We hopped on our bikes and though it would be an easy ride to Llaguepe.

Well... it wasn't.

The pavement ended and the main road Hwy 7, the Carretera Austral, went straight up and over a gigantic hill.

AND it was under construction. No fancy guard rails here. Just work crews drilling hole for blasting and trucks dumping fill.

Single lanes and manoeuvring to avoid the tour buses, cars and construction traffic.

Lleguape a blip on the map and getting there was a series of up and down from river valley to little fishing village. From sea level to up and over the next hill.

There are many Salmon farms and muscle farms. The road was a mix of loose river stone and washboard rocks making the bicycling difficult. Even on the down hill stretches we had to walk sometimes because of the loose gravel and pot holes!

We finally made it and from our iOverlander app we picked a Hospedaje to camp for the night. Hospedaje Carreterra Austral.

We cycled up to the spot and found the gate padlocked but noticed the "abierto" sign in the window and pushed thru the smaller gate to knock on the door....

No answer...

There were also pigs and dog in the yard so we thought that someone would be home soon.

We made ourselves at home and set up the tent.

At approx. 7pm Juan arrived with a large sack, full of muscles, over his shoulder and made us feel welcome. He wasn't bothered that we arrived and just set up.

Juan offered up his shower but I had to wait until 9pm before the was any hot water because the Agua caliente -hot water- was heated by his wood stove.

Juan left and went into the neighboring field and began clipping, using garden shears at the long grass in his field.

Bob decided to take this opportunity to use the indoor facilities. When he, Bob, returned his face was slightly ashened and told me that he almost dumped the whole toilet bowl over. WHAT?

YES, Bob went on to explain that the toilet bowl is not bolted to the floor and when he reached over to grab some toilet paper the whole toilet toppled and he righted it just in the nick of time before spilling the bowl full onto the cardboard mat floor.

I waited for the hot water until 9 and at 9pm Juan came and shook the guy wires of the tent... - Ola! Agua caliente....

Or something to that effect.

I stepped into another dimension showering in this Hospedeje! Don't touch the shower curtain...

Wear your flip flops!

The water was warm and it felt great to rinse off a days worth of dust and sweat.