Neem Karoli Baba | Faith Has No Borders | Cycling Chile Ep.21

The moon has come out on this side, and look at the colours on the other side. India is very far away. He is laughing. Are you mad or what?

This year I lost many things. I gained many things too. My guru is Neem Karoli Baba. The speed touched 70. If bread is not written in your destiny, then it will not come.

Namaskar. Salaam. Sat Sri Akal. Ram Ram to everyone.

Right now I am on Route 7 – Carretera Austral, which is Highway Number 7 of Chile. It is a 1,200 km stretch, said to be one of the most beautiful roads in the world. My cycle, Dhano, and I reached here yesterday and stayed at this place.

First of all, I will show you some lovely drone footage that I captured early in the morning. I stayed about 1 km outside the town in a hostel. This town is called Villa Cerro Castillo. “Cerro Castillo” means sharp peaks. All the mountains and glaciers around here have very sharp, pointed tops. That is why it is called this. It is truly a paradise.

Many trekkers come here. I have never seen so many bikers, trekkers and backpackers anywhere else like I am seeing in this region. It is really paradise. If anyone loves nature and trekking, they must visit this area.

Out of 1,200 km, I have already covered around 500 km. Still, 700 km are left. I have never seen such a beautiful route anywhere. Yes, the road is bad – that is a different issue and my personal problem.

You can see the glacier in front of me. Those sharp peaks are visible clearly today. Yesterday, nothing was visible because of the weather. Today we will climb up to 1,200 metres. From there, I will show you the view.

Today is 31st December. I am trying to reach a town so that I can rest a little for the New Year and edit some videos for you all. After riding 500 km on gravel, my clothes are in very bad condition. I want to wash them. After three days, today I am finally seeing proper sunshine. For three days, I was riding in constant rain.

There is a place 95 km from here. First, I have to climb to 1,200 metres. I have already reached 400 metres, so 800 metres more to go. After that, it is mostly downhill. If there is no wind, I will reach. If the wind starts, maybe not. Sunset is at 10 pm. I have around 12 hours.

Dhano is ready. I have packed everything. I do not wear a helmet, so please do not start lecturing me. My neck starts hurting. On such bad roads, even with a helmet, speed is hardly 10 km/h at times.

The view while climbing is amazing. I stopped to take photographs. A man came and asked, “Where are you from?” I said, “I am from India.” He said he was from Brazil. His name was Rafco Junior. He said he plays the harmonium and that his guru is Neem Karoli Baba. I was surprised to meet a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba here in Chile. The world is really small.

This road from here goes towards Argentina, just 25–30 km away. I have to climb this zigzag mountain road. I have reached 675 metres; I need to go up to 1,175 metres. Slowly, I will climb.

I stopped at a viewpoint and parked my cycle to eat some dried plums. There is no litter anywhere here. I have not seen even a single plastic bottle thrown on the roadside on Carretera Austral. Most tourists are Europeans. Even if something falls, they pick it up. I have seen travellers carrying a separate bag just to collect litter from the road.

Today is the last day of the year. This year I lost many things and gained many things. The biggest loss of my life was my father-in-law. I bow to him. He had a unique personality. Such people are rare. What I gained is your love and blessings, especially during my Antarctica and Australia series. It has been one year since I left Australia. Ten years have passed since I started cycling around the world. I never imagined it would be this long.

Now I am near the top at 1,150 metres above sea level. Only 50 metres more to go. The greenery is reducing. It feels like Ladakh now. They have warned about mountain leopards in this area.

We have reached the top. The views are unbelievable. There is a small local stall here selling handmade items. A lady is making colourful woollen caps by hand. She wraps the wool around and changes the loops in a simple way. It looks easy; even we could make such caps back home.

She was talking in Spanish; I could not understand much. She was laughing and saying Chile is very far from India. I laughed and said yes, very far.

Now we continue on Carretera Austral. I really do not feel like leaving this route. The colours, the mountains – everything looks magical. It feels like I have entered Kargil.

I said goodbye to them and moved on. Now it’s downhill. Let’s enjoy the descent for a while. Just enjoy it. I wish the whole road were like this – I would just roll down happily without even pedalling. Is that possible?

It feels like I have entered Kargil. Near Kargil there is a little greenery around the Dras area – it feels just like that.

Another cyclist came from the front.
“How many kilometres?”
“Only 1 kilometre more, then it’s all downhill.”
“Where are you from?”
“I’m from India.”
“Spain.”
“Nice to meet you. There’s a coffee shop ahead. Have a coffee and then go.”

Dhano’s speed sometimes reaches 60–70 km/h because the descent is so long. For 57 km it is mostly downhill. Sitting by the riverside and eating food has a different kind of joy. I had some rotis left from yesterday. I thought, if bread is not written in your destiny, it even falls into the water! One piece fell, but I didn’t leave it.

The weather is wonderful. What a beautiful area this is. The best part is that there is no one here to stop you or question you. Just you and nature.

On this highway, I stay away from the red Hilux vehicles of the construction company. They drive very rashly. If I see a red one, I move far aside.

We finished eating, but nature has its own plans. Bees started coming there, so we had to leave. These bees sting and keep flying around you. Look at them – they can bite.

It is really tough to build a road like this. Water flows down from the mountains above. Moss has grown over the pure rocks. There is a beautiful waterfall there – I feel like bathing in it.

There are warning boards here. Up to the green zone, there is no problem. Yellow means some caution. Red means danger – you have to take care yourself.

Here is a camping site. It is on the highway, and they also rent trekking equipment. From here, you can go trekking upwards. There are trails and a small lagoon. Everything is written in Spanish, so I could not understand much.

A small lake is here – very beautiful and clear water. I felt like having coffee at the café area, but I controlled myself. I will ride 20 km more and then maybe have it.

I met another cyclist.
“Where did you start today?”
“I started around 11 o’clock.”
“It was windy.”
“Yes, very windy.”
“I think I’ll camp here. It’s a beautiful camping site with a cafeteria.”
He had come from the last city but couldn’t remember the name. He said Spanish is not easy for him either, though he knows a bit of French.

Look at this small lake in the lap of the mountains. The water is so clear. Beautiful!

“Walk alone, even if your crowd is left behind,” I sang to myself.

The speed touched 70 again. Oh my God, will you take my life? If I fall, I won’t even find my bones! I have come down now, but even on the slope it is hard to ride because the wind has become very strong.

My target now is about 40 km ahead. Look at the transformers here – one, two, three in a row. The wiring looks like an 11,000-volt line.

I have to go towards Route 7. I will stop at Coyhaique tonight. From here, 35 km are left. The other road goes towards Argentina. Today I saw the Argentina turn-off twice. Argentina is running parallel to me, but I am not entering it because this route is so beautiful.

Stop, stop, stop – I finally saw a proper highway!

I have almost reached Coyhaique, just 2–4 km left. Now I will find a hostel and then enter the city. It is already 9 pm. The last 25 km were very tough because of the wind. But the good thing was that it was downhill most of the time. In between, I crossed a very beautiful valley called Simpson Valley.

This city is also settled inside a valley. I saw a Mahindra showroom here in Chile – the first one I have seen in 15 days of travelling. There are many Mahindra Scorpio vehicles here. It seems Scorpio is very popular in this city.

Look at the beauty of the city and the colours in the sky. Snow-covered mountains are behind it. And look – that is the full moon. The moon has risen from one side, and on the other side the sky has amazing colours. I have not done any colour grading; these are natural colours.

I have reached the hostel, taken a shower, and today there is a New Year’s Eve party going on here. Many people are downstairs celebrating 31st December. But I am so tired that I will just cook some porridge, eat it, and sleep. It is still not fully dark outside.

We will meet in the New Year with many good videos as I continue my Pole-to-Pole journey. With your love and blessings, I will complete it between 2026 and 2027.

Until then, stay happy, stay busy, stay joyful, stay healthy.

Jai Hind. Jai Bharat.