Banos is Not a Bank (Look it up)

Technical note - Karen's camera is having battery issues. My camera is working well but I am having cable issues (actually, mine is missing). As a result, I will be unable to post any photos until we correct this.

November 12, 2009

La Casa Chueca

Breakfast starts at 8:30. As a result, we have been getting up later and later every day. Homemade granola and yogurt were mainstays of this morning's breakfast. For the first time we had heavier, German style bread. A nice change after a few days of white breads. Coffee and orange coloured sugar water finished it off.

We chattted with Frank, a young German with a pony tail, Crosby Stills & Nash t-shirts and a John Deere cap. He and his brother have made 2 pilgrimages to Max Yasgur's farm in Woodstock, New York. He has seen many of the original Woodstock bands including CSN, Melanie, Neil Young, Country Joe MacDonald and Richie Havens. Like many of the other young Germans here, he has a Chilean girlfriend and no intention of returning to Germany.

We got the bikes packed and headed out at 10:30 AM. A road crew was 'leveling' the gravel road. This meant moving the rocks on the side into the road. It didn't make the ride any better.We bnoth suffered from sore wrists after being battered by the rough roads.

Once we got to the highway, we headed east toward the Andes. They are always there - you get intriguing glimpses from time to time. Some are snow capped; some are grey. There are inactive volcanoes, obvious by their steep sides and sharp point. Unfortunately, photographs do not do them justice and we have been disappoi8nted by those we have taken.

Commercial vineyards and orchards are interspersed among small truck farms. We followed the road until it spit at a Y and the pavement stopped. We went right; the Andes were on our left side for several kilometres. The road had regressed to rough dirt and gravel - we averaged about 13 km an hour. After several bumpy kms, we met another paved road and followed it to San Clemente.

In San Clemente, we visited the tourist bureau and then a supermercado for cash and stuff for lunch. We sat in a park and made ham and cheese sandwiches. We also had yogurt and pear juice (not really, it was a mixture of milk and pear juice. It tasted as bad as it sounds). We found tne banos in the Society for the Assistance of Alcoholics building.

There was a festival celebrating local produce and crafts at the park. We listened to music and strolled past the exhibits. One featured a marijuana growing initiative and the local UFO organization. I wondered if they were related somehow. Actually, the marijuana was for use as hemp and the UFO group took tourists into the mountains.

After our rest, we got back on the bikes and rode further eastward. It was all uphill and our average speed dropped as we got closer to the mountains. We ran out of steam and time once we hit the foohills and turned around at 3:30 PM. We have seen some gauchos (cowboys) but have had a chance to get any good photos.

Getting back to San Clemente, we bought some fresh ice cream and sat on a bench to enjoy it. The bikes draw a lot of attention.

The ride back to the Casa was downhill and the only drawback was our return to the dirt road. In total, we completed 85 km.

We did stop at the wine museums and took a few pictures. The guide was a German who used to work at the Casa but married a Chilean and went native.

Vegetariam supper included boiled potatoes, omelette with mushrooms and mixed mystery vegetables (mostly green in colour). For desert, we had a light \german cake with a couple of small scoops of ice cream.

We sat with two Germans, Alexandra and Armin, an a Swiss, Connie, who had lived in Canada for a short time. During dinner thet decided to trek in the mountains for 6 hours tomorrow. Their trip included a 45 minute taxi trip and a 2 and a half hour bus ride. Atthe end of the day, they will have to get the 5:30 PM bus.

Shortly after dinner, we headed to bed, exhausted.