Puerto Cardenas

I biked about 8 hours on Tuesday. It was hard, but it didn’t kill me. In fact, I felt less exhausted than I had on some of the shorter days earlier in the week.

The reason I biked so long, I realized later, was because there was a group of us. Not an official group, but just a bunch of cyclists all on the road at the same time, passing each other every couple of hours as one or another stopped to rest, to have lunch, to adjust something on their bike, to wait for a friend. We didn’t even know each other’s names for the most part, but we started to recognize each other. Oh, it’s one of those French guys, or, oh, it’s that guy in the bright orange shirt. And we were all suffering together, so that made it okay, and gave me the energy to keep going all the way to the next town.

Sometimes when I’m alone and struggling, I get this idea that it’s only hard for me, that I’m just weak and unprepared while people in better shape are cruising uphill with no problems. But when I see hard-core athletes gulping down water in the shade and saying, damn, that hill nearly killed me, I think, okay, I can do this; we’re all in the same boat.

I’m still not quite sure where all the cyclists came from; I was alone from my side-of-the-road campsite to Villa Santa Lucia, where the Carretera connects to the road from Futaleufu, so some of them may have been joining up there, but today I rode for four hours and saw only one pair of cyclists, who were heading the other direction.

Tomorrow though it looks like I’ll be part of an actual group — I’m setting my alarm for 5:30am to pack up and head out early with a trio from Santiago — a couple I ran into during my eight hour day, plus their friend who was behind that day trying to fix his bike rack. We connected again at a campsite in Puyuhuapi, where I am now.

Apparently tomorrow we will face the worst part of the Carretera in terms of both uphill-ness and road quality, so we want to get an early start, but then once we get to the next town, the road is paved all the way to Coyhaique. I’m getting close to the end, which is sad; part of me wishes I’d planned to do the whole Carretera instead of just the first half.

I bought my ferry ticket for January 30 — a 24-hour ride that will take me from Puerto Chacabuco back to Puerto Montt. Then I have another week before my flight; I haven’t decided yet what I’ll do.

Many more things to tell — and more photos — but they will have to wait for another day.