January 5, 2000
Day 75 Estancia that's not an Estancia: free camping
It's about 250km over a good, paved road to Punta Arenas from here. There doesn't seem to be much in between, so we stock up on food.
Early this morning we pack up our bikes and head out of town. The road climbs initially along a large military area with sign's that prohibit photography. Patrick does take some pictures though of a collection roadside traffic victims memorials with hundreds of plastic bottles full of water stacked around. We need to ask someone what the meaning of this is.
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After some more climbing the road turns south and we catch a strengthening westerly wind that blows us on. A bit later the road turns southwest and we struggle. Patrick is getting real tired of being so dependent on the wind. Sometimes it helps but we would rather have none.
Just before we get to Rio Rubens, we meet the pair of German motorcyclists from Quellon again. They have been to Ushuaia and are now headed to Santiago and home.
We stop at the hotel Rio Rubens, a nice building with lots f character inside and outside. We do not want to stay as it's only noon, but we eat and rest awhile.
After the hotel the road turns due east towards Moro Chico. We fly down the road, nice rolling pampas with some beech forests tucked away in the valleys. About 15kms past Moro Chico a town with no facilities, we expect to be able to camp at Hotel Rio Pemtente, but when we get to the end of their 2 km driveway, we are told we cannot camp because: "this is a hotel!" We found a not very friendly reception, maybe it's because we are on bikes and they expected us to stay at $US110 per night for a room.
We have another 15kms to an Estancia where a small sign invites to camp. It seems like nobody is home though. After 134km we are hungry. Behind the house is a covered picnic area where we cook our spaghetti with sausages. After dinner, Patrick walks over to some people on the other side of a tall fence, they seem to be counting sheep.
The campground proves to be on the other side of another fence just outside the Estancia. This is when we realize we had fixed our dinner under a private picnic area. The guy wants to charge us $2000 pesos per person for all this: no restrooms, no showers, just an empty field behind a fence.
We pretend and plan to ride on before he changes his mind and let us stay for free.
Today's ride: 134 km (83 miles)
Total: 3,021 km (1,876 miles)
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