Wow, they call this place the Lake District for a reason! We´re currently in touristy Villa Angostura, Patagonia on the shores of Lago (lake) Nahuel Huapi. The last two weeks since we reached the Andes have found us camping next to a river or a lake every night but one, and if we´d gone another 3 km that day a gorgeous trout stream awaited. Instead we camped on a high plateau with a huge view of the desert & various mountains. After our longest day in the saddle that was just fine. Superbe, in fact.

But we´re now nearing completion of the ¨Seven Lakes Drive¨, which is the scenic way from San Martin de los Andes to San Carlos de Bariloche. We´ve covered 110 km in the last four days, snaking our way between spectacular peaks and ranges that still hold snowfields on the heights. It looks alot like the Sierras in California, only different. The lakes have been the stars of the show, however. We´ve passed thirteen of them, ranging from un-named blue jewels a couple hundred meters across to endless, deep blue inland fjords stretching to the horizon amongst majestic granite mountain walls. I have managed to swim in nine of them so far, not including the one we´ll be camping on tonight. Each one gets really deep really fast, and the water is crystal clear. You can feel the cold depths at your feet when you tread water. Our first night out we had a small lake all to ourselves and we camped on a beach you could dive straight off of. The next night we took a short side-trip to impossibly-large Lago Traful, staying in a peaceful campground with cows and horses wandering around amongst the tents. Last night we had a lake-side site at Lago Espejo where you had to swim through slender ten-foot tall reeds to get into the open water. It was quite a neat sensation!

As for the roads, we covered 45 km of ¨ripio¨ (gravel road) and often had to breath through wet bandanas over our faces because of all the dust. This is the height of tourist season and the lakes drive is extremely popular. But drivers are very courteous and it´s not unusual to get cheered on by passers-by. We´ve seen dozens of other bike tourists, all on flat-bar mountain bikes. Lots of young backpackers taking buses around too. Fly-fishing is really big here too.

Clear, warm, breezy days have been the norm, though twice we´ve been treated to evening thunderstorms. That helped keep the dust down on the roads though! Otherwise the air clarity is amazing.

All in all that was hands-down the nicest 110 km of bike touring I´ve ever dreamed of.

Next up are a couple days in Bariloche to re-fit and re-supply before either riding to Chile or taking a boat up the lake to the border with Chile, riding to another lake and taking another boat across it. Either way Puerto Monte and the island of Chiloe, Chile are the destinations.

Thanks for checking in! Ciao!

-Andy