…there were a still a few remaining adventures to be eked out before I ran out of land….not since the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica had I ridden my bicycle along an actual beach. With not a soul in sight, it’s hard to exaggerate the sense of peace I felt riding through this special place.
“Todos los pasos están deshabilitados (All the passes are closed)….It’s very complicated here in winter my friend.”, the Villa O’Higgins carabinero officer explained. “The river can be up 100 metres wide and 3 or 4 metres deep.” After days of strangely warm weather and high rainfall in Villa O’Higgins, his words made some sense. Maybe it was impassable? After all he should know what he’s talking about, right?
Villa O’Higgins, the end of the Carretera Austral and the start of our planned escape route out of Chile: a ‘wade’ across the multiple freezing water channels of Paso Rio Mayer (next post).
The last few posts are all centred around Patagonia’s favourite subject: the weather. But down here in Winter it really is the primary consideration for any day’s activity and it’s a topic that’s hard to avoid. … Several ‘rest’ days holed up in Hospedaje Ana Luz gave us time to contemplate how bloody cold it might get. Dropping to -10C and lower at night with undeniable consistency.
“Is this fun?” I think to myself stopping briefly to gasp on Ausangate’s thin air and ponder the value of my efforts. Stopping means no forward progress so I quickly get back to work and continue to haul my laden bike up the steep grassy slopes. I feel slightly dizzy due to my lack of good acclimatisation but, at last,…
Keep going you lazy ****. Just find the damn groove. Don’t blow yourself up by going too fast but equally don’t stop altogether; find the sustainable pace that’s not overwhelmingly painful that allows you to keep making progress. Even if you’re hardly moving it’s better than stopping and making no progress whatsoever. If you know you can’t…
It can be complicated to go after what we truly want so it was impressive to meet someone who has swum against the current for a consistently long period of time to fulfill their vision. Charlie Good of Llanganuco Mountain Lodge (introduced through the legendary mutual friend Steven Ruhl) gave up his safe career with…
After reading about Paul’s experience on his route between Cajamarca and Cajabamba (he and his friend were detained by mistrusting villagers for 18 hours in Santa Rosa) it was with some doubt that cycling the dirt road via Jesus was a good idea. However I had the good will of the ‘teniente’ in Cachachi and I could…
With its lower altitudes this may not win the award for being the most dramatic section of the TEMBR but it is still a fun ride and a good way to get down to Peru… I made the mistake of deviating from the main route on the penultimate day onto a rather gnarly horse track…
This section included a deviation from the TEMBR for further exploration of the old abandoned Ecuadorian railway line that passes through most of the country.
Snaking through three classic giant volcanoes, this is an undeniable highlight on the Trans Ecuador and not to be missed. My particular experience involved exhilarating and nervous moments passing through closed Cotopaxi volcano National Park; enduring hailstorms, fording streams and hiking through mud on the north side of Ecuador’s highest peak Chimborazo