DAY 3: WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? (CHAITEN TO COYHAIQUE)






Our hotel for the evening with the volcano in the background blowing off steam



Gost town with the volcano in the background

Deserted houses with evidence of the volcanic ash that killed the town

This is what happens to you when you ride behind

We departed from Chaiten late, having spent some time walking through the town and witnessing the utter devastation of an apparently once vibrant town. We left in a slight drizzle, which we decided was due to the wind coming in from the sea. As we rode inland the drizzle actually subsided and we thought that our decision not to put on the yellow BMW rain suits was the correct one. BIG MISTAKE! We had some more drizzle on and off and dried out between drizzles. The problem with the rain suits is that it is really a mission to get them on (taking boots off first etc.) and if you have it on and it does not rain to keep you cool you are wetter inside than outside! When we entered the first of 3 national parks / nature reserves the rain became more intense and by the time we realized it was only going to get worse, we were really too wet to get into the rain suits.

The rest of the day became one of the most fantastic riding experiences that one can wish for.  Soft rain enough to make the road surface as slippery as it can get, added to the worst road we have ever traveled, with generally more potholes than decent road surface (pothole patches stretching across the entire road width making it impossible to not go right through them). The depth of the potholes were generally between 100 and 200mm depth with some even deeper. The parks authority added some spice by doing road maintenance resulting in sections of road covered with a brand new layer of sand, soggy due to the rain and not favourite GS territory. These conditions made up the bulk of the day. When we reached Puerto Aisen, we were both totally soaked while temperatures dropped to below 10 deg. C. The last section of road from Puerto Aisen to Coyhaique, where we stayed for the night, was a high quality surfaced road and offered some of the most beautiful scenery of the tour yet with lots of indigenous wild flowers and a mosaic of colours created by trees and grass.

We arrived in Coyhaique around 10pm (still a fair amount of daylight left) after a 10 hour day and were very lucky to find two rooms in the excellent guest house Raices, run by the very helpful owner, Cecilia Cortes. The heated rooms and hot showers  were just what we needed after a long demanding ride. Our dinner in a nearby restaurant was one of the highlights of the tour with the fillet steak as good as one can get.

DAY 2: OFF THE SURFACED ROADS (EL BOLSON TO CHAITEN)

Getting an orange juice before taking on the nature park on the way to Trevelin, Argentina

Getting really dusty

Houses covered in volcanic ash, washed in by the sea (tsunami?)

Deserted dark town with the volcano in the background

Sunset in Chaiten



Rio Grande on the way to the border post

 DAY 2: OFF THE SURFACED ROADS (EL BOLSON TO CHAITEN)

We left El Bolson in Argentina, traveling in a general southerly direction and took the gravel route through the Los Alerces Nature Reserve. The road followed the edge of Lake Rivadavia and provided scenery as beautiful as any that we have seen along the northern lakes. The weather treated us very well for the entire day and we had very warm sunshine weather in Argentina, cooling somewhat after crossing the border post into Chile.

The very friendly wardens at the entry to the nature reserve did their best to convince us to take a walk along one of the hiking trails (using their total vocabulary of 10 English words assisted by our collective Espaniol vocabulary of about 5).  She did however understand that we came from South Africa and jumped with excitement, being a great soccer fan. Unfortunately we decided to push for Chaiten and could not fit it in an already long day.

A long section of gravel road was under construction and the trip became quite dusty as the photographs will prove. While the newly surfaced road is probably OK for cars, the layer of loose gravel across the entire road surface made for some very challenging riding adding on to our experience.

Our route took us through the small town of Futaleufu where we had some difficulty in finding the route out of town with literally nobody that we approached speaking any English.

We arrived in Chaiten around 8pm after a long day in the saddle and were very relieved to find a hotel with rooms available. It turned out that we were two of three guests and only really realized why the next day. We had dinner at the restaurant next door where we were once again the only two eating guests. The options were given to us verbally and we ended up with a nice pork chop with fresh salad.

We managed to take some good photographs of the volcano, which is apparently covered in cloud most of the time. One can only see steam coming from it at this stage. The evidence of the disaster two years ago, when the volcano erupted and covered the entire town in a layer of volcanic ash is glaring with many houses still as they were after the eruption. People just left their homes and the town literally died. There are very few people left of which the owner of Hotel Schilling is one. She did her utmost to treat us well but one could not help having a lot of empathy with the efforts made with absolutely no means.

The experience in Chaiten was really worth the effort of travelling 160km of gravel road and we will post more photographs to illustrate the experience.

BIKE TRIP DAY 1: THIS IS WHY WE ARE HERE

We left Osorno during peak traffic and were glad to get on the open road on our way to San Carlos de Barriloche. Quite cool and overcast at first with the weather getting gloomier despite a positive weather forecast. The first rural town (if one can call it a town) was Entre Lagos (Entry to the lakes), which turned out to be just that because we experienced for the rest of the day the most beautiful scenery with huge lakes fringed by natural forests growing on the slopes of the Andes mountains which were almost without exception capped with snow. Probably the most beautiful scenes that one will find with crystal clear rapid flowing mountain streams and rivers in natural forest greeted us in the middle section of the Andes (which incidentally stretches for about 60 to 80 km between Chile and Argentina). However, the scenes around the lakes at Barriloche were stunning in their own right, resulting in this area to be clearly very popular with Argentineans who invest in “lake board” real estate.

The section from Barriloche to Bolson, where we stayed for the night was totally different with wild flowers to give Namaqualand in September a run for its money. Sections of the Andes Mountains in the background are totally barren with no vegetation and massive granite rock faces that are almost overwhelming.

The passage through the first two of 12 border posts that we will negotiate went quite smoothly and although the officials do not understand anything but Espanola, they were quite prepared to assist. We hope it will remain like that!!  Excluding the initial section from Osorno to the Andes Mountains, which is mostly rural farm area with fairly straight roads, the roads follow the curves of the mountains. I estimate more than 80% of the entire road length comprises curves of varying radii. This really keeps you on your toes (proverbially) and demands absolute concentration  and also makes for a lot of fun.

We arrived in Bolson at 18h00 after a long day and immediately tried the local beer brewed in the town before we looked for accommodation.

All in all a very successful day and in which we covered close on 500km to give us a little more flexibility on the gravel sections and in the nature reserves.



Typical scenery at Barriloche, Argentina.



Dawid explaining the purpose of the tour to some interested hotel guests in Osorno, Chile.

Parilla for 2 at the restaurant in El Bolson; should have been Parilla for 4 but then this is Argentina!



Mini market at Entre Lagos, Chile



Winding down in El Bolson, Argentina after the first day's ride



Lake Scene near La Angostura, Argentina



Lake scene near San Carlos de Barriloche, Argentina

FOR THOSE WHO REQUESTED MORE PHOTO'S

One of the most upmarket malls we have seen, VERY UPMARKET.

Dawid, Sonia and our transportation for the next nine days.

MINI DRAMAS OF THE DAY (BEFORE WE GET ON OUR BIKES)

Yesterday was quite uneventful. We visited the most upmarket mall in Santiago and experienced the absolute wealth that exists in the upmarket part of the city. Really first world. Brand shops are plentiful and brand names (they are ALL there) seem to be quite big.
We had some pizza and a glass of wine in the vicinty of our hotel when a pigeon landed on our table to knibble on the bread and toast. In the process of moving the plate away to discourage him, disaster struck. I knocked over Dawid's glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, soaked his pants with red wine and splashed red wine on at least two other tables. I don't think the waiter has ever experienced anything like it. I doubled the tip but am not sure if it made that much difference.
In the afternoon we visited a wine estate on the outskirts of Santiago. Nothing spectacular but the journey turned out to be very interesting with our very talkative tour guide George (he spent a lot of time in Mpumalanga and Mozambique) giving us a lot of information on the social structure of the city, the areas where our tour will take us and a lot in between.

13 December 2010.
We left our hotel early to the airport. We travelled without any hold-ups, reinforcing our opinion of the Santiago transportation - and road systems.
The first mini-drama of the day happened when Dawid forgot his credit card in the ATM in the airport terminal. He had to have it cancelled and we will have to make alternative plans to get cash from his account on the rest of tour.

Mini drama no. 2 happened when we checked into our hotel in Osorno and I could not find my immigration documents. We visualised a few days delay in getting it sorted out (we cross the Argentinian border tomorrow!) and I saw Dawid getting VERY concerned. Luckily my documents surfaced during re-packing and both of us were very relieved.
Mini drama no. 3 was Dawid's spectacles disappearing. We alerted the Bike rental company to look at their premises but with no success. Fortunately this also turned out to be a false alarm.

On our way to Osorno. No optical illusion; The floors are that clean!!

In any event, we sorted out all the business, admin and paperwork with regard to the bike rental and we are ready to go!!!. Sonia, who picked us up at the airport was very helpful and efficient and gave us a lot of information and tips, which we are sure will come in very handy. We took a ride through Osorno late afternoon, to get accustomed to the bikes and are ready to go early tomorrow. Late afternoon temperature was low (I guess below 10 C) and we decided to dress accordingly from the outset as we will travel through snow tomorrow. Approaching Osorno, we noted the Andes mountains are covered with snow throughout and it will obviouly only get cooler as we go south.

So far so good

Sunday morning in Santiago. Things are going faaar to smooth. The weather is great, food is good and wine is plentiful and really, really good. Chris (Vosloo)recommended that we try the Chilean Malbek, and I must say Cab Sav may just lose its position as my default liquid of preference.

Last night we enjoyed great jazz at a jazz club close by.
Santiago is a great city. We are very impressed with the efficiency of the public transport which is the best that we have experienced in any city. The newer parts of Santiago, appropriately dubbed Sanhattan, is very impressive in terms of architecture and general feel. Business and apartment blocks are blend well to create a nice feel.

Isabel Allende's Inez of my Soul is a must-read for any visitor to Santiago. We visited Santa Lucia where Pedro de Valdivia and Inez Suarez founded the city somewhere between 1500 and 1600. Isabel Allendes descriptive language just took on a new meaning in terms of explaining the events that took place.

The heart of the tour is getting closer by the minute. Le Roux just informed me that Sonia managed to get me a low seat for the motorbike. This is great news for a height-challenged soul in a foregn country close to the Antactic. You don't need an uncomfortable or unfamiliar saddle when you are sitting on 100 BMW horses!

As I said, things are going faaar to smooth.....

Buenos Aires Stopover

Dawid enjoying a glass of Malbec wine (excellent). It is clear what the speciality is but we settled for modest pasta dishes after the parilla!

8/9 Dcemeber 2010.
We stopped in Buenos Aires for a brief visit of just over a day en route to Santiago.
We stayed in the Hotel Carsson where we found the Desk Manager, whom we dubbed Mr. Gorbachev in 2005 (remarkable likeliness then), still in control of matters.
Spent most of the time in the "Downtown" Centro part of the city and took some time to have a beer on Dorrego Square in Santelmo (on our tracks when we visited the city in 2005). Buenos has not changed a lot.
Less taxis and more organised (not as notoriously reckless as we found them to be in 2005). Santelmo is not the same in the week as over weekends without the street "artists" and other locals who create the fabric of the area.
We visited our favourite Parilla. The meat (portions) are only slightly less obsene that previously but the meat still excellent.
Thursday we finished off with excellent carbo-loading at a restaurant on the revamped dock area and arrived back at our hotel just in time to make for the airport.
A city full of character, less presence of tango dancers on every corner of Avenida Florida and the signs of hardship still very prominent.

Ready for serious protein at the Parilla

What a pleasure to fly with LAN airline. Our own carrier can REALLY take a few tips.