Lodge Chucao Futaleufu

... was lovely and the town itself was really chilled, the next stop was over the border, had to walk for ages to cross it as the bus only dropped us on the Chilean side and it was lashing rain, first rain we saw in a while actually, 20 minutes later and we were back in Argentina on our way to Bariloche!

... the River to Ocean kayak trip? Just you, Anna, just you. And what about my guide? You have 2 guides Anna. Kelly and Owen...two lovely teenagers that will take care of you. TEENAGERS???? Yes, teenagers. I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive. Then I found out the weather report-cold and rainy the entire week. Awesome. We put our boats in at the bottom of the rapids and only had to paddle a couple of hours down the ...

... more lush, and things start to resemble the northwest a bit. This town is really cute, and it's on what looks like a lake but is actually salt water, and inlet from the Pacific. I stayed at Casa Ludwig, a charming B&B. It's really an idyllic setting. The innkeeper, Jamie, is an American from Maine most recently, and loves to sail. He build a wooden sailboat in his garage, and it ...

Well getting to Futa was a mission in itself. Apparently Josh the rafting guy was supposed to organise a taxi to pick Trisha and I up from Esquel at 5pm. Well it didn´t materialise but two very white gringos did. They had managed to find us from the bus station. They were the couple we were rafting with, Tom (21) and Kat (24) from the big white, Alaska. They were told that we were all going together and that they had to call some number however being ...

I am thinking, "This must be the last hill." But the slow climb culminated in a view to yet another hill. "OK," I thought, "THAT must be the last hill." However... you might guess the rest. In 2003, I visited the nearby town of Chaiten the day after being discharged from hospital. It just happened that I was there ...

After arriving in the little village of Santa Lucia, I found an hospedaje to stay. An hospedaje is a family home with up to six rooms to rent to travellers. It was only after following directions that I could find the house and when I did, sure enough, there was a hand-written, very faded, note in the window: HOSPEDAJE. The front room was a small mini-market ...

So now I´m back in Futaleufu considering my options, I think I will be heading back North to civilisation and Yamaha garages, Puerto Varas probably, lets hope I make it. In the meantime I have been enjoying the generous hospitality of Leonardo, a fellow biker who lives in the town. Thanks for the lunches, cervezas and entertainment!

Yeah so... snapped another chain. I think maybe I should have changed sprockets in Santiago, oops. It was getting late, chucking it down with rain and I was pressing on across to the Carretera Austral when it snapped. I waited by the side of the road for a suitable vehicale to come along which I could load the bike into the back of but none turned up, stupid double cab pick-ups are too ...

... Time for a walk, we thought, but we soon realised that he meant the next bus back to Esquel but it was a sign of things to come. We were able to jump in a minivan to get to Futaleufú almost immediately but that was the end of the smooth travel arrangements. I missed buying the last two tickets for the next day bus (Saturday) to Chaitén by two minutes and so we were told we had to wait till Monday. We got over that but ...

... plan was to say several days in the mountains and continue onward. There was just one catch, money. It seemed like a good idea to buy Peso's in Chile but it never occured to us that the bank did not have a machine, take anything but crisp american bills, or take visa. In all my days of travelling, I finally found that " VISA is not everywhere" LOL. Needless to say, we dipped into my "emergency fund" to sleep and eat. Our ...