The first week in Bariloche taking my Spanish class. It has been a nice change both in class and also staying with a host family. I still have a bunch more Spanish to learn, but the structured class environment is helpful.

Monday was a holiday (cultural diversity day) in Argentina and we didn’t have classes. On the other days, my routine has been roughly as follows:

• Wake up when rest of the family gets up, eat breakfast and get ready for school
• Walk to school, approximately six blocks away
• Attend classes from 9am to 1pm. There are only four students this week (typically more in middle of both summer and winter), so myself and another student are with one of the teachers. Our classes go through a mix of grammar/written work as well as oral conversation. Two students and a teacher means lots of individual and focused attention in areas we need help
• After class, get lunch nearby. On two of the days, we’ve also had afternoon “excursions” that I’ll describe more below
• Return to the family house, finish my homework, read, relax, etc
• A later dinner, at least compared to typical times in the US
• Go to sleep

Overall a simple routine, but also a change of pace from cycling.

On Wednesday our afternoon excursion was to the nearby settlement of Llao Llao (in Argentina, unlike many other Latin American countries, the “ll” is pronounced with a “sh” instead of just a “y” so this is pronounced sh-ow sh-ow where the “ow” is as in the word now). It is a photo above is two fellow students and an instructor.

It is a spectacular area that includes a fancy hotel and golf course. We were told the Obamas had stayed in March 2016 and also met the Argentinian president (Macri) there. Overall, it is fancy enough looking that it isn’t on my to stay list.

We took the bus both for our visit to Llao Llao and for an excursion today (Friday). The second excursion was to Dino Huapi, a small settlement to the east of Bariloche. I had actually cycled through the area on my way to Bariloche, but it was still nice to get out.

Otherwise, I’ve had a nice time hanging out in Bariloche. The town has ~130,000 people and hence is one of the larger towns in Patagonia. Ski season just ended and now it is not quite yet the summer trekking and camping season. Bariloche has a lot of outdoor shops and is otherwise one of the jumping off points to explore a lot more of Patagonia.

I’ve read more about the Carretera Austral as well as figuring out my potential alternatives as I depart to Puerto Montt in two weeks. The shortest route is back along the lake and across the Andes at a distance of roughly 350 kilometers. That is the path I’ll take if the weather looks bad or unsettled.

Another alternative would be to head a little further south to see some more of the Argentinian lake district south of Bariloche before then crossing into Chile and going either north to Puerto Montt or south to the ferry at Puerto Chacabuco. Overall, that is a wetter region as can be seen by the “recommended clothing” above that the ferry advises tourists to have.

I’ll wait and see how it all settles out. For now I can see that spring in Bariloche is already volatile. We’ve had reasonable winds on most days and a shower on Tuesday and one on Wednesday and that all seems to be normal for the area. First two more weeks of being a Spanish language student…

Two days cycling through the Argentinian Lake District have brought me to Villa La Angostura. It is beautiful riding and I can’t quite get enough of the snow-capped peaks along the way. Also hilly with many short steep little hills topping 10% grades.
Day One – San Martin de Los Andes
The weather forecast called for snow flurries in the morning and a shower or two in the afternoon. It was cold but I was pleased to find no snow showers and no wind.

On the way out of town, I passed the bus station. Argentina seems to have many of these long-haul tourist buses and I’ve seen the same names on the road.

I passed perhaps half a dozen lakes today, the first one as I was leaving town.

There was a 500 meter hill to climb and a sign indicating this was an area for tire chains. Fortunately, the road was dry.

Close to the top was a turnoff to the ski area. Apparently still open at end of the season.

One of the lakes I passed along the way.

This small church was tucked in beside the road.

Sign for the second park I cycled through today.

At 60 kilometers I came to my selected stopping point near Lago Traful. There is a pay camping ground at the lake with a restaurant. However, earlier campsites I had passed were still closed for the season. So rather than go down to the lake, I went used the designated free camping area near the river.

Just as I started to put up my tent, it started raining. I got everything inside and was nice and dry as there was a light rain for the next four hours, stopping just before sunset. I was the only one camping in this area. Alex (boundlessbiker.com) had come past earlier in the morning but was headed further. He has hopped back and forth across the Chilean border a few times.

Day Two – Lago Traful to Villa La Angostura
Beautiful ride today.

A scene from my campsite this morning. It was below freezing and didn’t warm up past freezing until after 10am.

Getting closer both to San Carlos de Bariloche as well as the Chilean border crossing. This crossing is the closest one to Bariloche.

One of many snow-capped peaks along the way today.

The trees seem to have some sort of parasite on them. Also looks like it is still early in spring so normal leaves have not come out yet.

I met an Argentinian at one of the viewpoints who told me spring was a notoriously poor weather season for Patagonia. I couldn’t quite tell if he was referring to this year or in general. However, this year it seems the Chilean side has had periods with multiple days of rain and the Argentinian side has had multiple days of high winds. In that regard, it will be nice to spend some time in Bariloche and let the seasons catch up before heading further south.

Viewpoint at one of the lakes along the way. It was a nice sunny spot and much warmer than riding had been up to this point. I could shed some mittens and clothes I had bundled up and warm up here in the sun. While I was taking a break, at least four tour buses arrived with passengers all waiting their turns to take an obligatory shot of family members and the sign in front of the lake.

Next lake along the way. I couldn’t get enough of these views.

Not sure why, but the snow on the peaks ahead reminded me of powdered sugar on Dutch olliebollen. Maybe I was hungry.

Next lake along the way.

There was a fox here that was remarkably unafraid of people. Some others tossed him food, but I figured best to stay clear.

I was at Villa La Angostura early. This is a small tourist town spread along the lake. Many signs for tourist hotels and similar services.

It is even possible to rent mountain bikes and skis here.

Ruta 40 bar and grill.

Otherwise nice place to stop early in the day and get everything caught up on the web. Still in a beautiful touristy area between seasons. Once can both mountain bike and ski, but seems like it is very late in ski season and still cold to do much mountain biking.

Two days riding has brought me across the gap to Junin de Los Andes. The first day was long but not much wind. The second day was climbing over the last hill with a stiff headwind. Overall the winds were much less than the three days before my departure when I took extra rest days in Zapala.

Along the way, I had both acts of kindness and one act of rudeness:
There was a car that passed me very slowly on the first day. They seemed to want to just scan and see what this strange cyclist might be up to. Shortly thereafter they pulled over. I stopped and they were offering both a sandwich and some water. I kindly thanked them for the gestures but had enough food and water to get through so declined.

The second day, a bus coming the other direction flashed its lights. I was climbing a hill into the wind, so most any excuse would do to stop. I waved. As the bus came past, I could see the driver flipping me off. It seemed so strange and mostly funny in my mind.

Fortunately, the acts of kindness have outnumbered the rude behavior and typically when I hear a “honk honk”, I assume it is intended as a friendly salute.
Day one – Zapala to abandoned store

It was breezy overnight and still windy when I set off. Fortunately, this seemed to be the end of the storm and later in the day was much less wind. Almost immediately leaving Zapala the road went through desolate areas. There was a bike path on the left but I figured it would end anytime so didn’t cross to it. It turns out the bike path went for eight kilometers at the airport before stopping.

It was not a big airport as can be seen because there is a closed gate to the entrance.

The route went across a steep drainage at 13 kilometers and then climbed up and over several hills.

There were fences on both sides of the road and otherwise not very many inviting looking places to camp.

A few houses along the way like this one, though no businesses.

Sheep.

Looks like an unfortunate tale. A mangled truck next to a small shrine.

This was close to top of a hill at 108 kilometers. I had originally thought to go halfway and started looking more seriously for camp sites at 102 kilometers. This climbed up and over a hill at 108 kilometers and then more descent on rougher roads. A combination of not very inviting areas and slightly easier riding downhill meant I got to 128 kilometers before finding a spot at an abandoned store. This was near an intersection of Ruta 24 and Ruta 40 and there was a suprising amount of people stopping through earlier.

One group stopped and eventually picked up a passenger from a bus that also stopped.

Several police trucks came and initially parked along the road. They could see me setting up my tent and came over. They asked for my documents and I showed them the passport. I got the sense they were curious more than anything else and they took a while to go through the stamps and visas inside. Otherwise listened to a podcast and went to sleep.

Day Two – Abandoned store
It was cold overnight. My sleeping bag is rated to -8C/17F and I initially wondered if it wasn’t working as well. However, once I started my bike GPS and saw it was -6C/22F I realized the sleeping bag was fine, it was just cold. Fortunately not much wind.

Here is a photo of the abandoned store I had camped beside.

The route went level for a few kilometers before climbing the first of two larger hills for the day.

A sign to a school 14 kilometers away. Otherwise, very desolate area. I find it interesting how often there are signs to schools in middle of nowhere. These are not likely to be big, but still have signs.

I stopped to get a photo of this touring motorcycle that was stopped. The driver was nearby. He gave me a tale of being broken down. I didn’t quite get all the story in his quick Spanish, but some 20 kilometers later when he came past, the problem had been solved and he was on his way again.

One of the houses along the way.

Near the top, I had great views of snowcapped peaks including this one.

The road was marked for 15 kilometers of winding descent. It was still a reasonable descent down the a larger river.

The road split here with the road to left taking a more direct route to Bariloche. The road to right that I took headed towards a more touristy area including Junin de Los Andes. This was also start of a 20 kilometer long hill. The hill wasn’t particularly steep, but it became tougher when the wind picked up and came down the canyon. I went very slowly and took many stops.

There was a viewpoint here with descriptions of condors as well as the local geology.

Here was the actual mountain from the condor sign.

It was a welcome sign at the top to see the downhill. It was still windy but much easier to ride. This brought me the last 10 kilometers into Junin.

I knew I was close when I saw the Las Malvinas sign.

Just outside town there were cars racing around the track. Hard to see from this photo but the car on the left is zooming past.

This brought me to Junin de Los Andes. The town has many hotels and seems fairly spread out. I found a reasonable one but it doesn’t seem to be close to much else. Otherwise, looks like I am the more touristy lake district with a lot more trees than those barren places I passed to get here. It will be a few days to Bariloche, and not sure yet where there are towns but expect I’ll make a short day tomorrow to San Martin de Los Andes.

Enjoying a relaxing day in Zapala as well as figuring out the next cycling sections.

End of September and I’ve cycled 23,845 kilometers (14,817 miles) so far. For fun, I decided to plot out the distance cycled vs days on the road above. I labeled the horizontal shelves where I stopped for a bit before continuing.

Each “box” is one month wide and 2,000 kilometers high and so shows when riding I’ve been fairly consistent in riding 1,500 to 2,000 kilometers per month. A little less in Central America and the start of South America and a little more in the first four months and last month before Mendoza.

The TDA ride from Puerto Montt to Ushuaia will be ~2,500 kilometers in one month including a good stretch of unpaved roads. The riding will thus be at a quicker pace over rough terrain – but also no longer carrying my gear in my panniers nor having to chunk my route into appropriate stops, get food/water or other items. In any case, it will be an interesting change.

I am still figuring out whether to stop for approximately four weeks in Bariloche and take a break before cycling over to Puerto Montt or to keep cycling south after Bariloche for another four weeks and then take a ferry back around. Some of this will depend on how tough the Argentina section of Ruta 40 will be further south and hence I am taking some time to read further.

Zapala is a small town with a main double street downtown.

There is art of more classic type.

Also art of a more modern style.

A reasonable sized supermarket that is open much of the day.

Also little shops like this bread shop.

From here I expect approximately a week of riding to Bariloche. The next 200 kilometers is a gap with no towns or services. I expect three days riding or perhaps two if the strong headwinds forecast turn out less than expected. This should still be a dry and windy section. After the gap, it brings me to the “Lake District” with a lusher (and wetter/rainier) area.

Easier than expected for 1200 meters of climb today. I spent half a day riding in colder cloud/fog and the rest in much nicer sunnier skies.

Not long after leaving Buta Ranquil, the picture above was my view. It was a few degrees above 0C (~36F) and cold on my hands during descents. I expected the route to have hills and was fortunate that wind was minimal and even at times a light tailwind.

Coming down one of the first hills, I could barely see under the clouds.

From 34 kilometer point there was a ten kilometer hill. It was a slow climb but never very steep. This guy on horse just crossed the road ahead.

At the top of the climb the view opened up and I was out of the clouds. It also became warmer. Nice to see some mountains in the distance including some I hadn’t seen before.

Wide sweeping views and otherwise still a dry terrain.

One subtle change I did notice is the little gullies now seem to have water in them. While the landscape is dry, it does start to point to an area with just slightly more water than before. The hills above also occasionally have snow patches.

Can you spot the armadillo? It was doing best it could to hide.

As I got over the last hill there was a sign warning of winding road and steeper descent ahead. It was all still reasonable, but nice finish to the day with a downhill.

In the distance is Chos Malal. This is first town over 10,000 people (barely) since Malargue some five days before. There is a nice small town square and a few hostels. Also surprisingly not one but several supermercado grocery stores.