picun leufu y camino a zapala

I left Villa el Chocon and cycled in the wind and heat (once again....) for 60 km, through a very different landscape to what I was used to.

As I am getting closer to the Andes, trees are a more common sight, and water is now less of a problem in the villages along my way.

I arrived in Picun Leufu (the city of wind....) in the early afternoon and went looking for a place to stay or at least a patch of land where to put up my tent and rest.

After knocking on a few doors without getting an answer, I went to the Parador7Hosteria Creo en Dios (I believe in God....) and asked the ladys at the bar if they had a room available for the night or if they knew where I could camp.

They said the rooms were all booked, but that if I wanted, I could put my tent up in the back garden or sleep in the wooden shed next to the house.

I had a look at the shed, which was actually a small house where the owners' nieces were keeping their dolls' kitchen and stuff to play, and given that the kids were away for their holiday I accepted the nice offer, and instead of putting up my tent, just slept in there after a nice meal.....

I had a nice chat with the owners, Nene' and Jenny, two very talkative sisters from Picun who helped me deciding which route to take the next day to reach my next destination, they also made a few phone calls and gave me a piece of paper with names and contact numbers for me to call in my next few stops.

In the morning, Jenny and her brother offered me breakfast and we had a nice chat before I set off to cycle along the gravel road to my next destination of Passo Aguerre, a small village 50km away from Picun Leufu.

It was a fantastic day to cycle, sunny but not too hot in the early morning and with basically no wind, the valleys around ruta 20 were green and the snowy mountain tops of the Andes could be seen getting closer and closer.

A lady in a pick up van asked me if I wanted a lift, but I kindly refused....and a car with two couples stopped to talk to me on the way, as soon as the driver got out of the car I knew, by the way he was dressed....that he was a Jehovah's Witness, even here in the middle of nowhere !!!!!

They were very nice and after a quick chat and a few pictures they told me that they were going to a meeting in Passo Aguerre with other brothers of theirs and invited me to join them......

As the ride started to be a bit more difficult with the midday heat, I stopped in the "hospital" in the small village of Limay Centro to ask if there was a place where I could get something to eat and drink and sit in the shade for a while.

Juan invited me in and we shared a mate with his wife, talking about my trip and the area, football and other things, after half an hour they invited me to join them for a "Saturday Roast"

argentinian style in their neighbours' house.

It was a very large family and the kitchen was full of people standing and eating the lovely roasted chicken, while drinking and chatting about many things. People were asking me a lot of questions but I didn't really mind.....after all I was the guest !!!!

After a few hours of rest, sitting around the table, I said goodbye to my lovely hosts and cycled the remaining 22 km to arrive in Passo Aguerre and meet my Jeovah's Witness friends. Lots of people gathered around me to ask me questions, taking a few pictures and introducing themselves with big smiles, they were all very nice, but I was quite happy to have missed the gathering and their "propaganda" film.....they obviously gave me a small book to read though, of course...!!!!!!

I said goodbye and went looking for the Police station where I hoped to find Oficial Costa, the contact that the lovely Nene' from Picun Leufu gave me earlier, but instead found an other police officer who let me put up my tent in their office's back garden.

I went to buy a few things to eat and drink for the next day and fell asleep quite early, only to wake up at 2am when I heard a noise outside, near my tent.....it was a horse, or someone on a horse? or a cow? god knows.....I made a bit of noise, put my lantern on and then went back to sleep. When I woke up the next day I was quite relieved to see two horses running free in the village, at least I wasn't being stalked by a dark knight on a horse in the middle of the night !!!!!

I then got ready to cycle the remainng 22km on the gravel road to then take the Ruta 40 to Zapala (another 45km).

The mountains, trees and fantastic valleys around me made me feel good and I cycled in a very hot weather to arrive in Zapala around 3pm, along the way I took on three steep uphill bits of road and felt great in managing to get to the top and look at the wonderful scenery.

It felt amazing to be able to get to the top and look down to admire the fantastic views, I can't wait to do more of this....!!!!!!