Days 18 – Monday March 14: Puyuhaupi or bust; Rain!
From El Sueno we headed down the steep drive again towards the road to La Junta; from there we continued uninterrupted to the coastal town of Puyuhuapi. A reasonable ride today, 63km, again following a river valley and eventually passing by the huge lake of Queulat National Park. The road turns into a virtual roller coaster there, with steep steep uphills and downhills and treacherous potholes waiting to snap at our tires. The town itself appears from a hill two or three miles away, so that the final run into Puyuhuapi sweeps down a long curving road into the village streets, paved (oddly, we thought) with gray and tan concrete pavers.
For the first time we have ridden through an entire day of rain: some light, some heavy, but steady, unrelenting, cold, exhausting. Happily our cabins at the Cabanas Aonikenk were already warmed when we arrived, and we gratefully changed into dry clothes. Everyone took a nap and then went to scope out the town: two short lanes, three or four supermercados, a community center and a restaurant. The only settlement for many miles in any direction. Puyuhapi, still part of the national park, is actually a tiny port located at the end of a fjord perhaps seventy five to a hundred miles from open water.
In any case, things are beginning to feel remote.
