Day 7 -- a route change that led to another great ride

As originally planned, we were to continue riding around Lake Llanquihue in the direction of Petrohue, with a stop at the water falls on Lago Todos los Santos (Lake of all the Saints). However, road construction has made this route all but impassable, so we shuttled in the vans to the small village (hamlet?) of Ensanada, and got on the bikes for an out and back ride to Ralun.

This turned out to be a windfall. The road was very lightly travelled, had good pavement, lots of great views, and a considerable amount of climbing that never got real steep. Once again, the weather cooperated with clear skies and lots of sun.

Jeff Bartlett, a professional photographer on our trip took the photo of me (below) with my camera. For some really great shots of our trip, you might want to visit his blog at http://blog.photojbartlett.com/.

Yep, that's me!


We stopped at the turnaround point and ate what we had with us -- a banana here, a ceral bar there, a couple of energy gels, and some cheese that Elsbeth generously shared. For dessert, I just pulled over to the side of the road and got my fill of blackberries fresh off the bush. I didn't even have to dismount from the bike.

When we got back to the main road at Ensenada, we continued on to the famous "saltos" or waterfalls. After a pleasant stop and some very welcom ice cream, we loaded the bikes on the van because the pavement ended at this point and the last three miles to the lodge where we are staying this evening. This is also the terminus of the route from Barriloche (our starting point) that combines a series of boat and bus rides through the lakes of the region.

More beautiful scenery

Guy, Doug and Elspeth

 Tomorrow is the end of the first part of the tour and a few of our number will be leaving us for home. The rest of us will be transferring to the Island of Chiloe.

Rest Day

This morning we all piled into our two vans and drove for about 45 minutes to the Pacific port town of Puerto Montt. After a brief stop for picture taking from a vantage point high above the city we descended to the area where we would have lunch. We had almost an hour to roam around, take pictures, and purchase souvenirs from the myriad vendors of artisanal handicrafts.

The highlight was the fish market, a working market where small fishermen sell their catches to restaurant owners and others. I saw the congrio (conger eel) which I had eaten yesterday. They look very different hanging from a rack like sausage than they do nicely breaded and fried and served on a plate. Lots of workers were shucking and packing shellfish, especially sea urchins.

We had a very pleasant lunch in a small restaurant above the fish market itself. The height of the tourist season has passed, and we tend to eat early by Chilean standards, so we had the restaurant to ourselves for most of the lunch hour. The proprietor was extremely friendly, offering some complimentary salmon appetizers and delicious fish broth. We were invited to stand at the small kitchen area and watch the food preparation.

At our table, we share three main courses -- two "chupes" and some "loco" which is a very close relative of the abalone. The chupes were a sort of thick stew comprised of bread soaked in cream, lots of parmesan cheese, and seafood of your choosing. We had one with crab and one with shrimp. Both were delicious. The loco was also quite good, but one portion shared among four people was the right way to go.

Fishermen at Puerto Montt

Fishermen at Pueto Montt

Ashore at Pueto Montt

Preparing sea urchins

Crabmeat for the chupe

After lunch we returned to Puerto Varas for our "rest."  Attched are a few pictures from Puerto Montt.

After the rain, a great day

Sampling Mate

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sounds of high winds and heavy rain. It was still raining when we finished breakfast, and it was not clear whether we would be riding in the morning. We decdided to wait it out, and while we were doing so, Javier introduced us to the cultural phenomenon of drinking mate  (yerba mate), an herbal tea that is immensely popular in South America.

By 10:30 the rain had abated and Doug Darby and I set off on our bicycles. Several others opted to  have the van take them past the gravel road, or past the first climb. I started out with my rain gear (which turned out to be unnecessary) which quickly became a sauna suit, so I took it off about 40 minutes into the ride. The weather got progressively better as we approached Frutillar, our lunch stop.

In 1856, 47 German families settled in Frutillar and this village of about 5000 people still maintains many of its Germanic traditions. We had lunch in the German social club, with a menu in German and Spanish that included lots of pork and sauerkraut, as well as more traditional Chilean dishes. I had congrio (Conger eel) that was excellent. We then visited the museum that commemorates the colonization of this part of Chile by the Germans (jointly established by the Chilean and German governments), while Javier fixed my rear tire which was slowly going flat.

View of Orsono volcano from Frutillar

The afternoon ride was optional because of some very steep hills. At one point my GPS unit showed a 21% grade, but when I uploaded the data to the computer, it looks like our true maximum was "only" 18%. Both of the climbs were in the 10 to 18 per cent range and were quite challenging, even if they weren't long. They were worth it, however, because of the fantastic views of the Orsono and Calbuco volcanoes on the far side of Lake Llanquihue. We also saw some salmon farms in the lake.


Salmon farm in Lake Llanquihue

We arrived in Puerto Varas, our home for two nights, in late afternoon. Tomorrow is a rest day, with options of rafting, canyoning, or just relaxing and enjoying the pleasures of Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt. Several of us, including me, have opted for the latter.

Puyehue to Puerto Octay on Lago LLanquihue

Another fantastic day weatherwise and cycling wise. I can't believe our good luck with the weather. This morning, for the first time, most of started out in cycling jerseys without our jackets. The temperature stayed pleasant all day and the sunshine was perfect.

We have been following the principal road through the national park. Today we had a 3.5 mile detour on a side road and were told that there might be a "surprise" for us. There was (as you can see in the photo below). The surprise was that there was no fog to obscure the magnificent view of the Orsono volcano and Lago Rupanco in front. The view point was a place called El Encanto.

We did 38 miles before stopping for lunch at a pleasant restaurant where we had three choices -- roasted chicken, a thin beef steak, or trout.  I had the trout (in a sandwich) with lettuce, tomato and a wonderful avocado. This was followed by a choice of "kuchens." There is still a very strong Swiss and German influence here, so German words pop up quite regularly.

For those who wished to do the afternoon ride, we had to take about a 30 mile shuttle ride in the van around the city of Osorno. We then did another 20 miles on the bike into Puerto Octay. There was some climbing, but long flat stretches as well. The pavement was excellent, except for the last mile or so which was an unpaved road right into our hotel which is right on Lago Llanquihoe. From my room, I have a view of the lake and the Osorno volcano.

Dinner is coming up, so I will close.

Crossing into Chile

It is now after 11 pm and we have another day of cycling tomorrow, so I will be brief even though this was a full and interesting day.

What made it interesting, on top of all the majestic scenery and some good climbing, was the convoluted process of leaving Argentina and entering Chile. We had to proceed as a group, which meant that those who arrived at the check points first had to wait for the rest. The first check point was for leaving Argentina. The customs people dutifully recorded the serial number of every bicycle, so that Experience Plus could bring them back into Argentina without paying tax. The rest of the process was pretty straightforward, but we were there almost an hour in total. We then had 25 miles to go before formally entering Chile.

Those 25 miles consisted of a good climb (to about 4000 feet) where the actual international border is and where we had another good lunch. This was followed by a great descent down to the Chilean entry point. Apparently the reason for the “no man’s land” in the middle is that there is a lot of snow on the peak in the winter, so they put the border control at lower elevations. It took us almost two hours to get through the entry process. Again, we had to go through as a group, and they inspected every piece of baggage (mostly by x-ray for us, although they did thorough hand searches of individual autos) and hand searched all of our bicycle packs.

After that it was a pleasant ride through lush Chilean country side to the thermal spas of Puyehue, where we are spending the night. This is a very posh resort – a relaxing visit to the thermal pools was a nice way to top off a day of cycling that included about 55 miles with about 4300 feet of climbing, including a sustained 1 mile climb at about 6 and ½ percent grade near the end.

Due to photographer error, some of my “great shots” are terribly overexposed. Nonetheless, here are two photos that did come out ok. (I am using two cameras, which provides some measure of insurance.)

Sunday -- riding to Villa la Angostura

We had an absolutely beautiful day for our first full day of cycling. The bike felt great and the roads had a good smooth riding surface. There were no shoulders, but traffic was fairly light, and the drivers were quite courteous. We were basically riding along the same two lane highway by Lake Nahuel Huapi through the National Park of the same name.

We left Bariloche in the van to avoid the city traffic, and then took to the bikes. We rode about 43 miles along gently rolling terrain. The grade was generally less than five per cent when we were ascending and only once did I see seven percent.

We had a picnic lunch at a beach on the lake. They really did it up nicely, with salads, three kinds of empanadas, fruit, and even coffee or cappuccino afterwards.

I understand that we have a few others blogging on this trip. When I get the links, I will post them.

The lodge we are staying at is very pleasant, and I am looking forward to a stroll in the town after finishing this post.

I almost forgot to mention last night's dinner -- it has to have been the highlight of the trip so far. We went to one of the more famous "parrillas" for the authentic Argentine beef. They grill huge quantities of been (as well as lamb, chicken and sausaage) on a large grill in the center of the restaurant. We all ordered "half portions" which were Huge and did a little sharing. I ordered the beef cooked "a punto" (medium rare) and it was delicious and tender.

Saturday in Bariloche

I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the hotel with Carolyn and Harold from Utah and Beverly from Rochester, NY¸ all of whom will be on the tour. This is the fourth Argentinian tour for Carolyn and Harold. Later in the morning, I ran into Doug Darby, a fellow alum from last year’s tour in New Zealand.

This morning I strolled around the center of the city, taking a few more pictures and doing some window shopping. I had lunch in a very pleasant Italian restaurant (the vast majority of the restaurants here are Italian). I got through the entire meal without a word of English (and feeling quite good about it) until the waitress brought the bill and informed me in English that “the tip is not included.” I do find that a lot more people here speak English than was the case in Buenos Aires.

In midafternoon I went and got my bicycle set up and did a very short test ride. The bike seems to fit well, so I don’t anticipate any problems. I met our tour guides Maria Elena (from Experience Plus’s offices in Colorado) and Javier, as well as a few more of the tour participants.

Tomorrow we will bike about 56 miles to Villa La Angostura, our first and only stop in Argentina. Then we will cross into Chile. It was suggested that we buy some Chilean pesos today since it will be difficult to do so for the next couple of days. Unfortunately, today is Saturday and you can’t buy Chilean pesos in Argentina on the weekend. I suspect that I will get by just fine with dollars and credit cards.

I am unlikely to have internet access for the next several days, so this will probably be my last post for a while.