7. Along the Coast
DAY 170
I had an awesome night sleep. I slept nine hours which is as rare as a blue moon. Boy, I had a weird dream. I was flying Elon Musk’s around in his private airplane. And I thought my flying days are over.
It is beautiful morning, blue skies again. The temperature went down to 9° overnight. I am following the Pacific coastline southbound. The landscape is a carbon copy of Washington or Oregon COAST. Nice and gentle rolling hills with pine forest, small farm fields and tidal flats. There's a lot of logging here as well, and they are great number of pulp mills here. There are a lot of weekend houses and cottages all shapes and sizes. This is where Chilean people come to rest. I tried to plot my route via small road with as little traffic as possible, and for the most part I succeeded.
I rode through a nice town of Constitution with nice beaches. For some reason the sand here is black. The nearest volcano is 200 km away, so I don't know why. The nice walkways along the beaches with people walking, running and biking along. There are some cool rocks at the beach, which totally reminds me of Cannon Beach in Oregon.
I stopped for a breakfast, had a coffee and enjoy the scenery. It was pretty easy day as far as the riding goes. There was nothing really special along the way. I got to my destination town of Concepción quite early. I checked in, unpacked, and went to explore the city as per normal. Despite being the middle of the week there are a lot of people on the street. As every town in South America, there's a nice plaza in the middle of the town. People sitting on the grass, eating ice cream, chilling, and listening to people playing music. I went a little bit further and I ran into a Starbucks again. I swear, I don't look for them. Somehow I will find one, if there is one in the town. I got my coffee and croissant and went back to the plaza. Two guys were playing Pink Floyd songs and they were pretty good. It was pretty cool, drinking coffee, sitting on the grass and listening to some great tunes. On the way back to my hotel I stopped at Turkish kebab place for dinner. Very cheap, tasty and fast. Just the way I like it.
Back in the hotel, I start editing my pictures. I never seems to take less than 100 pictures a day. Most of the time it is many times that.
Pretty easy and unremarkable day.
DAY 171
I had breakfast in the hotel so I didn't have to look for food elsewhere. Today's destination is fluid. I plan on camping tonight and I don't know exactly where I am going to end up. I found few campgrounds on the map, so let's see which one I end up at.
The scenery today is exactly the same as yesterday. Rolling hills, small farms, and nice secondary roads. There was a little bit more traffic than I would like. But after I crossed Maine N. South Highway there was nobody on the road again. I can see row of volcanos stretching from north to south. All of them has still a lot of snow on them. It's a beautiful sunny day. For some reason it feels like early spring yesterday today it feels like early fall today. Maybe because some of the fields were already being harvested. Temperature was almost 20 the whole day. Beautiful.
I'm getting close to some of the volcanoes, actually I am heading right for the biggest one. It is a perfect cone, it reminds me Mount Hood in Oregon. Before I had off road, I stopped in the last town to get some food and water. I don't know if there's gonna be anything available at a place where I'm gonna be camping. I get my stuff so I'm not going to die from starvation or dehydration. And I got box of the best Chilean wine as well. Road changes to a dirt road right outside of the town. They are a m noeadows full of colourful flowers, which makes perfect contrast with the blue skies. I have no idea what the road looks like, but I will find out I guess.
Road is filled with loose gravel, so I'm not going fast anywhere. That's fine, there's plenty to look around. Then I get to a checkpoint with a closed gate. It is the entrance to the national park I'll be riding through. The sign says the park is closed. That sucks. Two ladies come up so I ask if the park is indeed closed. They said yes, kind of. They asked me where I'm going so I told them I am going through the park on the other side of the volcano. They asked if I have a ticket, and I said no, I didn't know I need a ticket. I asked if I can get through and they just look at each other and open the gate for me. I guess I was looking desperate enough and theyI didn't want to deal with me. That's fine with me as long as I can get through. I ask if the road is OK and they said it is so so. No idea what it means.
According to the map, there are several lakes along the road. The road is very dusty. When I meet another car, I have to wait five minutes for the dust to settle. I'm riding through beautiful Pine Forest and in a breaks I can see the volcano I'll be riding around. Then I get to the first lake. It. is in the middle of the forest with snow covered mountains behind it. The water is crystal clear. There is no camping anywhere and there is no swimming or any activities allowed on the lake. I hang around for a bit and continue on my way. There is actually very nice and twisty road, all in the forest. I am super careful as the road is only single lane two track, wide enough for one vehicle. I'm hugging my side, ready to take evasive actions in the case of some inspiring rally driver is practising for Dakar Rally.
The second lake is even nicer than the first one. Crystal clear bluewater with the volcano in the background. Absolutely gorgeous. It is hard to judge how deep the lake is, the water is that clear. I would love to jump in and go for a swim, but it is forbidden again. I can understand. I go for a little hike around the lake and take a whole bunch of pictures. The landscape around is a lava field. I could spend a whole day over here but it is time to get going again.
The next like is fairly big. There are some nice beaches over there with black volcanic sand. You can see the volcano towering on the other side of the road. Very cool sights.
I have a few campgrounds coded in my GPS. I ride by the first one, but then I decide to turn around and go back to explore. The campground is way off the main road so it is nice and quiet. The tent sites are nice big . They have their washrooms and showers with hot water. Bonus I'm staying here for the night. The price for the campsite is quite expensive. It is $40. There's lots of money for sleeping in the tent, doesn't matter how you look at it.
I set up my camp and register with the host. She tells me there is a waterfall not far from here. I grab my camera and go looking for it. Pretty cool.
Then it is time for dinner and wine. The whole set up is just right and I'm in pretty good mood. After dinner I go to explore more. I take some pictures of the volcano and scout for location for some night shoots. It should be absolutely dark over here with no lights anywhere. The night is clear, it will be absolutely awesome. So I have a plan, now back to the camp and write the blog and edit some pictures.
It was a very enjoyable day. I hope the night will be the same.