We set out in a leisurely manner - O'Higgins (saying it out loud in a british sort of way is kind of fun....try it!). The sun was out and what looked like a drowning world only yesterday was looking new and hopeful this morning on February 7th. We reached the last village on the Carretera Austral. A few steepish climbs at the end.....I didn't want to admit that I was bothered by those "bumps" but I was...just couldn't "wait" to get there!
Right at the edge of town - I could already see some buildings, some people seemed to be roaming around in the hills on the side of the road, coming closer to the road they called our names: James and Margit, are you guys James and Margit?
Yes!
We got room for you to set up your tent and a reservation for the ferry across O'Higgins/San Martin lake tomorrow morning.
Now, how did that happen? - I don't recall announcing our arrival nor knowing anybody here!
As it turns out Stephanie rode through the rain last night until 9:30pm all the way to town.....all by herself. We were supposed to meet her at the refugio and when she found out it was locked she just rode on. She made reservations for us on the cheaper ferry - the only two companies were booked out for days in advance we learned later. Thank you Stephanie!!!
Here is where I discovered that my iPad quit me on the bumpy road of the Carretera Austral. It had turned itself on and the keyboard bumped random numbers into the padlock over and over again that it simply disabled itself leaving me with the only option to reset it to the factory setting with the help of iTunes from another computer - or I just have to wait until I get home. So, now I am writing on my iPhone which is working all right but is displaying a ghostly shadowy ring in the middle of the screen....I hope it can last another three weeks...PLEASE!!
James and I got to sleep in the warm kitchen (and yes, we are special) Up early next morning with a bunch of other adventurers we hit the ferry in time and this was the REAL END OF THE CARRETERA AUSTRAL:
We made it! 1250km from Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins and just a few 7km further to the lake and the ferry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carretera_Austral
One afternoon and one night was enough to stock up on a little food, rest and do a little "please don't rain" dance. We knew there was a crazy narrow and steep 7km single trek waiting for us between the end of the ferry across Lake O'Higgins and the short ferry on Lago Desierto crossing into Argentina. Ready or not- here we come!
