Ruta de Los Sieto Lagos

The ride from San Martin de Los Andes to Villa Angostura was one of the few in which all four of us, Markus, Joe, Aaron, and me, rode together. It was as spectacular as all the Argentinians had said it would be, along the way down the Rute de Los Siete Lagos (7 Lakes). The first part of the ripio wasn't bad and we were by no means in any rush to get through this region, so we camped on Lago Traful near the middle of the region.

I really would characterize this particular ride by extremes. On one hand, the region is gorgeous with another mountain lake after what seemed like every turn or climb. It was during a lazy break at one of the lakes, I believe Lake Falkner, when we picked up picked up Bernardo, a Brazilian vet who does epidemiology work for the Brazilian government. Bernardo joined up with us for the next two days. Yet on the other hand, the road was quite terrible and absolutely demoralizing. Amongst the heat, the steep and useless climbs (up and down), the attacking tabanas (biting flies that draw blood), and of course the ripio made from loose rocks, I just felt like giving up right there. A few things, however, helped.

First, the bridge we found that spanned a relatively deep river. Bernardo, Markus, and I jumped off it (8m high?) starting a trend in which some other Brazilians and some locals also joined in.

Then there was the comic relief from Bernardo, who kept saying Jesus! with a great accent whenever we would talk about ridiculous things. For example, that night camping on Lake Traful when some obnoxious teenagers tried to steal my fire that was keeping me warm no more than 1m away while I tried to sleep at night under the stars without a tent (I had to move anyway becuase they were so damn loud). Then there was the Great Power Chinese character tattoo that Bernardo sported that for all we knew could have meant man-whore. However, Markus was pretty sure he saw a toilet in Japan with two flush options, one of which was one of the same characters, so Great Power it was. When the ripio finally ended, we kissed the pavement. The next day Bernardo was to leave to Bariloche and I decided to cross into Chile with Markus, while Joe and Aaron would continue south through Argentina.

The morning ride with Joe and Markus through the national park in Villa Angostura was
invigorating, especially because we traveled to the small island without the panniers.
Uphill I could easily break 20kmph on pavement, it was even more useful when climbing steep
inclines through the Arrayanes forest (they do not appear anywhere else in the world except
this general region). On the way back I caught Berarndo leaving, said goodbye. I'll
certainly miss Great Power who said to us, "If you want to friends to travel with, go to
your destination and you will find them there."

Vive la Francia!!

Waking up in Junin de Los Andes, I had to make a run to the supermarket to pick up lunch for the day. On the way back to the hostel, I saw a lone cyclist coming from the north down the main roadWhat luck! Julien, a Frenchman, was riding from Lima, Peru, down to Ushuaia like us. I invited him back to our hostel to meet Joe, and to make a long story short I would ride with him for the next two days. Before leaving Junin, he had to stop by the supermarket and the tourist information office, both just a stone's throw away from each other. In that same area, we saw a giant Land Rover with an Eiffel Tower sticker right on the front. Jacque and Marie-Paule were traveling around South America and had even written a book to be used as a guide for other French travelers doing the same thing. <http://www.landandino.org/> We soon parted and I hit the road with Julien, while Joe chose to stay and explore one of the nearby lakes for a day while waiting for Markus to arrive.

The route we took to San Martin de Los Andes was mostly ripio, but a number of factors made the ride an easy one. First, there was a tailwind the entire time, even if we turned a corner 90 degrees, hah! Second, there was very little traffic which meant we could take the best route of the sometimes very nice or very nasty ripio. Third, the region we were riding through really felt like a national park trail instead of a road connecting two relatively large cities. Finally, new company always makes for a refreshing ride in which you can pick up various tidbits and lessons. From Julien, "So long as you eat well and sleep well, everything will be ok." Amen! Lunch was delicious, and every passing stream or lake warranted a quick wash or even a swim. Now he knows how to live!

Later that night in the super expensive San Martin de Los Andes, we spent most of the afternoon drinking mate on the beach near all the major tourist activities at the end of a spectacular mountain lake. As luck would have it, I saw Jacque and Marie-Paule parked no more than 100m away! We were invited to dinner and given this anise-based French liquor, beer, salad, chips, and chicken, of course on a little table set up right along the edge of the beach. When we parted, the plan for Julien and I was to free-camp on the beach without pitching a tent using the excuse that we were only drinking mate.

Worked like a charm, the cops if there were any had to deal with the drag races in town and our only company was a small group of teenagers smoking weed. It was a fantastic night to say the least.The next morning we woke at sunrise and I decided to climb to one of the local peaks, 20km up with Julien, and then return to meet up with Joe and Aaron.

The long climb was broken up by the fortunate enounter with yet another French couple traveling in a camper. Some cookies and an hour of talking later, we were back on our way up to the peak. At the top we could see Lake Lacar below, as well as the tip of Volcan Lanin! An appropriate end to a fine journey with Julien. Though we parted for the moment, I'm sure somewhere on the Carretera Austral we'll meet again en route to Ushuaia. Please visit his website and support his ride, he survives on 150 Euros per month down here. Bon voyage amigo y vive la Francia!