Jan 12- bus to Neuquen, Argentina
Then we rode through:
indicates really big features, like vocanos, passes, lakes, etc.)
Zapala
Cultral-Co

Paso de Primeros Pinos
Villa Pehuenia
Lago Alumine, Lago Moquehue, and the Rio Alumine
Alumine
Rahué
Junin de los Andes
San Martin de los Andes
Seven Lakes Route
Villa La Angostura
Lago Nahuel Huapi
Dinah Huapi
Bariloche
via Lago Nahuel Huapi and Lago Fria (boats)
Cerro Tronador
into Chile
Peulla
via Lago Todos los Santos (boat)
Petrohue
Volcan Osorno
Lago LLanquihue
Puerto Varas
Puerto Monte
Pargua
Boat to Chiloe
Chacao
Caulín
Ancud
Lechuaga and PENGUINS
The South Pacific
Ancud
Dalcahue
Ferry to Isla Quinchao
Ferry back to Dalcahue
Castro
Quellón
Ferry to Chaiten, back on the mainland
Termas de Amarillo (Hot springs!)
Puerto Cárdenas
Villa Santa Lucia
Puerto Ramirez
Futaleufú
back into Argentina
Trevelin
Esquel
Trevelin
Parque de los Alerces
Rio Verde
Lago Futalafuquen
Trevelin (2000 km travelled at this point!)
Esquel
El Bolson
Bariloche (for the second time)
March 4-we get on a bus for 36 hours heading to Jujuy, in Northern Argentina.
San Salvador de Jujuy (pronounced Who-whoooie!)
Purmamarca
Tilcará
Humahuaca
Azul Pampa
Abra Pampa
La Quica
BOLIVIA!
Villazón
Tupiza
Uyuni (from Tupiza to Uyuni via the Wara Wara Express…a train)
Isla de Incahuasi
Tahuá
Volcan Thunupa
Salinas
Alcaya (day trip to see the mummies!)
San Martin (this is about where we made a wrong turn…)
Belén de Andamarca
Copocabanita
Toledo
Oruro
Las Termas de Obrajes
Sika Sika
La Paz
La Cumbre (The World´s Most Dangerous Road)
Yolosa/Coroico- La Senda Verde
La Paz
Copacabana
Isla del Sol
La Paz (via bus)
Tambo Quemado (via bus)
CHILE!!! (back on the bikes)
Lago Chungara
Parque National Lauca
from 15,350 feet to 0 in 120k
Arica
Viña del Mar (another 31 hour bus ride)
Valparaiso
Santiago
(24 hour bus ride)
Argentina
Buenos Aires

As I sat next to the rushing creek pumping our deteriorating water filter as fast as it can go, the scene before my eyes was ideal. Pure sunlight glistened off the slopes of the mountains right next to us, the air was fresh and clear, the sky was deep Patagonia blue, and the kind of tailwind bike tourists fantasize about was at my back. Perfect place for lunch, by all measures.
When I looked over my shoulder I saw Elicia in the shade of a tree that was shivering in the stiff breeze. She was preparing carrots, salami, cheese, and crackers. I was SO ready for a well-deserved lunch! But it was the view just beyond her shoulder that changed everything. The wall of purple, orange, and grey smoke actively billowing into the sky a couple kilometers away, blotting out everything in that half of the sky, was no surprise. We´d been rapidly swept alongside that by the tailwind for the last ten kilometers. But I was alarmed to see the towering orange flames, easily as big as a really big house, that stood out bright and clear in the transparent mountain air, just past her left shoulder.
¨Hey, look at that.¨
How far away were those flames, anyway? The wind was blowing the fire parallel to the direction we were headed, true, but the road had curved away from it for the last couple kilometers, and we had postponed lunch until we were sure we´d gotten well out of it´s reach. The road had every manner of official vehicle traffic (cops, park rangers, military, and even fire fighters), but also local traffic, and nobody had warned us or anything. Most people were pulling over to stare at the sight. It also increased our margin of safety that we knew the road, having come in this way three days ago. No huge slow hills or turns to the dark, dreaded, doomed-to-burn-very-soon lands east of us awaited. Just flat straight smooth pavement taking us south around a big lake before a long fast descent that trended to the west. No fire would catch us on this road, and the town of Trevelin, a good campgroud, and cold beer awaited us at it´s end.
¨How far do you think those are Andy?¨
MAN, those flames don´t look very far away at all! Could easily be a trick of the air. Or maybe they´re five times higher than I think they are and thus farther away…well, actually, that´s a pretty scary thought too.
¨We can ride twenty miles an hour easy with this tailwind, and the fire can´t advance any faster than the wind. It won´t be able to catch us unless it changes directions. At least I think…¨
All at once my mind was flooded with thoughts of the Santa Anna winds blowing wildfires across twisty mountain suburban roads choked with smoke and SUV´s trying to get the heck out of there, not knowing where the flames were cutting them off, probably amazed at how fast the fire could spread. And I heard the sudued voices of forest fire fighters saying something about how disasterous a change in the wind could be if you didn´t see it coming and run for your life in the correct direction.
¨Should we get out of here?¨
¨Let´s go!¨
As we rode on the colorful, towering cloud of smoke doubled in size. We asked a cop whether it was safe & he said sure, and then he went back to watching in awe.
So we had lunch, but not until a large lake was between us and the fire. The spot we were at before was still untouched, but we didn´t feel the least bit wimpy.
That night in Trevelin, which was fortunately not full of smoke, there was palpable tesion in the air. The owner of the campground told us the fire had been intentional, perhaps set by arsonists protesting something or another, or perhaps by lunatics. It started in five places at once, he said. First wildfire around here in thirty years. And the police had set up a road block on the road north to Esquel, where we needed to go the next day. The whole thing really pissed him off, along with climate change, increasing mosquito populations, and government corruption all around the world. What can you say? ¨Si, no esta bien.¨
After sunset the smoke to the north glowed bright orange. We tried to sleep but when I got up around midnight the orange glow had become twice as bright, and had reached the floor of the valley. It didn´t seem all that far away either. So we started packing everything except the tent, thermarests, and sleeping bags. If we had to evacuate, we could be moving in five minutes or less. Then we took a walk to the road block, where three cops who appeared to have recently graduated high school told us that the fire was out of control (No kidding!), lots of people were fighting it, but we were safe for now and if things changed, they had a plan. They made sure they knew where we were, told us to stay near other people, and went back to telling every car to go slow & be careful. So we finally felt ok to get some sleep, though we sincerely like Trevelin and hoped it would get to remain standing.
In the morning the air was still pretty clear and the fire seemed to have moved further away. The road was open, so we got to survey some of the damage on the way to Esquel. The flames had not gotten nearly as close to town as that orange glow had suggested, but an entire mountain had burnt and the fire was still going off to the northwest. The wind was blowing in our faces from Esquel (payback time, apparently), but that´s keeping the air fresh an clean here.
Safe! That´s the way to be! Touring like this presents you with lots of choices, and sometimes it´s fun to risk inconvenience by choosing the unknown path. But sometimes you play it safe. We´ve done pretty well with all the important decisions so far. And as scary as the fire turned out to be, it could´ve been alot scarier.
Just for the record, I am even MORE unwilling to fight forest fires than I was before!

So, we learned that the water filter we brought with us is almost breaking. We also learned that the standard Ultegra small chain ring on the triple isn´t really small enough for the kind of touring we´re doing. It´s a road set-up, and it´s just not low enough.

OK, let´s ask our folks to send us a package. We can make a reservation in a town we´ll be at in about a month and have the package sent there. Should be no problem.

HA!!! Little did we know. When a country has 5 presidents in two weeks due to the economic collapse, one should not expect the postal service to be top notch. And as one American that´s been living here for a while put it:”Oh yeah, it´ll get to Argentina no problem. And then, some folks who are sitting around drinking mate and getting to know each other will at some point sort it to the right place. Could be a month or more.”

We decided to get reservations in Trevelin, an offshoot of the Welsh (yeah, like, lots of unpronouncible words and pubs and tea sort of Welsh) communities here in Patagonia, a month in the future.

In Trevelin, no one has heard of the Package. It´s not at the hostel. Maybe at the post office. Sr. Postal Worker has not heard of a package from the states, but he seems pretty sure it would be in customs in Esquel. Only 22k away, he says. The helpful staff at the hostel call the Post Office in Esquel, as well as FedEx and DHL to see if anyone has heard of it. Nope, no one knows anything about a package from the states.

The next day, Friday, we ride the 22k to Esquel. (Nice town, good tourist office.) We were hoping that if we couldn´t find the package, maybe we´d be able to buy a water filter and chain ring there. At the post office in Esquel, they were very helpful. The package was there! But we couldn´t get it.

See, when something is sent from another country, it has to go through customs. And customs is only open three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 8:30am to 9:30am. And next Monday is a federal holiday. So we can´t get the package until Wednesday at the earliest.

We were also missing the Aviso-the piece of paper that has useful information on it-like “The package is in Esquel, in customs, and these are the hours you can retreive it.” Well, where might the Aviso be? Oh, in Trevelin, very close by, only 22k. And you can´t get the package without the Aviso.

So, back to Trevelin. Sr. Postal Worker had never heard of an Aviso. Luckily, his buddy chided him, and an Aviso, with my name on it, was eventually produced. He assured me that Esquel was very near by, only 22k, and we could get the package on Wednesday.

So, almost five days to get back to Esquel. We decided to go to the Rio Verde and the Parque de los Alerces and ended up staying a few extra days because it was so lovely.

On our way back,we were planning on taking a closed road-a shortcut straight to Esquel without going through Trevelin for a third time. Andy had checked it out and although a bridge was out, the river was slow and shallow. This plan, and the entire day, was changed by the gigantic forest fire, and we had to ride back to Trevelin. Again.

In Trevelin we learned that the road to Esquel was closed due to the fire, but it might open the next day.

From Trevelin to Esquel, 22k, and I might mention that this last time was the roughest. Uphill in that direction, and into a brutal headwind. It wasn´t as smokey as we thought it would be, but my throat was still raspy.

Finally, 8:30am, we presented ourselves at customs and retrieved the package. Due to a small communication error with my father, he declared a $20.00us battery charger for $100.00us, plus the other items, and we ended up having to pay a lot of pesos to actually get the package. That and he forgot to remove the iillegal peanut butter (can´t send food, you see) from the box, but due to some clever misdirection on Andy´s part, and distracting questions on mine,we were able to spirit the precious stuff into the bottom of the packing material and no one was the wiser.

So, fortified with chainring, battery charger (that is WAY bigger than it was on the picture when I ordered it) and brand spanking new water filter, we are ready to head north to El Bolson, and points further.

Should I jump?

Oh yes.

That was a good lake.

Yep, they have cuteness in South America too. Eat your heart out, Cuteoverload!