From the Alps to the Andes

After 31 hours leaving the Nice airport, we arrived in Puerto Montt, Chile. The three checked bags arrived with no damage and everything intact - great considering the probable lack of tandem parts in the area. Just the day before, we flew over our house in Barcelonnette

and after a lot of ocean, looked down at the Andes north of Santiago:

In between, we got in a little workout in the BA lounge during our London layover. Cool that they installed showers for all their passengers doing pilates on the floor…

We spent two evenings in Puerto Montt, the start of the Carretera Austral, to assemble the bike, do some shopping and ship the bike boxes to Punta Arenas (where we hope to fly from in March).

We ran by the Movistar tienda to buy our US$5 phone SIM card (40Gb/500 min talk) and found a Decathlon for Anne to buy a new fleece. Shipped the bike boxes via air with Chilexpress for $57. So far logistics have been very easy and super efficient in Chile.

The tandem seems to have gained weight, likely from all that airport food over the last two days. Looking at the terrain from Puerto Montt where we are going, a few palpitations jump in the chest.

Tomorrow we roll…