Money, Gears and Wine

13th Jan, Wild camp Condor to Coyhaique (41.3M)

Friday 13th, but I was doing my best not to have anymore bad luck. Things, such as the weather, had improved a lot, but we still had a few broken items to attend to.

Todays ride was lovely. I was definitely feeling the love for the bike again and Gareth was getting there. The suncream was back in use, We had a tail wind for most of the day and at least half the day was on good gravel roads, hard packed and easy to cycle on. The road was really quiet and we could easily bird watch and chat. We passed a few cyclists heading the other way and cars every so often. Definitely the better route choice than going all the way to Coyhaique on busier and longer tarmaced roads.

The gravel road surface gradually deteriorated towards the end of the day, but was partly made up for with 10km of Tarmac on the final approach into Coyhaique. When we stopped at the view point overlooking Coyhaique, our initial impression was ´how huge!´ Certainly by the standards of the towns and villages on the Northern Carretera it was. We were certainly more hopeful for getting the bike fixed.

Arriving in Coyhaique required cycling up a final pull where I really did think my chain or my knees might snap. Thankfully neither did.

So, first things first, we found an ATM to draw out some money, then on to the bike shop. It was open and had a new gear system for sale. The downside was they only sold it as  a complete package of integrated brakes and gears. It was good quality shimano as an equivalent and newer version of what was already on my bike, but not cheap. There was no alternative, so I parted with my newly acquired pesos and Gareth and I left fully equipped to fix the bike (well for Gareth to fix the bike) tomorrow.

It´s been a while, but Gareth and I felt we´d well earned after all those days of strict budgeting and cycling our celebratory double scoop ice cream, which we purchased and promptly ate in the plaza.

Next stop was phone centre so that Gareth could wish his Mum Happy Birthday and then find a campsite. Dinner consisted of fresh salad, cheese, cold meats and wine, delicious and none of which we´d had for a while.