Record breakers

8th April, Easter Sunday, San Marin to Playa Catrite (4.5M)

The sun was out and the trees werechanging with autumn

On our bikes and back in the sun. The road between San Martin and Bariloche is known as 'Ruta de los siete lagos (the road of the seven lakes)' and is renowned for being beautiful. We still had more than enough time to get to Bariloche for our flight on the 16th April so with the weather constantly improving we decided to take our time and enjoy our final weeks in Argentina.







So today was certainly not about setting any records, except perhaps for the fewest miles cycled in a day. We had a lovely ride, on tarmac once again, along the edge of Lago Lacar. We climbed steadily throughout this before a steep descent down to a beach on the lakeside. It was only midday but we decided to enjoy the scenery and stop and camp here overnight. During the day the place was heaving with Argentinians enjoying their Easter Sunday with asados (BBQs), fishing, a couple having scuba diving lessons and many more just relaxing on this lovely warm sunny holiday. We were the only people camping and once the sun left the beach, the temperature quickly dropped off and then people began to leave. I returned from one of my few runs I managed while in South America to find that we'd been given a refund for the camping as there was no gas or hot water. They left the toilet block open so we could stay for free if we wanted or move onto another campsite with facilities just a bit along the lake shore, but by then our tent was up and we were happy to stay for free. It just meant a bathe in the lake for me after my run instead of a nice warm shower!

Post run bathing....

The sunsets more than made up for any lack of facilities and actually we'd paid more in the past for a less well equipped or beautiful site.

San Martin de los Andes

7th April, San Martin


A relaxed and chilled day nursing hangovers and trying to rehydrate. We moved to a double room this morning that soon looked like a Chinese laundry as we hung our damp kit everywhere. We didn't dare leave our key at reception even when we left the hostel in case they went into our room for any reason. We had a nice walk through town including a very expensive but very yummy hot chocolate. Gareth in his hungover state also managed to consume 10 croissants throughout the day and a slice of cheese cake. The bakeries were good, but I'm not sure that it was really making Gareth feel much better in the hangover stakes.
We tried to burn it off with a walk along the lake front. Very pretty and the weather was definitely improving with no rain today, just very very strong winds and clouds racing rapidly across the sky.

Birthday Boy

6th April, Gareth's Birthday, Wild camp near Hua Hum to San Martin de los Andes (33M)

Gareth at 35 years old 

So, much to Gareth's disgust we were in a wet tent and about to cycle down a wet road on his birthday. Definitely not on his wish list. There was some good news however as despite a very wet tent, it wasn't actually raining this morning and there were a few patches of blue sky around. We packed everything away, breakfasted and set out on our way. It was slow hard going. The rain had made the ripio road quite soft and it just seemed to grip hold of our tyres and hang on. We seemed to be constantly ascending and then descending again but we never seemed to get up any speed on the descents. It was really taxing and then any height we did gain was soon lost again on the next bit of the road. We passed the spot where we had turned around yesterday, typically there was a campsite only about 1km further on. Very annoying.

A birthday hug

After a while we found a parks visitor and picnic area where we stopped on the lake edge for a birthday picnic. It was a nice setting for a birthday meal and I can't remember what was on the menu, but I don't actually recall it being that inspiring, mainly because it had been 4 days on the road since the last time we'd entered a shop. Anyway the sun was out, at least for a while and the views were nice. When it did rain it was just after we arrived on the beach and was only a shower, but it did mean that all the other people left so that we had the place to ourselves.
Back on the road we continued onwards and mainly upwards although still with the occasional annoying descents, it was demoralising loosing height after all that hard work on the previous ascent. There was definitely more climbing and eventually we reached the highest point of the road at 1200m. What a relief when all we could see ahead was a long almost continuous descent down the valley towards San Martin.
Finally we had a rest on the bikes as we free wheeled our way down the valley. There were beautiful autumn colours just beginning to come out on the trees around us and just before reaching San Martin there was a mirador where we finally got to see our goal and the largest area of civilisation since leaving Pucon.

Civilisation and a clear (ish) view

Arriving in San Martin, we found our way to La Puma Hostel,which had been recommended by Alex and Julie. There were no double rooms free but we booked into a dorm room and with the others not having arrived yet we had time to spread out all our kit to dry and have a long long shower. Despite being Good Friday, I even managed to find a laundrette open and put our clothes in before it shut at 10pm. Definitely not a service that you'd find open on a Good Friday in the UK.
Clean and dry we then went to explore the town, had a beer at 'The Dublin' pub (definitely in tourist land now) before finding a lovely tapas type restaurant where we drunk far too much and ate a lovely meal of 'picadas' (finger type foods), including cured and smoked meats, pates, olives, bread and pickles. Very very yummy and one of the typical styles of eating in this area of Argentina. 

Adding to those boat miles

5th April. Puerto Fuy to Wild camp near Hua Hum, Argentina (13.2M)


Despite a dry first half of the night, by morning it was raining heavily again and there was no respite in which to pack the gear away. So by 11am we packed everything away as best we could and headed back to the port to wait for the ferry. We actually had an hour to spare so reminiscent of our damp arrival at Puerto Yungay and our wait for the ferry there, we joined a group of motorcyclists drying their clothes around a wood burning stove whilst ordering coffees at a small restaurant just opposite the pier. Much to our disappointment 'cafe del lago' was shut so no empanadas for us this morning. At 12.40 there seemed to be activity at the pier so we made our way back into the rain, back to the bikes and down to the pier. As usual in Chile it was quite a long drawn out process. The cars began to board first, reversing on so that they could drive off the other side, then a coach arrived with a few foot passengers and then finally the motorcyclists and ourselves were allowed to ride on. We were also joined by 4 Argentinian cyclists, who'd arrived at the pier in the back of a pick-up and didn't seem too heavily laden. Cheating really but probably very sensible given the weather at the moment.
We left the bikes on the deck in the rain and hurried inside to find some seats next to a radiator. We quickly utilised it and no one complained as we spread out our wet kit to dry. The ferry journey across Lago Pirehueica takes 1.5hours and is meant to be incredibly beautiful. We did get some views of the surrounding hills and waterfalls, but we remained inside and enjoyed it from the warm, dry interior of the ferry this time.
On the eastern side of the lake we docked at Puerto Pirehueica, which was really just a collection of a few houses and a hosteria. We were both obviously not in a hurry to go any where when it was suggested and agreed upon that we would stop at the hosteria for yet another coffee. Caffeine'd up we spent our final Chilean coins  on some biscuits and eventually set off towards  the Chilean/Argentinian border. At least now it wasn't really raining, just damp air and it didn't take us long to cycle the 7km to Chilean customs and then another 4km to the border itself. A few km further on were the Argentinian customs. We passed through without problems, but conversation with the border guard stopped very quickly when we said we were from England. Their Veterans day or Malinvas day had been on the 2nd April, 3 days previous and after replying that we were from 'Inglaterra' it was a bit uncomfortable and he found another guard to finish off our passport stamps.

We continued onwards on ripio roads into Argentina. Despite lots of coffee stops we hadn't actually eaten since breakfast and this eventually caught up with me. We stopped under a bit of shelter for some food, but by then I wasn't feeling 100% and never really got going again. So about 10km from the border with no evidence that there would be camping ahead we decided to backtrack 5km to a campsite sign we'd seen previously. It all ended up being a bit of a waste of effort, as after eventually arriving at a farm house at the end of a windy track and on top of a steep wet hill we were told we could camp, but the boiler was broken and there was no hot water. He said it very pleasantly, but he wasn't prepared to lower the price. 50peso for damp camping and no hot water, we might as well wild camp for free. So back on the bikes we headed back towards the 'main' road and found some camping on some common land near a beautiful river. Not 100% ideal as it felt a bit open, but with the rain back again, we decided it'd be extremely unlikely that anyone would venture out and park up near us in this. We had a wet tent, quite a lot of wet kit and Gareth now realised that he was going to have to cycle on his birthday tomorrow, so we weren't the happiest of campers, but surely the rain must stop soon!

Moody Views

4th April Termus Pellaifa to Puerto Fuy (24.5M)


The forecast was right. The rains had started again. It'd rained all last night and was looking pretty miserable this morning. We debated about staying at the Termus another night, free use of the hot pools was certainly very attractive. However the forecast was for 4 days of rain so there really didn't seem much point waiting it out today only to get wet anyway tomorrow.

Moody views

Thankfully when we did leave, except for the wet roads and slightly 'moody' scenery it was dry for the first 1.5hours. Enough time for us to continue gently up the valley and then take the small signposted road to Puerto Fuy. According to our map this road just followed another river up a valley and then on to Puerto Fuy from there. We passed a sports car heading the other way at the start of the road so surely it couldn't be too bad. What soon became apparent after climbing 200m or more was that we were following the river but the river was in the valley about 200m below us and I have no idea how the sports car got through this road without taking its floor out! There were certain rewards for all the climbing however as we got lovely views of the surrounding valleys and volcanoes. Sensing impending rain we stopped for a break and food before it reached us. It was quite an anxious break in the end as we sat watching the grey clouds roll up the valley towards us. After enjoying our final minutes of sunshine we quickly managed to get our waterproofs on before the rain hit us.
Cold and quickly becoming wet we continued onwards and downwards. Definitely a road for mountain bikes, definitely not for sports cars. In some ways we were lucky as the weather continued to be showery for the rest of the day and except for frequent stops to put on or take off waterproofs we did get to enjoy some scenery in the sun and the volcanoes weren't always shrouded in clouds.

Enjoying th 'BEST' empanadas

Riding into Puerto Fuy was during a wet spell and downhill. By then I was pretty cold and ready to finish for the day. Puerto Fuy was very quiet and felt like a ghost town. Except for a few cabanas (lodges) advertised as we entered town, a few houses and a couple of closed stores there was very little else. We checked out the times for the ferry that would leave tomorrow and thankfully found that 'Cafe del Lago' was open. It felt like a town hall with a couple of ladies chatting in the kitchen at the back, but they served good coffee and 12 freshly made empanadas, which Gareth and I both agreed were the best we'd had throughout the trip. We'd ordered 12 as they were at a cheaper price and I thought we'd take some away for later, but no chance. They were warm and tasty and we were cold and wet.
Feeling refuelled and warm we ventured back outside during a dry spell and headed down to the lake beach where the lonely planet had said there was free camping. There was certainly evidence of others having camped here in the past, but we spent quite a while deciding on exactly where to pitch the tent. Finally as we were putting it up an incredibly fast speaking Chilean on his way out rabbiting came up. He seemed friendly enough, but had 2 dogs, snares and 2 huge knives with him. It put us both off camping here a bit, but there really seemed to be nowhere else. I had understood some of the conversation. He definitely said we could camp here, but he'd also said a lot of other stuff that I just didn't understand (no entiendo!).

The tent didn't stay dry for long

Sorry about the wait!

Sorry to have kept you all waiting for the next instalment. Computers in Argentina and Chile at the end of the trip were just so slow and now back in the UK, reality seems to have hit and time just seems to slip away far too fast. However I'm back on the computer and enjoying the chance to think back on our final few weeks in South America and enjoy the memories. Hope you enjoy the final updates!

First Bath!

3rd April, Conaf campsite to Termus Pellaifa, (29.5M)

A peaceful nights sleep although it was really cold this morning cooking breakfast (porridge) and packing the tent away. The sun had yet to reach us through the trees and sunrise doesn't happen until almost 8am now anyway.
Within 20mins of pedalling out of the campsite with a combination of pushing and riding the bikes uphill we were soon down to our cycle shorts and t-shirts again. The Swiss couple, Jean-Charles and Audrey, the Conaf warden and the road signs were all right, the road was in BAD condition for the next 9km after leaving the campsite. On our uphill section it looked like water had washed a lot of the road away and there was a huge gully down the middle of the road. The signs said that the route was for pedestrians only, but it looked like a few motorbikes and possible a 4WD had passed through and obviously cyclists! We have 3 maps that show this area, on one the route is marked as a white road, on the other it is marked as a track and on the 3rd it isn't marked at all. Sort of sums up Chilean signage and maps.
The sky was perfectly clear, not a cloud in sight. We had a beautiful day out on the bikes. The road condition was bad but there were no worries about meeting traffic, just 2 walkers, so we could meander all over the road searching for the best part of the road. We did manage to cycle sections of the uphill part, just a fair amount of pushing in there as well. In some ways it was great that everyone had stressed how bad the road was and how much pushing we would have to do as in the end the top of the path arrived as a pleasant surprise. It really hadn't been as bad as people had lead us to believe.
From the top of the pass there was a signed footpath leading to a glacier and a viewpoint. We weren't in any hurry to get to any particular destination, so we decided to lock and leave the bikes and set off up the path to the view point. The path headed uphill through forest, passing a large number of native monkey puzzle trees, I hadn't realised that they were native to this region of Chile and Argentina. Above the tree line the views opened up and we had spectacular views of volcanoes Lanin and Quetrupillan to one side, ascending hillside in front, which was strewn with fine volcanic rocks and then behind us beautiful views down a valley. At least it was beautiful from where we were, it took us a while to work out what was going on as it looked like the valley was full of a salt lakes. In fact once we had got the binoculars out we realised that the valley was completely filled with wispy clouds. Beautiful to look at, but we were just hoping that it wasn't where we were headed as otherwise we could see that pretty soon we would be out of the sun and beneath a layer of cloud!

Walking back to the bikes, everything was as we'd left it and we sat in the sun for so food before starting our descent. The next 4-5km through the national park and rough track was great fun. Pretty much all downhill so not much pedalling effort required, with plenty of corners, tree roots and the occasional rock to dodge so really different and interesting cycling for a while. I loved it. Once past the national park boundary the path opened up to ripio road again.Very slightly smoother, definitely less tree roots to dodge and the occasional car.

We continued downward and could see that we were ultimately approaching the cloud filled valley we'd spotted from the viewpoint. We thought about stopping in the sun above the cloud, but ultimately we wanted to get on a bit and the forecast was for the weather to get worse over the next few days so we thought we might as well push on. Passing through the cloud was slightly eerie. Intermittent light broke through from the sun, but it was cold, damp and gloomy. We soon stopped to put on leggings and lots of layers of clothes on. Downwards and downwards, easy cycling, but doing absolutely nothing to help warm us up. Surprisingly as we reached Conaripe on the shores of lake Calafquen, the sun did start to reach us again. The cloud was forming a layer or band in the middle part of the valley, obscuring views but above and below the band of cloud the day was good. Unfortunately it did mean that we didn't have any of the views of Volcan Villarica that we should have been able to see from this side, just rocky hillside disappearing into the cloud.
A coffee stop was definitely in order and we found a restaurant that served us some nescafe on a tray. Instant coffee is the norm especially in Chile. Usually they will give you the jar, possibly some milk or some powdered stuff and then some hot water to add to it all. Most important was being able to wrap my hands around a nice warm cup.
Feeling better after the coffee we found our way to a panadaria, bought some fresh bread and empanadas and were then ready to head on a bit further. Out of the village we followed a river valley slowly uphill. The weather quickly improved and the cold damp clouds soon became a distant memory. As we cycled onwards passing through tiny villages the road became steeper so that before we knew it we were climbing over another small pass. Again lovely views down into a valley, this time over lake Pellaifa. A hairpined descent and we were at the gate to 'Termus Conaripe'. We'd decided at this point that if we could pitch our tent near or at the Termus (hotsprings) then that was far enough for us today. Termus Conaripe was a large, much advertised Termus and although they did deals for lunch or 'elevenses' with entrance to the hotsprings, it wasn't cheap and didn't look like the kind of place that a couple of scruffy cyclists could pitch their tent on the lawn.
We were in luck however as a small road to the side advertised 'EcoTermus Pellaifa' 2km on a handwritten sign and at half the entrance price as the Conaripe hotsprings. We weren't sure what and 'EcoTermus' was but decided it was worth the detour to find out. A rough road downhill, I was really hoping that we'd not e retracing our steps right away, and we arrived at a small cluster of houses. Past these and we were at the Termus. They were doing a lot of work to develop it, creating an archway over the entrance and extra buildings. Passing through the entrance we found that they also had a campsite and with some confusion over cost we eventually pitched tent and then paid for the campsite. The sign said 6000 peso each entrance fee to the pools, we paid for camping that was 5000peso each and included free use of the pools. I couldn't really get my head round it and thought my Spanish was definitely regressing, but all the better for us. So tent pitched very quickly we made our way to the changing rooms and then onto the pools. There were 2 other families in them, but plenty of room for us all and there were 4 pools of varying heat, the hottest at 40 degC the coldest, (frio) very cold and wasn't ventured into! We were in the pools for ages, it was our 1st bath in 6 months! By 8pm we were the only ones in there and although the pools were flood lit and we were open until midnight, by 8.45pm we decided we'd better get out as we were turning into prunes.
It was good timing as we showered, got back at the tent we had time to cook our dinner before retreating into the tent to eat it as the forecasted bad weather eventually reached us. This was certainly one of our best campsites, very quiet with only us there, cold showers but 3 hot baths all inclusive!