Taking the Road South: Day 152 (39km): Ferry-bound

Our ferry is tonight at midnight so we pretty much just have to hang around until then.

Every morning I go check the view when I go to the bathrom

We took our time packing up our campsite and then moseyed into town. We got some gas (so we'd be full for our arrival in Chaiten) and then enjoyed the view. Oh boy, has it ever cleared up. For the first time since we've got here we were able to fully enjoy the view. I hope this is a good sign for our days ahead.

No more clouds, yay

Volcanoes are cool; it's the one thing I can't get at home

Amazing!

We went back to the Mall to spend our day waiting for the ferry. Unfortunately food selection at the Mall isn't very good and there aren't really any healthy options. There is a buffet but the vegetables on offer don't look like they would be worth my time.

My McLunch

Then a moment of panic. Wow it's dark outside, since when does it get dark at 8pm I ask? That doesn't make sense. Wait lets find out what time it is. Turns out it was 9pm. I don't know how my phone changed itself back an hour. Okay lets get going.

The air at night was pretty crisp. It reminds me of memories I have of riding home late with my dad after soccer. So we go to the place we figured out this morning was the ferry area. When we had originally bought our tickets the girl indicated that we needed to go 2min in the easterly direction. We looked and looked and we decided that that couldn't be right. Earlier we took the address and found where we needed to go. So we pulled up and everything was locked up and there was no guy at the security hut. There was a Naviera sign so we thought we were in the right place. The office is just around the corner so we agree to go get confirmation there. Alberto patiently waits his turn. When he eventually gets to talk to someone they tell him that the place we need to be is 15km from here, eh?? So Alberto painfully confirms the details, so I need to go to km 15 to Chinquehue. What is the name of the place? Osean. When do I need to be there? Now she says. Okay. And that's the Don Baldo to Chaiten right?

We are a little pissed that we've been mislead now on two occasions and we have to ride (in a hurry cause it's 9:48pm and we are supposed to be there at 10:00pm) in the dark. So we go, looking in the darkness for a boat that looks like the Don Baldo. There is a cab pulled off so we ask him where is km 15. We are trying to find the Don Baldo. That's it with all those lights right there. Thanks.

The Don Baldo loading up

Not km 15 let me tell you. We probably would have kept going. There isn't really any signs either. So we pull into the parking lot and the guy in coveralls tells us to park at the side. They are waiting for 4 tankers. So we wait. And wait. At 8.5 degrees and 1.5 hrs of waiting I'm starting to get chilly. Not to mention that we are tired. Lots of foot passengers were getting on and we were jealous since they were probably already sleeping. There were a few false starts when they tricked us into thinking we'd be going and then finally at 11:30pm we were motioned to go on. Park the bikes, tie them down and go upstairs. We were shown to our cabin (we sprung for the cabin so we would be rested to drive for tomorrow) and we were the lucky ones cause we weren't sharing it with other people. Eh? They are four person cabins, we were under the impression that they were four person cabins. Either way we went straight to sleep.