South America 2008
SOUTH AMERICA 2008
Alls Well That Ends Well
All good things, eventually come to an end, and at times we do not get to choose when that might be. My trip came to an abrupt end on March 17. I was about 15 miles north of Tres Lagos Patagonia with 15 miles more of gravel remaining. I have no recall of the event but suspect strongly that my habit of riding too fast on gravel roads may have had something to do with the eventual end over end…
CARRETERA AUSTRAL OF CHILE
Yes, I am finally back on the road after an almost 2 week break waiting for my voltage regulator to arrive. My new friend Martin was kind enough to house, feed and befriend me for all that time. He is a real old-time gentleman and character. We had a most enjoyable time. Ron was kind enough to get and ship the regulator to me. Thank you Ron. The regulator arrived at 1130 am and at 130 pm I was on…
PUCON CHILE
As you can see Pucon is very pretty. The lake is large and blue reminding me of lake Tahoe. Martin’s house is large and beautiful with magnificent views of the lake and volcano. The lake is 16 miles long and 600 feet deep. Volcano Villarica vents smoke constantly. The property of Jim and Isabel has an even closer and better view of the volcano. Martin is the developer and builder here in Altos Los Riscos. I shall spend a week…
BACK TO ARGENTINA
Chile is a lovely, modern well organized country. The road system here is better than Arizona’s, even the secondary roads are well kept, clean and with great signage making navigation quite easy. The wine region, which is very large, looks exactly like California’s wine region and the weather is very similar. After leaving Viña del Mar, I traveled the coastal road south for a couple hundred miles then turned eastward into the central valley, again looking just like California. I…
VINA DEL MAR CHILE
Viña del Mar, located next door from Valparaiso is the Beverly Hills of Chile and the most popular beach resort. It is quite large and lively, this being the busy summer season. The city is host to many grand old homes and maple tree lined streets. Restaurants and shopping abound and the main avenue leads to the beach. The weather is quite pleasant at around 75 degrees. Road and foot traffic, is as you might expect, heavy. There is a…