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the weather got worse again. but we decided to go further to 
curarrehue. this is mapuche and means (alter of stone). curarrehue is situated about 40 km away from pucón under the " paso mamuil malal". we will cross this pass the next days to get to argentina. curarrehue is nothing special and not touristic. many mapuche people live here. we have found a small hostal. at least it was cheap.
today was the first time wind from the back. so it was really an easy ride today. i think that normally people don't stay a night in curarrehue. it is just a village on the way to argentina. nothing more. the most visited point there is the gaz station. there we had to eat tooo, there is no other restaurant. the station boss started talking to us. he asked us where we come from and where we wanted to go. we told him all and he was interested. then he showed us a selfmade touristic movie of curarrehue which shows the traditional life of the local mapuches. it is really nice, how and where you get in touch with the local people, if you're not a normal tourist.
- 40 km -
actually we wanted to get up early to get as close to the argentinean border as possible. but it rained and we were not mitivated to get up under this condition. two hours later we have tried again and went down to have breakfast. the breakfast was delicious and much. i didn't expect that here. the boss of the "hostal kechupewen" don mario told us to write an entry into the guestbook. visitors from all around the world were here. the last one, a german, was here about one month ago. not many visitors i've thought.
after that nice breakfast, we decided to leave. after a short shopping break, we were on our bikes again. the end of this village was the end of the asphaltic street. we were back on oneof the famous "mogul pists". 7 km later christian had a flat tire, on the bike this time. we did the repair in short time. another 3 km later christian noticed that he has lost a part of his front bag fixing stuff. he decided to go back to pick it up. some time later he came back, but has forgotten his helmet :-) ! this all needed 1.5 hours. on km 21 we decided to stop.
- 21 km -
at 9 o'clock we were already on our bikes! very early, because we wanted to cross the border today. we had to climb from 600 m up to 1400. this doesn't sound much. but with luggage, " ripio" and a grade of sometimes about 15% it gets hard. 3 hours later, around high noon, we were on about 1200 m already. ahead of us was the "lago malal" surrounded by the national park villarica and many araucania trees. we had a short break to eat something. after the second banana other two cyclists came around the corner. it seemed the were also travelling with their luggage. they stopped and started talking with us - in german. she was a swiss (from chur) and he was a german (from bavaria). they told us the want to go to travel all the way up to north america. they started in buenos aires. they had a long way to go. after a little talk and a group photo, we went further.
the way was flat now and went in many curves around the lake. a very, very nice region here. it was worth haveingit hard to get here. we only had to be concentrated and looking, that we would not ride in one of the thousands wholes on the street. after 41 km the chilean border control stopped us. we needed only a few minutes to get ready to leave chile.
one km later, the argentinean border control appeared. there was no problem to enter argentina. from now on we had another country to discover. what also began was the national park lanin with the amazing volcano lanin. a really nice and perfect place to travel by bike.
the road went down, but slowly. so it was possible to ride a long distance down without working too hard. only the wind and the wholes on the street made it a bit difficult sometimes. we also had to look, that we don't drive into the sand beside the street. we noticed that we were on the other dry side of the andes. the vegetation wasn't as green anymore. we got into the "gaucho" land! the road turned and brought us the wind in the back. from now on we travelled very quickly. it still went down. a little time later the street got asphaltic. it was very easy to cycle now. we were still 55 km before junin de los andes, our target for today. partly we were on the way with about 60 or 70 km/h!!! 15 km later other two cyclists with luggage stopped us to talk. they were from belgium.
we had to ride many km more this day. the road went up and down later. the legs got heavy. we were tired. in the end we needed to change into the first gear for even the smallest grades. at 17.30, after a long but beautiful cycling day we arrived in junin de los andes. we slept in a little hostal.
- 92 km -
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already when i woke up i felt still very tired and pain in my legs. this after almost an 11 hours sleep. it was that kind of beeing tired i knew from my mountainbike marathons. i didn't want to get up. chris and i decided to go further to san martin de los andes. the street was almost flat and we got further very quickly. we saw the volcano lanin again, but from another side this time. an impressive almost 4000 m high mountain! the closer we got to san martin, the greener the vegetation got. at about 15.30 we arrived in san martin. san martin is the argentinean complement of pucón in chile. in chile were mainly intenational guests, while in san martin are more chilean and argentinean. a cheaper variant and also very nice! the lake "lago lacar" is very nice too.
the rest of the day we used to recover and cook a nice meal with finde argentinean table wine.
- 45 km -
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we decided to have a day of rest in san martin. it is really a lovely and clean city. the right place to stay one day. it was a easy day. in the evening we have cooked again and prepared us for the next days journey.
we went out of the "cabaña" at about 12.00 am. we left san martin in direction of " cerro chapelco", a near mountain with winter sport possibilities. the road brought us along the "lago lacar" 600 m upward. the way was asphaltic, it was not so hard, as if it was "ripio". after about 23 km we reached the top of the mountain pass. we had a little break there. the region was very nice. the forest shined in all colors...it was automn and the leaves were red, yellow, brown and green. after that the road went a little down along the "lago machonico", "laguna frio" and "lago hermoso". the colors of the forest and the clear water of the lakes made an unforgettable ambience. after total 50 km we arrived at "lago falkner". there was a big place where it is allowed to camp. we decided to stay there.
we met three different argentinean that wanted to talk with us about our journey and argentina. the people were quite open and really friendly. when the sun went down, we were the only ones on the big place. the many people who have spent the day there, left with their cars. this was one of the best camps ever. the region we were is part of the big national park " nahuel huapi". one of the biggest of argentina.
- 50 km -
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this morning the ground was frozen and also the tent and the water in our bottles. 3 km after we arrived in "pitschi traful". it is the location, where the asphaltic road ends and the "ripio" begins. the first few km the road wasn't that bad. then it changed. hundreds of wholes on the road and many hard upgrades and downhills made this one of the hardest stages. the argentinean say, the road is "mortal". after 42 km we had to stop. the legs didn't move anymore. we were 24 km before villa la angostura. we've found a nice campground at the "lago espejo". in the night we heared some strange noize from animals. we don't even yet know what animal it was.
- 42 km -
