January 31, 2020
Morro Chico
We woke up soon after six o'clock this morning and I, knowing there was a long day ahead of us, was keen to get started as soon as possible. However, it took a lot of cajoling to get Leigh to get going. In the meantime, Alessandro and Constanza were also getting a later start than they had hoped for but they still got away long before us.
After having got Leigh up and about, I wandered around town for about half an hour looking for an open shop that could sell me some pan for lunch. On arriving back at Jomar I took a chance of asking the lady on duty whether they had any pan for sale. The end result was that I got four for free. Not the worst exchange for the waste of half an hour.
When we finally got on the road it became clear that Leigh's bike needed to have its rear brakes adjusted. Then we realised that various creams and lotions had not yet been applied. In the end it was after ten o'clock before we left Puerto Natales.
Once on the concrete Ruta 9 the road was reasonably wide but without a shoulder. The traffic was also quite heavy but almost without exception the drivers were considerate and many very friendly. We even had a carabinero stopping to offer us water. At no time did I feel stressed on in danger of the traffic.
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There were two climbs of around 250 meters but both of them over almost ten kilometers so the gradients were very kind. The wind was mostly on our backs or over our right shoulders and it was a very easy ride in general. I had a read a journal by a rider on his way to Ushuaia two weeks ago who said it was a very hilly section. We found it to be one of the easiest sections we have ridden on this trip, certainly easier than any day on the Carretera Austral.
After a hundred kilometers we pulled into the tiny hamlet of Morro Chico. It mostly consists of a police station and a restaurant. There is a well known abandoned building a hundred meters from the police station that has been used as a casa de ciclista. It even has a broom to allow cyclists to clean up before, and hopefully after, using it. We had expected that Allesandro and Constanza would also be here but we are the only ones making use of it tonight.
Today's ride: 101 km (63 miles)
Total: 1,205 km (748 miles)
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