.

Really nice inside ! Could have spent a week here !

Great restaurant recommendation from the place we had cappuccinos.

Celebration dinner. Our 3 Spanish friends, and Pedro from Columbia

Today's ride: 30 km (19 miles)
Total: 95 km (59 miles)

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