november 1 - temuco

bright lights - big city! santiago was overwhelming and exhausting. we walked miles and miles, did a little sight-seeing and tried to find the best way to leave the city and start cycling in chile, which wasn´t easy at all.

it took us almost a week.

we decided to take the bus to temuco (650 km south of santiago) and start traveling in the lake district.

as this region is said to receive a lot of rain we needed waterproof shoes first. after two days we found good ones and were ready to leave.

the departure was scheduled for 22h30. first we entered the wrong bus (good the one guy noticed and showed us out again the conductor did not notice looking t our tickets...). as the right one arrived at first they wanted us to pay an additinal charge for the bikes. but i insisted and we could take the for free. we arrived in temuco at 6h the next morning. it was cold and damp and no shop was open for it was sunday... the only place to get a coffee and some warmth was: mcdonalds...

erk was feeling very bad, he caught the cold i had in maine and we lokked for a place to stay for two nights so that he could get better. we found a very nice little apart hotel (that means the rooms have a kitchenette) with reasonable rates et voila, erk is sleeping now and tomorrow we will head out fresh with clean cloths and all set!

i can´t wait to experience how cycling will be here in chile. a lot of dirt and gravel roads mountaines and rain are waiting for us. but everyone said that the landscape ist worth every endurance. we´ll see. lokks lit internet acess is quite cheap and widely available so i keep on writing.