Esquel/ At the garage
As agreed, we arrive at 9 a.m. on Monday morning ... Our mechanic is late and asks us to come back at 3 pm after the two or three hour lunch break depending on the company.
On our return, he immediately starts working.
After disassembling the wheels and inspecting the set, he describes us the different defective parts to be changed.
Nothing serious: Gimbal, Ball joints, Brake discs, Brake pads, retaining bolt and a bearing (responsible for our noise).
We can sleep and live in our camper, it’s convenient ... We are leaning....
We are used to it: Multiple experiences In Colombia * in Brazil * in Uruguay . We become professionals of the nights spent in the garages!
We stay there for 3 days: half of the time to dismantle and repair, the other half looking for parts.
Esquel / Weekend
We go to the tourist office and collect information about places and hiking around. Actually, not much.
Having dropped our laundry this morning before going to the garage, we pick it up in the late afternoon and decide to stay there. The bivouacs are not numerous and not always well placed, but we always find one.
Day 1: Visit of the "Laguna La Zeta" a few kilometers from the city accessible by a ripio road. One of the worst ...
Among the hikes, we choose the "Mirador de Los Cerros" that winds through a forest to arrive at a magnificent point of view on the surroundings.
It’s very warm and sunny. When we got back to the camper, many families settled down to spend the day by the lake ... There is not one free centimeter left.
We return to our bivouac to escape this invasion.
Day 2: the weather is still good and temperatures are rising. It’s a day"OFF" . We don’t move except to go and enjoy an ice cream.
3rd day: excursion in the circus of " La Hoya "the rather family ski resort that offers 24 slopes without too much difficulty
We spend the day in this beautiful green and hilly setting before returning to town.
Esquel
this morning we notice that the left side of the cardan joint is still punctured ... It’s only been 4 times since the beginning of our journey.
In addition, we still have this noise on the front right side that has expanded.
We are looking in our city step " Esquel " a garage well rated on our favorite site.
We’re not going to criticize " Google Map " yet, but the addresses or contact details of a large part of our searches are wrong... Here as elsewhere.
So the first one doesn’t exist, we go back to the second one. We describe the two problems that we would like to have repaired. After a little inspection he explains us that he could make the repair but not this week and direct us to his neighbor who is also not available either.
We look for other garages in vain.
We go back to our garage and we make an appointment for Monday morning, 3 days later!
We do not take the risk of continuing our route and we try to organize our long weekend
Trevelin
Today is New Year’s Eve
We leave the park to return to " Trevelin " ... Dead city between 12:00 and 16:00, all shops are closed and streets are empty.
We discovered a butcher-charcutier where we do some shopping for an improved dinner. Then we buy two huge cakes ... Not very good for the diet.
The good weather invites us to stay on New Year’s Day by the river.
Parque Nacional " Los Alerces "
Created in 1937 on 263,000 hectares, this national park protects a larch forest, the Patagonian cypress, a thousand-year-old tree. The aprc has a dozen lakes and many rivers.
The Alerce is one of the few conifers in the region, some over 3,000 years old and can reach a height of 50 m and the trunk sometimes reaches 4 m in diameter.(knowing it grows 1mm per year)
They belong to the North American redwood family and their wood colour is red. The only way to see them in the park is by taking a trip on the lake.
The lakes form a network and are all connected by a system of natural, navigable canals. Unfortunately, in early 2015, 1,300 ha of the park was destroyed by fire.
We stay 3 days in this park between hiking, cruise and rest.
* hiking " Mirador laguna Verde: small circuit in the woods with view of the lake. The time and distance of the course do not correspond to the reality!!!
* Cinco Saltos hike " a circuit of about 3 hours leads to five waterfalls. We see only two small waterfalls ... Fortunately, the view of the park is beautiful.
* Lake circuit: Boat tour on the waters of the Futalaufquén towards Puerto Limonao. Stop for two hours to walk a hiking trail through an alerces forest with a guide
Unfortunately for us, the rain is settling for the day. In the middle of the afternoon, in addition to the rain, a very strong wind rises ... Eventful return on the boat that forces the captain to go along the coast to mitigate the waves ... A real fun!
The last days we enjoy a very favorable meteo which allows us to rest at the lake
Trevelin
Change of country, back to Argentina.
The border crossing is quick. We were a little anxious about the sanitary check in Argentina, but no check occured!
Once on the other side of the Chilean borders, the road becomes " ripio " as always.
It is a beautiful day with temperatures around 30°.
After lunch, we go to the tourist office for usual information. These are only for the " Parque Nacional Los Alerces ".
We book a boat trip in the park through a travel agency.
We find a bivouac on the river "Perey"
ROAD BOOK 196
Pivoter pour une meilleure lecture
MAVROS ODYSSEE
