Cutting through the central valley to find the coast: Curacautín to Cobquecura

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This post covers a week and a half of time spent crossing back and forth through Chile’s central valley near Los Ángeles and Chillán.

We zig-zagged across the central valley to avoid riding along the main highway, Ruta 5.

The riding was relatively flat and the scenery less spectacular than typical. We passed literally millions of trees on tree farms (they call them ‘plantaciones’ here). We also gained a deeply felt love-hate relationship with bicycle paths in Chile – it is incredible that they exist but they also start and stop suddenly and often end in a curb or a wall. It became a running joke that our favorite game is ‘find the ciclovia.’ At one particularly challenging intersection we asked for help from a local worker who laughed and said… ‘estan en Chile,’ which translates as ‘y’all are in Chile.’ I think he was laughing because yes, the magic exists, and then sometimes it changes to the other side of a four lane highway with no warning and no signs. You just gotta roll with it.

It became hard to find and plan for lodging in the central valley in this region since it has truly no tourism. After one town with literally only one hostal that was terrible, we decided to head to the coast. This post ends with our arrival in Cobquecura, a tourist beach town. We took 3 rest days to recharge and reset. It was very quiet since it is no longer the tourist season!

Instead of a longer narrative, we’ll include the girls’ writings (when available) and just throw in the pictures with captions for this post. Most of the days were pretty uneventful, but we did truly enjoy meeting the people in this tourist-free section of the country and seeing Chilean life. As you’ll see from A’s entries, much of what stood out in this section was the food we ate. The girls are becoming true fans of Chilean food. They request restaurant meals nearly every day and it’s easy to say yes. The food is affordable, and filling. A nice rest at lunch is often exactly what we need on the bikes too!

These journal entries make it seem like all the kids do is eat and play video games, but I promise we also do writing and reading and Spanish and hours chatting on the bicycles!

Day 100: Curacautín to Victoria (59 km / 37 mi)

Side note: CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, 100 DAYS????

A: Today we played lots of Zelda in the morning. The riding in the morning was extremely misty (scary level) and uphill. It was pavement though! For lunch on the side of the road we had leftover pizza from yesterday’s lunch. It was really cold.

The riding in the afternoon was cold and fast, mostly downhill. We stopped at the Unimarc <a grocery store chain> on the way to our hotel. We are staying in Victoria. The city feels old. The room is really nice and has breakfast. The same people who run the hotel own the in-complex restaurant. We had a dinner of ham, cheese, barbecue sauce sandwiches (though I do love fries a lot) after some Zelda and I think Mama had a podcast. That’s all for today! See you later!

H: I played Zelda immediately. We couldn’t see anything and it was uphill. We ate pizza. It was misty and cloudy and downhilly. We went to the store and played video games.

After much discussion, we determined that these plastic-covered hay bales are called ‘fardos.’ But, we still like to think of them as giant marshmallows!

Super, super misty, to the point where it got dangerous to ride. Not much scenery to even see in this case.

Almost every town has one of these letter signs, and this one was very exciting

A familiar scene, with a different backdrop

Day 101: Victoria to Traiguén (29 km / 18 mi)

A: Today we got cake with the breakfast they gave us in the restaurant. The riding in the morning was in flat farming and hazelnut tree farms. There were really loud trucks on the mini-highway. We took a nice paved shortcut to the beginning of town and got lunch at a sushi place. We ordered sushi bowls, sushi rolls, and fried cheese empanadas. It was good.

We also took a picture with the big Traiguen sign. We found our room in the hostel and I haven’t yet seen the rabbits though. There are two cute tiny dogs, a cat, and huge fluffy white dog. We then played Zelda and Mama played on the Stardew account she had gotten on her computer. Playing on a computer is weird. For dinner I had half a sandwich and some avocado and yogurt. I wasn’t very hungry because I ate a lot for lunch, though. And that’s all for today! Bye! See you later!

H: We had cake for breakfast. It was flat and downhill and misty and boring. We made it and went to the plaza and ate sushi. We got to our place and played video games.

Riding today: flat, past farming fields, and one hill in the distance

We’ve learned the recipe for ‘jugos naturales’ and look forward to using it back at home!

What, exactly, is happening here?! Our host had knit a cozy for the spare toilet paper roll.

Day 102: Rest day in Traiguén

Parent note: The girls don’t typically write in their journals for rest days, because we treat them like weekends with time off from their ‘school’ duties. On this day we walked around the little city of Traiguen, which was honestly delightful. It is a historical town with some cobblestone streets and a lovely plaza.

Our host at the hostel was particularly lovely. She introduced us to her giant rabbits that she breeds as pets and told us about growing up as the youngest of five siblings in the house her father built. He was an immigrant from Germany and built the cast iron wood stove that not only served to cook food and heat the kitchen, but also heat all the water for the bathrooms and showers. We were treated to boiled chestnuts and Chilean pine nuts as well. She had a huge wood-burning furnace in the basement that ran the boilers for the whole place, and it was a big place! It backed right up to open space next to a lovely river.

In short, despite the fact that it was raining and we were pretty lazy, it was still a magical day.

The guard cat for our bicycles. It was super, super friendly. Our host told us that the cat had appeared at the house only a week ago and decided it was home.

We took over the host’s living room to watch Spanish cartoons and play Stardew Valley and Zelda. She was very gracious.

The stove made by our hosts father, cooking Chilean pine nuts from the araucaria tree (left) and local chestnuts (right).

A PALM TREE! We rode from the barren steppe of Tierra del Fuego to palm trees. Daisy is clearly elated despite the rain.

Daisy was very proud of herself for finding a controller for her computer in a random electronics store and programming it to match the controls on the girls’ Switches. Now Daisy can play Stardew Valley too! Will we get Jason to start a farm?

These sweet little dogs grew up in Panama before moving with their family to Chile.

The host had many of these rabbits, including this cage of mama and babies. All were well cared for.

We took a walk to the river and went over the pedestrian bridge, aka ‘pasarela’

This ended up being a very charming little town to spend a day in. It was just perfect!

Day 103: Traiguén to Angol (60 km / 37 mi)

A: Today we had the same breakfast and played a lot of Zelda. The riding in the morning was up and down, and the road had giant cracks in it. Boo. For a filling lunch we stopped to eat menu and sandwiches with fries in Los Sauces. It was delicious.

The riding in the afternoon was also hilly and had logging trucks. The scenery was tree farms. At the cabin after a slight bit of gravel we played Zelda more. For dinner we had carrot, apple, rice, and tuna. It was fine. Bye! See you later!

H: I had an extra hour of videogames. The road was super bumpy. Lunch was super good. The scenery was grasslands. We made it and I played Zelda.

No one was thrilled about this surface but the scenery was pleasant and the traffic was sparse.

Big views over the fields as we crested each rise.

All morning we could see exactly where we were headed. Surprisingly, it made us fast!

Parked on a slope (see bricks behind wheels) while we got lunch. The owners/workers at these little restaurants often come out to take our pictures after our meal.

Day 104: Angol to Los Ángeles (65 km / 40 mi)

A: Today we had eggs and toast for breakfast. We rode toward Coihue on a noisy highway. For lunch we stopped in a little restaurant for completos and sandwiches. It was good. The riding in the afternoon was bad on the highway. The bike path hopped back and forth with no clue, so it was a tricky puzzle. Then the road went from four lanes to two lanes to (in the city) four lanes once again.

The hostal we were staying in felt like a maze because it was really long. We were in room 17! It was nice, though. We played some video games and went out in an Uber to get dinner out. The Uber ride took 15 minutes instead of the supposed 5! The pizza and brownies we got were really, really good! I like salmon pizza! We took a fast Uber home – 5 minutes – and are now writing in our journals. Bye! I’ll see you later!

H: Our cabin was full of spiders. We had to go back forth a lot of times for the bike path. We stopped at a restaurant for sandwiches. We went on the highway and it rained. We made it and played Zelda.

Truly in the middle of nowhere we found this.

Yay a bike path! Before we learned how often it would vanish and reappear

Evidence of progress and of the headwind. We could see 150 wind turbines from a single location.

If you can believe it, the bike path literally starts behind the barrier near that white billboard. We hauled everything up and over and around to reach the bicycle path.

We enjoyed our stay here, despite the rain as we arrived. The owners were absolutely thrilled to meet us.

Our first salmon pizza. Chile has so many salmon farms that salmon is popular, common, and affordable.

Day 105: Los Ángeles to Huépil (52 km / 32 mi)

A: This morning we had a really good breakfast at the hostal. I had chocolate milk. In the morning we rode through a quiet countryside after a bit of busy city. The the road turned to bad gravel and the scenery became tree farms. We got back to pavement and found our cabaña in the town Huepil. Our cabaña is nice. We then played Zelda til dinner. H has gotten 3 divine beasts! Dinner was salmon nuggets, chicken, and rice. The salmon nuggets were really good! Bye! That’s all for today!

H: Good breakfast. We went through the city. There were not many cars and it was quiet. There were millions of trees. We made it and played Zelda.

We are enjoying the increasing chaos and interest of the downtowns as we head north. We are starting to see three-wheeled bicycles and motorcycles used for local deliveries.

This was a nice section of bicycle path through a big, busy part of town.

We took another gravel road shortcut that slowed us down but was so pretty.

This part of Chile has some big irrigation projects.

We work very hard to keep up on Survivor 50, even when there’s nowhere to sit and the laptop must be perched on a fridge.

Day 106: Rest (rain) day in Huépil

Huepil had lots of places to shop and buy supplies, but not much to offer for tourism. Jason left the cabin multiple times for food while all the girls stayed inside and rested as much as possible. I know this sounds so boring, but after days of being outside on the bikes for hours and hours… sometimes we just need to lay low and read, play games, and update blogs.

The courtyard of our lodging was a bit of an open air museum.

This spinning toy was a hit in the town plaza

Day 107: Huépil to Chillán Viejo (82 km / 51 mi)

A: Today for breakfast I had delicious chocolate chip pancakes. H stubbed her toe. Poor H. The riding in the morning was fast downhill through the countryside. We are going 82 kilometers today. For lunch we stopped in Pemunco at a little restaurant. I mostly ate french fries and drank my strawberry juice. It was also good. The ride in the afternoon was the same as in the morning with a bit more up.

We got our cabin after visiting a fruteria and me and H played video games until dinner. Dinner was tuna and rice and carrot. It was fun, but I had a heavy lunch so I ate light. Bye! That’s all for today!

H: Mama hurt my toe. There was a buncha downhill and going fast. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch. There were more tree farms. We made it and played Zelda.

This downhill sign seems a little agressively steep

There were about five of these incredible fruit/veggie stores right in a row.

Day 108: Chillán Viejo to San Nicolás (25 km / 16 mi)

A: Today for breakfast I had ham and cheese eggs. The riding in the morning was ‘chase-the-bike-path’ and it began to slight rain on us. For lunch we stopped in a food truck for fries and burritos in Saint Nicolas, then we got our hostal. It wasn’t very nice. Boo.

We played video games until dinner. Dinner was salmon burger. It was fine. And bye! See you later!

H: I skipped Spanish this morning <the girls do a Spanish lesson most mornings before riding>. We played a lot of ‘find the bike path.’ We went to the plaza for lunch. We made it and played Zelda.

We found this very cool playground as we rode through Chillan.

Bikes resting in the plaza near the line of food trucks. It was a yummy lunch in this town.

Unfortunately the lodging options were bad but we made it.

Day 109: San Nicolás to Quirihue (44 km / 27 mi)

A: We went to get breakfast in the restaurant on the corner. We had bread and eggs. On the way out me and papa couldn’t find ham in four different stores.

There was a headwind on the way out of town. We stopped for a snack of potato chips at a intersection. For lunch we stopped in a driveway and ate nutella bread. We finally made it to our hostal in the town of Quirihue. The town was nice as well as our hostel. We also went out and ate some delicious stuff at a cafe. I got a chocolate milkshake. We also didn’t really have dinner. Bye! That’s all for today! See you later!

H: We woke up in a crappy hostal. We didn’t sleep well. We didn’t find ham. We stopped in a driveway for lunch. It was really hot. I needed to go pee. We made it and played Zelda.

This cheesecake was the best part of the day.

We loved this little cafe with yummy treats.

Day 110: Quirihue to Cobquecura (37 km / 23 mi)

Parental note: Today the girls skipped their journals in the excitement of reaching the coast. We had good sleep in our hostel then rode up and over the coastal mountains through never-ending tree farms. The screaming descent into the beach town of Cobquecura was exciting for everyone – the ocean!!!

We rented a house near the beach for four nights to take a ‘deep rest.’ With the ocean waves as a soundtrack we settled in to eat and sleep and take leisurely walks. After ten days of criss-crossing the agricultural heart of Chile we were ready for a new region: the central coast.

Here we are heading into the coastal hills

We made it to the ocean and some bright glowing sunsets.

Riding through Conguillio National Park

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Volcan Llaima has two peaks, and we could see the lava flows on the hillsides as we rode around it over three days.

On paper, it looked simple: Ride through the national park around the Volcano Llaima, a total of 72 km from Melipeuco to the next town of Curacautín. We knew there was a substantial pass in the middle, but we had done bigger passes before. We knew it wasn’t pavement, but we had ridden hundreds of kilometers on gravel already. Even so, we planned to cover the 72 km in three short days of 20km, 28km, and 24km. We thought there’d be plenty of time each day to stop and enjoy the sights. Gosh were we wrong!

I’m going to do this entry a wee bit different: I’ll summarize the highlights (and low lights) up front, then leave the girls journal entries for the day-to-day. I save the pics for after the girls’ entries so if you’re only here to see those, skip ahead now!

It turns out that the unpaved road through the park was less gravel and more… SAND. If you’ve ever ridden on sand on a bicycle, well you weren’t riding a fully loaded tandem. I know, because it’s actually impossible, especially with a kid on the back. The wheels sink, then slide, and if you try to power through they slip too. There were bits of the first two days that were ridable, but slowly. There were more bits that seemed rideable until the wheels slid out from under us. We ended up walking long stretches.

Of course, the scenery was spectacular. We rode through lava fields, and through araucaria forests with golden fall-foliage undergrowth. We rode past sparkling lakes and rainbow lakes. We rode in the shadow of the incredible volcano. We slept inside the national park and saw the milky way. We saw a waterfall. There was a second volcano. It was all beautiful. It was also the most challenging terrain we’ve had on this trip.

The girls were incredible – they understood the task. We just had to keep making forward progress. On our first day, that meant riding when we could (walking when the road was too soft), and also despite the heat. That’s right, we were baked on the road in the middle of the lava field. Despite it being mid-fall in this area, an unusual heat wave was coming through. Sure it wasn’t actually *hot* at 72 F, but for us it was!

On our second day in the park we battled sand for kilometers, and then when the road entered the deep forest and became dirt and the girls found out what a ‘dream-smasher’ is. Jason and I have coined the term ‘dream-smasher’ for a particular type of construction vehicle that smooths a thick layer of loose dirt evenly across a road. It renders the newly treated road surface unrideable. The vehicle that sometimes follows and squishes it all down is what we call a ‘dream-maker’. Unfortunately on this day the dream-smasher had come through and there was no dream-maker in sight.

Once we finally past the dream-smasher for the last time we were also over the pass. We looked forward to the long downhill! But that turned out tragically as well, as the dirt road turned to gravel road turned to… huge loose rocks. It was, as you may have guessed already, also unrideable. I believe we walked at least 5 miles that day to get past the awful road surfaces. For a single bicycle much of it would have been fine, but it just wasn’t for our setup. The girls were so amazing at each obstacle. They just got off the bikes and walked.

We also had our only two mechanical issues that day. A small rock lodged itself in Jason’s belt drive, popping it off entirely. We had to flip the tandem upside down, remove a wheel, and fix it. Of course it was in the middle of a lava field! Then, a screw on my front rack somehow came loose and disappeared. The arm of the rack that holds up the bag just swung free! Luckily this happened as we were taking pictures at the exit of the park, so it was an easy fix with a spare.

Our third day out of Melipeuco was almost entirely on pavement and was blissfully uneventful. We flew through the mellow farmlands and took our 2,500 km photo before town. We arrived in town and went straight to order pizza!

Day 97: Melipeuco to Camping Ngen-Trayenko (20 km / 12 mi)

A: For breakfast we had pancakes and fried eggs. We eventually got out of the house and started riding to the national park. At the entrance station to the national park we had lunch. Lunch was ham, barbeque, and bread sandwich. I got a couple good pictures of green lizards. We rode on pretty bad gravel the rest of the way to the campground. It was also really hot, but only slightly uphill. We finally made it to the shady campground. I already felt hot. We took a walk to a little waterfall that was quite tall. I touched the cold water that was supposedly melted ice. (I didn’t think it was cold enough!) We walked back, set up the tent, and played some video games. Mama unlocked the Ginger Islands in Stardew Valley! Dinner was avocado tuna pasta with broth. It was good. Yay! Bye! Now that’s all for today! See you later! <picture of horse with bridle and saddle>

H: I finished a hard Spanish lesson. It was supposed to be all uphill but there was downhill. I had a ham sandwich. The gravel was so bad it took forever. I played Zelda in my camping chair.

The first bit away from Melipeuco was on this lovely paved road (until we hit the park boundary)

We were in such good spirits and making excellent time as the road entered the first lava field

Volcano sighting before entering the park!

At the park entrance the girls were excited by this stick-your-head-in-a-picture

H thought it was about the most hilarious thing ever when we stuck our faces in

One of A’s lizard photos. These lizards were about three inches long.

There was a bit of good dirt through the forest as we left the park entrance…

Whoa, what a cool sight! We loved seeing the different kinds of lava and the plants surviving

Our first taste of unrideable surface. It wasn’t even that bad here in retrospect.

This was a lovely campsite and you can see how the chaos unfolds as we open up our gear.

The small waterfall near the campground. It was the only water we saw in the park – no idea where the stream goes after this!

Day 98: Camping to Llaima Camp Cabin (28 km / 17 mi)

A: Today a LOT of bad luck things happened. I’ll list them:

First our chain popped off. We had to take the wheel out.
Some of the gravel was really sandy and our tires sank down.
Very steep uphill. It was like the road sunk into the hill.
There was a dreamsmasher and the road got quite soft.
Terribly steep downhill.
At the almost bottom of the hill the gravel got really loose and rocky as we went through another lava field.
It was gravel until our cabaña, even out of the national park.
The whole day was on gravel. Wow!
Mama’s front rack came apart.

But there were some cute friendly dogs that I got to pet at the place we were staying in. That’s about it. Oh, my feet are really tired. Now bye! See you later! <picture of horse with fancy bridle and saddle>

H: Bad thing number 1 chain popped off. Bad thing #2 sand. Bad thing #3 crazy uphill. Bad thing #4 dreamsmasher. Bad thing #5 steep downhill. Bad thing #6 bad gravel. Bad thing #7 gate closed. Bad thing #8 all gravel no pavement. Bad thing #9 rack came apart.

First loose climb of the day. I’m still in my wool long underwear!

Right after I took this photo Jason’s belt drive popped off

“Rainbow lake” was formed when a lava flow cut off a stream

Here the road entered the deep forest and formed its own deep canyon

Bad luck for us – the dream-smasher had just paid this section a visit

Finally on the descent with the volcano behind us, hoping for a rapid exit from the park

NOOOOOO! This surface is too dangerous to ride on

The welcoming committee at our cabin was particularly lovely

Day 99: Cabin to Curacautin (23 km / 14 mi)

Today was basically a rest day. For most of our morning in the cabaña we played Zelda and Stardew Valley till we started riding around 10:30 AM. The two young cute doggies led us for a bit. The old one stayed I the campground. The riding to town only had one stop and was mostly downhill. We took our 2500 kilo photo and the camera ran out of battery so we didn’t get to see the photo till later. We rolled into town (which had a surprisingly nice pike path on the main street!) and stopped for lunch at a nice pizzaria. We ordered barbeque chicken pizza, shrip pizza, and a giant, delicious plate of fries. It was good. Really good. Next we found our cabaña and then played our video games till dinner. For dinner we had eggs, avocado and quesadillas. It was also delicious. (Almost as good as lunch.) And H is getting Zelda and downloading my saved profile on her Nintendo. And, finally that’s all for today! Bye! See you later! <picture of Volcano Llaima and cyclists saying “gravel!”>

H: In the morning I had extra video games. We took the 2500 photo and it was downhill. We had pizza and played a lot of Zelda.

Another deep cut-out, but this time the pavement was perfect.

The clouds really moved in overnight and the volcano was no longer visible. What good luck we had to ride when we did!

2,500 kilometers for our family in South America

We always use the bike paths in the Chilean towns, even when Jason is too tall and would hit the low hanging branches

Pucón to Melipeuco: a few days to get around a lake.

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This is a short entry that only covers a few days. We chose to split these days off from the following because the next entry will cover a gravel ‘shortcut’ that had a long list of misadventures. The days in *this* entry were pleasant and uneventful in comparison! In any case, we have reached the part of Chile that has very few North/South routes besides the major highway, route 5. We jog west/east to get around Villarrica and Collico Lakes, and then are well-positioned to ride through a national park to get farther north.

Changing scenery from one volcano to another

Day 93: Pucón to Villarrica (33 km / 21 mi)

Pucón is a very busy tourist town that was particularly full of Chileans celebrating the long Easter weekend with their families. Our departure was scheduled to be on Sunday, which promised extra traffic from families driving home from their long weekend. The route between Pucón and the next town is narrow, crowded, and I actually remember hating it when we came through eleven years ago. Determined to not repeat the experience, this time we found an alternative.

The alternative route was only paved a couple years ago and meanders through small communities in the foothills above the lake. It was blessedly quiet and lovely for us, even if we paid for that quiet in elevation gained. The road rose steeply away from Pucón past many luxury condominium developments until we turned off onto a very quiet sideroad. Every car we saw on the side road was full of people with their families (it was Easter Sunday after all) and they were all delighted to see us.

The road had steep up and downs, so despite the quiet road conditions we started to feel a little downtrodden and tired. Like magic, a grocery store appeared at the top of a particularly big hill. It wasn’t a typical grocery store though – it was a local co-op full of fresh vegetables, sourdough bread, lattes, and American-style oatmeal cookies and brownies. In short, it was just about fabulous.

We ate our packed lunch at the picnic tables outside (while I sipped a fresh espresso drink), then went in to load up on treats and bread. We rarely get to enjoy sourdough bread, and basically never get brownies and cookies. This was a true treat.

After that too-good-to-be-true store we started downhill. We honestly didn’t pedal for about three kilometers! It was not exactly awe-inspiring scenery but it was a lovely, quiet slice of country life.

As we entered Villarrica it started to rain. Of course, despite the 10% chance forecast, after all the Philtron family was riding. We were happy to have a nice separated bicycle path that lead us toward the center, and then many separated bicycle paths to navigate. It was actually quite remarkable to have so much bicycle infrastructure. We enjoyed it!

I had reserved us a house for the night on Booking right near downtown. For the first time, the host just told us where a spare key was hidden and then asked us to leave cash under the tablecloth when we left. It was a lot for the homeowner to entrust in complete strangers, but we were happy for the peaceful quiet night.

Day 94: Villarrica to Los Laureles (40 km / 25 mi)

Despite the shorter mileage day today we had our work cut out for us because 15 of those kilometers were on steep dirt climbs. At least it was good weather and nearly traffic free! The trees are changing colors here, and even in rough conditions it’s pretty magical to ride through the South American fall.

The first half of the day had us passing the lakeside and looking back one last time towards Volcan Villarrica. Almost immediately we turned away from the main road that leads back towards highway 5. The traffic all vanished and it was just us climbing through the countryside. For lunch we stopped at the next major road intersection. There wasn’t really a town there, but there were two minimarkets, an elementary school with kids playing soccer, and a tiny stand selling hot dogs.

We rolled up and asked for four hot dogs. The owner was happy to have us but had to leave to buy the bread for the hot dogs! He asked us to watch the stand for him while he walked back to the nearby minimarkets. We were of course happy to, and the hot dogs were yummy when they were eventually ready. We continue to enjoy the Chilean ‘completo’ which is a hot dog with tomato and avocado, usually for around $3 USD.

Immediately after lunch it was dirt road time. Challenging but pretty.

When we descended into the next river valley (and onto pavement) we were in logging country. The traffic was light, but included logging trucks carrying trees to the nearby mill. The town we reached, Los Laureles, is sustained by the tree farms and milling industries. It was a small but tidy little town built around a central square. We rented a simple cabin behind the town’s ice cream shop. It seemed like it was brand new.

Enjoy the pics below showing how chaotic our stuff can be sometimes when we reach the end of the riding day

Day 95: Los Laureles to Melipeuco (55 km / 34 mi)

The day dawned overcast and surprisingly cold. We pedaled away from Los Laureles onto a lovely smooth road heading towards the Andes. All day long it gradually climbed, so gradually that we hardly noticed.

We were climbing up a wide and fertile river valley, so every ten kilometers or so we passed through another tiny settlement. In the biggest one, Cunco, we stopped in a coffee shop to try different types and sweets and warm up with a latte. It was cold enough that we all really needed a break inside.

We only stopped twice this day: once for coffee and once for potato chips in a tiny settlement with a nice plaza. We were making excellent time, and were also just too cold to stop for long. Perhaps we should have eaten lunch, since I got very hungry when we finally arrived, but we made it all the same. I was crabby but it was nothing a sandwich with barbecue sauce couldn’t cure.

That is an Araucaria tree growing through and out of the house

A couple new friends wanted to share our chips

Some farms have these tall wind-break trees along their border, and they look amazing in yellow! In this case there were probably 500 in a row.

Our destination, Melipeuco, is the last tourist output before Conguillio National Park. It has everything you could need, mostly along the one main street through town. I remember this town feeling dusty and sparse when we came through eleven years ago, but my impression this time was different. I like it. It has a perfect grid for a layout, and everyone is a few blocks flat walk from a grocery store. The plaza is lovely, the neighborhoods have sidewalks and interesting houses. It was a nice place to spend a day resting.

Typical meat display. Sometimes everything is frozen by the chunk

Day 96: Resting in Melipeuco

We really took this rest day seriously and did almost nothing but play video games, update journals, and prepare for the next stretch of road. The only road north from Melipeuco goes through the national park and climbs nearly 3,000′, mostly on a gravel road with no services. There are several opportunities to camp or stay in cabins in the park, and we had to make decisions about where to stay and how far we expected to ride each day. In the end we decided to take two ‘short’ days, thinking we’d have lots of time to enjoy camp and admire the scenery.

I think we’ve seen this ornamental grass in Colorado

Exploring the plaza. In warmer times, this would be a fountain

Children “resting.” Almost every town has these outdoor exercise equipment stations. The Chilean children also love to play on them.

Our decision was correct, but the days were not short! As you will read in the next update, we encountered the most challenging road conditions of the entire trip. Of course, the challenges were overcome and the scenery was spectacular. You’ll have to wait for the next update to see though!

Riding the seven lakes region

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In this entry we ride the famous seven lakes (“Siete Lagos”) route through Argentina, rest in the fly-fishing destination of Junín de los Andes, and ride past the mighty Volcano Lanín to re-enter Chile. This section of riding felt like a greatest hits of the western USA. The first two days reminded us of the high Sierras in California, then we were reminded of Eastern Washington, and back in Chile it was similar again to Western Washington or Oregon.

Riding with volcano Lanín and the famous Araucaría trees

Day 85: Villa La Angostura to Camping Pichi Traful (52km)

After weeks of rain in Chile it was such an odd feeling to climb on the bikes under a cloudless blue sky. Of course, it wasn’t *warm* exactly, and it was downright cold in the shade, but the sun was shining! This day was just a series of beautiful lakes and mountain views. Pictures below:

There are lots of options for camping in this region, including designated free camping areas, but for whatever reason the girls had their hearts set on a campsite by a lovely lake that had real bathrooms and picnic tables. It was absurdly expensive for a campsite in Argentina (about $50 USD) but they insisted and we went with it.

In the end it was a beautiful camping area. The girls ran around for a long time chasing butterflies. The grownups enjoyed the lake and river views. Anticipating another cold night, we got to bed early and bundled up.

Day 86: Camping Pichi Traful to San Martin de los Andes (60km)

Shockingly, we awoke to a rather warm morning… with clouds and drizzle. It wasn’t what we were expecting but as usual we knew how to handle it. Rain coats on and ride!

The rain didn’t last long and the clouds moved away by afternoon. We passed a beautiful river and then spent the morning climbing. The traffic here has been very nice – zero trucks and polite tourist cars. Jason and A continued their quest to read all the info signs at the lake overlooks.

The viewpoint view for one of Jason’s favorite’s: Hidden Lake (Lago Escondido)

We met two friendly Austrians, and enjoyed chatting as we crossed paths over a week of riding

There was a lot of climbing to get up and over the hills between the lakes – over 2,500 feet over the course of the day. Near the end of the biggest climb we saw our most amazing info sign yet: a description of the divided stream. The nearby stream (that we filtered water from and were drinking as we read the sign) is near the continental divide. As it flows down it hits a large boulder that splits the stream in two directions. One side eventually drains to the Pacific and the other to the Atlantic. We thought this was just incredible.

Teacher A, explaining the Divided Stream

The source of this “cool” stream is right up there

After the divided stream we started a long descent towards San Martin de los Andes – a tourist town that reminded us of Big Bear Lake in California. The descent was spectacular, and even more remarkable was how warm the wind was as we got close to town. No one needed to bundle up. Suddenly we emerged onto the shores of Lake Lácar with the brilliant sun shining. On the far side of the lake we could see deep into the Andes. On the other was the hopping tourist town. The road along the lake shore was packed with people out walking and enjoying the view. Honestly, it was pretty spectacular and we were a bit shocked.

San Martin de los Andes across Lago Lácar

We made our way across the bustling and fancy town to our cabin. The food in the grocery stores was expensive in this town, and we thought it was simply because of the tourism density. In later towns in Argentina we would simply find that grocery stores are very expensive, at least compared to Chile. My understanding of this region was that Chile is the more expensive country, but apparently in the last year there has been a huge surge in food prices here in Argentina.

This sign was in Junín, but we missed the one in San Martin so it will suffice!

Day 87: San Martin de Los Andes to Junín de los Andes (43km)

San Martin was a great place to resupply, but it was a bit too hopping for our tastes. We prefer the smaller, slower towns. Even knowing that San Martin was busy didn’t prepare us for just *how* busy the road would be on the way out. It was PACKED. There were tons of passenger vehicles, big buses, little buses, pickup trucks, delivery trucks, and semi-trailers. Of course, there was no paved shoulder to speak of. When a bike path magically appeared we got right on it.

Bike path out of San Martin. We were thankful to avoid the traffic!

The lovely, paved bicycle path eventually became a not-quite-paved path and finally disappeared. Then it was back to the road. Luckily by this time there were enough huge speed bumps in the road that we were able to ride about as fast as traffic. By the time the bumps disappeared we were able to duck off on a side road. We wandered through a little Argentine town that truly didn’t have a whisper of tourism. It was mostly gravel roads and dirt sidewalks, but there was also a tidy plaza and kids walking around.

The side road took us up a very steep hill to the next small city. We were slow enough that a pedestrian overtook us, but we were able to ride! When we emerged at the top of the hill the scenery had changed dramatically. Instead of the green hillsides we’d been seeing for days it was dry and dusty and tan. It was like suddenly riding across the Sierra Cascades in Washington State. Hello, Eastern Washington!

We enjoyed a gentle downhill with a tailwind for about an hour. It was an utter thrill to literally not have high enough gears to even bother pedaling. We stopped for lunch and gave some cheese to a black lab that waited patiently for our scraps. After lunch the road turned… and the tailwind became a headwind. It felt like we slowly approached the flat riverside town of Junín for half a day, but it was only an hour.

Junín was a really fun town. It has about 20,000 inhabitants and is laid out in a perfect grid along a river. Most of the tourism focus in the area is on fly fishing. The main road is pavement, but the side roads through town, even downtown, are gravel. The sidewalks are just dirt paths. We saw the locals riding bikes to get around. We decided it was the perfect place for a rest day.

Day 88: Rest day in Junín (0 km)

In addition to our typical rest day activities (laundry, resting, eating, planning) we walked downtown to visit the tourist info and a small museum. The museum seemed to be mainly random items people had donated, but it was good fun all the same.

We also walked down to the river to enjoy the fall colors of the trees lining the banks. After a South American summer that was honestly pretty darn cold, we are enjoying this beautiful moment of fall.

Day 89: Junín to wild camp by a yellow bridge (45km)

Today was another one of those rare cycle touring days when the beauty is everywhere and the conditions are perfect. It felt like a dream come true.

We left Junín with the blue sky above us and the fall colors blazing around us. We turned off the main route and onto an almost traffic-free road that led back towards the Andes. For lunch we ate leftover pizza and gazed across the big open landscape. The volcano Lanín peaked over the hills, waiting for us.

The ride from Junín to the Chilean border climbs up only about a thousand feet over 40 miles, so the ascent is gradual through a huge open landscape in the shadow of the looming volcano. For visa reasons, we needed to dilly dally in this section for two nights. The campground we had planned for was inexplicably closed, so we carried on through the beautiful valley looking for a free place to camp.

We decided to camp near a small bridge about 2km off route. It was down a gravel road past a quarry that was busy with dump trucks making trips up the pass to redo the road near the border. Our intended campsite was in a stand of glowing yellow trees next to a river, and when we rolled up we found a group of fly fishermen drinking mate. We asked if they were planning to spend the night, but they were just there to stage their fishing gear. They were very friendly, on a ten-day family fly fishing trip. We set up our tent and used their camping table for dinner while they went out to fish. It was an incredibly picturesque spot to spend a (cold!) night.

Day 90: Wild camp to Camping Tromen (25km)

It was a perfectly peaceful night and a chilly morning. When we walked away from the river to do our business we found ice curls in the volcanic sand. I also found a yellow jacket nest about one foot away from where I had decided to pee. Yikes!

As we passed the quarry that morning on our way back to the main route we made a decision to try and befriend the dump truck drivers. There were so many of them making trips up and down the next section of highway, it seemed like a good idea to wave and smile at them. Sure enough, they gave us lots of space and honks and waves. I think most of them passed us four or six times as we slowly made our way up the pass. Our progress slowed quite a bit as the road turned to gravel.

Road work and some locals running their horses

We entered a forest of Araucaria (monkey puzzle) trees. These are the national trees of Chile and extremely distinctive. It is a magical feeling to ride through them in the Andes. As we slowly made our way through the forest a dump truck driver stopped and waved us over. He gave us lunch! It was incredibly generous and honestly we were extremely excited to eat some fresh food. We immediately stopped and ate the entire thing, waving wildly in thanks as he drove off.

When we finally reached the construction area all the workers and drivers stopped to take our picture. This route is extremely popular with cyclists (for obvious reasons) but it sure seems like very few cycling families make it through!

We stopped for the night at a campground right at the base of the volcano and extremely near the top of the pass. It was unbelievably picturesque. The clouds blew in overnight and were gorgeous in the light of the full moon, and in the early morning I saw a pink cloud resting atop the volcano. The pictures just don’t do it justice.

Day 91: Camping Tromen to Pucón (78km)

The morning dawned a bit cloudy, but there wasn’t any rain (yet) so we happily rode away from the campground to cross the border back into Chile. Unlike our last border crossing, the two border stations were less than a kilometer apart. Leaving Argentina was easy – they hand you a piece of paper when you enter the area, stamp it twice to prove you stopped and answered their questions, then they collect the stamped paper when you leave. They don’t even stamp our passports! Entering Chile is always a more complicated process.

Just like last time there were three steps. 1: Passport control. We got our stamps and permission to be in the country for 90 more days. 2. Bicycle import. We have to describe the bikes and get documentation to import them temporarily. The process was different here than in Tierra del Fuego, but since we are leaving with the bikes in boxes on an airplane in 88 days time we didn’t worry about the details. 3. Food inspection. No fresh products are allowed to enter Chile. Many cyclists end up getting a thorough bag inspection, but we have been lucky. We had a pile of food that clearly couldn’t enter (lentils and raw eggs), a pile of food that we weren’t sure about (powdered milk, cheese) and the clearly ok food was packed away. The official took our sacrificial eggs and lentils, waved through the cheese, and made sure to take our photo with us on the bikes before we rode away.

Near the top. The road was gravel on the Argentine side, and paved on the Chilean

Back to Chile! Seems like a few too many stickers on the sign

The fall colors up high at the pass level were truly lovely. The clouds had really rolled in though, and it even started to sprinkle. There was also a headwind. We made a quick joke about how it rains on us in Chile, but we didn’t linger and pedaled to leave the high country behind.

The Aracuaría trees received National Monument status in Chile in 1990, preventing their destruction. So, the road got built around this one!

With over 3,000’ to descend we zipped down past the clouds and around a lot of tight curves. We emerged from the clouds and mountains to find ourselves in a flat river valley. We would spend the rest of the (long) day riding along the flat road towards the big fancy city of Pucón. Happily, when we got close and traffic got busy a separated bicycle path appeared and whisked us all the way downtown to our lodging. It was quite a shock for the whole family to pedal into a bustling town resembling Boulder, CO.