Wandering Wheels: Day 11 – Los Penitentes to Los Andes 92km

Punta del Inca

Set off from the hotel, which was a bit like Fawlty Towers, at 8.50am on another beautiful day. Considering the elevation it was warm….but, despite the time of day, still very windy !! Stopped at Punta del Inca to have a look at the amazing rocks coloured by sulphur next to the thermal springs. It took 3 ½ hours to travel a steep 26km (into an incredibly strong headwind) to the top and the start of the Cristo Redentor tunnel. We got a lift from a man in a white van (after waiting for just 2 minutes) who helped us load our bikes and panniers. We sat on a bench in the back next to them and had a bumpy ride through the tunnel in to Chile. They were rebuilding the road and we had to cycle along a stony track to the customs post about 4 km further on. It took nearly 1 hour to fill out our 4 forms and pass them to 4 separate people in 4 different coloured uniforms positioned about 20m apart! We told our story 4 times with differing reactions from each set of officials and had our bags searched for perishable goods. Our dried prunes were confiscated! The road down was constructed from concrete (many years ago) and had started to disintegrate at the expansion joints every 10m. The ride was bumpy and the wind so strong that, at times, we had to pedal in granny gear! Not the freewheeling ride we had been looking forward to. The scenery was spectacular and the famous 29 hairpins was an experience not to be forgotten. We met a couple from Costa Rica who had been travelling down through South America for 8 months and had another year and a half to go! Their panniers were enormous and their skin dark and weather beaten. The man (whose name I have now forgotten unfortunately) was a photographer and removed an enormous SLR from his handlebar bag and took our photos…worse still he had a Dictaphone and wanted to know why we were travelling through South America on our bikes? Our answers were cringingly clichéd and stilted…I sounded like a 1970’s Miss World contestant rambling on about meeting people and experiencing different cultures!! Groan! The road thankfully turned to tarmac and we had a wonderful descent with the headwind meaning we hardly needed to use our brakes. We did use them when we spotted a huge Condor landing on a pylon just next to us on the roadside! Had a great view of it through the binoculars. After 20km of descending we stopped at a beautiful roadside café where the local accent was totally different and I could barely understand or be understood. We eventually received 6 empanadas, which were twice the size of those in Argentina, and some delicious chilled nectarine juice. On a visit to the toilet I discovered that my face was black with dust and my lips had a dried black crust around them…no wonder she looked alarmed when I staggered in! We sat outside under a canopy listening to local folk music and recovering from our efforts. The road (many sections in stone due to construction works) continued down a green valley with tall trees and giant cactus (much greener than the Argentinean side) and after 95km we arrived at Los Andes. It was very hot and heaving with Christmas shoppers. We wheeled our dusty bikes through the streets, past Father Christmas and the usual Christmas decorations, looking for a place to stay. After ½ hour asking policemen and shoppers we arrived at Hotel Plaza and eventually checked in at 7.00pm. They allowed a bikes in the room as if it was completely normal. Had dinner (mostly meat with no vegetables as usual) and collapsed into bed at midnight. We have cycled across the Andes!!