I have traveled south by bus through La Serena and Santiago. I have two weeks left to make a tour through Araucaría and the Lake District. Further south begins the highly interesting region of Patagonia. The season is too early for Patagonia however. The area will be largely under snow. Public transport will not be able to bring me back for my flight to the Netherlands. I will not go south from Chiloë therefore.

I must not complain. As I get out of the bus in Curacautín I step into an other world. After the Altiplano and desert landscapes of Bolivia and Northern Chile, the world around me is completely green now. Once in a while a big white volcano comes up out of the green. The biggest of them is the Volcan Llaima, which is 3.100 m high. The mountains are much lower than in the areas where I have traveled before. They are however by no means less spectacular. The snow line lies at 1.200 m, so there is a whole lot of snow on a mountain like the Llaima volcano.

The first ascent is over the Cuesta to Lonquimay. The dirt track has not been traveled yet by cars. It is just spring in the south of Chile. The road has got unorthodox gradients. Because I am used to climb at much higher elevations, I have so much oxygen that I am feeling very light, despite the steepness of the road. I have complete control over my breathing. There have surely been days that things were not going this smoothly.

In the higher regions the special Araucaria tree gives a very distinctive flavour to the landscape. The Araucaria trees paint the slopes dark green. The tree is only abundant in Southern Chile and Southern Argentina.

At the pass I am completely surrounded by snow. Only the road is more or less free of snow. After a comfortable descent I reach the village of Lonquimay.

Day 56: Lonquimay - Icalma - Melipéuco 120 km

One of the most beautiful cycling days of my journeys begins already early. The sun fills the valley and brings a second warm day in the early spring. Early october can be far worse in these areas. Wintertime has only recently lost terrain to the spring. Snow still covers the higher hill and mountain ranges. After ten kilometer I change the comfortable paved road for a dust trail that leads to the National Reserve Guallatué. The road climbs soon to the Araucaria zone. Although I am cycling through dense woods, sometimes there are open spaces with remarkable views. After two hours of cycling I reach the pass.

On the other side of the watershed the terrain is quite flat and far less forested. The landscape looks like a tundra. Wide valleys are filled with big snow fields in between the grasslands. Huge boulders lie everywhere in the valley and on the mountain slopes. There are some icy lakes in the valley. The biggest lake is the Guallatué Lake in the middle of the wide valley. After an hour of cycling the valley is narrowing. The road leads me to the beautiful Icalma lake, only three kilometers from the border with Argentina.

Instead of going to Argentina however, I begin to climb to a new pass that must bring me to the National Park Conguillio. Halfway the trail is cut off by a river. It takes me some effort but in the end I manage to climb to the other side. No further surprises arise and I reach the pass. Now it is only downward. A long descent brings me in the civilized world again. In the lower parts of the valley it is springtime already. Apple and pear trees are in full blossom. The melting snows of the higher parts of the land come down from the sidevalleys and gather in the main valley. Everywhere on the slopes are waterfalls. In the distance the Llaima volcano comes in sight again, this time from the south instead of from the North in Curacautín. The last sunlight softly touches the upper crest. Dusk is already fading as I reach the first true village of the day. In Melipéuco I find a place to rest.

Day 57: Melipéuco - National Park Conguillio 60 km

Today I will try to cycle into the National Park Conguillio as far as possible. I know that the higher reaches of the Park are under a thick snow blanket but before there are some lakes that are supposed to be very beautiful. I will cycle without all the luggage today to those lakes; I will return in Melipéuco.

Without luggage I do not bother that the road is sometimes very steep. Soon I have climbed high above the main valley. I enter a sidevalley that will bring me to the Llaima Volcano. I find out that the volcano is an active one. The whole valley floor is filled with black lavas. Only a small strip of trees on the volcano has been saved from the cataclysmic event. The outburst dates from only a few years ago.

The lava field offers difficult cycling. The tyres cut deep in the volcanic sand. With complete luggage this day tour would not have been possible. It takes ages before I have crossed the lava field. I reach the Laguna Verde, the Green Lake, that owes its existence to the natural barrier that the volcanic lavas have provided. The small but lovely Laguna Arco Iris is a true beauty. That cannot be stated about the road that climbs with brutal gradients further upward. The tour ends with the big Laguna Conguillio that is surrounded by high mountain ranges, white with snow. This has been good enough for today. The air is growing greyer and greyer without any cloud formation. In fact this looks far worse and promises the worst for the nearby future.

Day 58: Melipéuco - Villarica - Pucón 120 km

It looked like the weather was going to be bad yesterday and that was not a false promise. But after a night of thunderstorms it is dry now, early in the morning. I decide to go, although it is hard to imagine that the weather will really improve today.

After a few kilometers it is indeed raining again severely. That is bad news because it is quite far to the Villarica Lake. Today I want to reach the most northern Lake of the Lake District. Pucón is the most touristic spot of the Lake District. It could be nice to be among the people for a day or two. The road to Villarica goes through hilly landscape, not through the high mountains of the Andes anymore. If it did not rain this hard, it would be an easy cycling day. But an otherwise comfortable dust trail is a sloppy mud trail now.

I have problems with the chainrings. The ones that I use most frequently have run down too far. Because they gather lots of sand on the mud trails, they now and then block the chains for a while, which means an abrupt brake. This happens especially during the climbs. It is really frustrating but there is not much to do about it. I do not have spare parts. I have to do with it the last week of my journey.

Late in the afternoon I reach the Villarica Lake. I could sleep in the small town of Villarica but I decide to cycle the last 25 kilometers to Pucón as well. These are paved, I do not have to bother about the chainrings anymore.

Day 59: Pucón

It is still raining. The Villarica National Park has to wait for a day.

Day 60: Pucón - National Park Villarica - Coñaripe 80 km

After two days of very bad weather today is a whole different story. Clear blue skies give way to a good day of sunshine. Today I want to go through the Villarica National Park to Coñaripe. As soon as I am in the National Park, the dust road climbs steeply. There are some famous waterfalls in the National Park. They can all be sighted.

After visiting the waterfalls I have to climb much further. The road is deteriorating frighteningly. I do not know if it is wise to continue. It is impossible for cars to drive on the highly irregular surface.

After an hour circumstances get even worse. Trees start to grow in the road, gullies make the road sometimes impossible to ride. No one has driven here for years. I think that the road has not been busy with cyclists either. Sometimes it is even difficult to push the bicycle upward. The road is too steep to get sufficient grip for my shoes on the loose stones. I hope that it will not get worse than this. I am thinking about an ultimate horror scenario where a bridge is swept away by a river on the other side of the pass.

Why am I doing this? There are no good reasons at all. Of course, going back means a 100 kilometers or more extra kilometers. But why should I bother? The ratio has a day off however. So I am still pushing my bike further uphill. Near the pass the road lies under the snow. The snow is deep enough that I wade untill my knees through the snow. Now I have wet boots as well.

After half an hour I have passed also this obstacle. There are new problems however. The road is is completely run down. It is filled with deep gullies and overgrown with big tree trunks. This is more like a rodeo safari than a decent bicycle excursion. After a few kilometers I hear a big bang. My front pannier has come between my spokes and has the shape of a nice Frankfurter Wuerstl. Nice to see but further useless. From now on I can take only three bags instead of four. I reshift my luggage and have to go on. It is getting late.

I was lucky not to fall, it is a miracle that I have not broken any spokes. I am lucky today. My stupid behavior could have had worse results. Very careful I descend further. After an hour of highly concentrated downhill manouevring a new problem arises: the horror scenario lies before me. A bridge over a river is wiped away and lies in pieces 50 meter downhill. I decide to give it a try. I definitively do not want to go back this awful road, despite it is the wisest thing to do. I take the bicycle in my arms. I keep my shoes on to have better grip on the stones. My shoes are already wet any way. in the deepest part of the river, the water surface is nearly tipping the bike. If that happens, I will surely lose the bicycle. Everything goes fine luckily. I reach the other side. Now the worst part is over. The road is steadily improving. Just before dusk is setting in, I reach the nice village of Coñaripe. I see the smoking crater of the active Villarica volcano reflected in the Coñaripe Lake.

Day 61: Coñaripe - Pangapuilli 40 km

Yesterday was one of the most physically and mentally challenging day rides I made. This needs compensation. Through green valleys with lovely pastures I cycle to Pangapuilli, a pretty village along yet another beautiful lake.

Day 62: Pangapuilli - Valdivia 115 km

From Pangapuilli I am going to Valdivia, a city in the coastal plains. I cycle out of the Andes and into the lowlands. Soon I have left the high mountains behind me. I am cycling in comparatively flat landscape now. The grey weather does not make this stretch a real highlight. The afternoon programme however is worse. It is starting to rain. It is often raining a lot in these areas. There are large stretches of temperate rain forests. I am riding in the Coastal Mountain Range now, the other big mountain range of Chile except for the Andes. The Coastal Mountains are not as high as the Andes and I do not have to climb much because I am following the course of a river. I have problems again with my chains due to the combination of sand roads and rain. I am more tired than I planned to be as I arrive in Valdivia.

Day 63: Valdivia - Osorno 125 km

Yesterday I crossed the Coastal Mountain Range the easy way: following the course of a river. Today I want to cross the mountains in a proper way: to climb to the passes and descend. After ten kilometers the road ascends for the first hill ridge. The road is surprisingly steep. After a few kilometers I am already on top of the hills. It takes also a few kilometers before I am in a new valley. Again the road goes upward. This cycle goes on and on. This is surely not an easy day ride.

The nature is quite different from the Andes. There are strange, large trees that do not grow elsewhere but in Chile and Argentina. After the Sequoia, the Alerce and the Coïgue are the second and third highest trees in the world. They can become very old. Some trees are 3.000 to 5.000 years old.

It takes hours before I have crossed all the hill ranges of the Coastal Mountains. After seventy kilometers I have crossed the Coastal Mountain Range. I am back in the civilized world again. The dense forests are replaced by smallscale pastures. Steeps hills are replaced by gently rolling hills. The terrain is not too difficult any more. Just before I arrive in Osorno, I overlook the valleys from a hill crest and in the far distance I see the snowcapped peaks and volcanoes of the Andes. Tomorrow I will ride towards the Andes for the last time.

Day 64: Osorno - Ensenada 115 km

An easy day of cycling brings me to the Llanquihue Lake. There are beautiful views over the lake to the Osorno Volcano.

Day 65: Ensenada - Lago todos los Santos - Ralún - Ensenada - Puerto Varas 140 km

From Ensenada there are two beautiful half day rides possible. The first is via the waterfalls of Petrohue to Lago Todos los Santos, a large glacier lake. The other half day ride is to the fjord near Ralún. I decide to begin with the lake. After a few kilometers I am inside the National Park Perez Rosales. Inside the park the road starts to climb. Soon I reach the waterfalls. Not very far behind the waterfalls I see two cyclists coming from the other side.

We stop. Peter and Debby are Dutch like me. It is the first time since weeks that I speak Dutch. Speaking in my own tongue feels strangely familiar but above all strange. Peter and Debby have cycled a lot. They are more than four and a half months on their way. We decide to meet in Puerto Varas. That means that I have got to do quite some kilometers today. We say goodbye and will meet each other soon...

It is a lovely day. The Lago Todos los Santos is a beautiful lake, the fjord is grandiose. All the time the Osorno Volcano rises above everything. After going up and down the Lake and subsequently down to and up from the fjord, I have to cycle along the Llanquihue Lake to Puerto Varas. With the volcano reflecting in the lake this is a beautiful end of a beautiful day.

Day 66: Puerto Varas - Puerto Montt - Chacao 75 km

It is nice to cycle with colleagues. There have not been too many on the way. The weather is less friendly. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it stops raining but never the sun comes through. The landscape is not too special either. We want to cycle to the Island of Chiloë. The road from Puerto Montt to the ferry is quite dull. Sixty kilometer of nothingness is the least attractive part of my days in South America.

Eventually we reach the ferry. It takes less than an hour before the boat arrives at Chiloë. We stay in the first hotel we find in Chacao. Chacao is a nice village that lives from fishery and a bit tourism. The wooden houses and the wooden church give a nice old-fashioned atmoshere to the village.

Day 67: Chacao - Quemchi 65 km

A rainy day makes the landscape more islandish than is good for its sake. Despite the weather the fishery atmosphere makes the island a special place to be. You have got to like boats and wooden churches, otherwise this is not the ideal destination.

Day 68: Quemchi

Another rainy day. Good for a day of melancholy wandering along the coast. And for having a nice glass of beer in the cafe in the village.

Day 69: Quemchi - Tenaún - Castro 90 km

It is raining again. We go on although the weather is as bad as yesterday. I have got only two days left before I have to make the long journey back to Lima by bus. From Lima I will fly home. The landcape is scenic although more of the same. Boats, churches. My favourite church is the smurf blue coloured of Tenaún.

Day 70: Castro - Achao - Castro 85 km

The last day. Peter and I will for the last time endure the rain together. Debby does not feel like. She has had enough of it the last days. We ride to the nice village of Achao. The village has the oldest wooden church of the island. We stare over the beach of Achao for a few minutes, looking into the Pacific. it is the last highlight of the journey. From now on there is only the long way back to Lima by bus...

The end.