Quick catch up from Coyhaique- one of those unusual places in southern Chilean Patagonia, “A town”!
We arrived on Wednesday evening; later than planned after a few hitches:
- First Tuesday dawned with sightings of the endangered Patagonian huemul deer grazing metres away from David’s nosed. There are only an estimated 2000 individuals left in the world.
- After the morning’s elation the day steadily nose-dived. The habitat became more and more degraded- charcoaled trees, sterile forest plantations; a moonscape. The wind screamed in our faces and I screamed back at it and the world.
- Twenty odd miles later we arrived into Villa Blanco a tiny tin-pot “pueblito” and the wheel on the trailer popped. Strange- two days on concrete for our wonky wheels and the tyres were ground them to threads. Great.
- First thing on Wednesday morning Dave caught the bus to Coyhaique for a new tyre. Finally at 7.30pm we crawled into Coyhaique …. Finally the sores abated as we ran through the streets with the trailer!
And suddenly events soared…!
- The family of a friend of a friend said their house was ours and we promptly moved in with Nicki, Fabiana, Martino and Maia. Amazing. Thank you so much!
- One day turned into two with the re-birth of the trailer!
- On sourcing old parts for the new orange beast, David grabbed a taxi. The driver recognized the contraction, informing Dave that he had passed us some fifty miles down the road running and that on no accounts was David to pay??!
And now we are off, all packed and stowed once again.. too much food.. too heavy… a new trailer… a new road…
If only the trailer was as rugged as the Lowries!