Day 24 – Sunday March 20: Puerto Aysen to Coyhaique
A beautiful day in the port town of Puerto Aysen, and a moderate day of riding ahead: 63km, all on paved roads. We swept out of town in late mid-morning and spun our way back to an intersection where we took the road to Coyhaique. Ups and downs, as usual – and in one valley an elaborate waterfall shrine, with a beautiful falls, a shelter, lit candles, all dedicated to Our Lady of the Cascades. We pressed ahead, making our way upwards towards a pass back over the bottom of the Andes into a different microclimate. A long fairly steep stretch of road passed through an impressive tunnel and then continued to climb for a nearly a thousand feet. Now, instead of the thick green countryside we came into a much dryer landscape with sparse straight pine forests, much like passing from Western to Eastern Washington. At the summit of the climb was a lookout platform, and we pulled over. Far below us, and still several miles away the town of Coyhaique – the largest community we had seen since the beginning of the ride – spread beneath towering peaks and hills. We mounted our bikes again and plummeted down towards our destination, the Salamander hostel.
The hostel was located some 3km from the town, down across the Rio Simpson, famous for fishing. It was mainly a backpacker and cyclist hostel, and it had a distinctly counterculture feel about it. The rooms were small but adequate, and after we’d cleaned up we sat outside on a sunny deck rehydrating. Dinner turned out to be a massive barbeque put on by our guides. Laura, our main guide David’s partner, was arriving the next day from their home in Puerto Natales, so there was further cause for celebration.
The next day would be another moderate ride, so we decided to spend the morning in Coyhaique, visiting a bicycle shop and starting out after Laura arrived and we’d had lunch.
