Into South America by Motorcycle Junin de los Andes

Our Journal

Junin

Junin is in a big valley and I went looking for trails leading up above it. An old timer walking six dogs saw me and walked me up to a trail. He kept talking about how great it is to walk in the mountains and about how he had worked a nearby ranch for 15 years but now just walks dogs. The trail went steep and he head back to town with his dogs yapping all around him. 30 minutes of running and hiking up brought me to an incredible panoramic (this word is a big Andean theme) view of the area with mountains and the Lanin volcano. I decided on a route down the other side seeing what looked like trails leading back to town. But from above, the scale of things was quite confusing and what looked like a trail would be a cow path disappearing into nothing. The vegetation was all scrub and thorn brush and barren ground. To run it is next to impossible without hopping up every couple of seconds to avoid thorns. I found a fence line and followed it through several clearings. An old cowboy saw me and rode over asking me where the hell I was coming from, and probably wondering why the hell I was hopping all over the place. I told him I had hiked down the bike side and he laughed and explained how to get back to town, long way. Eventually I hid the road and jogged into town having covered some 12 miles.

That night we found a nice restaurant on the main square, an old establishment owned by a big time game hunter with photos of his kills all over the walls. Not so great to be eating under a dead polar bear but the food was excellent and we continued helping Argentina through its difficult time by sharing a bottle of wine. The next day we drove rocky dirt road to the volcano but once there realized it is a three day hike to the top requiring ice equipment. We drove to a lake nearby with a view into Chile. My bike had been cranky starting and the next day the battery was completely dead. I walked it over to the only mechanic in town who agreed to charge it overnight, which sounds like an easy enough exchange but it require me hanging out in his shop talking for an hour with the boys. They had an old 1927 Ford that they still take for country drives. We tried the same restaurant again and I gave Argentinean beef another try. Ok, it is true, it was excellent, beef that melted in my mouth.

The next day we hiked up again to the lookout over town but this time returned by the same path. The battery turned out to be dead beyond saving so we purchased another one from San Martin nearby. They even delivered it, but it showed no connection so we arranged for them to transport the bike to San Martin since the only mechanic in town had left for a few days. The fuse had been bad (even though we had checked it twice) and the bike started no problem. After sharing matte with the mechanic we drove through San Martin and found a great hosteria right at the base of a hiking trail. San Martin is more of a tourist destination but it is off season and it’s a sleepy place. We’ve spent a few days hiking, running, and played golf one day on a course that was just finished this year. Matt plays well and gave me a golf clinic but I’m afraid I scarred the new course with my trail of divots. We had to resolve an insurance problem which took a few days, but we really can’t complain, this place is beautiful, not unlike Durango or Aspen. We keep saying we are leaving tomorrow but continue to stay. There has been some talk of selling the bikes and ending the trip soon. One morning while working on the website I looked up and the light passed through the window showing every dust mark. There was a perfect outline of an owl with its wings spread. A couple of weeks ago the owner said it slammed into the window one night, stumbled around dazed for a few moments and flew off.

We’ll continue on to Villa Traful, Angostura, and Bariloche from here. It’s strange to be in such a tourist route after being so many isolated places but this is a welcome time to relax and be anonymous, just another tourists passing through.

Thanks for all the feedback, it is great to see people are actually reading all this.

un abrazo, Chris

p.s. anyone want to buy a bike?