On this leg of our trip we crossed from the lake district of Chile to that of Argentina. We rode through three incredible national parks in the two countries and along Argentina’s famous “Seven Lakes Route”. It wasn’t the most direct route, but the best ones rarely are. This is what cycle touring really is about.
The road from Pucon, Chile to the border took us through Parque Nacional Villarrica along a steep and difficult, but beautiful, dirt road.
This leg of the trip took us from Valparaiso on the coast of Chile to Pucon, about 800km South in Chile’s Lake Region.
After a couple days of nice riding on a coastal road we met up with Chile’s superhighway. So for 5 days we rode on this:
And showered and camped at these:
Yawn.
In our last section we passed through three different and distinct regions. The cycling wasn’t so hard and the views were gorgeous. The culture here almost has us feeling sophisticated!
Region 1: Wine
Ruta 40 deposited us in Mendoza, Argentina. A pretty city with lots of green space and bicycle friendly streets …
… but most tourists come here to sample the famous Malbec wine and Argentinian meat. Mendoza is the winemaking capital of Argentina with around 1500 wineries exporting the famous Malbec all over the world. How could we not take a short siesta to enjoy the wine and food for which this area is known?
