Carretera Austral – Tecka – Rio Mayo – Coyhaique

I just saw a cloud of dust in front of me. Christys bike slid on the right side. Somehow she managed to be still on the bike. With a little pirouette the bike bounced to the left side and Christy finally crawled away from the bike.

This all happened very quickly right in front of me. It looked painful.

I slammed the brakes and ran to her to see whether she’d be ok…

The road led from Rio Mayo in Argentina back into Chile to Coyhaique. We had to make a detour via Argentina as the Carretera Austral was blocked due to a landslide. There were only two options: wait for a few days or make the detour. With the pouring rain we had in Chile the decision was made quickly. We rode across to Argentina, stayed the night in Tecka and went down the paved Ruta 40 till Rio Mayo, where we found a little hotel. From there it would be only going straight west back to Coyhaique in Chile. So this was how we ended up on this road

The road from Rio Mayo was enjoyable, but it was difficult to ride on. I followed Christy and could see how her bike bouncing underneath her quite wildly at times.

But she did well, and looked quite relaxed on the bike. The road consisted of deep gravel with stones as big as my fist. The only way to get through there is either very slow or with some speed. We felt comfortable to go with 60km/h and that turned out to be a good speed. You had to be very concentrated though, since the gravel was soft at times and piled up to deep ruts. We rode this road for 2 hours before the accident happened.

Christy was surprisingly pretty relaxed. Her right foot hurt badly, but after a while sitting on the ground she decided she could go on. I can’t believe how tough she is. We continued on the road for another 60km before we reached the Chilean border. The road got a lot better and we found a nice hostel in Coyhaique where Christy laid down. The foot has swollen quite a bit and she was in pain.

The next day we went to the hospital to make sure nothing has been broken and to get some medicine.

She got an x-ray and the doctor opened the news on the screen very frankly: 2 broken metatarsals (2nd and 3rd). No walking, not to mention riding a bike off-road for min. 6 weeks.

We had to do some re-planning…

As soon as we were in Argentina the sun came out.

The mountains became smaller and smoother.

Fantastic riding…

It was so great to be warm…

Christy is doing really well on gravel now.

The great gravel road took us to the Ruta 40.

We had great fun on this road.

The next day we continued on the Ruta 40 south.

The sky is incredible.

This is what you expect in southern Argentina… broad landscape.

Some dark clouds all around us. It was very windy and cold. It snowed for a short period of time.

We never got wet though and so we made it safely to Rio Mayo, a little town at the Ruta 40.

The next day we continued on the Ruta 26 direction west. Towards Chile.

The sign warned us…..

You can see how Christy slid in the gravel…

She was surprisingly calm after that fall…

Christy signing she is alright…

The big rock finally took her down. You can see the marks from the sliding tires (middle bottom of the picture)

Eventually we continued riding.

Entering Chile again…

The road got immediately better in Chile.

The last stretch… in the distance Coyhaique …

Make sure everything is ok, we better get an X-ray…

SNAP! Bad news…