13. Bad News
DAY 181. O’Higgins back to Cochrane
The night in the campground at O'Higgins was actually very pleasant. There were a lot of clouds in the evening, so I wasn't sure if it's gonna be raining or not. It was actually pretty dry not even a you in the morning and quite warm. the campground was quite full many people and bicycles and a few people on motorbikes. Capping next to me but a couple from UK who are travelling on their bicycles from Columbia all the way down to Ushuaia. And I thought it is quite a big deal to do the motorbike, but doing it on the bike is on a completely different level. Especially in southern Patagonia where you eat dust on the road the whole day. Riding a bicycle loaded with all the gear can be that easy either, my respect to those guys. I knew there will be some bicycles here but didn't expect that many. I think at the bottom of Patagonia they were at least 10 bicycles for one motorcycle.
I have to get on the ferry again today, so there's not too much reason to rush in the morning. Except I wanna go early because I don't wanna eat the dust behind the cars. I I will rather go slowly and easy and wait for two hours for the ferry, then spend several hours in the dust. So that's what I did. It was a beautiful morning partly cloudy and quite warm for this part of the world. There was nobody ahead of me, and I knew there's no nobody coming up from the ferry because I'm catching the first one out of there. I stopped to take many pictures, and I could've stopped many more times. There are 100s of waterfalls along the road, beautiful, lakes, a lot of mountains with glaciers. It is a very pleasant ride all the way to the ferry. They were already a few cars waiting at the ferry terminal. They must have left really early because I didn't see them. I had about two hours to kill. I just hung around taking pictures. The ferry came on time and we loaded up very quickly. There where many cars left behind because the ferry takes only about 12 cars depending on the size of the vehicles. There is always a room for two bikes at the back of the ship. So you have to be either the first or second bike in line and you know you have guaranteed spot on the ship.
Because I was the first one on the ship that meant I will be the last one leaving the ship. I would have to either pass everybody and drive fast or stay in the dust for 150 km. I didn't like either of the options. I went to the cafeteria by the ferry loading dock and had a morning breakfast. That gave everybody half an hour headstart and I should ride in the clean air. And pretty much that's how it worked out. I caught up with one car, pulling a camper who is doing about 20 km/h. But I passed him quickly and there was nobody else there in northerly direction. There are many cars going southbound though. The amount of dust they created was horrible. But, there's nothing you can do about it. I got back to Cochrane early afternoon, and I went to the same campground as before. Quite comfortable and cheap. Tomorrow I should be crossing the border back to Argentina.
DAY 182. Cochrane to Cochrane w broken bike
I got up early today as I wanted to cross the border quite early in a day. It was beautiful day and I got on the way pretty fast. I made sure I have some water and some food as I will be going off the grid with very little if any help for almost entire day.
Had to retract 20 km on the main road and then took a small dirt road towards the border crossing. I had to get some different border forms for this border crossing specifically. There's no internet at this crossing so they cannot check your credentials. You have to do it online while you have an internet connection. They will check it on their end and you will receive a QR code via email, which you will present at the border. Without that they won't let you go through.
Pretty much right away, I entered another national park. This one is actually named Patagonia national Park. It is beautiful like everything else around here. The road is dirt with gravel and a lot of potholes. It gets progressively more narrow and worse conditions. There are several river crossings, but there are no problem. There are many guanacos along the road. They look like vicuñas but are much bigger. They are part of the same family, though, together with Llamas and alpacas. There are no cars anywhere, absolutely nobody’s here. I was taking a lot of pictures and getting closer and closer to the border.
I stopped to take a picture. Nice place. But when I tried to start the engine again, there was nothing. That's no good. I checked the fuses, they were all good. The battery was showing OK I don't have a voltmeter with me so I couldn't check further. Now what? I'm 120 km from the nearest town. I haven't seen anybody for half a day. There was no vehicle coming or going after I left the main road. The situation is not looking good. I might be here for a while. It is time to switch to a survival mode. First thing first. I have water and I have water filters and there is a river nearby. I won't die from dehydration. Have some food which should last me two or three days. After that, I will be catching squirrels or fish from the river. And I have shelter to survive a snowstorm. It was nothing to do just sit around and enjoy the scenery. All the time trying to figure out what the problem is and if there's anything I can do to fix it. Unfortunately, I didn't come up with any solutions. The only good thing is that I know that there is a border guard station 14 km up the road. But I didn't want to leave my bike, not yet. I waited few hours before the first car showed up. I don't know if he wanted to go all the way to the border but I ask him to go there and ask the border guards to come and get me. Yeah, he said no problem and he left. He came back within half an hour and told me that the border patrol will come and get me within an hour. And they did. Two guys with a pick up truck. I asked them if it is better for me too cross the border and get somehow to the nearest town in Argentina, or retract back in Chile. They said it is better to stay in Chile. But how to get me out of here now? There's no cell phone coverage over here and their satellite phone was not working. There are not too many options ahead of us. We are on our own. They pretty much couldn't leave me there so we loaded my bike on the pick up truck which wasn't easy. The bike is heavy and we have to lift it on the pick up truck in loose gravel. But we made it. I threw all my gear in the truck as well and we were heading back to the town I left in the morning. It took several hours to get there. They dropped me off at the car rental company with big workshop. I tried to give the guys some coffee money for their effort, but they absolutely refused. The town has very limited resources and there is not much in a way of any facilities or shops to fix the bike. The nearest shop is about 350 km up the gravel road. The question is how do I get there? I started to negotiate with the guys in a workshop and the owner said that he will take me there with his truck. He said I can leave the bike in the shop and he will load it up on his truck and we will leave early in the morning. He dropped me off at the campground and said he will pick me up at 6 o'clock in the morning tomorrow. I didn't even talk about the price. I will have to suck it up. Whatever it is going to be. I don't have a choice. At least I have a means to get my bike to the bigger town with more resources. It could be a long day, it'll take at least 6 to 8 hours to reach the town all on a dirt road full of washboards. But at least I am in the civilization and immediate threat of the survival situation is over.