San Martin de los Andes

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the late update.

We have been very busy travelling. We had to take care of three bike students who required all our attention the last couple of weeks.We re now in San Martin de los Andes, just like all Argentinian cities so far not really a city, but a tourist place full of fake wooden houses with tourist shops inside. But the exhausting visits to cities like Puerto Montt and San Carlos de Bariloche didnt make what was lying in between them less beautiful. Here are the pictures. The last blog post ended in Puerto Natales just before taking the ferry.

I met Joachim and Silvie again in Puerto Natales

This Cruise ship would bring us back to Puerto Montt where we started the bike trip. 4 days of Patagonian fjords were waiting for us.

We celebrated New Years eve on the ship.

The next morning a condor woke us up. 

And we visited another glacier, this time one running to the sea: Skua Glacier

Sea Lion. Joachim has some more impressive pictures of doplphins, unfortunately not on the blog this time

Puerto Eden, fishing village in the middle of nowhere, only connected to the outside world by (our) boat.

Joachim had a shave (And I need one)!

And early in the morning of January 4th we arrived in Puerto Montt.

We now met Joachims friends Elise (back), Amandine and Jana (front). I cycled with Elise and Jana to Ancud on the island of Chiloe. It took some organization skills to sort the trip out for 7 people (2 of them without bikes) but in the end everything went well and we celebrated Silvies birthday in a hostel with pancakes.

Road works on the Panamericana (which ends on Chiloe.)

Chiloe has some very European style landscapes and roads.

The next day we went back to Puerto Montt. We had the most awesome hostel ever! I even had this private room!

Hmm, I think I picked  this one up on Chiloe, not in the hostel, but that wouldnt have been a surprise. Also, to reach my window I had to crawl on hands and feet. 

The next morning we left with Jana (left), Elise (middle) and Amandine (right) taking the very same road/hill out of Puerto Montt as we did almost 3 months ago.

Nice free camping spot on the shores of lake Llanqihue.

We were very close to this Volcnoe during day 1 of our trip. No idea there was a beautiful national park right next to it.

The next morning we took the first of three ferries accross lakes to get to Argentina. It was an expensive 100 dollar trip, but we had no choice. The regular pass was closed because the border post burnt down. I dont think I ever felt so sorry for all the regular tourists who payed 3 times what we payed and had to see everything from the window of a bus.

We could enjoy the scenery, but at the price of the biggest and hardest hill so far.

We camped inside the Argentinian Customs office that night. 

The nights were warmer than ever so here s the milky way again.

The next day we took 2 more ferries and did a voluntary hike to the above lake.

3000 year old Alerce tree

We camped near another tourist trap, Colonia Suiza, a former Swiss village, of course without any Swiss people still living there. Needless to take pictures, Switzerland is nicer. I dont want to be negative about this part of the trip. The nature has been amazing, just too many fake tourist stuff for me.

The next morning we arrived early on an overpriced campground in Bariloche. We met Goat.  He s one of the guys of Riding the Spine. He and his friends cycled from Alaska to Patagonia 6-2 years ago staying as close to the continental divide as possible and by taking dirt roads only.  Truly one of the most legendary bike trips ever made. Its great to run in to one of your idols :D. Shoud have asked for his autograph, :)

Nice BBQ. Had some nice discussions about politics here with an Argentinian guy who truly believed I spoke Spanish. (It was more like him having a monologue)

To be clear, the meat on the left was only consumed by the girls. We re doing really well sticking to our vegetarian vows.

The next morning we sayd goodbye to Amandine. She was continuing the trip without the bike.

We cycled another 40+ kilometers into a really nice sunset.

And found a great spot at a beach. We slept outside that night. We had been eaten by mosquitos, beatles, horseflies and sandflies all together the last few days and suddenly there were none left.

Another proof I have the coolest tan lines ever.

I started some experimnents holding my shutter in the bulb mode and it seemed to be working.  This is a 6 minute picture. Not bad for not having a remote control.

Somehow I didnt take any pictures the next day until we found another great wildcamping spot the next day.

12 minutes this time, but my hands are too shaky. But the next morning I made a scientific breakthrough.

We did 40km of bad gravel roads the next day. It was very very hot and there was volcanoe dust everywhere.

The Tantoo is back. For those who dont know it. I had a really cool one back in 2010. Not sure how readable this is, but it says "I love (my girlfriend) Jana". To be clear, this is not the same Jana, as the Jana we re cycling with and painted it on my back :D

Trying to hold the shutter with a borrowed rubber band and a broken screw. Picture is also featuring Joachims huge DSLR tripod (I lost mine) and my battery to make sure mine wouldt run out of power while making the picture.

And it worked! I dont think I will have much sleep the next few nights. This is only the beginning! 

Oh and we also did some cycling. Today the three of us cycled to San Martin and ate Pizza.