on the road to chile

I went back to Junin early in the morning and thanks to two days of rain, the road was now much better, I made it back in half the time !!!!

When I got back to the same camping by the river I met Antonio, a motorcyclist from Buenos Aires province who was travelling for four months around his country, we had a long chat and he offered me a Mate Cocido.
I then had lunch and a good siesta and visited the local Feria de Artesania Mapuche, an exhibition where local Mapuche communities had an opportunity to sell their artesans' products, there I met a lady who recognised me from Lago Rucachoroi, where I had been cycling more than a week before, "I remember your face" she said "you look like one of the Twelve Apostles".....

The next day, I cycled 45km to San Martin de Los Andes to stop there for a night before going towards Chile, I arrived very early and after talking to four cyclists from Chile I gathered some informations about the route I was going to take.
There, I met Herman and Alena, the German cyclists.....once again we met on the road, we had lunch together and went our own way, this time for the last time, as it was their last week in Argentina.....see you somewhere in Europe guys !!!!! maybe on the road......once again.

I then decided to continue my journey towards Chile and not to stop in San Martin, a very touristic town, probably more of a base for excursions in the nearby lakes and National Parks than an attraction itself.
The 48km long road to Paso Internacional Hua Hum was mostly uphill for the first 20km and the heat did not make it easier....I met a couple from Loughborough who were cycling back from Chile to visit the Argentinian side and enjoyed what was my first conversation with English people in two months.















I stopped at the camping Nonthue, 5km from the Chilean border and put my tent up on the beach, there I met Federico and Lisandro, two brothers from Rosario, we had dinner together while we talked about football, drinking a beer and then shared a few jokes by the fire on the beach (el chiste del pan que habla va a ser mundial chicos.....ya lo conte' a los chilenos).















I woke up quite early to cycle the remaining 5km to the border, and crossed into Chile, I then cycled another 15km to get to Puerto Pirehueico to catch a boat, arriving after an hour and a half in the town of Puerto Fuy.















On the boat I met Marisol, her mum and a friend and we had a nice talk as we admired the beatiful scenery around us, deserted beaches and cliffs on the Lago Pirehueico.















As soon as we got off the boat, I visited the Tourist Information Centre and then cycled towards Lago Choshuenco, where I would have camped for the night.
I visited the small town of Neltume where an Artesans Fair was taking place and admired the wooden sculptures before continuing my journey, I then stopped at the waterfall Huilo-Huilo where for some reason, the guy just let me in for free.....

As the evening was approaching I cycled about 20km on a terrible unpaved road to get to Choshuenco where I camped solo and for free on the beach, enjoying the sun set on the lake with a deserved plate of pasta.