parque nacional lanin y lago huechulafquen

After a good night sleep, I left Alumine around 11am (not as early as I planned....) and cycled 110km all the way to Junin de los Andes even though I had planned to stop half the way and camp along the river.

The route flanking the river Alumine was very nice and the ride was very enjoyable, even though I had to do quite a bit of uphill in the heat, as I passed by what were once green fields, now turned into yellow and burnt grass by an invasion of locusts.

I arrived in Junin de los Andes as it started to get darker and after a good shower and a quick dinner I went to sleep quite early in the riverside camping to wake up as a fresher man and enjoy a walk in town, where I visited the small Mapuche museum, the National Park information centre and the church.

After two days of relax in Junin it was time to adventure myself in the Parque Nacional Lanin, where I would have camped for a couple of days to visit the surroundings of the Lago Huechulafquen (in Mapuche "long lake").

The 50km ride was the worst I had so far, the unpaved road was terrible, with plenty of loose stones and sand on the side, making it impossible to build up a good rhythm as I had to stop every 10 minutes to get out of the way of speeding cars or to get out of the sand where I would often get stuck (try to think about lifting or pushing a 50kg heavy bike in the sand ......).

I found a nice and cheap camping on the lakeside and stopped there for the night, I woke up in a beatiful but windy day and after eating some lovely freshly baked bread I left for a walk in the area surrounding the lake at the Volcano Lanin's base.

The view of the Volcano with the snow was just amazing and as the sun was shining I walked to the waterfall El Saltillo with some guys from Buenos Aires I met on the way, we enjoyed the beatiful walk together and arrived at the waterfall after passing by some beatiful beaches on the Lago Paimun.

We then stopped for some refreshments and food at a nearby camping as the sky was getting darker, covered by manacing clouds.

We started making our way back but obviously got completely wet, and found shelter in the Information Centre, as we waited for the rain to stop.

After we got back the rain just kept going all night and forced me to stay in my tent until the afternoon of the next day, when braving the wind and dark sky I adventured outside to eat something.

I met a group of guys trying to cook their dinner with wet wood and we ended up eating together, enjoying the end of the rain and sitting by the fire until late as someone played a guitar.

They were all very nice and made me feel part of the group, we talked about many things and enjoyed the night together....my last night in the Parque Nacional Lanin.