Monday, May 5, 2008

These Lucky Horseshoes Are Broken

Saturday 26th Sunday 27th

After an early start, considering the 3 course breakfast - omelete, porridge, peanut butter and banana sandwhich we cycle back to the main road and continue through the construction work for about 10km until Michael gets a puncture. His horseshoe is definitely proving to be unlucky and we stop to repair it (the bike not the horseshoe) outside a salmon fishing factory built by Jurgen Winter - a german settler. Mine is obviously working as I discover there are bathrooms; complete with shower. I figure removing the smell benefits other people more than me, so I can shower and shave with a clear concience while Michael sorts his bike.



We cycle on 3km to find the road closed for high explosive blasting - until 2pm. It´s only about 10am so we decide to kill time cycling back to the salmon farm and eating lunch. For 3 hours....

The road duly opens at 2 and we carry on through the remains of the road. And now Roger has also stopped working as the weather gets back to normal and the heavens open.



We only make about 40kms before it´s getting dark when we get to Puyuhuapi, a small town known for it´s five star spa resort. Sounds promising, except the 5 star resort is out of town and a boat ride away across the lake - the town is tiny and a dump. We settle for the cheapest accomodation we can find and hole up to get dry. Hospedaje de las Rosas (Hostel of the Roses) a misnomer if ever there was one, the owner Maria is definitely not one.



The 9 days of food we bought in Coyhaique is gone in 5 days - guess we tried a little too hard to save on weight by eating it. So we stay another night to resupply and wait out for better weather. Roger - why hast thou forsaken us?