Pucon de Chile. Martes, 14 de Septiembre

Bariloche is where we said goodbye to our snowboards and sent them off to Uruguay for later collection. We’ll spend the next fortnight wondering if we will ever see them again, time will tell!!  Couldn’t have done without them but more than happy to stop dragging that giant bag around behind us, ok well Matt is happy as it was rarely me carrying it.

Both of us have been feeling the urge to ski again recently so from here we intend to hire some planks if we get the opportunity down in Ushuaia.

From Bariloche Matt and I travelled 11 hours in a bus back to Chile, to a town called Pucon. The attraction here being Volcan Villarrica, as we wanted to hike up it.

Volcan Villarrica, 2847m.

Pucon is an excellent, laid back town (again located on a lake) with literally everything one into the outdoors could ask for...............definately a hot favourite for towns we've visited so far.

Its certainly a tourist-town but also has a great local feel going on too.

Again as trigger happy tourists, we have a million photos of this volcano as we climbed it, snowboarded down it and cycled around it.

Villarrica last errupted in 1984 but still has visible magma deep in the crater and at night creates an orange glow with the constant flow of smoke.



30 second exposure. Best we could do with the small  moon but views better if enlarged
(click on photo).

 

Here is where we found our first day of rain for the trip so we have been super lucky with the skies throughout the last 5-6 weeks. The forecast was looking dodgy all week so our entire stay in Pucon was planned around possible climbing days.

In the end we were so lucky and couldn't have asked for a better day - the only clear day of the week and fresh snow.  
Matt and I managed to convince the tour leader to allow us to take up snowboards as the other option was sliding down on a giant plastic spoon-like apparatus. Provided the avalanche risk was adequate and the appropriate guide was free, we were all go! 

View from our hostel bedroom window - worth $14 per night just for the view.

The group in action, on the lower part of the mountain.

  

We all eagerly wondered if we might witness a lil explosion at this
point with the sudden change in smoke colour!

Other lemmings up ahead of us.

The climb takes approximately 6 hours, depending on your group.
Villarrica has a small skifield on the Pucon side of the mountain so you begin by walking up the slopes, getting many a bragging comment from people on the chairlift.
The guide stepped a path as we went, zig-zagging our way up approximately 6-7km.
Unfortunately only about 50% of people reach the top and this was the case in our group - lack of fitness, not incident!

Facts: In the high-season last year (summer) our guide summitted Villarrica 20 days in a row, with two days off, and then another 10 in a row. 300 people attempt it daily in summer so we were glad to be here in the off-season.

Crater and sulphuric smoke.

The gas is chokingly toxic so you are only allowed 2 minutes at the top peering into the crater -Rotorua will never seem stinky again!
Unfortunately for us the wind was too strong and in the wrong direction so we couldn't get to the higher side of the crater to view the magma, big disappointment!! Was amazing to hear though, sounded like waves crashing into a blowhole.

Construction working snowboarder ready to go (helmet really wouldn't fit in my bag!).



Us with Miguel our guide.
He too was stoked not to have to slide down on a plastic spoon.

6 hours up, 30 minutes down - Has to be said that the run down was unreal!

The other 5 days in Pucon we spent wandering, drinking coffee, mountain biking, and visited one of the local hot springs. Must admit that we enjoyed the cafes a lot!

Termas Los Pozones



Stair entry, straight from the change shed into one of the pools.

 

Our time in Pucon was definately more of a highlight because we coincided with Chile's Bicentenary celebration weekend. This marks 200 years of independence from Spain and was a four day public holiday of drinking, BBQ's and general 'Chileno festividad'. Great times!

Ruta de los Siete Lagos, de Argentina. Jueves, 9 de Septiembre.

We'd been told the best way to explore the lakes district was to drive The Seven Lakes Route by car, hence we decided to hire one in Bariloche and dust off our tent for a 3 day tour. The route consists of a 360km round trip from Bariloche mostly on dirt roads.
Apart from the obvious lakes that we wanted to check out, there are also 2 small ski-fields and associated towns en-route which were a must.  

Driving in Bariloche was initially interesting, firstly with a left-hand drive manual on the right-hand side of the road, and second, negotiating the road with other Argentinean drivers. Stop signs in Argentina (PARE) prove to infact mean ‘go’, and as pedestrians we have found zebra crossings serve merely as ornamental street art. This in mind, we jumped straight on the road out of town for ski filed no. 1 Cerro Bayo, on the opposite side of the lake from Bariloche.



Clare atop Cerro Bayo, Villa La Angostura



We had one of the our best days of the season up Cerro Bayo, experiencing great snow conditions and basically no-one to get in our way! A short 10 minute hike from the highest chair to the summit proved to open up untouched terrain – so we repeated this loop for the whole afternoon.

Clare on the hike to the summit of Cerro Bayo



Rain/snow storm headed our way.

Campsite no. 1 on Lago Espejo

In a role reversal, Clare made a fire and pitched the tent whilst I made a cup of tea then dinner!



Day two on some relatively hard going roads (one leg of which was closed immediately after we passed through) brought us to San Martin de Los Andes – another Swiss/gingerbread-house village at the base of Cerro Chapelco.

In Argentina we have found that whenever we want to explore city or village hubs, they are dead quiet due to the mid afternoon siesta which is taken religiously from 1-4pm. San Martin was no different, and as skiers came off the mountain the place came to life.

Lago Traful

Campsite no. 2 Lago Lacar. Note, soft leafy ground/mattress and our canine friend who slept immediately outside the tent for the night.

Patagonain lakeside camping in winter a little chilly, especially without sleeping rolls!
Kiwi ingenuity prevailed on night 2 with the use of cardboard boxes from the local supermercado, resulting in a great night's sleep.


Day 3 brought us up Cerro Chapelco for another day snowboarding - A brilliant tree-clad slope with views across the Andes to Chile.

Our favorite piste at Cerro Chapelco

Site analysis 101 fail? Take 2 got it right.

Volcan Lanin seen from Cerro Chapelco, the highest volcano in S.A (3776m). 
The Chile/Argentina border runs directly through the middle.

The first half of the return drive was via a slow going 70km dirt road pass taking just over two hours. I was excited by the prospect of driving my first Chevy, however did not realise that Chevrolet now manufacture sewing machines. On the other hand, Cheryl did us proud navigating roads (extremely economically) that no rental company would condone or insure for back home.

70km pass

Campsite no. 3 & Cheryl the Chevrolet Corsa Classic, 1.4L, manual.

Bariloche de Argentina. Viernes, 3 de Septiembre.

19 hours in a bus wasn’t actually so bad. Amazing how tiring doing nothing is though!

Bariloche is located in the heart of the Argentine Lakes District and is nick-named the Aspen of the Andes &/or the Queenstown of the Americas.

As when travelling you are always comparing places to home, this region has so many similarities to Te Anau, Queenstown and the Tongariro National Park.

This blog entry will be mainly loaded with pictures as we are so trigger happy and they all speak for themselves.

Centro Civico Square, a borrowed vernacular from Switzerland.

 

Olaf the most photographed pooch in Patagonia (or one of, there were heaps of them). Another Swiss copy.



Bariloche National Park Office & Tourist Info Centre.

We decided to base ourselves here for 10 days to explore the National Parks and to cram in some more snowboarding.

Cerro Catedral (ski-field) was doused in over a metre of fresh snow about 10 days before we got there so we were keen as mustard to get up the hill.

First day in Bariloche was howling (130km winds) so we decided to opt for mountain biking instead. Good call as some mates from the hostel spent 3 hours on one of the chairlifts as it derailed in the wind!!

We packed our sammies and took off around the 'Circuito Chico', Llao Llao Peninsula for the afternoon, thankfully mostly shielded from the wind by the surrounding forest. 

It was hilarious as the bike hire guy told us to ride on the road with extreme caution as ' in Argentina we drive like hell'.

Exclusive hotel and golf resort on the Llao Llao Peninsula.

Ciclismo en la nieve y el bambu es muy dificil!

 

Lago Moren Oeste (hidden lake).

Argentina is renowned for its meat, so we splashed out on a juicy steak after riding for the day. Found a gorgeous steak house cornering a reserve and had quite the romantic dinner for two........and then retreated to our 6 bed dorm room after!
Matt tucked into his steak and I (C) ordered local lamb - which came out as 7 lamb chops on a plate (for the equivalent of $15). For us that was splashing out!, but more than value for money. I was also given a very hard time for being a kiwi and ordering lamb!
 

 

The wind settled and the budget stretched for a few more days on the mountain. Cerro Catedral is the biggest ski-field in SA with 39 lifts and 4500 acres of terrain. Its much lower than the fields in Chile so had a lot more trees scattered around it, which was heaps of fun and had big novelty value for us kiwis.




Lago Nahuel Huapi from Cerro Catedral summit.

Volcan Tronador, looking West from Cerro Catedral (Volcano marks Chilean border).



 



Bariloche city and Lago Nahuel Huapi (or Lake Wakatipu if you like).

For an afternoon stroll we hiked up Cerro Otto, to find knee to thigh depth snow for the last third of the walk.
No DTA's throughout the week in Bariloche but instead another BTA (brilliant tourist act)!
As we walked the 10-12km up Cerro Otto, scored a free gondola ride down. The easy-going ticket guy and our lack of spanish was fruitful.


Bariloche or Queenstown

Random picture alongside the rest, but amazing graffiti outside our hostel.

Mendoza de Argentina. Domingo, 30 de Augusto

We are just over two weeks into the trip now and the travel beard (Matts) is progressing rather gingerly. It feels like we are now getting into the groove of things to come.

From Valparaiso we jumped on our first decent-length 8 hour bus trip, across the Argentinian border to Mendoza.  Although in a straight line the journey was only about 300km, the terraced hairpins and trucks made for slow progress. Fortunately the shear Andes and Michel Thomas (Spanish foundation, Disc 1) kept us entertained. Conjugating verbs must have proved too gripping as we have few photos documenting the amazing road, so you'll just have to take our word for it!
In between "It is not for me, but it is for you"....and,"I'm  hungry, are you hunGRY?" we even passed Aconcagua - fact, the highest mountain in the southern hemisphere at 6962m. And because we like facts, the border crossing was at 3250m. Crossing the border and decending the eastern side if the Andes, the geography changed almost insatantly to extremely arid, flat farmland (ideal for cultivating vino).

Crossing the Andes & approaching the Chile-Argentina border.

Mendoza not only marked a new country but the first splash out on our own room, with ensuite bathroom. I (M) had thus far lost paper scissors rock twice for the top bunk. Unfortunatley, however, the bidet proved to have more pressure than the shower. 
A small city, Mendoza is renowned as the main wine producing region of Argentina. Flattened by an earthquake in the 1860's, the city has a modern grid-plan, with wide tree-clad avenues and large Plaza's. The intention of the planners back then was to make wider streets so that when the next earthquake/s came the buildings would fall into the streets; the Plazas providing evacuation points. We enjoyed exploring the inner areas of the city and the slower change in pace from Valpo.

Plaza Espana

Matt, and Mosaics (for you Joss)

Wine being the drawcard for the region, we thought it rude not to go on a bicycle wine tour. The day started well with another DTA (Dumb Tourist Act no.5), taking notes istead of coins for the bus out to the wineries - this soon became a Brilliant Tourist Act, with a free 40 min bus ride.

The wine tour formula was a simple one, an 11km stretch of road with a about 15 wineries/distilleries/chocolatia's. We simply grabbed our hire bike and numbered map and went on our way.   

Nothing says 'tourist' more than a tandem bicycle.

Mendoza wine country.

The seemingly simple formula was soon broken, when the tandem tank was pulled over by the policia. The fool-proof map fooled the backseat driver/navigator - hence the kind policeman's enquiries into to why we had continued passed the last winery. (DTA no.6)

Museo de Vino. Massive wine barrel adapted into a storage unit. Would make an awesome bedroom (with mezzanine).

Clare, barrels, perspective.

Timber-arch roof structure for the engineers and architects.

Tandem in-action.

 Drinking and riding, condoned.

We stumbled across the Thunderbirds headquarters.

Parque General San Martin.

Sweet Fiat, these cars seem to be super common.

About to embark on our biggest bus ride so far, 19 hours - Mendoza to Bariloche.

From Mendoza we had plans to travel to southern Argentina. There were 2 places we wanted to get to so we just decided to wing it and go with the wind a little. It was a 13 hour overnight bus trip to Nequen where we had to change buses in order to travel further. It just so happened that the Bariloche bus left 10 mins after we arrived in Nequen so we took that as a sign, grabbed a ticket and hopped aboard, arriving 6 hours later in the ski town of Bariloche.