There is little fun to be had while riding through rain. What enjoyment exists is elusive at best, and non-existent in most cases.
We left Ancud, believing that we had timed the showers. This was true, right up until the ferry began to dock on the mainland, when the skies opened up. Donning our rain gear, and in the process turning ourselves into moving traffic pylons, we headed north towards Puerto Varas. Unfortunately, we followed the band of rain for about 50 km, getting significantly wet until we gave up and stopped under a bridge. Eventually the skies cleared and we continued on. After filling up with gas just before the town, we figured that the 5 km we had left was a short enough distance to make it before we were rained on again.
This proved to be an incorrect assumption. As we were going slowly riding in town, there was no slipstream to keep the rain going around us, and simply got all our gear wet. Fortunately, the hotel (1920s German colonist house) was splendidly warm.
The rain continued the next day, though at first it appeared to be dry. We pulled off the main highway towards with the plan to see three of the seven lakes (A group of lakes in Chile), and possibly two more, but the rain dashed our enthuisasm for the additional distance.
As we drove through Paguinpulli, I saw a restaurant that met two conditions:
1. It had a roof
2. It was open
We pulled into the parking lot, which turned out to be several inches of loose gravel, and the owner (Luis) dashed out to help us move the bikes to the more solid parking, then invited us inside, and promptly moved a number of chairs and hung our wet gear to dry.
It is not often that I am willing to drive a significant distance for a meal, however I encourage anyone who is within distance to go to El Mirador (S 39 38.578, W 72 20.426) and eat. Stopping in randomly, we had the best meal we have eaten in Chile and Argentina. I can here the critics saying that it was because we had a welcoming place to come in from the rain, but by the time the food arrived, we were already warm, dry and happy. Both of us had the Chicken Curry with rice (Chile grown) which was delicious to the point that my mouth is watering as I write about it. I should also mention that it happens to be built on a hillside and overlooks the lake.
Our bellies full we continued on as the rain had reduced itself to mere mist. Had it been dry, and there been no traffic (an accident backed up most of the 30km before Villarica), the road would have been a dream ride. As it was, we puttered along in second gear and admired the scenery.
Just after we arrived at the hotel we were joined by a Swede who is on a multi year trip around the world. Ken left Sweden in 2012 and rode all the way to Thailand, then shipped his bike and left Valpariso (Near Santiago) a few days ago, and by luck, was at the same hotel. Over dinner we shared our experiences with the roads and things to go see in Sourthern Chile, and taught him a few Spanish words (He speaks none).
The following morning, we aimed to wait out the rain for a couple hours by walking around the town, visiting an antique store that had been closed the day before (Some nice stuff, all unfortunately expensive), then set out when it looked dry.
Now, one would think that bringing a meteorolgist with you would result in good forcasts. It seems that the southern hemisphere is different enough that it merely gives a false of confidence, what we think is right, isn't. It rained all the way up until we hit the Routa 5 (About 60 km), and despite waiting under a tree for some time, the rain didn't lessen much. The hop to Temuco was short, and allowed us to go see the railway museum (It was closed), and wander around the town enough to realize that it is like Edmonton, if you don't work there, or have family/friends there, your reasons to end up there are pretty limited. So after a good sleep and a hearty breakfast (Nectarine pie among other things) we made the hop to Los Angeles, Chile, which is also a town like Edmonton. So we left and returned to El Rincon, the location we stayed our first night on the bikes, and have spent the afternoon drying our gear and wandering the extensive property.
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