Volcano dust and the vegetarian challenge

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A few days ago we departed Trevelin, Argentina and our lovely campsite amongst the fruit orchards that we had all to ourselves (well that was because it was still closed), and headed towards the hills to Paso Futaleufu. Named after the amazing milky green giant river that we followed into Chile, a world renown whitewater destination. We camped at a desserted old campsite, that had a thick coating of fine white grey dust, that we concluded was ash from the Chaiten Volcano (which is currently errupting). Unfortuanately this is as close to the volcano as we got, our ideas of passing through Chaiten the town and doing a wee loop round Chiloe got squashed when we learnt that Chaiten is still under evacuation orders, that have been in place since May! So unfortunately the isla of Chiloe will have to wait as the boats to Chiloe weren't as reliable as we hoped. South it was. At present we are in a dusty wee town of La Junta, and like every town we have passed through it has road works on the mainstreet, perhaps they are sealing them, that would be exciting!

Contrary to what we've heard being a vegetarian is possible in Patagonia (well so far) but being gluten free or vegan would be impossible! The one thing that is always available is wee white bread buns, and in some small towns is the only fresh thing available. It your lucky you can find a tiny lame limp fruit and vege stand. The other night we opted for frozen vege as they looked more nutrious. Addicted as we are to peanut butter, cycling in a country where this staple doesn´t exist is a bit of a concern but we´ve found a replacement in the ubiquitous dulce de leche. Akin to caramel sweetened condensed milk, is KJ´s favourite. Yet is not nearly as good as promite for detering the giant mosquito biting blow flys that are around these parts.

Part of the fun of travelling is finding new and interesting foods. One foolproof recipe we discovered is pannier salsa. Place a couple of fresh juice tomatoes in a well sealed plastic container, pack carefully in your bike pannier bag, and ride for a day over Patagonia ripio. Add some dried herbs and garlic, salt and pepper and Viola! Perfect for spreading over stale squashed bread!!!

At the boarder crossing, we were a little nervous about all our food we were crossing with, just before we devoured the last of our fresh peaches and cautiously ventured forth with our precious bag of dried goods we found after hours of hunting in Bariloche. Alas the thing the customs guy was most concerned with was seeds, so we lost our sunflower seeds but I was most guttered about loosing our sliced almonds, but luckily not our dried tomatoes, which of course are full of seeds, go figure. Good thing he didnt discover the panforte you gave us for christmas Mum had hidden almonds too!!!

So today is our first day of rain, and both our bikes and bodies are very weary, a rest morning it is. Next big town is Coihaique, 269km away. Thanks for all your messages everyone, I have to say we have almost felt lonely the last few days as the Chileans here are much more reserved and we haven´t come across any english speaking fellows in a while. Our limited spanish is is nearly enough for finding directions and food, but doesn´t allow for natural conversation!!!!

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Photos

Glacial goodness...
... with a sprinkling of volcano dust