Food Not Fuel: Evicted families in Guatemala still face an uncertain future | Trócaire

Food Not Fuel: Evicted families in Guatemala still face an uncertain future | Trócaire

The Carretera Austral

I was excited to cross back into Chile despite having already spent plenty of time in the country further north. For the next week or so I was going to be cycling part of the "Carretera Austral" which is probably the most famous bicycle route on the continent stretching for more than a thousand kilometres from Puerto Montt to Villa O`Higgins at it`s most southerly point. It was built during the time of the Pinochet regime to link some of the isolated rural communities in the south of the country and passes some spectacular landscape. I was only cycling part of the Carretera Austral as there is a ferry near the end that only runs up to the end of March.

I crossed into Chile just after dark but I still had a bit to go to my first town. Although it was after nightfall with a cloudless sky and a full moon I could still clearly make out the beautiful mountainous landscape around me. There was almost complete silence with no wind and no traffic so the mostly downhill ride from the border crossing to the first town of Futalefu felt like something from a surreal dream. After being asked to call back twice at the local fire station, finally said they wouldn´t be able to put me up due to lack of space. But the initially surprised local priest that I asked saved the day and let me stay in an unoccupied house beside the church. The following morning after having used up most of the Chilean pesos I had left on the usual bread and banana staple I was slightly perturbed to find that my bank card did not work at the only atm in the town. I was also informed that this would be the last atm I would pass until I reached Coyhaique a bigger town a few hundred kilometres down the Carretera Austral. Thankfully I had stocked up well in the last supermarket before leaving Argentina.

Back into Chile heading from Futlafu to the Carretera Austral

As it was starting to get chillier in the evenings and this part of Chile is known for its rain fall I was trying to either find places to camp that had a bit of shelter or stay indoors. The following night when I was camping in a kind of a barn I managed to explode a bag of pasta sauce all over myself. This would all be great fun if I wasn´t camping out and supposedly trying to avoid rodents instead of attracting them. Just as well it somehow managed to explode mostly over my trousers, shoes and socks. I managed to do it a few times so the choice language I screamed on each occasion probably scared away any curious wildlife. .

Elaborate map of the Carretera Austral painted
onto a wooden bus shelter

I finally hit the Carretera Austral proper the following day and was not initially bowled over by the landscape.

It seemed to get gradually more impressive the further south I got. I bumped into Jos, an Australian touring cyclist heading north who I had been tipped off about by Stefano the motor biker I met back in Bariloche. We exchanged notes on the route ahead but didn´t hang around for too long as it was chilly and starting to drizzle. He warned me about an abandoned house infested with mice to avoid and also had had a bit of a nightmare camping in a snowstorm further south by the massive Lago Buenos Aires. Jos mouse storey played on my mind a bit and so for the next few nights I made sure that my stove was well washed and packed away as well as all my food. I didn´t want another pasta sauce incident attracting animals. Despite preparing for the potential of getting rained on every day on the Carratera Austral I was lucky to get some dry days despite some suspiciously dark low lying clouds at times. I think prolonged downpour is the thing I dread the most on this trip which I have been lucky enough to avoid for the most part. So far..

A few days into the Carratera Austral I made it to Queulat National Park. It was after dark when I passed the main entrance and Jos had said there was nobody around so a good place to camp for the night was in the information centre. As per his instructions I stealthily made my way through the park and past all the empty camp spots to the info centre at the end of the main path. My other touring pals Simon and Olivia had also mentioned this natinonal park but had warned me that it was around the equivalent of USD 14 when they passed in March. Being on a long journey and a tight budget where I spend the majority of nights camping out in my tent I usually avoid official campsites where you have to pay. I will pay for a bed and a shower from time to time if needs be but why pay in a campsite if I can usually pedal a few kilometres down the road and camp in the bushes! Being keen to avoid any park rangers I kept the lights low that night. I was up early the following morning as I had erected my tent on the main table in the centre. Coming into winter and being quite far south it wasn`t bright until around 9 am. I was keen to check out the hanging glacier that the park was famous for before I hit the road. I put my bike around the back of the info centre and went for a stroll. There were two paths and after coming back from the short 300 metre path with nobody around I got greedy and decided to do the bigger hike up closer to the glacier that took two and a half hours to do. Of course I bumped into two park rangers half way into the second hike. They told me I could pay on my way out of the park. Ah great. Later on after collecting my bike and on my way out of the park I stopped at the ranger station at the front gate. I was honest, I was only after crossing into Chile a few days previous and my bank card at Futalefu didn´t work. I wouldn´t have any cash until I got to Coyhaique. He seemed to be more of a decent lad then the other guy I had met earlier and said that was fine. Gracias! The ranger also advised that I had a climb ahead but the paved road started after about 30 km.

Well worth the two hour hike to check out "Ventisquero Colgante"  the
hanging glacier

 I arrived at the top of the summit of all of 500 metres (which had still managed to take me ages... a far cry from the Peruvian climbs) just as it was getting dark. Terrible timing because not only was it chillier higher up but what I could make out of the landscape appeared to be stunning. I kept pushing on in the dark not having a clue as to where I was going to stay that night as the next town was still another 30 or so kilometres away. At the bottom of the descent on the far side and about a kilometre along the paved stretch I passed some pre-fab buildings and the first sign of lights on. Knock, knock. Who´s there? Can you not tell from the smell.... it´s a touring cyclist! It was a base for the guys working at paving the road. Thankfully they welcomed me in, fed me a stack of rice, bread and tuna. I even got a bunk bed for the night.

This guy was walking the length of Chile and left Punta Arenas about two months previous.
He expected it to take him a year.. I`ve heard that one before

Don´t forget the rules of following your dream, always wear
a high-viz vest

A quiet Casa de Ciclista in Villa Manihuales

By the following evening I had made it to the small town of Villa Manihuales. This is a well know pit stop for the many cyclists that do the Carretera Austral every year. The lovely Jorge who runs the Casa informed me that I was possibly going to be the last cyclist to pass through this institution because in June he was moving to Puerto Aisen which is nearby but not on the main Carretera Austral. Despite spending a lot of this trip on my own I thankfully very rarely feel lonely but it was slightly weird being in the Casa on my own having heard from Jorge that the record number of cyclists staying in the place in one night was 18! That and reading all the messages in the guest book of tourers I knew who had passed earlier. Seems like March was the time to be there.

The following day there were two route options for the days ride to Coyhaique, a 90 km mainly on a hilly dirt road or the 10 km longer paved road that would involve heavier traffic with not much of a shoulder nearer Coyhaique. I opted for the dirt road. By 9 pm that night, exhausted and having been cycling in the dark for the previous few hours I was starting to think I should have gone for the more straight forward paved route. Thankfully Marcello, my couchsurfing host in Coyhaique didn´t seem to mind my late arrival and even gave me a nice meal. That evening I had a great chat with Marcello and a some of his friends over a few glasses of wine.

After leaving Coyhaique a few days later I was planning on turning off the Carretera Austral and heading for a ferry across Lago Buenos Aires to Chile Chico which is a small town on the border. Before I got to the boat I had the biggest climb of my stint on the Carretera Austral at over a thousand metres. I found it easier than my days ride into Coyhaique as it was all paved. It was probably the coldest I had been on the trip so far when I was up at the summit just as it was getting dark. There was plenty of snow on either side of the road but the road itself was clear. I descended on the far side until the snow disappeared happy that I had made most of distance as the only boat crossing the next day was at midday.

I caught the ferry without any hassle and had a beautiful sunny day for the two hour crossing. I hadn´t arrived long in Chile Chico when I met up with Angela who was my couchsurfing host. I had a very relaxing day off hanging out with Angela and her flatmate Maria. They taught me how to make a delicious vegeterian Charquicán which is a local Mapuche speciality. The following morning I headed for the nearby border back into Argentina.

Couch Surfing!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW TO BILLY'S TROCAIRE FUNDRAISING PAGE

The Argentinian Lake District

After bidding farwell to Simon and Olivia who were heading north I headed south for San Martin de los Andes which was only a short 45 km ride away on relatively flat terrain. I took a nice long picnic break half way through to somehow devour most of the delicious banana bread and corn bread Olivia had presented me upon leaving. You would think that my appetite would have plateaued by this stage of the trip but it seems to increase by the week!

I had been put in touch with Mariano who was an Argentenian bike enthusiast living in San Martin de los Andes. Mariano (aka Pomelo, meaning grapefruit?!) ran a rafting company on one of the nearby rivers. After tracking him town he welcomed me into his home like a long lost (cycling) brother! Mariano had done several big bike tours in South America. It turned out that we had both passed through Colombia around a similar time during the protests and road blocks of August 2013. Mariano had hosted a few other touring Pan American cyclist who I knew from the road who were further ahead of me by this stage. He was in great form as he had just finished work that day for a few weeks off to do some bike touring with his lovely girlfriend in northern Argentina and was then heading off to a football tournament in Brazil in June.

By this stage of the trip, mainly because of autumn fast approaching I wasn´t planning any more long lay overs but as there was heavy rain the next day I made the most of my time off  by doing a long over due clothes wash. I felt like it was the first time in months that my clothes were actually properly clean. Later in the evening Mariano had plenty of tips for my route further south as he had also toured southern Patagonia as far as Ushuaia.
It was in San Martin de los Andes that I discovered Argentenian bakeries.... WOW! Very impressive. Probably the best I have encountered of any country on the trip and you can get probably three quality sticky buns for the same price as one in Chile.

I had my first bit of snow the day I left San Martin de los Andes as I climbed out of town. The next few days I experienced some shabby weather with a fair bit of rain. Depite the weather I passed some beautiful lakes and forest scenery. The night before I made it into San Carlos de Bariloche my tent had got soaked in a down pour so I was thrilled that I had somewhere indoors to stay once I got to Bariloche. I had put up with miserable rain all day and with some windy gusts by the lakeside on the outskirts of Bariloche so I was thrilled to make it to TT`s place. TT was a pal of Pomelo´s and another touring cyclist who had cycled all the way from Argentina as far as the States a few years back. Being a fellow tourer I think he understood how appreciative I was to get a roof over my head for the night and a place to dry out my tent and all the rest of my soaking gear after the drenching I had received!


I left TT and his family the following morning planning only a quick look in the city centre before cycling on but it seemed like a lovely place and with the weather having picked up I could see that Bariloche was surrounded by spectacular landscape. I decided to stay an extra day or so and rather than imposing on TT and his family again I took the rare move of checking into a hostel.

It turned out to be a great move as I met some lovely folk including Stefano who was an Italian off-road motorbiker on a world tour. I tend to mostly promote other cyclists blogs but this guys photos have to be seen to be believed. www.stefanomelgrati.com
A talented photographer and a lovely guy. Having traveled from southern Patagonia we exchanged notes on the routes ahead and he tipped me off about Jos an Australian touring cyclist I could look out for in the coming weeks who was heading north.
I managed to get a very funny night out with the gang from the hostel where I finally got to sample
an Argentenian craft beer .. or two. It was a testing evening for my Spanish comprehension to take in some Spaniards rat-ta-tat machine gun speed chat with some equally fast talking Argentenians!

Bald power - Stefano the off road motor bike tourer and myself

Paula (from Madrid) practices her Irish dancing after a crash course
from some dodgy Irish guy the night before.

Delicious homemade burgers all round having worked up a good appetite on our
day trip to a local viewing point.

El Bolson was the next proper town I hit after Bariloche where I stayed my first night at an Argentenian Bomberos. Meat is a lot cheaper in Argentina in the supermarket compared with Chile so I was treating myself to the rare bit of meat in my diet with some quality Argentenian chorizo and morchilla which is a very tasty kind of blood sausage similar to black pudding except better!

So if you have missed a few trips to the church in the previous months does spending a full night
there count as a catch up... not if you're sleeping I suppose.

After El Bolson I had a beautiful blue skied clear crisp autumnal day to Cholila where I had organised to stay with a Polish priest. After I had showered up and shared a tasty vegeterian meal we headed off to meet some of his friends for a 30th wedding anniversary. They were having a meat feast and didn´t decline the offer of more grub! Being a Saturday everyone was in great form and it turned out to be quite a late night so I didn´t hit the road until early afternoon on Sunday.

This friendly fella accompanied me through most of Los Alerces National Park

I had a big day on the Monday as I had to make sure to make it all the way through the beautiful "Los Alerces" National Park on a hilly dirt road. I was not allowed to camp in the park despite passing lots of lovely camp spots. To be honest I had no intention of camping as there had been a rat infestation of the park during the summer and they were carrying a pretty nasty virus so I made sure to make it indoors in the town of Trevellin on the far side of the park that evening. I ended up spending a rare night in the warm common room at the back of a police station. It was another opportunity to do some tent drying after a downpour the previous night.The only catch was that I had to be up and out by 6.30 am the next morning so an early start to pack up the gear. As it was dark until after 8 in the morning I headed off to a petrol station to make the most of the free wifi before hitting the road again proper. I was heading for the Chilean border which I crossed early that evening at dusk.

The road towards Chile

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW TO BILLY'S TROCAIRE FUNDRAISING PAGE

Continuing south for Argentina

Back to the camping

Between Santiago and Valparaiso I had spent a few weeks mostly off the bike which was a lot longer than planned. Several bike issues were some of the reasons for the longer stays but these weren't entirely to blame!  As has sometimes been the case getting back on the bike after a lay off I was in mixed emotions. Definitely a bit sad to be saying goodbye to lots of good people and when I thought about it, this was the first time that I was going to be back on my own in nearly a month as Jack and Michael had been over for the week before my stops in Santiago and Valparaiso. Sometimes it can take a day to change the mindset to get back into the solo bike ridding. That said I was definitely relieved and happy to be back on the open road on a lovely sunny afternoon.

Some pretty chilled surf towns along the coast south of Valparaiso

I wasn't cycling right by the coast for very long but I did tend to
 keep half an eye on the water after the tsunami
warnings a few weeks previous.

Autumn in the air

Despite the long lay off I was exhausted the day I left and knew I would need a night or two of good rest before I would be fully back in action. Being a hilly city I had to crawl up into the hills on my way out of town. Normally when I am on the road I try to get up at a decent time but on my first night I was going to allow myself a good sleep on. That first night back on the road I slept from 10 pm until 12 noon the next day pretty much straight through. I needed it.
What I didn't need was to be getting up late and still only doing shortish distances several days later. It wasn't long after I had left Valparaiso that I heard about the terrible wild fires that killed several people and destroyed homes making several thousand families homeless in the hills. While in Valparaiso the wind would get very strong in the afternoons especially higher up the hills and presumably made it very easy for a fire to spread.

It didn't take long back on the road to receive more incredible hospitality
from strangers. This lovely couple invited me to lunch. - delicious fish.

It was almost a week before I got a decent days cycling under my belt and that was because I had a specific target. The town of Constitution was where I was headed as I reckoned it would hopefully have a Bomberos (Fire station) where I might be able to get my first shower since getting back on the road. Having had a few hot days and cycled some very dusty tracks by the time I arrived into Constitution I don't think I've ever looked in more of a state. Of course I only realised this when I saw myself in the mirror after the Bomberos had kindly let my stay. There was a lot of dust stuck to my face and I looked like a chimney cleaner, a chimney cleaner in cycling gear.

Josue cycled with me for about 20 km into Chillan to show me where the Bomberos was.

I was finally back into doing proper distances the days after Constitution as I gradually made my way away from the coast and did a few days on the main north-south highway 5. Despite all the bike repairs in the previous weeks my rear gears were not running smoothly and the cable eventually snapped about 25km outside the town of Victoria where I was hoping to make that evening. I was stuck in a high gear (for going fast) and thankfully the hills weren't too bad on the main road which meant that I flew the last stretch at about 23 km per hour as it was like cycling a single speed. I decided to replace both gear cables in the local bike shop the next morning hoping that this would finally be the end of the bike issues.

No prizes for guessing who the patron saint in the town of San Nicolas was

Arriving into the lakeside tourist town of Pucon in Chile's lake district

A day later I was off the main highway making my way east towards the Andes and Argentina, passing into the beautiful lakes district of Chile. After I left the picturesque lake side tourist town of Pucon I was back up into the mountains where there was a more notable sense of autumn being in the air with lots of the trees changing colours as they started losing their leaves. For about a week after leaving Valparaiso I was in sandals and short sleeves with the hot weather but things were definitely changing quickly as I got further south and deeper into autumn.

For the birdwatchers... pretty bird.

 It was a step climb on gravel for the last 20 km out of Chile to the border crossing of Mamuil Malal. I crossed into Argentina in the late afternoon with 70 km still to do to get to the first town of Junin de los Andes. I would probably have camped if it wasn't for the fact that I had arranged to meet my old cycling buddies Simon and Olivia who were making their way north at this stage. They had said that they were going to prepare a feast to celebrate our brief reunion so there was no way I was going to miss that!

I've been telling people for a long time that I am cycling from Alaska
to Argentina so it was strange to finally cross into Argentina.

With a gradual downhill and a slight tail wind I managed to fly the 70 km to Junin and made it to the hostel where the guys were shortly after night fall. It was fantastic to get the team back together and they certainly hadn't lied when they said they were going to prepare a feast. Six delicious homemade pizzas no less and a chocolate mouse for desert. Thanks Simon and Olivia!

This is the sight that greeted me on a trip to my first Argentinan supermarket.
No wonder they are good at football if you can practice your headers while
popping in to pick up the milk and dribble your way round to the bread section.

"Now Billy I don't think you've eaten enough since you got to Junin so I
am filling your snack box full of banana bread and corn bread"
Thanks Olivia..!!

I took the following day off to hang out with the guys and that night we ate another ridiculous amount of food. A cottage pie large enough to satisfy at least 6 healthy adult appetites was polished off by the three hungry cyclists. As if that wasn't enough there was some banoffi, corn bread and banana bread that needed a home. By the time I rolled out of Junin I had probably consummed enough calories for a week's cycling!

Onto the famous "Ruta 40" that runs almost the length of Argentina

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW TO BILLY'S TROCAIRE FUNDRAISING PAGE