Day 17 - 140 KMs, Lago Nahuel Huapi (Argentine Lakes District) (04:00) to Entre Lago, Chile, (Vista Hermosa Camping) (17:15)

Falling trees to Volcanic Ash to Cats

Quiet, no one else there, and what more can a person want!

From the moonlit lake beach where I was all alone at awfully early 4:00am, I heard what sounded like shotgun going off or a glacier calving, but this was a lake! This happened a few times within 10 minutes.  With no mountains or snow nearby. No wind, no rain and no one living nearby.  WTF?!?!    Then a few minutes after the last ‘bang’ sound, I heard a massive sound (a tree was falling) and I popped up out of my bivvy sack, and turned around.  I see the shadowing a big tree falling but luckily it was about 75m from me. I got myself relaxed (somehow!) and then went back to sleep under the moonland like beach (under moonlight).

Campsite owner clearing a downed tree on the campsite road

I was tired so I ended up NOT getting up early.  I woke up to the sounds of chainsaws.  I know what THAT IS!   The campground owner was making new firewood from the downed tree.  However  I was betting the bank that this tree was blocking the forested gravel road for which I needed tget out on.    Before putting away my bivvy gear, I walked up the hill to see the chainsaw action. Sure enough the tree fell across the gravel road I needed to drive on to get out of the forest. (see photos) I talked to the owner and he was clearing the mess up.

Empty campsite except for me in the morning. Wow!
Am a lucky guy... 

I was too tired to cook breakfast, so I said to myself with a smile “fuck it, I am outta here, let’s get back Chile!” .  On my way out of the camp I talked to the owner again.  I asked him if the “Mamuil Mamel” border crossing was still open considering the currently active volcano up there. He told me it was closed and so was the other one nearby.  “You need to go through the main one here called ‘Cardenal Samore”.   That was million dollar advice because I would have gone farther North to the one I asked him about because I wanted to see a volcano in action.

Villa la Angustura, Argentina - 15 kms from the
Chilean border

I went onward on route 231 and eventually after 40kms more of very scenic lakeside driving hit the town of Villa La Angostura. The police at the entry of the town had to the motion to me to SLOW down because I was going too fast. I quickly complied of course.   This is a very lovely mountain town with log cabin style building for 95% of all structures.  WOW!  I was at home or so I wish was the case.     

Villa la Angustura, Argentina - 15 kms from the 
Chilean border

I could smell the scent of volcanic ash though.  No worries let’s see what this cool little town is all about (see photos).   I got the town a wee bit early so most of the stores were closed, but I was able to find one café hidden in a nice log cabin that was open.   I met an American/Argentinian there working from his laptop. His name is Garrith and he works as an Oracle Consultant, but lives in this magificent town.

Villa la Angustura, Argentina - 15 kms from the 
Chilean border

I asked to join him he said “sure man!”.  He helped me talked to the coffee shop owner to order a yummy scrambled egg and bacon sandwich for breakfast.  I got a great tasting Cappuchino as well to go with.  After chatting with him about how he got to be where he is now, and how he likes life in Argentina, he told me he met his wife (Argentinian girl) in Europe an then moved from the USA to where he is now. He now holds dual citizenship USA/Argentinian.   He said he had a home he was building nearby (log cabin style no doubt?), but was having issues finding/getting power to go to it. I recommended that he put 3 or 4,100-watt (each) solar panels on his roof along with a wind turbine all linked to a (2-3 batteries) deep cel battery system.  And add a solar water heater too.  He liked the idea.  I am betting he’ll do it!   Anyway, he was supposed to be working so I didn’t want to keep him from his work.  I got his contact info, but forgot to get a picture with him. Ooops my mistake.  Anyway, nice guy. I am sure we’ll keep in  touch.

I left the café and started exploring town. I had about 450 Argentinian Pesos in my wallet and this was the last time I was going to be in Argentina for this trip, so it’s time to go $HOPPING baby!  I picked the right town to do this in. This town had so many cool artesian / gift shoppes it was amazing. I got gifts for myself, Rebecca, the house and even some gifts for the Couchsurfing hosts who’ll be be hosting me from 13/3 to 17/3 up in Santiago.  I was happy here!  If only NZ had a town like this, I’d move there in a heartbeat!

I left the town and headed onward to the Chilean Border crossing.   However I had to first get out of Argentina.  This took forever!  With the other 2 border crossings closed as I mentioned before, this one (the only one with sealed roads) was majorly busy.  And as I have learned in Patagonia, everyone is friendly, but they work ever so slowly.  I sat there for 1 hour just getting out of Argentina before I could be in “no man’s land” – 18km between border entry/crossings.    As usual, the border police were fascinated by my NZ Passport and asked about NZ and “what’s it like there?”. I usually reply with, “it’s a lot like Chile, but no Espanol we speak!”. I stopped to get a cold drink at the overpriced food mart at the border before heading into “no man’s land”.  

On the drive to the Chilean border entry 18kms away, I noticed that more and more volcanic ash was on the side of the road like snow piled up.  There was some down by the Argentine border crossing but not this much though.  It was amazing. I have never seen anything like this except for maybe I went to Mt St Helens, Washington State (USA) and to see what happened from the 1980 eruption.  This was more recent because a nearby volcano had erupted just only 2 years ago.  The ash fell for close to 4 months, yes FOUR months.  Anyway, I got many photos and videos of it so this was getting me more excited to see the live, lava-spewing volcano at Villarica (Chile) which is on my way up to Santiago.  I will be there in like 3 days!

I got to the Chilean border and it was easy-as to get to through as usual. Very friendly people- the customs officers that is.  I drover ownward into Chile and my goal was to reach “Entre Lago” and find a campsite there.  The drive was green and rolling hills. I guess the nearby volcanoes create some very fertile land for farming. Very nice indeed.    After stopping at a little information booth on the other side of town, I got to the campsite  I wanted .  It was OK, not the best, but not the worst.  

At this campsite I had a good time.  There were only 2 other travellers there and they had a Wicked Camper like mine, but it was a 3 seater.  It was a couple from Perth Australia. His name was Shane Donnes.  I don’t recall his girlfriend’s name (so sorry Shane!), but I did not talk to her much.  Shane hired his van just the other day, and was driving SOUTH to Punta Arenas.   I said, “Oh really!”.  Let me show what  I have as it might help you out.  I showed Shane my map of where I’ve been and all the campsites I stayed at (official or non-official campsites).  Shane was really interested in my personalised map because he said, “that’s the same route we want to do!”.  I gave some travel advice about roads, towns and etc. He seemed very grateful.  All the while, I met this little black cat who seemed to take a liking to me.   The cat was hanging out in my van and followed me around like a puppy. So cute this cat was, as it reminded me of Latte – our cat in NZ.

My new camping buddy. Reminds
me of my cat at home. :)

I worked on my blog a wee bit and then took Shane’s advice to walk 3 minutes to a restaurant nearby for good food.  I packed up my laptop away, and walked over. The food was good.  The custom made rolls were amazing!  I ate too much.. burp!  But it will surely help me sleep. The chicken with papas were especially good with that sauce they put on it!  When  I paid, the bugger (restaurant owner) gave my a pile of coins for change.  WTF man?  It seems no one here in Chile like coins that are less value than their 500 PESO coin.    Damm!  Now I had 1 KGs of Chilean coins to get rid of. This was getting insane.  

I walked to back the van, and did some more blog work. I said outside under the lamp in the dark under the stars and clouds. Suddenly the cute black cat arrives and jumps on my legs and lap.  She wanted to cuddle, but daddy has to his blog from the day before.  She settled for my  leg to lay on. (See pic).      I finished my blog from 5/3 late around 11:45pm.    

Late night offline blog writing with a little furball as
friendly company.

I went to bed soon after.. around midnight, but first I had to kick the cat out of my van.  Cute little furball wanted to van camp with me.    Because he said he was leaving @ 8am tomorrow,  before going to bed I put a 5 peso paper Argentinan note on Shane’s windshield wiper  saying “Enjoy your journey, good luck – John”.  I am feeling skeptical about headed to the larger city of Puerto Montt with a rainy forecast for tomorrow... 

zzz

Daily Summary
From waking up to the sounds of falling trees at 4am under a moonlit deserted alpine lake beach to exploring/shopping in a lovely cedar built up mountain town to driving through ash-covered mountain pass/volcano land to finding a nice campsite just inside the Chilean border.  A lovely day yes, but I am sad that my true Patagonia wilderness experience is now over despite the fact that I am still geographically inside 'Patagonia'.  Next time I come here, I will do at least a 60 day trip, but more likely to be 4-6 months!