My Buddy Anna - 24 February 2018

24 February 2018 – I will ride from Copiapo to Los Vilos today. I will stay the night in Los Vilos in a hotel. It will be a 400 Miles / 650 Kilometer ride. Since I’ve been traveling I haven’t ridden this motorcycle 400 miles in one day. So, it’s going to be a challenge to see if I can pull it off. By 250 Miles / 400 Kilometers my butt is barking at me and that’s with all the shifting around that I do trying to keep the blood flowing.

I had my alarm set for one hour earlier. Instead of 5:30 a.m. I’m going to shoot for 4:30 a.m. That way if I oversleep some, I still will be awake earlier than 5:30 a.m. I did over sleep by 30 minutes but was able to get mobilized and departed at first light. I was on the road by 7:00 / 7:30 a.m.

It was a chilly morning with temperatures around 57 Degrees Fahrenheit / 14 Degrees Celsius. Within 20 Miles / 32 Kilometers I was in fog. I was in intermittent fog until 12:00 p.m. / 1:00 p.m. That just made the day a little colder. It never really went over 72 Degrees Fahrenheit / 22 Degrees Celsius all day. I never really warmed up all day till I arrived at Pichidangui where the hotel I was planning to stay in was located.

I exited off the highway into Pichidangui and Blanche navigated me right to Pichidangui Hotel. One look at it and I had a bad feeling I wasn’t going to be staying there. I got out my translation cards and cell phone in case no one spoke English. I walked in the door and asked if they had a room. They said, yes with the look whether it was going to be worth taking their time to talk to me. I asked the price and they provided it to me. $135 USD / $80,000 Pesos. I thought about it, declined the room and left. $135 is a bit much for my palate when I’m in a one-horse town. This town was a small resort town on a beautiful beach, hence the high prices. The town mostly rented cabins and not hotel rooms. I checked 4 other places and everything was booked up. One of the hostels actually helped me find the home I ended up staying in. The gentlemen spoke limited English but helped me find a place to stay for the night.

We stopped at 3 different cabins with no luck, when a family offered me a bed for the night. I couldn’t turn it down. The price was right, they had wi-fi, their children and friends spoke some English, and most of all they were friendly. Off course, Anna the dog was too funny. She and I became buddies right away.

With my bed for the night came evening lunch and a morning breakfast. Supper and breakfast both started with some type of raspberry cake. It was very delicious along with all the other food served. With the wi-fi I was able to get my route planned for my trip into Santiago the next day and Skype Mary.