Day 612 – South America – Chile [Gualapulli to Coipue]


24/12/21

40.5km

  From Gualapulli (Chile) to Coipue (Chile)

South America


Running through traffic jam, on busy road 199 – but with stunning views on the volcano

Villarica Lake, where Tolten River takes its source

I restarted the run where I left it yesterday in Gualapulli, around 13km out of Villarica. There I soon found myself into a morning traffic jam, something I haven’t experienced yet in Chile. I find the driving very good here so far. Calm, courteous, drivers always leave me plenty of space when they pass me. They don’t use their honk at all and I have not seen any rush on the road in general. I know it usually all changes when approaching big cities and I expect Santiago will be a very different experience. Meanwhile it’s very enjoyable to run on Chilean roads.

Route 199 – on a rare moment without traffic!

As I left Villarica, having crossed over the Tolten River at its source (which flows from the Villarica Lake towards the Pacific Ocean) I ended up running on Route 199. I had thought it would be a fairly quiet road, like the one I ran on yesterday. Alas, it was quite a different story! That road links Villarica to Ruta 5, the main Highway that crosses Chile south to north. It was quite busy, trucks and cars driving fast (the limit was 100kph) – not exactly a relaxing run!

A close up shot of the black-faced Ibis

In this environment James was not too keen on riding his bike today and accompanied me by piggy-hopping in the campervan instead. He also got me to stop my run as close as I could to the river Tolten banks. This way, I’ll be able to restart the run on the opposite bank, on a road that is by far less busy than the 199. Probably some gravel roads again, but so much better than traffic!

Plodding along!

We are now onto our 2nd rest day of the South American crossing – and the 3rd Christmas of the world-run! (1st was Seville in Spain, 2nd was Nevers in France). A very different one this year, in balmy temperatures and in such a beautiful place… more about it tomorrow!

Enjoy the video of today’s run: https://www.relive.cc/view/vwq1kENpNLO



Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: