Tuesday, January 22, 2013

lots of km s and lots of things


 
while reading this 

 


Ok , so where was i , it has been a while so i forget but will endevour to to update you as best as i can .

I enjoyed a great new year and rest day in Bariloche and decided to climb Cerro ( mount ) lopez on new years day . It was spectacular and one of the most amazing things wa sthat i met Pedro while i was on the way to the top , and this is no small mountain . Pedro has been climbing the mountains around Bariloche and all over south america for more than 60 years , he was well over half way up when i cam e across him , he is 88 years old and what an inspiring man he is
me on top of Cerro Lopez ( pico turistico )


Pedro 88 years old and still climbing mountains .
I left Bariloche and headed off on the ruta forty , i entered a spectacular area running along the Limay river . Th erock formations were amazing and held my attention for ages . some one had put up a sign saying " Enchantardo "" . After i while i got the feeling i was being wathced and then i saw them . Two ancient indians , both seeem to be from tribes i had seen in western movies , th eone was a medine man with a flat hat and the other was from the tribe with mohican hair styles . ........ but maybe they werent watching me , maybe they were watching each other and they have been there forever . i hope you can find them in the pictures below . the sign was correct , i was enchanted :) 

Medicine man ...facing south


Mohican warrior ... facing north
Sam had suggested that i take the route 63 which is a back road becuase  i had told her that the trafiic was getting quite busy . I did this and it started off  pretty well . the road was not too bad and a found a cave that someone had bricked up and took a break for a while
bricked up cave in the middle of nowhwere on route 63

Paso Corboda
What Sam had failed to mentin was that you dont have to be religous  on this route as the pass is so high  i think youy actually passes heaven .

I also met myself of 30 years ago while i was going up the pass , a young chap( 20 maybe ) in a T shirt and jeans was walkin down the pass towards me and way behind him i could see a car parked at the top of the pass . He had tear stained eyes but asked me in a cheerful voice in if i was enjoying my walk , i told him i was and ask where he was walk too , He told me he was just walking away from his family because they upset him . so obviously in dispute in the car he had decide to jump out and stoem off in a huff ( just the kind of thing i would do  ) . i told hm that it would be a long road back if he kept going the way he was and that he should walk with me back up the road even though this would be hard to.  . I eventually left him with his family and pushed on . i had a farmer come down his road with his wife as thay had been watching me coming and wanted a pic as his son had told him i had been in the columbia store in Bariloche where he worked .

Later i was foshing in the river and was given a stern lecture ( not sure of all th econtent , that spanish thing again ) but thr jist of it was that i should only be using a fly ( mosche) in th eriver and my rod was for lakes only .



The top
I was pleased when i eventually got to the lake  at the bottom of the pass and decided to make a go for SAn martin los andes . I saw quite a few cyclist , mostly headin g in th eopposite direction to me .,


Just out high school and on the road , 4 friends haing there own adventre , roberto , ignatius , hermos and matthuis
 After an awesome 15 km down hill to the lake by san martin a cyclist , Victoria joined me , she had been pout for a training ride and she rode back into town with me atook me to the bike shope where Gabbi the bike mechanic fitted an new tube for me as my repair had not worked out that well.
Ricky , Victoroa and Gabbi

Alysa , lone american cyclist heading south


I met Alysa just out side San martin and she told me of a few good camping spots along th eroad . It quite brave as a single female to head out on a road trip on your own . She had been going for a month already and was the second solo female cyclist i had met .


I had a really long day and evenually got to  a river where i found a fly fisher man , gustav ,  he had his car nidely concealed from th eroad and could speak a bit of english and said i could camp near him if i wanted ,. this i did and cooked a great meall and chatted to gustav who is an engineer specilizing in wind energy and renewable enrgy sources , he design wind turbines . Later i got in my tent and i saw the man from th eparks board coming , He had an animated discussion with Gustav for 30 minutes and i think Gustav was using me as and excuse to be camping in th e " no camping " area  by sayin g that i had too becuase i was walking and he was just helping me . I decide my best stratergy was just to stay in my tent and the guy eventually left .


Gustav and I at  Rio Malaeo
 I left th eriver and the next 30 km tested me as the road was really bad , it was uphill fo the first 20 and the wind was howling in my face .  eventually i came across the village  of Pililol .

Just before getting i think i succesfully made a comp`lete fool of myself and had a good laugh for long time afterwards . this is what happened .

I was passin g the huge cliffs next to the river and  chap and his family pulled up in an old ford van and he rolled down his window and produced a camera . i have become so used to eople passin g and taking picture thathgis was nothing really new for me so i stopped , straighted my pram and put aon a good pose for him , only for him to gesture to me to get out the way as he was taking a pictuire of the rock formations behind me.    Samantha later in formed me these are well known .


That night iu camp in th epeopel belows property but never could establish there names .

Wht i could find out and really wish i coul dhave spoken spanish was that th eold man and his wife had both been very wellknown in th erodeo and he was a bull rider and she was a horse rider . they had some amazing picures of them doing wil dthings on horses and bulls . the other fellow was the grandson and he jsut wanted me to drink with him but i decided against it as it did not seem lik eit would end soon if i did .
camping in the rain

my host - bullrider , horse rider , me , intoxicated fellow


Just a side note for  thiose who dont speak or read spanish the below sign can normally be found when approachin g a rown . you probably think you know what it means but you are actually incorrect . what it really meeans is " coke in th enext 2 km and signal to msg Sam "  its my favoutire sign .
sign

on a break

Lago Alimine



interested people

End of a beautiful day

AFter a few days on the road  with some camping in th emiddle of nowhere  i reached lalajas and took a break . I met an Americn , Chad , who had cycled form alaska . he had lots of advice which i listened too but he seemed to have some of his facts mixed and lots seem to be ivalid
Chad and I at las lajas
After las lajas , all the mountains and trees and river ended an di was back to the scrub lands , Th epeopel in laslajas and other travelers told me i was heading for the desert but i don think  th eknow what a desert is becuase wht i travelled throught was arid and harsh but was no desert .

stunning day out
The police stopped to chat and asked where i intended stayin so i told then that was hheadin g for the next town but in fact as soon as they were gone i ducked off behind some heaps of sand and set up camp .


policia
The week just gone by had some huge days and iwas glad for a two day planned break in Chos malal as i had done  62 , 58 , 57 , 30 , 71 and 87




travelers

Jean Peiree fro Itally who ihad seen anbout a mnth ago

Me , erica , dan and beth ar chos malal on rest day
After oone days rest in chos malal i decided i would rather go to th evolcano tromen and try climb it as it is supposedly quite easy , it stand 4000 m but is just a trek to teh top . On arrival th eweather did not look so good and i hope it would clear the next  day . I really stormed that evening but not on me just off in the north it looked horrific .

worrying about th eweather at Tromen

Thats looks better  ( note no snow )

novel use for a bike sprocket

I soent the night in th esheep paddocks of  a local small farmer next to the lake
next day thing slooked beter and i set of at 6 am . th eroute to th etop was just to follow a gully up to th erigde at 3800 m and then to do the last 200 by turning right .

It went fairly well although the rocks were all very loose and th eslopes were mainly scree and sand so it was a lot of two steps fporward and one step back . I reach the sumiit at 11 am and took some pictues . i saw a cloud coming and decided to leave,( shouls have checked pictures before i left as i cut half my head of ) 
view from 3800 m

water and snow inside the cone

me on top without a head


better pic on top of tromen










Tromen summit

into th econe of the volcano
 After leaving th esummit the clouds came in quite fast and by the time i was at 3700 m it was snowing and hailing but fortunatley more on the summit that on me .
snow on tromen


 After geeting down it was only 3 pm so i decide to try and get some km under the belt before the sun set .

I met a german coule  couple , joel and tomas , they were the only vechile ui hd seen al day on the ruta 37 .

they stopped and shared some food and water with me . later isaw them stopped in the distance and as i got closer th eroad got worse and aworse until they had decide to stop as the 4x4 could not go further and they turned back .
Thomas , joel and i
Th eroad eventually got so bad that i was having to unload everything from th epram and carry it 200 m and then return for th epram and repeat this over and over . i eventually gave up an t 9:30 pm and camped on teh sroney suface . i realised at this point the my good pair of shoes was missin g as well as my fishing rod and t shirt . I went looking but never found them
Route 37

yes this is a road

and more of 37

These tow stopped and gave me encourage ment and water but we had to retake th epic with there camera a few times as her hair was not right ,.
Maria julia and Silvio



Th enext day was on dirt the whole day  and i am amazed what a dirt raod does to peopel in cars , they seem to change , at leats  20 vechgiles stopped to offer water , take photos or just chat , however when on tar no many stop at all .  bekow are some of the folks  i met


Crossing the rio grande river




Armadillo scratching for ants

I reach the town of bardas blanca and was having a nap whe i heard horses .
i t turned out to Gilles and Anna , he is from belgium and she is from new zealand , the are travel south america on horse back . we had a great time in th ecamp site , gilees cooked us steak rolls and we had 2 lites of wine to wash it down with . they both have spennt years all over africa working for doctors without borders , fascinating stories .


Anna and Gilles in camp

They caught up with me agai yesterday in Malague and we all went for dinner where more wine , beer and meat were consumed ,


I managed to badly overspend but it was worth it .  i thouroughly enjoyed meeting them and hope our paths cross again soon but amazing for once my pace is quicker than theres :)

you can read more about there trip at www.thegreathorsetrip.com


That it for now !

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