We have just arrived into Puerto Montt. Never has anyone been so pleased to arrive into this port-side city!! It is not a notoriously beautiful city, but for us it marks the end of the Carretera Austral and the end of the southern leg of our expedition.
The Carretera Austral- Chile’s spectacular Patagonian road– will be hard to leave, but its grueling hills and Andean passes will not! We also believe we are the first to have run this mainly gravel, remote road which is exciting.
The other significance of Puerto Montt is that it was our home for six odd months last year when we lived in Chile on our old wooden sailing boat, so we have a fleeting chance to catch up with some wonderful friends and hopefully give some school presentations during our day off before we run north to Puerto Varas.
We have had a beautiful, but slim slice of Spring in Chile. Ahead lies an eternal Summer of Argentina and beyond. Wonderful not to be so cold and wet, but days of hot, sweaty, thirsty running stretch into the never-ending horizon…. so a new challenge lies ahead!