Travel Log Week 3

Monday 17.7.00 Trelew and Gaiman Up at the crack of dawn for the hospital visit, John & Paul went in to see the Specialist and were whisked straight to the front of the queue, where the Doctor was just finishing off plastering a leg. He slapped on the last few bits and seemed much more interested in Paul's leg than the girl struggling out the door with a damp plaster! He wrote down the description of the item he recommended, which Paul & John went to the Ortho dept to collect while the medics had made tea and cigarettes. After fitting it to Paul, the doctor pronounced himself happy, and said it was fine to continue the trip if he felt up to it. With this welcome news, it was back to the Hotel for a conference, and trial fit of the leg brace inside the Rukka gear, which was a bit of a worry as it went from hip to toe. Just as they got back, Juan and Else arrived by taxi, to collect the borrowed crutch for Gloria, and to make sure Paul was not doing things he should not! We all had a coffee in the canteen, we discussed the route forward, and if we had time to see the Orca Whales in the Valdez National Park where they calf at this time of year, and they thanked us for staying with them, and we said again on the contrary, how grateful we were for their hospitality. Juan also said that the Renault had gone "kaput", we weren't sure which problem had finally stopped it, but Daniel is a good mechanic and Juan had him booked in for next weekend, both days, to fix it! John and Adam decided to have a ride out to the Tea Rooms, while Paul decided to have some rest and get used to the brace. The ride out to Gamien was not far, but the Patagonian wind was getting up, and at times it was very gusty across the road, but with the bikes still unloaded, it was good fun. Gamien is an offshoot of the Trelew welsh community, and it is strange to see signs to "Treorcki" (sic) etc so far from home; we found Ty Gwyn, which was beautifully laid out, complete with welsh dolls and flags, everything had an authentic traditional feel, with background choral music, very tasteful. We were served by a lovely lady who turned out to be Ricardo's mother in law; leaf tea in a pot complete with cosy and cold milk ready in a jug, sliced buttered white and brown bread, scones, two jams, and a plate of sliced cakes, traditional ginger, lemon meringue pie, apple pie, chocolate banana cake, coffee cake and a wonderful creamy custard tart which was absolutely superb. Life on the road is really hard at times! We had just finished and were feeling well fed when Ricardo arrived, and we had a long chat about all sorts of stuff, farming, the EC, architects, Wales etc, funny how things work out, he'd only come into town last night because a truck had knocked down the phone lines, so he needed to go to Telefonica to submit his work to his tutor, and saw us there emailing as well. We arranged to meet Ricardo later on in town as he was supposed to be working, and enjoyed another gusty ride back to Trelew. We checked our gear ready for tomorrow, the brace worked well, but it was looking very tight inside the Rukka jeans, and we decided to split Paul's excess gear between the other 2 bikes in order to give him room to move, and take some weight off, as it was a worry putting a leg down pulling up to traffic lights etc. Ricardo arrived and we continued our conversation, his English is excellent though his mother taught him Welsh from birth so he is fluent in that, apparently when he was in Wales the locals could tell by his accent what part of Patagonia he comes from. He said he understood everything they said until he started playing football for the local club there, when it came to tactics, all he could pick up were the swear words! He confirmed what Gloria had said: this is the worst winter in the region since 1985, great! He also shed some light on the pickup situation, below the Rio Negro, petrol is the same price as diesel, so you can afford to run a big petrol V8, and in Comodoro Rivadavia there is a pickup culture involving street burnouts etc, hence our sleepless night there! He also said that there is a megaphone kit for Fiat 126's which is very popular, and if you can't afford one, people make their own out of 3" bull bar tube, which a friend of his sells. After dinner and a few beers, we decided it was worth a try at the next leg of the trip in the morning to see how we got on, and play it by ear with a hopefully modest run up to Puerto San Antonio on dry roads, and decide from there what the prospects were. The late film was poor, no danger of tears at all tonight!

The superb Ty Gwyn Tea Room, Gamian, Patagonia, highly commended !	Paul and the Infamous Leg Brace
Click on photo for larger image

Tuesday 18.7.00 Trelew to Puerto san Antonio ( GPS S40.48.189/W 064.52.784 ) We got up in plenty of time and loaded up, remembering how to load the bikes after a couple of days break was a struggle, and it was amazing just how heavy they are when fully rigged. Paul had spent time the day before adjusting all the controls to back to his liking, but even with the extra stuff off the bike he was still nervous about riding. This was not helped when we found it was next to impossible to get his leg over the bike with the brace on, so after a group photo for the hotel, it was quite a worried trio as we set off out of town. We made it without problems as far as the fuel station, had a break, then set to the road proper up towards the north. At last a bit of straight forward riding, good light, dry roads and just the views to look at. We made good progress with a couple of stops to check the gear and the leg, all of which seemed fine. It was a lovely ride up the coast, a few spots of rain then sunlight all the way. The scenery was still the plain with different levels and scrub vegetation, then we hit our first actual mountains since the Darwin Cordilleras in the south of Tierra del Fuego, running up to the iron mines at Sierra Grande. We decided on a break, and pulled into an Esso Station, and as we pulled up, it was like we'd been hit from behind, the wind had picked up dramatically, and was now blowing a gale. We had to park the bikes round the corner or they kept blowing over, and the station guys were jamming the doors shut with oil drums, in between serving customers. We said before we went that we would be experiencing every climate on the planet during our trip, but this is getting ridiculous, what next, rain in the Atacama Desert we think! We asked the guys; Was it always windy here, yes they said, but not like this! Must be 'cos we are here then! After a typical Esso Station lunch (same everywhere it seems) we tried to get back on the bikes without getting blown over, Paul decided that if he got blown off that would be it, his motorcycling career finished, it was really taking the piss after all we had been through so far, now wind of all things! Actually, once we got moving, the southerly wind was directly behind us, wafting us along the plain, with us doing 70 it was just balanced nicely. It was a bit like being out in the '85 hurricane when the wind was overtaking you from behind. We had a great run along the coast, at one point a White Hawk flew alongside for a while, and later on we had to slow down for an Armadillo to cross the road, not something you see every day. We made it into Puerto San Antonio, though by now the wind was coming side on across the beach, and we were going along laid over at 45 degrees, for a couple of kilometres. We rode into the small resort town, and after a look round, asked at the store and were guided next door to the restaurant, where they had rooms. Being the off season, our host had to find the key and get into the room, which took some doing, at least it a roof over us, but no TV or heat. We were made welcome and a dinner appeared, soup, beef & chips, which went down well, and after some mixed chat we went off to camp out in our room, hoping the wind would die down. Paul had coped really well in the circumstances, it took a lot of guts to get back on the bike at all, knowing that one false move could result in many more complications with the leg, but we had made progress today and could start to look forward to a run tomorrow and perhaps get some trouble free miles under our wheels. So much for a steady run from Cape Horn to Alaska, we reckon it's been like doing a Thumpercross event every day; we are completely knackered!

Wednesday 19.7.00 Puerto san Antonio to Santa Rosa ( GPS to follow ) After a good nights sleep, except Adam who kept thinking about slime monsters, we were very relieved to find that the weather was much improved; and after our host had provided a good coffee & toast breakfast, we hit the road back across the dunes, now wind free a much nicer ride. We refuelled and as we were in good time, decided to head straight north to Santa Rosa and see how far we got, though places to stop would still be few and far between. It is also important to realise that the choice of routes is limited, there are only 2 main routes to the north, hence we had to keep going in the snow last week as there was no alternative, only when we get further up are there more choices. The road climbed off the coast, and with our last look at the Atlantic for some time probably, it was back up onto the Plano, and running along in bright sunshine, though still a cold wind, but no sign of ice though, which was a blessing. We crossed the Rio Negro, and almost immediately the scenery started to change. The verges lost the low scrub and actually became grassy, and we began to see lots of birds. Juan had said that Patagonia ended at the river, and we could see what he meant, the further we went, the more it changed, lots of the bright red breasted thrush type birds we had seen further south, little brilliant white sparrows, and electric green things like budgies, in flocks on the verges. There were also more and more big Hawks of all sorts and sizes, and as we went along, we began to see pampas grass and cactus, and more trees, getting to quite some size. As we dropped down into Rio Colorado, we saw the first green field we'd seen since England, quite a sight. However it is really weird, we'd just ridden a straight road 80 kilometres long, with no people at all, and yet right in the middle was a bloke building a house. Weird or what? Maybe there are more people around than it seems, as you do see people walking down the road miles from anywhere, also strange. Since we were doing well on time, after a leg break and fuel stop, and negotiating another Police Checkpoint, we turned north again, and the road was magic, running along between green verges we went through playas with lots of water fowl and pink flamingos, and lots more of the green budgie things, we had not expected such a variety of bird life at all, and we actually stopped for a while under some Eucalyptus to watch the budgies roosting for the evening. All of a sudden it felt like Spring after Winter, yet we had only travelled 200 miles off the Patagonian plateau. We were a bit pushed for light now, though compared to Tolhuin when we were only getting 7 hours light and the sun only just rose and set, it was great, and you could now see the sun actually moving into the west to set. We completed the run into Santa Rosa in darkness, which was a bit dodgy; at one point we came up behind a Renault 14 swerving about across the road, it turned out it was being towed by a clapped out Ford Falcon, but in between the cars there was a 2 wheel trailer, and they'd put a 3' bar off the back of the trailer to tow the Renault, which was also full of people, very safe! We pulled up at what turned out to be a nice little family hostelry, and spoke mixed American/English/Castellan/French to them which was nice, and looked back on a good 325 miles covered, by far the furthest we have been in a day yet, and with no major dramas, whatever next!

Thursday 20.7.00 Santa Rosa to Rio Cuarto (GPS S36.38.599/W064.16.994) The guesthouse was very comfortable if over heated, a totally different experience to our previous night. We had heard that the temperature down South in Ushuaia was now -30, but we don't know if that is correct or not! Somewhat bizarre, there was a London Bus parked in the garden of our hostelry, and the guy came to get it while we were having breakfast, out on a hire job apparently. We got loaded and under way, and refuelled before leaving town, the road out of the city was through a big arcade of Eucalyptus, and it could have been Australia for a few miles as we rode along, but no roo's. As Paul said, for weeks if you saw a big shape in your mirrors it was a truck bearing down on you, now it could actually be a tree you'd just passed! Unfortunately for us another weather change, it was now raining, and still worried by any possible crashes, Paul had to reassure himself the surface was safe, as it did look slick, but we made steady progress due north along route 35. We completed our second 1000 miles and after a damp couple of hours we cleared the rain, and stopped at a cafe for coffee, very welcome with a log fire as well, lovely. There were loads of parrots in the trees around the garage, and other exotic birds, great to watch. We continued north, the land was pretty boggy with wide ditches either side of the road, and at one point a big playa had overflowed the road completely, making a bit of a tricky section. All these ponds were covered in waterfowl such as coots and Ibis, with Pampas grass and 15' high reeds, again quite unexpected, and still the large Hawks around. All of a sudden, as we crossed a river, there was a really warm breath of wind and we were in Summer; literally as quick as that! Combine harvesters cutting maize and running along the road in convoys from one job to the next - amazing. At one point they were harvesting on one side and there was freshly sprouted plantings on the other, again quite something to see. The grass fields and cattle had by this time really grown as well to be huge spreads, with a lot of heavy machinery around, very upbeat and modern farming. The only worrying thing was that most of the road signs appeared to have been machine-gunned, rather than the few pot shots you normally see, we were not sure what to make of this! We were making good time in the sunshine, and stopped for refreshments at a dusty Esso station, John actually had the cheek to buy an ice cream, that's how much of a change it was. Every now and again over the past few weeks our shorts have surfaced in the panniers, to be stuffed back to the bottom with a hollow laugh, now it looked as if we may actually need them sometime this year! We pressed on to Rio Cuarto, and there was yet another adverse road condition to conquer, this time the local council were spreading shale on the tarmac, not quite sure why but maybe it had got that hot, either way it was back to tram-lining, with billowing dust making roundabouts a lottery, just what we didn't need after thinking we were through the worst! We hit town, which was really big and buzzing, traffic everywhere with for the first time loads of kids on mopeds and bikes flying around, but also the odd horse & cart to liven things up. We got applauded by a crowd of kids stood around in the square, and found the Tourist Info who guided us to a hotel with garage, as it looked a bit dodgy in town. Indeed, just as we were pulling up, a lady in a car waved us down and advised us not to leave anything untended, which confirmed our impression, just so many people around, many thanks for her advice. After unloading and locking up, we went out for a walk around, Paul went back as his leg was hurting, but bumped into a student psychologist, who told him this was a university town, hence the vast number of kids. Adam and John eventually found a table, but spent most of the evening looking at the traffic, lots of big trail bikes, people 3 up on mopeds, including one family with a young baby in front, a BSA Starfire, 2 guys on a quad, and the most beat up Peugeot 504 Police Car you've ever seen, as well as the usual quota of cars with missing wings, bonnets, sides etc, plus brand new top of the range BMW's, such a mix it's incredible. Another day with decent mileage covered, and maybe we have seen the last of the ice, except where you want it, on the end of a lolly!

Friday 21.7.00 Rio Cuarto to Dean Funes (GPS S30.25.370/W064.21.078) A slightly late start today, and Paul woke up with his brace apparently having taken on a mind of its own: his leg was twitching and jumping about, and felt really funny. John told him he was only dreaming, but he's convinced it was! Maybe the late night horror movie had something to do with it! We'd decided to put in a shorter run as we'd covered a lot of ground the last couple of days, and we had to pass through the regional capital, Cordoba, which could take some time! We found our way out of Rio Cuarto, and after attracting a crowd at the gas station as usual (a big thank you to Nigel@freestyle graphics, those pannier maps have come in really useful so many times already!) it was off up the road. You have never seen so many agricultural contractors and engineers as there are in this town, literally or 2 miles in and out of town, everything is farming gear, sales and repairs, and all looking busy too. The landscape changed to become a little less interesting, but still plenty going on, some really big pine tree plantations and eucalyptus, not so much wildlife as the farming seemed more intense, but huge birds nests in the high tension pylons and railway signals. The railway was straight out of the English countryside, turned out it was built by the British, and all the ironware and brickwork is Turn of the Century standard pattern British, it looks really strange seeing a signal box or station here complete with the slatted wooden fascias you see at home. The weather was overcast and a little colder again, but not bad conditions at all, even though the wind was again quite strong, it was southerly and pushing us the right way. We paralleled the Cordoba Mountains up to the city, and stopped for a break on the outskirts, before launching in. We needed all our wits about us to negotiate our way through the city centre, at one point going along a six lane wide way street, trying to follow the signs, while people kept waving at us and trying to start a conversation from their cars. It was really nice, but not quite what you want when you are trying to find your way and avoid being run down by a taxi! We've had a great reaction wherever we've been so far, as we said, we do stand out a bit around here! Apologies to those we could not stop and talk to! We found our way through the city right first time, but more by luck than judgement sometimes. Adam nearly got wiped out by a truck indicating and pulling in, and then pulling out again, but we are all half expecting that sort of stuff, so no problem. Paul reckoned it was more traffic than London, certainly there was a lot going on here too. We cleared the city and ran the gauntlet of the out of town traffic before heading off to Dean Funes, a little spot on the map, but if it turned out to be nothing, it was another 200 miles to the next major town, not a good prospect. It actually turned out to be a good little town, and the hotel took us round the back to the beer distributors warehouse to park the bikes, surprisingly, Michelin don't seem to have their tread pattern sorted for a mixture of beer laying on diesel, but the guys there were very helpful and locked our kit in for the night. We had a Lebanese smorgasbord at "Don Carlos" which was excellent, and ended up chatting to the President of the local Downs Syndrome Association, which was very nice, and all the more so for being one of those chance encounters you could never plan if you tried. We have given him the web address and our postal details, it would be nice to stay in touch. So, at last a trouble free days riding, and we are now within striking distance of the Andes, so we can start looking at how best to tackle that section of the trip. It must be time for the next "unseasonal" burst of weather!

Saturday 22.7.00 Dean Funes to Monteros After our excellent meal at "Don Carlos", we were raring to go The hotel and beer warehouse guys did us proud, even cleaning the headlights for us. As ever, once we have made contact and people understand what we are doing, they are really enthusiastic. As we went out of town, we noticed each street had a loudspeaker on it, with constant chat and advertising going on; Again, quite strange. We passed a couple of motorcycle shops and what should we see out front but a lovely blue YZ400F, all shiny and ready to rip - just the job a few weeks ago in the snow! If only! The road went almost due north again, but drier and not so fertile as the day before. We were running alongside the railway again, and after climbing gently for a couple of hours we came out on a big salt flat, dead white and extending for miles in every direction, with a big diesel loco pulling stone wagons across it. We stopped out in the middle to soak up the atmosphere, and then carried on, passing through another checkpoint with a slightly mystified policeman wondering what people would want to do this for. The trees gradually returned, and we stopped for lunch at a gas station. While trying to work out what the local delicacies were, the next table heard us talking and helped out, they were from Buenos Aires on holiday, and we spent quite a while chatting which was very good, once again lots of interest in what we are doing, and very sociable. It is so nice to make new contacts, and maybe we will see them in Europe soon as well. We rode on to the north, and our plan was to shortcut between the two main roads going north, to give us a stop at Tucuman and from there climb onto the Andes, so we diverted left onto a secondary road for 60 km. This was our first bendy road for days, and it took some getting used to - complete with hamlets whose people and animals live on the road, and a dodgy mud section where the road had washed away. We already knew the tyres are poor on mud from testing in England, and we didn't want any "challenging" bits with Paul's leg being weak, so it was first up Adam and straight through, hoping there was not a truck wheel sized hole in the middle, luckily no problems. Both Paul & John followed without a problem. The last water splash Paul did was on Salisbury Plain, but that's another story..... The road now headed straight towards the Andes, and it was mighty impressive, and not a little intimidating to be heading straight at them, and as we approached realising just how big the foothills are, let alone the real bits. Also, they rise virtually straight out of the plain, so it really is the case that suddenly you are underneath them, looking up! We hit the next road north, and before long it was like a smog, for two reasons: the crop was now sugar cane, and there were huge factories belching out smoke and steam to process it into sugar. Also, all the verges and waste land was being burned off, quite how the whole place wasn't going up we don't know! We rode along for 50 km as it got dark, among sugar plantations and farming towns, many with labourers' shanty huts put up alongside the road, not much affluence there by the look of it, but lots of people about, including one chap who was lying unconscious under his bicycle, but it looked like a case of over indulgence, no-one else seemed concerned about him. We found todays new riding hazard: sugar cane "trains", tractors and lorries pulling up to 6 trailers of cane to the processing plants. The worst one was loaded sideways and being pulled by an old Ford truck, flat out in second pouring out smoke and very difficult to pass safely, even if you could see through the stubble smoke. The opposite was true when following a truck full of fresh picked lemons, what a wonderful smell. As we went along the mountains just got bigger & bigger. You think "wow, that's big", then you realise there is another peak ABOVE the clouds behind the first one you saw, incredible. We decided to pull into Monteros as it would be a quick hop to the mountains next day, but cruising around looking for a hotel we felt a little intimidated. Lots of people, not all friendly: a beer can just missed Adam but when Paul and John cruised past that potential problem quietened down, but we decided we needed a secure place if we were to stay for the night! There was one hotel in town and the owner had a yard just up the street, so we reluctantly agreed to be separated from the bikes, but once again what looked a bit dodgy turned out fine, and the Constitution Hotel, though rough & ready was owned by good people. They were most interested in the Downs Syndrome Association and its work and after chaining up the bikes they treated to us to an "artisan" evening, of local folk music and craft. The food was excellent, now that Paul had got over his "salami" sandwich at lunchtime, not so good. Ricardo had told us that because Argentina has an optimum climate somewhere in the country to grow any crop so they don't force grow stuff, as we had commented that the flavours are much better than we are used to. After remembering where we were staying, and more difficult, finding it again, we planned our route for the morning with the help of the hotel family, and looked forward to our first mountain climb of the trip which promised to be a big one.

Sunday 23.7.00 Monteros (GPSS27.10.036/W065.29.670) to Cafayate (GPS S26.04.43/W065.58.601) We recovered the bikes from the yard straight after breakfast, and loaded up outside the Hotel, with interested people at the bus queue looking on. We said farewell to our hosts who had looked after us well, and set of for the mountains. We were a bit concerned about the roads as the plain is soft gravel, and the arroyo's wash out really badly when it rains, and yesterday we had come across two main road bridges which had simply disappeared, the road just ended in space, and they'd put up a Bailey Bridge alongside. We wondered who had been first to find out that the bridge had gone! We found the right road straight away and headed directly for the mountain, which was huge. The road quickly climbed, and it was a remarkable transformation, one minute on the dusty plain, the next in the wonderful, vibrant smell of a rain forest; the further we went the bigger the trees got, and we were climbing fast! There were lots of tree lichens, big ferns and birds, and we had to stop for a break to take it all in. The road was good, but of course narrow, and clung to the sides of the valley, in places it had collapsed and been repaired, and a section was supported on concrete struts 50' high, there was not much armco around, instead just big concrete blocks every 10 metres, plenty of room for an Africa Twin to pass through which was a worry, Paul and Adam were glad it was only John's Scott oiler which was turned up too high, not a place for oil on the tyre! The scenery was just incredible, huge sheer drops, waterfalls, and all the time even more mountain over your head, with your ears popping a couple of times on the way. Definitely one of the best motorcycle experiences ever! There were many roadside shrines along the way. We had seen these a lot in the south, but not so much in the pampas. Many have bottles of water left by them, and Ricardo tells us that this tradition started in the last century when a woman called Correa got lost in the mountains near Mendoza, and unfortunately died of thirst. However her child survived and was found still suckling her, and to commemorate this a shrine was built on the spot. Water was included in the shrine as it would have saved her, and to this day people leave 7up & Coke bottles full of water at shrines, now often put up at the site of fatal road accidents, which makes you concentrate harder! So there is always somewhere to quench your thirst if you need to, and leave any excess water you have for someone in more need than you, so we will have some as well before we pass out of Argentina. We were still climbing after 25 km, passing through Tafi del Valle, and getting to just over 9400 ft (3000m) high, there was a viewpoint there with llamas for the coach trips to look at, but when we arrived, they all started looking at us instead! As soon as we passed over the top, the landscape dried up instantly, and we had a huge view across the Valle de Lerma, with so many different coloured rocks and sands, and the most enormous cactus plants, 30' tall, and as fast as we had climbed, it was now all down hill. We just had to keep stopping to look at the view, we hope some of the film we took does it all justice, as you can't really describe just how big the landscape is, it makes you feel very small! We stopped at the service station on the plain for lunch, Paul was brave again and had an intestine sandwich, at least that's what the phrasebook translated it as. We wanted to stop at Quilmes (GPS S26.27.950/W066.02.191), one of the best preserved Inca sites in the Andes, so we made a diversion up the gravel track to the far side of the valley, and it was worth the drive. Climbing up amongst the walls and stones, you expected David Attenborough or Michael Palin to come round the corner, literally just like on TV, but again you could really appreciate the scale of it all, and wonder at those who had built it. We were stopped several times by people who wanted to know what we were doing: one couple had been chasing us all day! We swapped email addresses with them, so we hope you enjoy the tale of our trip! We had intended to get to Salta tonight, but as we had spent so much time being impressed with the scenery, we decided to find somewhere on the way, and pitched up at Cafayate, where another of the chasing drivers pointed us to the Hotel Briones, where Marta made us very welcome, speaking excellent English from her time at Cambridge! We had passed though several wineries on the way in, and the town was beautiful, very Spanish in feel, and the Hotel was all old tiled floors and big wood doors, and a log fire in the foyer, wonderful. The restaurant on the corner specialised in local food, and Marta recommended the Goat, so we just had to try it! Washed down with a fine bottle of red from the local winery, a superb meal was topped off by an excellent band, four guys playing Spanish guitar, another small guitar made of an armadillo, a drummer/percussionist with various bits of wood and shells, and a proper Andean pipe player, it was really something to see, and they did know what they were doing, it went down a storm. Earlier in the evening we had wandered around a craft hall, and seen a guy playing a zylaphone made of stones, he was good too, so all in one go we had really caught up with some real "artesan" activities, and very good too. So, a very welcome stop, only 100 miles or so covered, but just too much to take in, we heard about so many other interesting places to see in the area, we will just have to come back and have another look, it really is a special place.

Link to next update: Week 4