Arriving in Puerto Varas we were pleased to find a little quaint town which confirmed our choice to get straight out of Puerto Montt even though Derek stayed behind with the intention to stay the night. Backpacks back on, we weren`t so impressed to find a massive hill up to our hostel, we thought those days were over. Sadly not, but in the knowledge that this hill was only minimal (according to our picture we took of google maps, which we found is the best way to navigate a new city without a map before checking in) we pushed on up the hill for a few minutes and found our hostel.
After being buuzzed in we were greeted by the hostel staff, followed by two people we recognised from the navimag boat but didn`t really talk to, followed by two others from the same boat of whom we had talked to not only on the boat but also in our hostel in Puerto Natales.
After those four had checked in we rocked up and checked in to what we thought was a private room for the two of us without any luxuries like an en suite etc. However, for some reason we had been bumped ùp, maybe because it was low season and no-one had booked it, but instead of our minimal most basic private room (which we thought was a treat in itself), we now had the biggest room in the house, the family room with en suite roll top bath. This bad boy was bigger than most 12 person dorms we had come across. With a double bed, a single bed, couch and table and chairs and still so much room for activities. With Jen not impressed with my suggestion that she took the single bed, we put our stuff down and went out for a stroll around the town.
Not a whole lot to report here, we had a look around, ate some food, I attempted to ask for a menu in a little empanada shop, she didn`t understand me so I grabbed what I thought was the menu which turned out to be her accounts book which she grabbed back so we walked out hastily, bought some food from supermarket, cooked that food, at that food, then watched the hobbit in the hostel which turned into a little battle between us viewers and the landlord as to who could have the volume as they wanted it. He`d come in and turn it down, then we`d turn it back up when he left, only for him to come back and turn it down etc. Think we won though! (Hobbit is pretty good by the way if you can get past the silliness)
Anyway, what this blog is really about is an epic bike ride. After an awesome sleep in our super ace bed, we decided that we should get back on the fitness bandwagon following our four day lazy boat trip so we rented bikes from the hostel. For some reason the owners were suprised we were doing this, maybe because of the rain, but this wouldn`t stop us Brits. Or perhaps it was because it was 32k to the destination (small town called Frutillar). After being given a shady sketched map of where we had to go, and some minimal verbal directions we set off.
Didn`t take long for me to go wrong, following the rules of team man, I didn`t really listen to the instructions given to me so had a 50/50 of going right or left out the hostel. Turns out right wasn`t right so after Jen took the map off me and backtracked a bit, we were actually on our way, with Jen learning how to use gears on a bike for the first time. We were told that we need to follow the rail track all the way to the first village so that we did. Wasn`t much room to cycle, and what was on offer was a not so much fun dirt track with pretty big stones getting in the way. Thankfully the train track wasn`t used anymore so nothing to worry about, other than some bikers coming the other way, and the fact that Jen couldn`t really ride in a straight line whilst trying to use her newly found gears.
Sticking to the supposed path by the train track, I noticed a path go off into the fields, which I ignored thanks to the instructions given to us. After a few minutes following the train tracks we concluded that this couldn`t be the way as the stone path was getting smaller and more hazidous. We consulted the map and noticed a few bushes lining the path so we agreed that the small route through the field earlier was indeed the way. So back we went and confirmed this to be the case. Getting 10 feet onto the path Jen lost her shoe so doing the gentlemanly thing, I stopped, walked over to her shoe.......and took a photo.
Getting out of the fields we were told to stick to the tar roads, another thing which I conveniently forgot and proceeded to follow a dirt path to a dead end. So back we went again and rejoined the road, past cool houses such as this one.
Me and my bike......
There were a lot of hills on this 32k bike trip it turned out, with not much room for us on bikes as the cars zoomed by. This also led me to discover that Jen cannot ride bikes up hills, so most of our time was spent pushing the bike until we got to a flat or a downhill. I think we only ended up cycling about 3k in total! To be fair, the hills were ridculously steep and there were plenty of them.
As well as hills we had to endure some crazy dogs. They were just sitting out on the front of their owners property and they must have taken a disliking to bikes as all of them came out and barked at us, the most persistant of which chased us for about half a mile whilst nipping at our feet, teeth out menacingly. After the first mean canine, we saw the second one coming and got up a bit of speed to pass the little critter, but still didn`t stop him from defending his territory and snarling at us viciously whislt chasing us down the street.
The weather was pretty much like England so you guys weren`t missing out on much on this one! Looking back on where we had just come from, it kinda looked like an English countryside. You can see how steep the hill is that we just walked.
We grabbed lunch in a nice little cafe type thingy and ordered a chicken sandwich and chips each. The sandwich was huge, enough for 2 anyway and it came with about 5 scoops of guacamole, way too much!
After contending with ridiculous hills, manic dogs and with the time slipping away from us, we chickened out of riding back (even though a lot of it would have been downhill). To quote Jen, her "bum felt like it was on fire" so this was another reason why we opted against biking (on fire cos of the bike saddle before any jokes). So what does someone do when they have bikes and they don`t want to cycle back 32k to the hostel.........they obvioulsy jump on a bus and pay an extra fare for their bikes. Turned out to be a pretty good deal as our bikes actually took up 4 seats so we had 6 seats in total, 2 less in than we paid for.
After our epic bike ride, we checked the weather in the next destination and decided to get outta Puerto Varas pronto, so that we could climb a volcano in good weather!
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