Villa Manuales and the cyclist refugio

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First real sunny morning in some weeks. It got even warm on the day. Should summer really begin ? I had a choice to make. The real Carretera to Villa Ortega or the paved road direction Puerto Aysen. I came for the Carretera so Carretera Austral it will be. It was written as a very scenic route. It was really up a lot on a bad road. Down is not the joy of going down in the alps. Here your have to break a lot and take care that the bike does not jump from the road. The views were very nice and I was lucky to have a tail wind to Villa Ortega. A totally different landscape from the one of Coyaique. During lunch I spotted 4 condors moving on the turning winds over the village situated on the corner of two valleys. The village has a shop so I could get fresh drinks. Going down was beautiful with the wide views and streams coming from everywhere. The reception in Villa Manuales was warm. Jorge offered me a free place in his camping. He was a cycling fan and offered passing cyclists the possibillity to sleep and cook in temporarely empty building. His father in law and a nephew were taking care and kept company. They told about how easy it was to catch salmon in the passing river but I did not see them catch one. So it got late and at least understood something of the upcoming Presidential election. Pinera is against dams in Patagonia so that should be the good one for this region.

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