The road out of Bariloche was spectacular with twisting roads, lakes, mountains and everything we had hoped for when we were planning this trip. It was amazing how the scenery could change so quickly... the Argentinian side of the Andes was so different to the Chilian side with the rain shadow creating a dry dust bowl along some parts of Ruta 40. It was a long ride with plenty of k´s to cover as we were keen to get back into Chile. We were lucky to make it across the Argentinia border, rocking up just 20mins before it closed and then having to rush to the Chilian border with only 5 mins to spare... its great that the borders between these 2 countries are efficient and easy to deal with.
We rode into Futalafu just as it was getting dark and found this little camping place in the front yard of an old lady who baked us wood fired bread the morning.. nil complaints from us having a little mama looking after us! the recent volcanic activity of Chiten which is about 100kms away meant that 1 foot of ash had fallen in the are... all our gear ended up grey and has stayed that way since! 
Leaving Futalafu we set off south for the Carratera Austral (Route 7) which is the main highway running through the southern end of Chile. This amazing dirt road offers so much traveling on a motorcycle. The 4 to 6 meter wide gravel strip winds its way through along the edge of the Andes most beautiful region and produces views worthy of a top notch postcard as each new bend unwinds. The road although beautiful is riddled with potholes and wondering livestock and on the ride out of Futalafu Dave hit a darting sheep which sent him down hard at 80km/h. Fortunatly he escaped without too much injury, however the bike wasn´t so lucky and a large number of zip ties and duct tape had to be used to make sure the bike could continue on its journey. The farmers didn´t seem to mind too much, as we think they were hanging out for a good lamb dinner. But they where more than helpful helping getting the bike ready for the remaining 70km we had to travel to reach the next town - La Junta.
After a night in a nice hotel in La Junta we had to figure out what to do as Dave´s foot was in bad shape and we needed to get some xrays. The issue was that the Coyahique was the closest town with a hospital, but it was 360km away. Amazingly a Jeep load of Aussie boys pulled into the hotel that day for lunch and offered Dave a spot in the car to Coyahique. Two of the guys took turns riding the bashed KLR down to meet us. I think they were quite happy to get out of the car and have a bit of fun on the dirt. This crash was the first of the trip...and hopefully the last!
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