Puerto Raul Marin Balmaceda To Trevelin

Well it was still pissing down when we woke affirming our decision to go east as hopefully correct.

We caught the ferry back across the river and headed off playing jetboat on the road.

Same dude, no dog, don't think the dog liked the rain

P1240538 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

While the weather was grotty we still got to see some nice stuff
P1240570 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Back to the main Austral route the weather had improved from heavy rain to lite rain so things were getting better , heading up north for another 80 km we still got very wet and it was extremely cold.…no surprise for this time of year, most normal travellers with red blood in them are at home in front of the fire.

Turning off towards Futaleufu it was still pissing down so we decided to way lay lunchtime and soldier on.

P1240579 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The further we got the more it improved however it was still wet to the Futaleufu township, by this time I was cold, even through my puffy jacket and with the grips turned 100% I still felt cold and Eleln was the same as everything from the last few days had gone from drenched through to at least very damp and seemed to be keeping the cold.

Arriving in town it was Easter weekend, yes the place was busy but no the local restaurant /cafe did NOT have anyone else on to help.

We ordered a coffee, after nearly half an hour of pissing cold water all over their floor from wet clothing we asked them approx how long for the coffee?, their answer … don’t know…..serious!!!

Cancel coffee and hit the border, again with rain beating down on us we made it to the border, an easy exit as usual.

P1240583 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Our first stop we thought we would look at turned out to be a small ghost town, wanting warming, drying, wifi and fuel kinda counted this option out so we bailed some 15 km up the road to Trevelin.

Spendie….FARK, we went to a few places before settling on one that seemed ok, wifi +/- but we could cook and it had to big gas heaters and hot water !!!!! hell yes.

Wash, dry, clean, sort, drain, repack, inspect etc was the goal, if no doable nicely within one day we would stay another.

Being extremely efficient and working into the night we got sorted with the bottle of Malbec our saving grace and reward.