Around Futaleufu and Esquel (chile and Argentina)

[chelo5sur]

First at all, sorry my english , but almost sure you will understand...

It was december 2011 and i had 10 unexpected days with no responsabilities.
Weather conditions : Rainy days
Forecast : sunny days
i asked to my wife: "would you like to ride somes days?
the answer was: " yesssss!!!!!"
so we set up in 2 days and finally we left our town Puerto Montt (south of Chile )
it was cloudy and cold and we hoped weather conditions change for better during the afternoon.
Somes fews kms and it was the end of tarmac road.

Map of the trip

https://maps.google.cl/maps?saddr=pu...mra=ls&t=m&z=7




Puerto Montt is the beginning of 1300 kms road called carretera austral . To ridi it you must take somes ferries.
This is the first one.


during teh afternoon we met others riders, him from France and her from Mexico


it was amazing how all this vegetation , wild ruibarb welcomed us to the south .... here we got around 180 rainy days per year





also we visited some friens that offer us "cafe y sopapillas " kind of fried bread








after coffee we continued and finally arrive to Rio negro, Hornopiren , we found a camping and looked for shelter because we got heavy rain





the river beside campground

[chelo5sur]

Day 2

it was the fourth time i was in Rio Negro, and it was the first time i did it with a suuny day
we awake , moved to the pier and wait for the ferry, unlikely for us we could not get in , it was full
and should wait for next day.
I was desapointed , cameback to the campsite and set a barbicue with 2 others rider from USA.

this the second ferry


somes chileans riders waiting ....




sunny days are unusual







Katherine and Vido

Flor enjoying the river





Hornopiren volcano




In the afternoon i went at the feery ´s office and i got tickets for the ferry for the next day . i was very happy

[chelo5sur]

Day 3

again sunny day !!! how lucky we were!!!

we get in the ferry and we met riders from NZ and germany.



leaving Hornopiren
it was 4 hour navigation till next pier called"leptepu"
now somes pics during navigation







chilean playing music


Aleks from Germany



joe (DR650)



Rob (XT660Z) from NZ they have a RR here www.goldenbaytocapehorn.blogspot.com


a long navigation .... time for reading






Katy and Vido

near Leptepu pier





this is the road between Leptepu pier and Fiordo Largo Pier (10 kms)


Here you can read the name of the ferries company and the schedule



All the group before the third and last ferry (40 minutes), after the navigation we desemberked at Caleta Gonzalo pier



Next goal was arrive to Chaiten village with this landscape


The German rider had an accident , he fell down and a car moved him to first aid in Chaiten

we were not riding together , but everybody met and organized ourself to help in wathever we coulld.
we recovered the bike and Aleks was sent to another village by land












enf of the day we looked for a place to pass the night , and finnaly we arrived to springwater EL AMARILLO


the night was amazing, the camera didn ´t help to show it

[purplesage]

Thank you, great ride report. Thanks for showing us some of your part of the world, beautiful! Hope your friend heals-up quickly.

[chelo5sur]

Day 4

we didn ´t believe .... another sunny day .

Flor decided to get in the pool, the rest of us we setup the bikes, and the idea was tocontact the hospital and visit Aleks, we understood he was alon in a foreign country , isolated villages, and he didn t speak too much spanich









while i called to the hospital to know
about Aleks , the rest of the group moved to Villa Santa Lucia , where we met later





lanscapes from Chaiten to the south












Villa Santa Lucia Valley



Aleks was stabilized and they were moving him to the capital by airplane, no way to visit him before he leave th hospital ,sowe took the last picture together, with Flor we decided to continue to Futaleufu and theothers continued riding the "carretera austral"









This is FUTALEUFU RIVER , if im not wrong should be one of the top 5 for rafting in the world









we found a campsite at town

a "BAQUEANO" sort of patagonian cowboy

[chelo5sur]

Day 5


we crossed the border to Argentina
with anydoubt the Andes range is one of the beauties of our continent

maybe you have listened about a volcanic activity , it was "cordon caulle" it s a volcanic range
and one volcano was blowing ashes , that the reason of grey pictures

Riding from Futaleufu to the border


argentinean road, not better than chilean ... shouldsay it was hard to ride in Chile and argentina, 2up and overloaded ,
sometimes had the idea the bike will break ....








ashes on the air ...
.

we drove till ESQUEL and there Beto a friend of mine offer us to stay with them and we met somes others riders at night. We walked the town during the afternoon














music at the main square






evening ´s meeting with Beto







thanks you Beto

[chelo5sur]

Day 6

we left Esquel ,and we decided to cross " Los Alerces National Park "






i remember you is not fog , just ashes














it was too much hot , so we sotpped and take a fresh rest


there are many bungallows and campsites , but it s too much crowed during january and february


we left the Park toward north, next stop Puelo village





fuel was always a problem ,sometimes you don t find at all



we arrived to puelo lake and by this time winds blew off the ashes



we camped and rested

[chelo5sur]

Day 7

weather conditions still amazing , maybe too hot to wear motorbikes pants
anyway we moved toward Bariloche , with somes stops in between.
One was at the handcraftmarket of El Bolson , is like a hippie village , very nice and a must see

Flor was at the market during almost 3 hours , me just half an hour ....


local beer


for lunch try this... very good


LEMBAS is the name


look at Flor





pizzas and empanadas



after lunch we rode again to the north , tarmac road , amzing landscapes




We arrived to Bariloche , found a hostel a walked around

PERICO ´S HOSTEL




AT night we celebrated our trip at a pizzeria , maybe one of the best a tried , or may be we were just so happy enjoying and
celebrating life

[fishwich]

Great pics, thank you!

[chelo5sur]

Day 8 and final

It was the day to come back home, 350 kms far.

Hope you `ve enjoyed and goodbye

That s all


Chelo and Flor

[eatthepeach]

Muy lindo sus aventura. Gracias por compartirlo!

[chelo5sur]

OPS I ALMOST FORGOT

what heppened to Aleks ???

I went to Santiago (chile ´s capital)somes days after and i visited him at the hospital.
It was just his last day at the hospital. He was recovering well. Don t have the words to explain more.
Finally he made somes arrengement for his bikes , he stored it in Chile and it is supposed at the end
of this year he will come back and ride the "carretera austral" again.

Anyway it seems he went to Brazil and spent good time with somes friends before coming germany
Bye

[DerViking]

Nice piece of country you have there.

What kind of camera? You do very nice work.

Thanks for sharing.

[chelo5sur]

Originally Posted by DerViking

Nice piece of country you have there.

What kind of camera? You do very nice work.

Thanks for sharing.

Southern Chile and Argentina are amazing with nice roads.

Camera PANASONIC FZ40

Cheers

[danoromero]

that trip is inspiring, i'm from mexico, we have nice places here too, but southamerica is just amaizing, i have to go some day.

Saludos desde Mexico