Day 9 – Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Well, if I thought the prior day was tough, I had no idea what was in store for me this day. In a dry, hot area, I ended up riding over 130 km and ascended just shy of 2,000 meters! It was crazy, I thought the worst was over, but more and more challenges came. One would roll down, but the struggle started again, repeat this about 20 times. (At one point, I cursed at all Chilean road architects).

The vegetation next to the rollercoaster is getting scarcer

You can see the driver waving at me, and the mega incline I had to ride up on

Heading towards Alaska (OK, in my case, it was just Lima)

One fun fact, which kept my spirits up: roughly one out of every ten cars would honk at me (in a friendly way, in sort of a rhythm), show a thumbs-up; I made sure to smile back as much as I could (sometimes my smile would be me grinding my teeth...).

Water, water everywhere

The first sand dune

Apparently, this was the site of a lorry crash

I even had some mirage

I had an OK, albeit quite expensive steak in a roadside restaurant. I will probably not return there – neither would I want to ride on this road and expose myself to this torture. The prices are on par with Austria – and there I am usually not disappointed, at least where gastronomy is concerned. This place was not the best...

The day ended on a pleasant note: there was a campground a mile or so from the main road – and it turned out that the owner, a friendly lady, also owned a small, colonial-style hotel with a swimming pool. She wanted $50, I offered $30 – and the deal was done. I went in for a refreshing swim – guess tomorrow won’t be a much lighter kind of ride...

Using the power of wind

It was an entire forest of cacti

The pool of my hotel – really refreshing!

Buenas noches!