(I wrote this a week ago…)

Sally just told me her last post was up to Rio Tranquillo where we did a boat ride to see some marble caves… yawn.

This was just 4 days ago, but it seems like weeks.

Since then, short ride to Cochrane, next day a 22km hike in the Valle Chacabuco, back to Cochrane again (yes two nights in the same place!), then another short ride to Caleta Tortel (I’m calling that a down day), where Sally got a warning for speeding, tich tich, and today we rode the last 150km of the Carreterra Austral, which was just as, or more stunning than the rest.

Also, there were several ‘incidents’ today. Firstly Ben (a French guy we’ve been defacto traveling with for a few days) crashed his bike, no harm done.Then, Sally tipped her bike over while stationary, got stuck under it and banged her head on the stony ground in the process, ouch. (no serious harm done). And lastly I was run off the road by a police car driving too fast (them not me!) on a narrow mountain road. (also, no harm done). But what the fuck Carabinerios, tell us to slow down and then pull a stunt Ike that. Geez.

Anyway, having made it to the end of the Carreterra Austral we’re now headed back the way we came to cross a remote mountain pass called Passo Roballo. So remote there isn’t even a Chilean immigration post. So we had to apply for a permit to leave that way online. And in to contrast to the usual Latin American efficiency, it was issued the very next day.

Not much else to report. We’re traveling well, bikes are holding up great, the scenery is stunning. Roll on.