Day 7 – Monday, February 2, 2026

In the morning, I packed my stuff and then started in a bit of grey weather. Soon after the start, I realized I was missing my bike gloves - which are a rather important accessory. I stopped in front of a huge cast iron gate and started emptying my rear bags. As a nod to Murphy, the tenant had to enter that very moment, just when I had all my stuff on the floor. So I stuffed everything back in, and decided to ride a mile or two back to the kiosk I had had dinner at, then back to the campground. It was then I realized I hadn't checked my front bags - and they there were! But an hour or so lost...

That day I rode along some beautiful flowers - Chile does have some pretty sights.

Pretty flowers #1

Pretty flowers #2

Pretty flowers #3

Taling about pretty sights, I ran across two young girls selliong watermelon. I only wanted a slice or so, they were so nice, thes gave me thast for free! Thanks!

Pretty gilrs selling juicy watermelon

Soon thereafter, two gentlemen on their mountain bikes crossed my path. As I still had some bike issues, I asked if they knew a mechanic. One of them, called Oma, spole perfect English, mentioned that he knew someone some 10 km away - he even accompanied ne for part of the way. Now I was riding on a freeway again, with Google trying to guide me off the highway at all possible exists. At one exist, I met a cool horse rider.

Cool horse rider

A while later, I reached Ricardo the Magician's house. I had a list of four items (my brakes gave a weird noise, the kickstand was broken, the sest needed adjustment, the headlight was not working) and in about an hour, he fixed all but the last issue - and asked only €5 - ans did not accept a tip. (Unfortunately, my dynamo was broken for the rest of my trip). How professional and accommodating! Gracias!

The Magician, who took care of my bike issues

I was now on a regular road, but kept seeing signs towards a specific "Ruta 5", more about this in a bit. The other destination on this road was to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. Both are major tourist destinations, with Valparaíso having a stack of colorful houses, street art and old funiculars that make the whole city feel like a living museum. Viña del Mar is its counterpart, known for long beaches, palm-lined avenues, and a relaxed resort vibe. Together they make a fascinating pair: chaotic charm meets coastal elegance. Now these cities were just some 60 km away from me, however, to the southwest. However, it was my fifth biking day and I was just some 100 km norht of where I had started from in Santiago. After some deliberation, I skipped these two touristic cities and continued northwards. (Later, I found out I had plenty of time - but then I decided to visit something more interesting at the end of my trip).

So back to Ruta 5. It is also called the Pan-American Highway, which runs for 30,000 klometers from Alaska in the north to the southern tip of Argentina in the south, crossing 14 countries (Canada, US, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina). It is considered as the longest road in the world. With my lack of planning, I did not yet know that this would be the road I would be riding on for most of my trip.

So I turned onto Ruta 5. There was a toll booth and a huge traffic jam at the junction of this three-lane highway, with lots of vendors on the side of the road. Hmmm, will this be a nice ride?

Soon after the booth, a tunnel came into view. I was hoping to find somee nice caretakers, like earlier at Los Andes, but there were none. I did see a pickup truck parked on the curb and knocked politely on its window. Two rude men and a woman made it very clear to me that all they wanted for me is to get the heck away from them. I tried to appeal that all I was asking was to take me through the tunnel, but they would not even lower the window. Then they sped away, all three of them flipping me off through the now-open window. I have to say this was the only unpleasant experience on my trip.

I deemed it unsafe to go through the tunnel, luckily, I did find an opening on the fence at the side of the road, crossed it and rode along the side of the mountain. It served as a trash dump, so it was not a pleasant ride for a mile or so. There were some people mingling through the rubbish. Not a happy sight.

Back on the highway, I continued riding, it turned out to be a rather warm day. The clouds seemed to have formed something like a hair over the hilltops

Hair over the hilltops

Then came another tunnel - though here was an option to cross a big hill - so I went for that. At the summit, I got the first glimpse of the Pacific.

In the distance, first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean

Alas, a bit later, my front tire started getting flat (the day before, it was the rear tire). In a small town, I got it fixed - they were very friendly.

I got back on the highway and now started analyzing my options for the night. The nearest hotel was still some 30 km away, hmmm, it was getting late. Then I noticed a campground some 7 kilometers away - and went for that, even though it meant a detour (7 km to get there, 7 km back the following day). It wa called "eco-friendly campground", which translated to it not having warm water, electricity, internet or a washing machine. Hmmmm. At least they were nice to me. I still slept rather well.