4/23/2002: 38º46' south; Temuco, Chile: Rode 86km in 4hrs.

Wooo Hooo! Potentially the last day of riding and with the help of friends Simon & Alexandria from switzerland, a new speed record is set (for them as well). With Simon and I switching off the lead (ok, so Simon pulled me most of the way), we made the first 50km in 2 hours, had lunch for a bit, then road the final 36km on the Pan American highway in 1.5 hours, for a daily average of 21.5km/hr. We arrived in Temuco just in time, too, as the rain began minutes after we found a hospedaje.

Simon and Alexandria

4/24/2002: <38° south; On a train heading north

Well, all I can say is that it was a strange day. Ever had a country shut down on you? Well, that's what happened today. The twighlight zone? Nope- census day. Happens once every ten years on April 24, and today was the day.

After bidding farewell to Simon & Alex, I headed down the street at 9:00am to find a Pandaria to supplement the stale bread and cheese breakfast provided by the hospedaje (room service, no less). I noticed right away that things were quiet, but as I walked along it got down right spooky. Everything was closed. Dogs roamed the streets and lounged around in the middle of intersections. Finally I found one tiny news stand tat was open, and I poked my head in the little windown between stacks of newspapers and asked the proprietor "Uh, what day is today?" (Thinking that it might be Sunday or a holiday). "Wednesday" he replied. "Um, when are the stores going to open?" "Three in the afternoon." he says. "Oh." Confused and hungry I wandered around a bit more, and after I was convinced that I wouldn't be eating any time soon I decided to go over to the park on the hill above town for a hike. The park gate was open, but the ticket window and information building were closed. Hm. Since the gate was open I decided what the heck, perhaps if I go for a hike all of this strangeness will sort out, and things will be normal when I return. So I found a trail through the woods and had a nice hike, listening to the birds and photographing the Copihue- Chile's national flower.

Copihue (about 4 inches long with waxy petals)

Upon returning to town I noticed that there was a bit more activity, with the police now out numbering the dogs, a few other people wandering the streets, and local busses running (mostly empty). Since the police didn't seem too busy I stopped and asked one of them what was (or was not) going on. "It's census day" he replied. "Oh, how often do you take a census?" I asked. "Once every ten years." "So the whole country shuts down, and everyone is counted for the census in one day?" "Yup, that's how it works." Wow.

Later on I stopped back by the hospedaje to pick up my stuff and hack away on the computer while waiting for the stores to open up, and a census taker was there filling out forms for the family who ran the hospedaje. The owner invited me in to her living room, and the census taker started asking me questions. "Wait a minute!" I said. "Don't worry" they said, "She gets paid by the form". Indeed she did have a separate form for foreigners, and she didn't ask for my passport number, so I went along with it. Single. Engineer. 37. I live in Fort Collins (written down as Ford Callins). If she had not written my name down as "Martd Roblins", I might have dual citezenship!