Waking up to roosters calling out in the morning and to beautiful mountain scenery is not a bad way to start a day. Even though the roosters started at 5am and kept going and going ... did get pretty annoying but did get you out of that comfortable bed to start the day. After eating our bread and cheese, which Colin and I thought it was since Eduardo told us it was cheese but after we found out it was powdered milk, we headed off to the most amazing section of the Carretera Austral. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this highway just imagine a dirtroad carving its way along a forested mountain side following rivers and providing beautiful scenery. Yes this HIGHWAY is mainly dirt and for many sections just large enough for one vehicle with many blind corners. A section of the highway was under heavy construction and a ferry route was the only possible route around which provided a nice break from riding.
We headed to a small town called Puyuahapi to have lunch at a ocean side cafe. As we ate we watched locals fish off the dock and pull in their boats. We continued on the Careterra Austral to find a place to camp for the night. As it turns out we ended up riding and riding to not find any camping spots but to only traverse up a mountain side into the clouds. The road climbed up the mountain with many hairpin turns and rutted out dirt roads. The top provided amazing scenery of giant glacier riddle mountain peaks. We then started the decent to the other side where we continued to ride to find a place to rest for the night. We rode a lot more than we anticipated and found a little place in Mañiquales. This place has everything one needs: three beds, showers, homecooked meals, inexpensive and has internet. Even though many would consider this place to be ¨interesting¨ to stay in.
