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Other entries in Pucón

Flooding, old friends and more sea lions...

We spent 3 nights in San Martin de los Andes.

Alistair spent most of both days trying to sort out my problems with the electrics. We found  a workshop specialised on electrics (for cars) and there we got my new voltreg (Voltage regulator) tested. It was working fine. I asked them to fit a voltmeter, which is now sitting on my handlebars and looks very cool (See photo).

 The voltmeter just tells me by a series of lights that the battery is charging. So next time the voltreg dies, I will have some warnings. It is one of the well known common failures on the F650. Our friend Chuck, who travels on a F650, had already 2 or 3 voltregs replaced and is now travelling with a spare one and a voltmeter as well.   

So we left town, with my horn and indicators/hazard lights still not working. I sent an email to Rafael (the mechanic in Santiago, who imported all the BMW parts for us). He should be able to fix all that. The plan, on leaving San Martin, in the company of Uschi, was to take the shortcut unpaved road to Villa Angostura, then cross the border and find a camping in Chile.

As usual in this trip, things did not go as planned! We somehow missed a junction and ended up doing a big detour on ripio. None of us has GPS and  the maps where less than clear, as usual. In theory, we were supposed to stay on the main trail, in practice we had to turn somewhere!

So we arrived at Villa Angostura by late afternoon. The border was only 35km away but, as after, that there is no town for a long way, so we decided to camp in town and cross the border the next day. The following day we were finally back into Chile.

As we rode toward one of the southern lakes of the Lake district, we saw a white motorbike coming in the opposite direction and stopping. I immediately recognised the white helmets and the bike. It was Carol and Ken, our australian friends. They were going to the thermal site, nearbye. Our guide had mentioned them but said it was 19 USD to camp there! Carol explained it was for up to 4 people with a small supplement for the 5^th one.

We decided to go to the next town with Uschi, to buy some supplies, and then join them. The site is set in the middle of nowhere, so it was important, if camping, to have food and water with us. 

An hour later we arrived at the entrance of the site. I investigated at the administration, and we were able to get a site for our 3 tents. That afternoon and the next day were spent relaxing and enjoying the thermal water holes!  There were actually 2 pools, that were charging a lot for the entry, but just by the side of the river were lots of thermal  tiny pools in the gravel, and free of use! No entry fees there!

So we all went and got in our hot water holes! The water was contantly running and was really hot if you started digging! The nights in the camping were cool but we had a fire to keep us warm while dining, and it was also put at good use for an asado! Unfortunately, on the second night the weather changed. It started raining rather heavily by 5 am. When we woke up it was still very wet. I packed my stuff (sleeping bag etc.., ) in the tent before going for breakfast. We had all planed to pack and leave that day. The very heavy rain made it very difficult to pack the tents.

We all decided to wait a bit but things got worse. A lot of water on the ground was now running through our site and around our tent. When we checked the tent there was 2 inches of water on it! Not nice. Alistair's sleeping bag was now wet! We decided to check into the hotel. It was now low season and they had cabañas to rent. For 5 it would not be too bad. So by mid-afternoon we all managed to move everything except the tents, there. It was a very cold day and we were glad to have  heating. We spend the end of the day in the pool, which was included for the guests of the hotel!  We managed to buy some pasta and tuna off the tiny and extortionate food shop at the back of the hotel, for our dinner. Unfortunately we forgot about water!

The tap water had a rather yellow green colour! We boiled 2 kettles of water and left it to cool down in a big pot. There were lots of bits floating at the bottom! Better not ask! Must have been the river water! Once boiled it was ok to drink, although still yellow/green!

When the rain stopped, we moved all the tents to the front of our cabañas to try dry them. The following morning they were covered in ice! It had been a very cold night!

It was time to say goodbye! Carol and Ken were going to Bariloche, Uschi was keen to stay around the lakes, while we wanted to go to Valdivia. So after few photos and lots of hugs we were off once again under a beautiful blue sky. 

The reason we wanted to get to the coastal town of  Valdivia, you will not find in any guide book yet! We were told by Nick and Les, last time we saw them in Viedma. There are sea lions, we were told, that hang around the fish market, to get fed by the left overs of the fishes, when the fishermen clean their catch before selling! That was worth having a look! So down the market we went! And it was all true. The market had actually a fence to keep the sea lions away from the market itself, although as you will see from the pictures, some are allowed in the market! It was incredible to be so close to those giants!     

After few days in Valdivia, we left to go north, back to the big lakes disctrict. We spent 4 days in a very nice relaxed hostal in Pucon, between 2 lakes and on the edge of a massive and very active volcano. If you climb the volcano you can see the lava bubbling and the volcano is constantly smoking! Very beautiful. Of course it is closely monitored and there are instructions all over town in english on evacuation!

That's all for now!

On a personal note, I've heard that my old motorcycle mechanic teacher, at Merton college, has now retired, bought a giant truck and is off to travel the world! Howard, if you read this, congratulations! I bet you just can't stop smiling!! Send me your email address if you have one!

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