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_drafts/carretera_austral_chapter4.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: Carretera Austral - The long wait
+#date: 2023-12-23
+description: Feeling stuck
+thumbnail: assets/img/carretera_austral_010.jpg
+giscus_comments: true
+tags: cycling trips carretera-austral
+categories: travel
+images:
+  compare: false
+  slider: true
+---
+
+<swiper-container keyboard="true" navigation="true" pagination="true" pagination-clickable="true" pagination-dynamic-bullets="true" rewind="true">
+  <swiper-slide>{% include figure.liquid loading="eager" path="assets/img/carretera_austral_011.jpg" class="img-fluid rounded z-depth-1" %}</swiper-slide>
+  <swiper-slide>{% include figure.liquid loading="eager" path="assets/img/carretera_austral_030.jpg" class="img-fluid rounded z-depth-1" %}</swiper-slide>
+</swiper-container>
+
+<div class="caption">
+    Rosselot lake and confluence of Palena and Rosselot rivers.
+</div>
+
+After a few days cycling with a loaded bike I had become aware of how many kms I could cover each day.
+So I estimated that going that getting to Puyuhuapi would be a breeze.
+This gave me some time to visit the places I had planned to visit the day before and couldn't because of the rain.
+The owner of my accommodation let me leave the bags there, so I traveled light to a couple of places.
+First I visit the Rosselot lake.
+After the road through Pumalin, this was the second time I would ride on gravel, but this time the gravel was more similar to what I found further south.
+Getting to the lake didn't take too much time and the gravel wasn't that bad.
+There aren't any walking path around the lake, but there is a small pier from where one can walk along the shore.
+The lake is surrounded by green mountains and many birds can be seen in the beach.
+After a walk and some pictures, I headed back the same road and then to the second place, which was the confluence between the Palena and Rosselot rivers.
+To get there I parked my bike next to the road and crossed a fence used to keep cattle off the road.
+The confluence is not as majestic as the ones of rivers south of Coyhaique, but still worth a short visit.
+
+## Heading to Puyuhuapi
+
+{% include figure.liquid path="assets/img/carretera_austral_012.jpg" class="img-fluid rounded z-depth-1" zoomable=true %}
+
+<div class="caption">
+    Puyuhuapi from Los Canelos Trail.
+</div>
+
+After this short adventure on gravel, I returned to the hostel to get my bags and resume my trip south.
+The road to Puyuhuapi was flat with a couple of gravel sections where landslides went through the road.
+Since I started later than previous days, I had  a stop for lunch on the side of the road around Risopatron lake.
+By that time the cold head wind and passing clouds that were present leaving La Junta subsided and the day was now bright and sunny.
+Soon after lunch I arrived to Puyuhuapi, so I headed to a cafe for dessert.
+Puyuhuapi is a small town located in the coast of a fjord that is well protected from the sea, so the waters are quiet.
+The turn to use my tent had finally come, I installed myself in one the camping sites in the coast (one was closed and didn't ask in the third one).
+I was alone in the camping, but the owner told that another cyclist left during the morning.
+
+Similar to La Junta, there is an easy hike to get a panoramic view of the town and the fjord.
+The trail goes through the side of a hill and is home of many canelo trees (hence the name of the trail).
+Since the days before were rainy and cattle usually use the trails, the top of the trail was muddy.
+Nonetheless, the views at the top were worth the dirt in the shoes.
+Back in town I walked around and bought bread, striking a conversation with the bakery owner.
+He shared with me some stories (like one were a cycling tourist was strangely attacked by a puma during winter) and advice for the road south.
+
+## Long wait
+
+{% include figure.liquid path="assets/img/carretera_austral_031.jpg" class="img-fluid rounded z-depth-1" zoomable=true %}
+
+<div class="caption">
+    Canelo tree.
+</div>
+
+The morning next day was very cold, the coldest during this trip, with temperatures below zero.
+In the camping I had my first experience turning on the wood stove, but I didn't succeeded without the help of the owner.
+The Queulat NP was closed a three days a week due to road work on the park, which meant I had to wait one more day around Puyuhuapi.
+So I decided to move to a camping site closer to the park (the camping site inside the park was also not working).
+These campings were just a few kms from Puyuhuapi, so I just took my time defrosting/drying my tent with an incipient sun light.
+Before leaving the town, I enjoyed a last visit to the cafe to have a kuchen and hot coffee.
+
+There were two working camping sites near the park, my first option was slightly after the entrance of the park (further away from Puyuhuapi).
+When I got there, the toilets and showers looked clean, but the sites were not quite ready and you can see that sheep had used them recently for protection.
+So I went to the other option, which was before and further back from the entrance to the park.
+The camping was really nice, with access to a small beach where later that day I saw a martin pescador (common kingfisher), and the next morning the fins of a couple of toninas (Chilean dolphins) going into the fjord for breakfast. 
+
+So far my food planning had been very poor, I still have food that I brought from Santiago and hadn't used my camping stove.
+Bread had been available throughout the trip, and restaurants/cafes were easy to find.
+However there weren't any stores near the camping site, the closest one were I was able to get bread (actually quite big ones) was in front of the other camping site.
+Learning this from one of the workers in the camping site, meant I had to travel there and back once again.
+It turned out that this would be enough for breakfast and a couple of days to keep me fed on the bike.
+
+{% include figure.liquid path="assets/img/carretera_austral_032.jpg" class="img-fluid rounded z-depth-1" zoomable=true %}
+
+<div class="caption">
+    Sunset at Puyuhuapi fjord.
+</div>
+
+Here I planned my next day, which was going to be quite hectic.
+The plan was to wake up early to arrive as soon as the NP opens, hike to the overlook and then continue my trip around noon.
+With 60 km separating the NP and the camping site I planned to stay the day after, including a gravel section with a "cuesta" that many people think is the most difficult of the whole trip, this was going to be the day I would arrive the latest to my next stop so far.
+Without artificial light in the camping, I went straight to sleep after enjoying an amazing sunset.
+
+
+#### Maps:
+
+<div class="strava-embed-placeholder" data-embed-type="activity" data-embed-id="10014575244" data-style="standard"></div><script src="https://strava-embeds.com/embed.js"></script>
+
+<br/><br/>
+
+<div class="strava-embed-placeholder" data-embed-type="activity" data-embed-id="10020435369" data-style="standard"></div><script src="https://strava-embeds.com/embed.js"></script>
+
+<br/><br/>
+
+#### More pictures:
+
+<a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/faoch/albums/72177720313509568" title="Carretera Austral"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53409424323_e204897c05_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Carretera Austral"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

_drafts/carretera_austral_chapter3.md → _posts/2024-03-02-carretera_austral_chapter3.md

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 ---
 layout: post
 title: Carretera Austral - The valley of rain
-#date: 2023-12-23
+date: 2024-03-02
 description: Days of rain and cold
 thumbnail: assets/img/carretera_austral_010.jpg
 giscus_comments: true