All around South America

[madarumoto]

Episode 26 just posted - 18 minutes long. Leaving the Villa Kunterbunt after almost 3 weeks, I wanted to take a route called Gunpowder Road, but ended up taking a different route. While leaving central Valparaíso I pass a sign saying "Welcome to Cyber Independence" which reminds one of how Chile was one of the first countries in the world to build a working internet - rudimentary and short-lived though it was. Covering 510 kms in just under 11 hours, Atwakey and I see very little traffic in central Valparaiso early on Easter Sunday, though later in the day there was a lot of traffic heading north along the Panamericana. I stop at the Rio Maule, a watershed river in more ways than one, before finding a camping ground at San Manuel, on the banks of the Rio Perquilauquen, a short distance from a place that will always hold a sinister if tragic place in Chilean history.

[madarumoto]

17 minutes long
Leaving the camp ground of San Manuel by the Perquelauquen River, I ride northeast to rejoin the Pan American before turning south again. Along the way I see a Chernobyl-like structure, clock up 5000kms and bury a geocache to commemorate, see a perfectly formed volcanic cone, pass an extremely long bridge, give up trying to find a certain fire station in the town of Lautaro, so named after a Mapuche warrior whose incredible story deserves a quick retelling. I had a near accident at the village of Quepe that saw me lock up my brakes for the first time in 5000kms. Then southwards to the town of Freire, where a local hotelier takes me under his wing and shows me some local attractions, including a leaning cupola, a German enclave, and a shooting location for the classic film "The Motorcycle Diaries".

[madarumoto]

ep 28: 12 minutes long. Leaving the town of Friere I am frustrated by thick fog which forced me to ride with my visor open. Because of that I made the decision to ride east towards the Argentine border, on the other side of the Andes it should be drier. Today I rode 291kms, and saw some interesting things, including a house surrounded by unrestored classic cars and a mystery wooden machine, a separate motor museum brimming with Studebakers, some high voltage electrical workers, an unusual factory yard, and I briefly recount the tragic history of Galvarino and Janequeo, Mapuche warriors whose tribes held the Spanish off for over 300 years.