Americanos at the Motel — OWN THE UNKNOWN

After easing into our trip by relaxing on Easter Island it was time to finally hop on our bikes and see what Chile had to offer. A few weeks in and we have already had what feels like a lifetime of adventure.

Our first day in itself could make up an entire blog post. We left our comfortable home away from home in the hills of Santiago and headed out into more desert hills full of cactuses and scrubby bushes trying to escape the smog that had settled into the Santiago valley. For me everything was new, new bike, first time riding a fully loaded touring bike, but it felt good after I got used to steering while fully loaded.

Day 1 involved a gruelling 7km constant climb at a fairly steep and unrelenting gradient. To make it evidently clear just how slow we were moving there was a marker at every 100m interval the entire way up the hill. The one thing that made the climb tolerable was a friendly dog who followed us all the way to the top. He would run along with Ty who was in the lead, but would occasionally run back and check on my progress before catching back up with Ty.

Our constant companion for the first major climb

All smiles after finally reaching the top

After zooming down the other side of the hill and having pedaled for over 100km we reached the town where we intended to stay for the night. We had our first lesson in what has become one of the most frustrating parts of our journey so far. Finding accommodation can be tricky as many places are shut for the season or require you to phone them to get entry. Without a phone, with the sun setting and despite being exhausted we decided to push on further down the road to a place where two motels were shown on our map. We arrived at a gated compound and pushed a buzzer. After a very confusing exchange that required an old man on the street to come help us out we were allowed in and told to go to a room. There was music blaring from our room so we nervously knocked wondering if we were told the wrong number. Eventually we entered to find an empty room with a full length mirror beside the bed. As we slowly started to put all the pieces together we realized that we had paid for a twelve hour stay. A further Google search confirmed a very important fact. Motels in Chile are NOT the same as motels at home. All we could do was laugh at how ridiculous the whole situation was.

There is a first time for everything... Like unwittingly paying for a 12 hour stay in a Love Motel

Next our journey took us to the vibrant city of Valparaiso, renowned for its graffitied buildings. We took a few days of to explore the crazy alleyways and steep streets that make up this port city.

On the outskirts of Valparaiso. After spending the morning having buses driving within inches of us we were relieved to finally reach this beach side path.

The easy way to navigate all the hills of Valparaiso

From Valparaiso we headed north up the coast and eventually met the main highway, Ruta 5. The wide shoulder was a saving grace as we could stay away from the busy traffic. All day long friendly drivers would honk and give us a friendly wave or a thumbs up. These were especially appreciated as we crawled up steep climbs.

We spent our nights in small beach towns that were mainly shuttered up for the season. The weather was still nice enough to enjoy the beach though.

Upon arriving in yet another beach side town where we intended to stay for the night and finding everything closed we by chance met Pablo, by some miracle probably the only man in town who spoke English. After 2 minutes of introductions we were pushing our bikes up the dirt road to his house where he kindly offered us his guest room. The greatest reward of travel, having complete strangers become instant friends. Pablo who is a photographer introduced us to his wife Lisa from the USA who creates beautiful jewelery and sells gems and rocks. After a hot shower we had a delicious lunch waiting for us.

So incredibly lucky to stay with Pablo, Lisa and their cat in the town of Los Molles

Our intended one night stay turned into two after we were introduced to Pisco and cola by our hosts.

It was a late night due to the 3 bottles of pisco we consumed

Our delayed departure however meant that we got an amazing tour from Pablo of the area. Places we never would have found on our own as they required scaling a wall to get to.

After a day of exploring it was time to say goodbye once again to some very awesome strangers who became friends. You can check out Lisa and Pablo's website at the below link. Photos, rocks, awesome hand made jewelery or meteorite expeditions:

http://www.la-ruta-sin-fin.blogspot.com

I am working on the next section of the blog as we speak so stay tuned for the next installment.