Bike around the world - biketravel.net - 3/26 - A road full of adventures...

We are already on the way to the volcano Llaima. Time is running! What happened so far:

Entre Lagos – Puyehue

We were on the way to Argentina and would pass bye the active volcano Puyehue. I wanted to visit it but it seemed that this wouldnt be that easy. I didnt really think about this anymore. Therefore it was a very nice surprise as it got possible on the camping in the Parque Puyehue. Read the report about this trekking in the blog entry before.

Puyehuhe – Siete Lagos – San Martin de los Andes

After the trekking, we kept going towards Argentina. Right and left to the street, there were huge amouts of bimsstone and other eruptive material from Puyehue. It looked like snow but it wasnt. Several lagunas were completely covered by it. After a very sweaty ride up, we finally reached the top at around 1300m. We passed the Chilenien border already before without problems. Also the Argentinian one was fine because we ate the big portion of ham/cheese and bread which we got from some friendly car drivers before the border. They couldnt transport it into Argentina but we could; in our stomachs .
We stayed over night in already closed camping at the beginning of the Siete Lagos route. It only had a cold shower but was cheaper therefore. However, we were the only guests…
The next few days, we drove across the parc. Signs of the vulcanic eruption where frequently visible. And we could also feel them. Some parts were almost like a desert. Finally we reached San Martin de los Andes and enjoyed all the advantages of an Argentinien city like “All what you can eat” restaurants (Tenedor libre and fantastic bakeries.

San Martin de los Andes – Puerto Fuy – Conaripe

After a break day (yes, we are doing that sometimes too), where we met the Swiss cyclists Julie and Alex in our hostal, we kept going towards Chile again. Also this time across a mountain pass (when also a very low one) and further by ferry. Kind of similar to what we had planned in Ensenada. However, we expected it to be by far cheaper than the 280 USD the last time. We left San Martin around 10h and knew that the ferry will be at 16h. We would also have around 6 hours for the 60 km gravel road. That should be enough, we hoped. Otherwise we would have to wait another 24h for the next ferry….
We were pretty fast on the 50km to the boarder and also the Argentinians didnt make us any troubles. The Chilenians took it very serious and searched all our bags, also if not really in detail. Time got kind of short. However, the guy there ment, that its only around 8km far and everything down. The 8km were more or less right. But downwards was the view of a car driver. I for my part was hopeing the whole last part, that there wouldnt be any issue with the bike. At the end we had around 15 minutes left…
The ferry trip acrossss Lago Pirehueico took us 90 minutes and was only around 8 USD per person and bike. On we way we got entertained by a thunderstorm and because it was still raining when we arrived in Puerto Fuy, we also stayed there over night.
We kept going the next day. First fast down slope on a gravel road and then paved along Lago Pangupulli. Then we took the gravel road 201 and this one was partly very steep. So steep that you cant do it without some swearing…
We planned to camp somewhere before Conaripe for taking some pictures of volcano Villarrica at sunset. Unfortunately all campings where closed and there wasnt really another opportunity. Therefore, we drove till Conaripe and stayed at a hospedaje. But not before having a bath in the lake .

Conaripe – Villarrica – Cunco – Melipeuco

Over paved streets again we drove first to Lican Ray and bought there some nice Berlines (in Switzerland we call it Berliner) and empenadas which we ate a few kilometers further up the hill. We reached Villarrica already in the early afternoon and stayed there in the Hostel La Torre Suiza of Helena and Alonso. They took over the hostel from Claudia and Beat two years ago but will get back to Switzerland already in April. Two young Chilenians will be the hosts afterwards. Thats life. Everything is changing .
We decided not to climb volcano Villarrica and to drive further to Cunco and volcano Llaima. When I was serving the Internet in Cunco that evening, I couldnt believe my eyes: Volcano Llaime was on higher alert (yellow) since the day before. That ment that the volcano can erupt within days or weeks. Because of that seems Parque Conguillo (where Llaima is situated) to be closed or it can only be visited during the day. That means probably for us, that we cant visit the parc. But first we hope that an eruption is really going to happen and have our cameras ready. It would almost be unbelievable, if this would really happen but you never know .

All the best from Melipeuco,

Stefan

Michu and myself were looking for a place to stay over night and stopped therefor at the camping Anticura of Parque Puyehue. Gonzalo, one of the employees there, registered us for the camping but also showed us pictures from a tour he recently made to the active volcano Puyehue Cordon Caulle. Michu and I were both (yes, both!) very interested in doing such a tour as well. And because it would cost for 2 days only USD 130.-/person was the question only, if the weather would be good enough soon.

Its starting

During the night and still on Monday morning it was raining heavily again and it didnt look good. Luckily the weather got better in the afternoon and we could start the trip. First by car, afterwards by foot did it go up. With us Gonzalo the guide, Diego a young local employee and Mara, the dog. First through some forest where the trees where damaged through the eruption or better the ash and other eruptive material.
After around 1/3 of what we wanted to do today, we had to fill our water bags because there wouldnt be any drinking water available later on. The weight on the back got now really to the limit. Michus bag was even heavier because he was also carrying the tent (my backpack was too small for that).

In dense fog we reached the Refugio Puyehue in early evening. In and around the refugio was everthing covered by a thin layer of ash and also the air was pretty dusty. After a healthy portion of Spaghetti, we went to bed (or better in our sleeping bags). We will keep going tomorrow.

The volcano
We got waked up by the sun in the morning. The landscape looked much nicer in this weather although if there was still a lot of ash. After the breakfast (including cooked eggs!), we kept going. First in the direction of the central crater of the Puyehue volcano. Soon everything was covered by ash no grass or similar vegetation was visible anymore. Climbing got more and more difficult because the ash wasnt very stable and additionally rain had already eroded small canyons into it. We had to pay attention to not fall into those and damage knees or other body parts.
In the afternoon, the active part of the volcano (Caulle) got finally visible. First only the upper part of the plume but then also the crater area. I was impressed but also a bit disappointed, because the active area was still pretty far away and not really reachable because of the canyons. But our “camping” was great (especially after we adapted the mountain side a bit) and we had a pretty perfect view. Michu und I started immediatly to take pictures. Our guide Gonzalo prepared the dinner in the mean time. It was unbeliveable what he all got out of is backpack!
After sunset, also some glowing material got visible. However, it needed long time exposures to also make it visible in pictures.

And back down again
After a short night (I took some night pictures for time laps), we got a wonderful sunrise. What do you want more? It was hard to leave again but we had to go down. The backpacks were leighter but the path was still difficult and my feet and knees started to hurt. And I recognized, that I slowly dehydrated because I didnt drink enough. I didnt really trust the water in the bags and avoided to drink it therefore (which was a bit stupid when I already transported it up the mountain…). I was therefore happy when we reached the refugio again because there was a little stream which was good for drinking 24 hours ago. After some lunch, we kept going down. After walking down almost 1’500 meter, we finally reached our taxi again. I was pretty tired but at the same time very happy about our expedition. Thank you, Gonzalo! It was perfect!

Some pictures from the expedition can be found below. The best pictures as usual in the gallery. I created a special album for this. Enjoy! .

We already drove a bit further and are in San Martin de los Andes in Argentina. If everything works out, we will drive back to Chile tomorrow. We still have 12 days left together before we have to be in Santiago and there is still so much to see!

Thank you for reading and commenting!

Stefan

PS: You can read (in German) and see a lot of nice pictures in the blog of Michu as well!