By Gravel Road to Trevelin

---

I am glad National Parks are not like Museums. After three hours in the latter my mind is full, my eyes glaze over and I want to sit down. Not so in Patagonia. After eight hours of clear blue lakes, forest from shore line to tree line, snow capped peaks, cavernous forest glades and wildflowers, I am on a high. Dropping South from Bariloche on Ruta 40 towards Trevelin, I took the gravel road less travelled by. It was very different. Winding through the foothills, most of the road led through the Alerces National Park declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2017. Why? It seems that the Alerces, 'fitzroya cupressoides', are amongst the oldest living trees in the world. One found on an island in the park on lake Menendez, has clocked 2,600 years. It is some 45 metres high, and still going strong. Unfortunately, I did not get to see it. It was a two hour walk from the road and I couldn't do it. They will still be there when I come back.

I spent the evening in Trevelin, a small town formed 133 years ago by a group of Welsh and Argentine settlers. I arrived in the evening to an artesan display on the Plaza. The signs for public buildings are in Spanish and Welsh. The names on the houses often end in Jones or Evans. One can have an English Tea if one wishes. I opted for dinner at an italian restaurant. Getting there was an exercise in small town directions -- go down main street, turn right after a three blocks, its on the left, no sign. It was worth the search! The backdrop to the town is huge, all mountain on one side, the high plain on the other. A sense of Montana about the place. My host at a lovely little stone hotel was on about trout fishing and motor cycle riding. The wi fi code in the room is the cubic capacity of his Ducati's engine. Yes!

---

Photos

Valley of La Hoya
Source of much fruit in Argentina

Comments

[Harry]

Amazing how much the other side of the world looks like this side. Some would argue even better. Sounds like the pace is not killing you. How do you like the bike?

[Jim Coates]

The bike is the same model as mine, but four years newer. Unlike mine, it is water cooled and ride by wire. It's a rental bike so it's been beat up some, and ha some noises I can't identify and I hope aren't serious. It rides ok. So far it's done ok in the gravel, tho o keep expecting something to fall off. I like it, and it rides like mine, so I'm comfortable. The cases are plastic, and I expect them to break. Bits of the body are falling off, and trapped on. They will fall. Adds to the excitement.

[Jim Coates]

The bike is the same model as mine, but four years newer. Unlike mine, it is water cooled and ride by wire. It's a rental bike so it's been beat up some, and ha some noises I can't identify and I hope aren't serious. It rides ok. So far it's done ok in the gravel, tho o keep expecting something to fall off. I like it, and it rides like mine, so I'm comfortable. The cases are plastic, and I expect them to break. Bits of the body are falling off, and trapped on. They will fall. Adds to the excitement.