Advertisement
Published: August 7th 2007
Pampas grass
Futaleufú ValleyLeaving the Caraterra Austral was a bit of a big event for us as it had always been a big part of our trip to travel this remote and isolated road. However we still had to ride up a small pass and once again cross the Andes to get into Argentina. Our route from the Caraterra would take us East along a dirt road 77km to the small border town of Futaleufú which is famous for it's world class rafting and kayaking on the Rio Futaleufú. The road itself was very scenic as it twisted and turned around large mountains and lakes giving us different vistas at every turn. The weather had turned very hot and as we were unaccustomed to the heat we were finding it fairly hard going, but it was novel to once again ride in shorts and tee shirts. Having to put on sunscreen again was a bit of a downer.
The first night was spent on the South shore of Lago Yelcho where we enjoyed a very simple (and cheap) campsite to ourselves right on the shore of the lake. This is a truly beautiful lake surrounded by steep sided mountains covered in lush old
growth forest. The light in the evening was absolutely amazing. We did share the campsite however with a couple of pigs and their 2 offspring and a clutch of chooks. All animals involved in making dinner that evening where unharmed. The rest of the ride to Futaleufú was through stunning scenery, winding around mountains (but nothing too steep) and generally following the raging Rio Futaleufú which had the occasional white water raft containing terrified looking tourists out for an expensive thrill!
In Futaleufú, we met up with 2 Australian cyclists, Mick and Mel, whom we briefly met way back on the southern part of the Caraterra Austral in Tortel. They were camping in town with to 2 other cyclists (James and Andrew) from England and Australia respectively. We decided to join them in the campsite and enjoyed some English speaking company at last. It rained quite heavily on our last night together, so we all took refuge in the campsite refugio to play cards, drink beer and make merry while the rain pòured down. There were occasional visits out to te tents to dig deeper trenches as the ground became more and more waterlogged. It was a late start
the next day due to hangovers, a dark and cloudy sky and a late night the night before. We continued on over the border into Argentina with Mick and Mel, whilst James and Andrew continued on their way south from where we had come.
Heading out of Futaleufú into Argentina we could really notice the landscape changing from a craggy, wet, snow peaked mountains to the more drier, rounded mountains on the eastern side of the Andes in Argentina. First stop was a town called Trevelin --Write about the welsh.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.158s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 27; qc: 108; dbt: 0.0699s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
monique
non-member comment
Heigh-ho for the beard and the cards!
Hi Dave and Claire, It seems impossible but the blog just gets more and more enthralling. Arm-chair travelling for us at its best. So glad that the card-playing with family experience got you more beer Dave and look forward to doing a Beard comparison with Graham and Francis. Love from Graham and Monique