The first morning of trainings went by quickly and we broke for lunch. A few of us decided to check out a corner of small restaurants tucked upstairs of a market. While we were waiting for our tasty meals to arrive, I struck up a conversation with a new coworker. He had been to Antarctica once – earlier in the year – for a short six-week infrastructure project. He liked it so much that he came back full time. The last time he traveled through Punta Arenas, he went up to Reserva Nacoinal Magallanes for some hiking. This time around he wanted to do something a bit different and do some mountain biking once we wrapped up training.
Being the oh so subtle person that I am, I asked him if he wanted a buddy to go explore with. Luckily for me, he was totally down and began making plans for the next day. He found a really amazing bike company called Bike Store & Sports. A very straight forward name but we felt extremely welcomed by the owner and his staff! They really new their gear and gave us a ton of tips for the local area. Since it was September in the southern hemisphere, and the weather was just beginning to turn warmer, the store was in the very early stages of their rental season. They outfitted us with two Specialized Turdo Level SL E-bike in a pretty grayish blue color which were perfect for the ride up to the National Forest.
Once we were outfitted with some safety gear, my new friend and I hit the road. Not going to lie, it was a bit stressful at first since had to ride in the street in a foreign country where we were still getting adjusted to. But before long, we found the very nice bike path that led all the way up to the National Forest. Then it was just a matter of huffing and puffing our way up the extremely steep Chilean hills. Which were no joke! Luckily we had some assistance from the e-bike, but even the motor was screaming out for relief. In between deep breaths, we were able to watch the landscape before us change from city, to suburb to straight rural.
When we reached the very top of road, we veered into the park and met with some rangers. We signed in and learned that the unfortunately the bike trail and road was still closed for the season. So instead, we opted for some hiking, which ended up being about a 6 mile loop around the perimeter of the park.
The landscape began to narrow and the tree line began to creep in. The trees were covered with this soft green moss that reminded me of a Dr. Seuss book. Not one in particular but more if a twister came through a field of Truffula trees causing the soft fluff to be spewed in every direction. I wanted to literally reach out and become one with the trees. But since I had a time schedule, I had to keep on hiking.
About halfway through the trail, we got to the highest elevation. It was a bit cloudy but we could still make out the outline of the city below. We snapped a few pictures, took a deep breath in while admiring the view and continued on our way. A few moments later, we came across a cute little out-cove for some snacks. We dug into our day packs and pulled out two tasty chicken empandas, that we picked up at the local grocery store prior to picking up the rental bikes. The shell water buttery and flaky while the inside to my delight was still somewhat warm. Now I’m a huge fan of pocket sized pouches of doughy fun but what threw me through a loop with these empanadas was in the smack center of the pastry was a large whole olive. I am not a fan of olives (though I did try it anyway since I always like to trying new things) but apparently it’s how the traditional Chilean empanada is made. And after a little research, these little filling “enhancers” could be a whole black olive – like the one I just tried – a quarter of a boiled egg or a few raisins to top off the filling. You learn something new everyday!
Bellies full, we hit the trail again. Like I do whenever I hike, my eyes found their way back to the forest floor. I love searching for tiny little ecosystems and by far my favorite is whenever I come across cute little mushrooms. So I’m happy to report that I saw my first two South American Mushrooms! The first was most likely some kind of chanterelle and the second one was a mushroom I haven’t seen before! I believe it’s in the cyttaria family where there about 10 species under this umbrella type. They currently can only be found in South America, Australia, and New Zealand. These cute little guys looked as if the tree was growing little orange golf balls just waiting to be plucked and put into play at the newest mini-golf course. I mean just check out how cute they are:
At the end of the trail, there was a platform looking over the landscape of a little ravine and the city in the distance. We sat for bit taking it all. I sat in disbelief that I was even here. Not to mention that I was finally given the opportunity to go to Antarctica, something that I’ve dreamed about for so long. It’s hard to explain but things were falling into place and it didn’t even seem real.
After some casual existential thoughts, we hoped back on our bikes and headed back into town. And the best part of all that hard work of going up all those hills was now we got to fly back down!
When we got back to our hotel, we pulled up the stats and all in all we did about 10 miles of biking and about 6 miles of hiking. I was exhausted but it was an unbelievable adventure that I will never forget.
