Villa Ortega

January 3, 2020

The campsite filled up yesterday evening, mostly with other cyclists (Katie, Henny and Henri, two French guys and a British couple going north) but also two cars. The British couple, Craig and Rachel, has started the day, and their trip, in Coyhaique and were heading north, quite unaware of the prevailing wind conditions.

Carlos was out the gate pretty early. We had a leisurely start reverting back to a cooked breakfast of oats porridge and managing to phone some of our family back in South Africa. Nonetheless we were on the road by nine o'clock heading down the asflato to Rio Simpson where we expected to spend the night at Nacho's well known canmpsite near los Torreones (we stayed there two years ago). This route is asfalto all the way to Coyhaique but is very busy and there is a stiff climb up from the Rio Simpson to Coyhaique near the end. Our initial plan had been to take the ripio road via Villa Ortega, by all accounts pretty tough with about 1500 meters of climbing, but the lack of appealing accommodation made us decide to take the same route as last time. When we got to the turnoff to Villa Ortega, about twelve kilometers south of Villa Manihuales, we once again reassessed our options. Just the fact that we were thinking about it again made it immediately clear we would take the ripio road!

Starting out on the ripio up to Villa Ortega

Roadside shrines are a big thing in South America. This one is to San Sebastian who,according to Wikipedia, "was an early Christian saint and martyr .. [who] was killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians, initially being tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this did not kill him".

Some of the nice wooden bridges we crossed today.

The first kilometer or so along the Villa Ortega road had us wondering about our judgement but it soon turned into a wonderful ride and continued so until about ten kilometers from Villa Ortega. Although we were climbing quickly, with a few descents thrown in, we had a good tailwind and coolish weather to help us along. Then the sky closed in, the rain started falling heavily and the road conditions got tougher. By the time we entered the tiny village we had got pretty wet. The decision now was to push on the last thirty five kilometers to Coyhaique or find a place to shelter. In the end we chickened out and have ended up at a pretty crappy Cabana for the night. On the plus side we have a warm fire burning and so our clothes are drying. The proprietor, Edith, is being as helpful as possible with the meager resources at her disposal and a regional power failure has not made her life any easier.

Our cabana was overpriced and not very clean. However, the fire was a Godsend.

While wandering off to find an open shop to buy some butter and a beer, I bumped into Katie who was looking for a place to stay. I took her back to our grubby digs and she negotiated a cabana of her own with Edith, hopefully at a better price than us.

We will head on to Coyhaique as early as possible tomorrow so we can get some shopping done. We need to replace the tube from the flat a few days earlier (an old puncture has split and it is not worth repairing) and my inflatable pillow is on its last legs.

Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 591 km (367 miles)

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