November 22, 2024

The day begins with a ferry ride from Hornopirén at 10 AM and it ends in Chaitén after 135 km (68 km by bike and the rest by ferry) with 780 meters of elevation gain.

The first ferry stops at Caleta Porcelana, where we need to ride 10 km by bike and make it in time (30 minutes) to catch the next ferry, which takes us to Caleta Gonzalo in about an hour. We covered the 10 km in 21 minutes, with Fabio even using the battery—mirabile dictu. The pleasant surprise was that the road was paved.

We should have foreseen that the journey had another surprise in store for us, this time a negative one. After disembarking at Caleta Gonzalo, we experienced the infamous “RIPIO,” a terribly rough gravel road full of large stones that accompanied us for about 49 km, putting us to the test. Gigi almost lost his front wheel and completely lost a rear bag. Fabio, on the other hand, surged ahead, thinking he was the slowest… and was never caught.

The evening ended at a restaurant NOT booked by Antonio, who unknowingly booked a different one!

We arrived at Caleta Gonzalo, exhausted but happy to have successfully completed our “ripio” baptism.