Walking in San Martin

Today was washing cloths and exploring the town day but it had to start late since I was having trouble with the laptop connecting to the internet. We had coffee at the best coffee place in town and walked around exploring and found T-shirts with Routa 40 on it which is the main route south to El-Calafate and crossing Patagonia.

Tomorrow we head down route 234 visiting 7 lakes on our way to San Carlos de Bariloche.

To San Martin

We decided to meet up at my hotel at 7:30 am since it was the closest to the end of town. With only some fruits for breakfast I was waiting for Ali and Hussain who had to ride over some sidewalks to get to me due to the closing of some of the roads for the triathlon.

Once they arrived we left right away down the road towards Argentina until the GPS told me to take a left when there was no road. We continued for almost 15 km until we asked and realized we were going the wrong way. We turned around and started to look for the right road until we asked a guy coming off a gravel road who said that it was the way to Argentina. We rode on gravel for 5 km and asked again, a nice woman explained that the gravel road would take us to Argentina but it wan't the best way. She mentioned another road further back but warned us that it might be closed due to the race.

We decided to go back crossing the 5 km of gravel again and about another 5 km of tarmac until we reached the turn off and found that it was closed since the race already started and will not be open until 4 pm. So we decided to go back to the gavel road and take our chances which tuned out great especially since the road went past many farms and the country side until we reached the road and then found new gravel until the border.

The border was fairly easy and we continued down route 234 to San Martin where we had booked a nice hostel in the middle of town and then went to explore the town with lunch at a very nice restaurant. and found a cafe for tomorrow's coffee time. 

To the Volcano

When I checked in yesterday to the hotel a list of activities was on a blackboard that caught my attention, it was for a flight on a small plane to the top of Volcano Villarrica. So we decided to go for it and in the morning I went to Ali's hotel for breakfast since there was no breakfast at the hotel I was staying at and then we all gathered at the hotel swinging in the hammocks waiting to go visit the volcano.

Once the driver took us to the airport we got very excited until we saw the plane and the cross winds and were told that the first 5 minutes will be turbulent until the small Cessna plane got to higher altitude.

The view from the plane were magnificent we went over Pucon and for 20 minutes continued to gain altitude so that we could reach the top of the volcano.

On the way we got to see many hikers on the trail climbing the volcano and the view from the top was breathtaking. We wanted to see some red but all we got was some smoke, even though it is an active volcano.

We took off from Pucon airfield and landed in Villarrica airfield with an experience that we truly recommend as far as you take your motion sickness pills.

Later that day we went into town and got to see all the preparation for the triathlon. We decided to leave really early tomorrow to avoid the closing of the roads especially since it is the same way to Argentina.

To Pucon

We were exited to leave early since we haven't had along riding day in a while and wanted to see if we could make it. The road was mostly riding highway 5 at the full allowable speed of 120 km/h . We stopped twice for a break and fuel. The rest stops were nice and big with a cafe.

After the last one we left the highway where the GPS told us to only to find ourselves on a 30 km gravel run through a road that went by the farms. in many parts it was loose gravel and we had to slow  down to first gear. The trucks coming in the other directions didn't help either throwing dust all over the place.

We continued until we reached the tarmac and were happy to see a goo road all the way to Pucon. First we went to Hussain's Hotel, and then I left for mine while Ali went looking for a hotel since both hotels were fully booked. He finally found one and we all stayed in different hotels this time.

We got together for a nice walk in town and dinner. Pucon is a lovely place full of tourist, it get rather hot during the day max 33 Deg. but really nice when the sun goes down. We also found out why all the hotels are booked, it turns out that on Sunday (the day we leave) there will be a triathlon with over 1000 participants, and that some of the roads will be closed including the one that takes us to Argentina.

To Talca

This morning we went to the presidential palace in Santiago for a photo opportunity before heading out to Talca. The road was all highway making the 260 km really easy. We stopped for coffee and juice and continued on reaching the hotel at 2 pm making it an extra short day.

We took a walk into town and decided to make tomorrow a long day to try to reach Pucon one day ahead of schedule and stay there for two nights since we heard it was really nice.We tried to find a Hotel that had three rooms but it was impossible so I reserved a two rooms in two different hotels for me and Hussain, and Ali said that he will try to get a room at one of the hotels since the net doesn't always cover all rooms.

Today was mostly resting and meeting some friends. Laith Ashkanani a friend of mine is here but was on vacation until yesterday today we go ho his house and have lunch. before that we went shopping for gloves , and a universal sink plug.

We also managed to arrange dinner with the embassy staff again since we enjoyed the last gathering and wanted to say goodbye . We really enjoyed Santiago and the staff at the embassy and hope that some day we return.

Yes to go ?

Ali's implant was bothering him so bad that we all went back to the dental clinic and the dentist knew he would be back. it took all of 10 minutes for the dentist to remove the implant using his hands because it was so loose.

He mentioned that Ali shouldn't ride tomorrow and that he will start feeling better by tonight and he did. We visited the local BMW dealer and got our bikes from the service department. Ali's tank bag had zipper issues and needed repair so Ali took it yesterday to place near by that fixes bags and he got it back to day very happy with the heavy duty zipper installed.

Based on this our plans are to continue the journey south. We are excited again and looking forward to the scenery.