Well this was the first ride day of our Ultimate South American Expedition with Compass Tours.
It was an action filled event, pressaging 100 more! It is hard to imagine how this will play out and I am unsure if I can keep to writing a post, even a short one every day. But here goes! We rode off the 490 km at high speed where the speed limit is 120 km/hour (about 70 mph) but rarely does anyone keep to that on the dual carriage way. Sometimes we were over 140 but it seemed good and safe. We stopped very regularly for water and petrol as the others are riding smaller bikes than me, with a range of about 320 km vs mine over 500.
It has become very apparent, and gladly so, that both JC (Guide) and Willy (Driver) are very well organised and have a very particular routine. I am frankly glad of this, and can see some advantages and potentially some disadvantabes. In short we get a tex on Whats App from JC giving the times and places to be, and are asked to stick to it. Apparently Willy (Wilfredo/Wilf/Homer/Tonka) would prefer you dont arrive at the truck to load baggage five minutes early. No matter, I can work with that!
Breakfast is provided by Compass as part of our fee, and lunch too. The latter can vary from a retaurant, to pre-packed to a picnic. Yesterday was a public holiday in Chile so the roads were croweded with cars, trucks and busses, and so were the gas stations. So we stopped a local truck stop for soup - which was full of noodles and un-identified carne (meat) and was truly delicious.
In short we rode 490km south towards Pucon and stopped at some falls called Saltos del Lajo. Our hotel was away from the huge crowds and looked over the falls. JC and I walked a little way around the track and loved it. Old world accommodation but perfect. He flew his DJI drone and I took many photos and video with my Go Pro (which I am loving!).
My stomach was slightly upset by water from the previous day, so I had a quite beer with Rahn and a few chips only, when Paul joined us. The team of riders is Rahn (Israeli/Australian), Jeff (Chinese/Japanese), Paul (New Zealander) and myself, plus JC riding. He is Ecauadorian but lived in the USA for some year with an ex-wife. They are delightful all of them, and have different characters which will no doubt show over time.
In the middle of the night, I woke as my sleep has been very erratic so far, so I rang Sheryle on WhatApp and we had a great chat - I really appreciated it after the "stress" of starting off. Tomorrow we ride to Pucon for two nights, following a late breakfast here at the falls from 8am to 9am.
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