The road to Bariloche

We leave Santiago heading south (again) on the Routa 5.
Our schedule is pretty tight.
We want to reach Bariloche by Christmas day which means we need to cover 1300 kms in 2 days.

First however we stop briefly at the hotel Colonial in Villa Alegre to drop off a Xmas present and card for our friend Hector.

Pic 1 Back in Villa Alegre with a working bike
We chat for a good hr with Hector’s brother Mauricio, then we press on.
This road section however is not our lucky spot.

Pic 2 We run out of petrol

For over 100 kms between Chillan and Los Angeles there isn’t a single petrol station on our side of the motorway.
Eventually we run out of petrol, only 10 kms from los Angeles.

Luckily Chilean people are always there to help. I immediately get a lift to the nearest petrol station (only 3 kms away) and also a lift back.

Pic 3: filling up
In less than 15 minutes we are back on the road.

South of Los Angeles the motorway finds its way between beautiful woods.

Pic 4: Woods around Osorno
As we reach Osorno we begin to see snow topped volcanoes in the distance and the cloud of ashes caused by the Puyehue volcano which begun its latest eruption back in June when the cloud of ashes was 12 kms high!

As we turn left towards the Puyehue lake the road becomes spectacular.

Pic 5: 2 volcanoes far in the distance
We spend the night at the El Taique lodge, only 90 kms from the Argentinean border.

The setting is magnificent.

Pic 6: the perfect aperitivo at El taique
In spite of a long journey on the bike we go for a nice walk in the hills around.

Pic 7: Walking in the grass

Pic 8: Elena cannot refrain herself

Pic 9: Going organic

Pic 10: Sunset on the lake

Pic 11: Sunset on the volcano
Since we are only 250 kms from Bariloche we take it easy and leave the lodge at 11am.
Today the wind has changed direction, bringing a cloud of ashes above us.

Pic 12: Dusting off volcanic ashes from the bike
After crossing the border the scenery changes quite dramatically.

Pic 13: Road covered in ashes

Pic 14: Forest and ashes
Everything is covered in ashes.

Pic 15: The road can be fairly slippery
We are told that at the height of the eruption the ashes were so thick that over 1.5M fish died in the rio Gol Gol for lack of oxygen.

Pic 16: Green lagune covered in ashes
120 kms from Bariloche the first Argentinean lake appears on the horizon.

Pic 17: Blue lake and ashes
The contrast between the grey ashes and the blue water is brilliant.

Pic 18: a surreal drive
As we drive on the ashes fade away and the surrounding becomes more “real”.

Pic 19: back to normality
We are now back again on the famous Ruta 40, a road that we used few times already while driving Argentina. It looks like you cannot drive in Argentina without bumping once in a while on the Ruta 40.

Pic 20: Ruta 40
It is 2 pm of Xmas day when we enter Bariloche.