South America Moto Adventures

February 14
Sunday
I finally managed to contact my friend Guillermo Troncoso, who was responsible for recuing me front the Atacama Desert last month, and he invited me to his home in Rancagua, south of Santiago. The plan was to go from his home to the seaside town of Pichilemu for the day, so I got on the bike and in a little over an hour I was at his house. Guillermo, his wife Veronica and the kids Florencia and Luciano loaded up in the pickup truck and I followed on my bike as we headed to the Pacific Ocean for the day. On the way, we stopped at a little restaurant where they make old style Empanadas in real mud ovens. I’ve had a lot of Empanadas in my time, but nothing like these. The ovens give the Empanadas a whole different texture and I think they cook better that way as well. That must be the reason that this place is packed to capacity and they are only open on Sat, Sun and holidays. After the beer and Empanadas we continued thru some very picturesque countryside full of hills, winding road and wineries on all sides. Very pretty! Arriving in Pichilemu it was obvious that this is a very popular place, the town and the seashore was packed with people. It’s a popular surfing beach where in the winter they hold national surfing competitions. Arriving in Pichilemu we headed to the beach house of Veronica’s Mother’s friend, where I was welcomed as one of the family, as usual. I was invited to have lunch with all the family and friends, and afterwards Guillermo and his immediate family took me to see the sights along the seashore, this time though, the bike was not in the back of the pickup! Pichilemu has a beautiful beach that stretches for miles before becoming very rocky and with high cliffs. From up on the cliffs there is a fantastic view of the entire area, where you can watch the surfers descend the cliffs to reach the best waves. As we where watching the waves, Guillermo pointed out what he thought was a surfer in the waves down below, but as I watched, the “surfer” never resurfaced. It was no surfer, it was some other large animal of the sea. Who knows what? All I know is after seeing that, I think I would stay onshore. It was pretty good size! After watching the sun set over the Pacific, we headed back to the beach house before the entire group went out to eat at a local seafood restaurant that Guillermo likes. This is where I was able to properly thank Guillermo for recuing me, by allowing me to pay for everyone’s meal. After dinner Guillermo and Veronica and the kids took off in the pickup and I jumped on my bike and we headed back home, it was 11:00pm and by the time I arrived in Santiago it was 2:30am. This has to have been the nicest day of my entire trip!