The coastal route was much longer than the regular Carretera road — apparently it takes cars an extra hour — but it was totally worth it. Gorgeous, along the ocean, with only a couple of big hills and hardly any traffic, plus the road was smooth dirt rather than rocky horribleness.

Here is me and Samuel resting on a bridge in the same place as that picture above.

It took Samuel and I five hours to get from Contao to Marilyn’s place, which is the longest I have ever biked in one day. He went on to Hornopiren but we exchanged contact info and might connect again in a couple of days.

I took a shower, then a three hour nap, woke up, ate everything in sight, and went back to bed.

I left at 10:30 the next morning, expecting a three hour trek to Hornopiren, and was surprised and elated to find myself pulling in just after noon, though also somewhat disappointed. Apparently I’d been misinformed about the distance, though also I was biking fast to outrun the goddamn flies. (These are not your normal everyday flies, but big stinging hellbeasts; think bumblebees on steroids. Marilyn showed me how you can catch them and kill them and eat the pouch of honey they carry inside, though I never got the opportunity to try. Which is just as well; I had very mixed feelings about that.)

Diego chases a flock of escapees back to their pen.

Diego tries out my gear. He also rode with me up the first hill when I set off ths morning.

Now I’m in Hornopiren until tomorrow’s ferry ride. It’s a longer one — three hours or so, then ten kilometers across a peninsula, then another half hour in a different ferry, though you pay for it as all one journey. I haven’t decided if I will rest on the other side or bike to the next town. From 5-8pm seems like a good time to ride; the sun isn’t harsh anymore but there’s still plenty of light. But we’ll see how I feel when I get there.

Hornopiren ferry landing.