March 25, 2018
Mundo Perdido: To the end of the world
It felt good to pack up, load the bikes and get back on the road. It was a clear day without a cloud in the sky. Quite cold but lovely sunshine and not a breath of wind. Neither of us had fully shaken off our colds yet but we felt much better than the previous few days and it was great to be back on the bikes. The first twenty kilometers seemed to rush by and we were soon passed the point where we had turned back three days previously. It's amazing what effect a good rest and better weather can have.
At about thirty kilometers we reached the old tunnel at Aroya Cortaderas which is where we had been planning to sleep on our first attempt at heading for the Andes. It is certainly not the worst place to wildcamp, particularly if the weather is bad because provided great shelter. Unfortunately, it has been heavily used as a place for folks to answer the call of nature. There are actually two tunnel;s, one open on both end with the larger one closed off. I didn't go very far in so I can't tell how long it extends into the mountain. Between the two is a bridge and this is where we made our lunch stop. It is a bit off the road and was in nice sunshine so it was as good a place as any we would pass today.
On our arrival in Punta da Vacas we looked around for the hostel that we thought was there but couldn't find anything. A chat to a local selling empenades on the side of the road confirmed our suspicions that it didn't exist. She suggested we carry on to Mundo Perdido, literally the end of the earth, where there is a hostel. She said it was a kilometer up the road but I knew it was closer to seven. Locals almost always underestimate distances. We carried on up the hill and a kilometer away from Mundo Perdido the wind, which had been on our backs all day, suddenly changed and we fought our way into a horrific headwind, reminiscent of three days ago, until we reached the hostel.
Mundo Perdido is an old railway station and the hostel is in the station building. There was a young guy doing some construction work there who let us in and showed us around. It all looked pretty good although it was easy to get the impression that they weren't really expecting guests at this time of the year. This was quickly confirmed when I tried to have a shower and discovered that there was no water except from one tap in the kitchen. The young guy tried to sort it out but eventually gave up and said that if we decided to stay, we could stay there for free. With the wind blowing the way it was we weren't going anywhere. We did our evening ablutions in our little folding basin so at least we didn't go to bed filthy. It turned out that there was no bedding on the beds so we just used our sleeping bags. If we weren't paying we couldn't demand anything.
Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 2,527 km (1,569 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |