Day 3 – Thursday, January 29, 2026

As mentioned, I was eager to start my "real" biking trip, so I packed everything and thus kicked off my adventure towards Lima at 8 am. Leaving downtown was easy, there were even bike paths, but soon I got to the northern outskirts of the city, which was anything but bike-friendly - there were lots of construction going on. Here a friendly bike commuter, David, caught up with me and he gave me directions to avoid the unpleasant road. The first town outside Santiago was called Colina, where I had a race with a horserider...

Race with the horse rider

The road became friendlier for a while, but I saw that to the north of town there was nothing but a highway, where cycling is prohibited. Still in Colina, I talked to yet another friendly person, him responsible for the security of the town. He told me to simply ignore the restriction - so I rode on, pretty much uphill, in quite some heat. As a farewell gift, he filled up my water bottles. Later, I reached a small village, Chacabuco, which played a part in the Battle of Independence in the 19th century - and boasted a wonderful church.

Small village, wonderful church

The road kept inclining and I saw on the map that I was approaching a narrow tunnel. It would have been mighty dangerous to ride through it. I rode past a huge "biking prohibited" sign towards the entrance, when I heard someone whistling and waving. It turned out to be the tunnel supervisor, he first offered some soothing cold water and told me to wait. Some 10 minutes later, a truck with yellow flashing signs showed up - and they loaded my bike and hauled it to the other side. Did I mentions Chileans are really nice...?

My heroes and saviors

From there on, it was downhill to the town of Los Andes, where I had some fast-food (salad with a fajita)- which was pretty tasty. The bistro I ate at was in a mall, with a dedicated bike parking, with a bike-parking attendant ensuring that things stay safe.

Refreshed, I started riding towards the east, with a secret (well, as of now, it is no longer one) plan of hopping over to Argentina over the Andres. The only issue is that a pass - the one I had seen from the plane - lied ahead, with over 3,800 meter elevation.

The pass road was open - why, should it be closed?

So I it was yet again an uphill ride and while there was still daylight, the next village would have been some 25 km away. Better to find a place to rest in the village I was at, in Valparaiso (San Esteban). There I found a real pleasant Hostel Berta - it was a hip and cool place with lots of room to chill, with simple, but comfy rooms. I paid around €20 and five more for getting my laundry washed.

Bertha´s hostel

Bridge to Bertha

That day, my "production" as 100 km and around 1,000 meters of climbing- quite OK, all things considered, I was happy.