Tuesday 12 November 2013

09/11/2013 Stage 60 LLau-Llau -Ensenada (Chili)

2013-11-09
09/11/2013 Stage 60 LLau-Llau -Ensenada (Chili) by malcandmarjetpatterson at Garmin Connect - Details
09/11/2013 Stage 60 LLau-Llau -Ensenada (Chili)
We had breakfast with Alejandro and before we knew it he had loaded both bikes on his roof rack and then drove us to the ferry port with minutes to spare.
We were blessed with good weather and had great views all day. This made sitting out the bad weather the previous days a wise decision.
This has to have been a top five day with spectacular views from beginning to end. After leaving Llao Llao the ferry took us for 1.5 hrs to the far end of the lake where we all disembarked, the others to get on a coach for the 3 kms road trip to the beginning of the next lake and we were encouraged to get there as quick as we could as they wouldn't wait. Fortunately we got away quickly and beat the coach. The road has no other connections and the coaches can only go back and forth between the two lakes. The next crossing over lake Frio was only 30 minutes and overhead near the top of the steep cliffs the Condors were flying. After the next disembarcation we had to check out of Argentina and fortunately the tour leader pushed us to the front of the queue which probably saved us 1/ 2 hour which we needed. We then had 3 hrs to  climb the steep ripio to the unmanned border before descending to the Chilean border post crossing 30 kms further. The ripio was very steep and muddy but we managed to get to the pass ahead of the following bus which passed on the steep descent. I hate it when, having put so much effort getting up the mountain coming down is so slow and treacherous. We did catch the bus again when they stopped for photos at the bottom of the descent and at this point we were joined by a dog which ran alongside us for the next 15 kms. It was all very sweet until we passed a field of sheep and the dog ran in and felled several of them. There was lots of shouting from workers in the fields and we felt guilty but he wasn't our dog or in our control and we couldn't shake him off.
We finally reached the Chilean border without much time too spare, non the less we still managed to cook the six eggs and eat them and as much of everything else that wasn't going to be allowed through the border. The leftovers were given to the dog ( I now feel that he knew what was coming). Arriving at the ferry with minutes to spare we were told that the dog often follows the bikers and would get a lift back with the police. Smart mutt.
The dog sat on the quay staring at our bikes on the front and it was only when we sailed that we saw him leave. The 3rd and final ferry crossing of 1.5 hrs was again spectacularly beautiful and we eventually stopped at Petrohue where the roads started again. Another hour got us to Ensenada where we got a lake side cabin with views of the snow capped volcano. Lots of confusion with the currency once again but the prices don't seem as bad as we had been warned about.

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