Blogs from Junín de los Andes, Neuquén, Argentina, South America

Snow stops progress on the Expedition We are well under way with our Patagonia Expedition, with the bikes arriving on time along with the riders on Monday. We had the bikes cleared by Tuesday afternoon and we were on the road by Wednesday on the long drag down the Pan Pacific Highway to Talca. We were headed off from Talca in Chile, with our destination, Malague in Argentina, via Maule o Pehuenche but after 160 kms we were forced to turn back because of a massive snow dump during the night, it was going to take a couple of days to clear it. Back tracking to Talca, we decided to head further south in Chile to Victoria, sleep over there and go through Paso Pino Hachardo and directly to Zapalla. So after and eight hour day ... read more

Heaven and Hell Paradise: autumn trees turning from glorious gold to rich red, lovely people in a campground on an island in the rushing Rio Chimehuin, a reading porch overlooking the river, the best sunset I've ever seen and fine walks with my own sweet dog. My planned days stretched to a couple of weeks; why leave when life is good? Hell: finding a place. I'd come from upscale San Martin de los Andes, an hour away, and knew only that the recommended hostel was closed for the season. I set out from the bus terminal, slowly bumping my too-heavy, barely-rolling bag over dirt roads to an overpriced campground, then to a claustrophobic hostel, and back to the campground. After a sweaty hour and a half, I was not in a pleasant mood. However, as I ... read more

Asado yesterday was delicious: many Argentinians, a drunk Chilenian couple and I eating good meat and drinking wine and fernet! Although I didn't understand all jokes (about Chilenians and Argentinians, of course), I had a great time and made some new friends. Que buena onda! Since the asado didn't start before 23:30, I slept only about 4.5 hours before my 12h trip to the Parque Nacional del Lanín...The weather was like Swiss April weather, but nevertheless, the tour was a m a z i n g! First, we went to Junín de los Andes, a little town with a church, which combines Catholicism, Islam (there were quite many Libanese people in Junín) and the symbols and colours of the Mapuches, the Indinas from this region. We left Junín and went to the Parque Nacional in the ... read more

Rano sme sa konecne mohli vyspat tak dlho ako sme chceli, nikto nas nerusil. Trocha sme sa namocili do lago Paimun, ale bolo hrozne studene. Neskor sme sa vydali na cestu, den bol krasny a slnecny, jedina neprijemnost boli ovady, hnusne a doterne, nastastie sa dali lahko zabijat. Pomaly sme prisli k vodopadom - Cascada El Satillo, neboli najhorsie, ale ani nic specialne. Nas dnesny kemp lezal pri jazere lago Huechulafquen a opat sa nam podarilo najst pekne, tiche miestecko s miestom na ohen. Vecer sme este mali navstevnikov - prasiatka a nejake dravo vyzerajuce vtaky, hladajuce zvysky jedal. In the morning we could finally sleep as long as we wanted, there was nobody to wake us up. We tried to swim in the lake, but it was just too cold. Later we left for our ... read more

Rano sme mali trosku zmatky s hladanim nasho autobusu, nakoniec sa ukazalo, ze spolocnost ktora nam listky predala /a ktora vlastni pekne a pohodlne autobusy/ len predava listky na tento spoj /s ovela starsimi autobusmi/. Prechod cez hranice bol bez problemov, je to malo pouzivany prechod a tak sme ani nemuseli cakat. Hned po prijazde do Argentiny nas privitala sopka Lanin leziaca v rovnomernom parku kam sa zajtra chystame. Ubytovali sme sa v mestecku Junin de los Andes, kde nieje nic zaujimave, ale chodi odtial autobus do parku. Neskor sme sa este vybrali zohnat nejake informacie okolo parku a tiez mapu. Mapa ktoru sme dostali /ziadna ina vraj neexistuje/ je asi najhorsia v historii ludstva - niesu tam vyznacene ziadne cesty po ktorych sa da trekovat. Su tam nejake kempy, ale mena pri nich niesu, vlastne ... read more