Driving in Argentina
30 days Approx, 6000 km.
After getting searched by those two policemen after Entering in Argentina, I continued my journey and was looking for a place to spend the night as it was already getting dark and scary (Forest).
I reached a small town named "El Dorado" searching for a hotel. Since I had not purchased a mobile SIM card in Argentina, I was without a data pack there and was in need of a Wi-Fi. I enquired at a shop, and he gave me access to his Wi-Fi and also suggested a hotel nearby. I went there. The hotel was run by an old lady. It was a HERATAGE sort of hotel. The room tariff was a bit on expensive side for my expectation, but I had no option but to check in.
I got a room on 4th (top) floor. When I got up in the morning, the view from the window was very calm and peaceful. It had rained the previous night, and everything was clean and tidy. At the moment I realized the advantage of the taking a journey across the country through your vehicle, as it gives you the access to the places that are not spoiled by tourism. I never like to visit 'touristy' places, because everything there is so modified to meet the touristic demands and loses its natural flow which I define as "beauty".
I took a walk around the town that afternoon and was really impressed by how well the town is managed, despite being a non-tourist place. Here are some pictures of El Dorado.
[El Dorado to Concordia]
Purchasing a Mobile SIM is far easy in Argentina than was in Brazil and it was data was enabled too.
Now having procured a mobile connection, it was an easier life ahead (For Map and Booking.com). I left El Dorado and headed for Concordia and found lot of local deities enroots.
Here are some interesting pictures from the route.
Quick stop over for lunch at this lively place maintained by an aged couple.
Finally reached Concordia:
It's always interesting to stay with locals and thus choose to stay at a bed and breakfast place.
The place itself was very cozy, had kitchenette to cook and a big courtyard to do barbeque and sit around in leisure. Mrs. C was a lovely lady and a wonderful host. She took me around the town and showed me the popular places. The week went in jiffy, making me realize how relative passage of time is. Some rimes a day feels like a year, and other times a week feels like few hours.
Time to hit the tarmac again and left for Buenos Aires.
[Concordia to
Puerto Madryn]
I started from Concordia and reached Buenos Aires. Spend 2 days there enquiring about possibility to extend the Argentina visa. Due to convoluted rules, I could not manage to get the VISA extensions: to be tried again few days before visa expiry they said.
While I was there, I also tried to extend the visa validity of entry into Chile, alas no luck here as well.
Since I don't like big cities and I had no further business in Buenos Aires, I headed out of it and my next long stop was to Puerto Madryn. I had heard about Patagonia multiple times on discovery and other such channels. Enroute Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn, I had interesting unplanned stopover at Bahia Blanca.
Leaving Buenos Aires I missed the first fuel station, only to realizes there is none for next 200 kms. Bike did manage to do little less than 200km and I was stranded on highway near the town of Bahia Blanca. I was contemplating of stopping truck to seek help, and that is when an angel in the form of Mr. Roli stopped by on his bike. He took me to a nearby 'Highway-Help' that took care of getting my bike refueled.
Mr. Roli is a full-time professor of Arts, a motorbike enthusiast and also runs a Pizzeria in the evening. Since it was already dusk, I decided to call it a day and stop over at Bahia Blanca. I searched for Mr. Roli and wanted to thank him but could not locate him. The hotel owner then inquired if it was me who ran out of fuel on highway. Curious I enquired how he knows about it and hotel owner said Mr. Roli has his Pizzeria not very far from the hotel. I went and met Mr. Roli, who invited me to visit his home in the morning, to show his collection of antique motorcycles.
Puerto Madryn - Patagonia (This town is famous for Snorkeling, Watching Whales, Penguins and sea lions)
This was the first look while I was entering the Town
When I was travelling, I never planned to stay except in the morning and that day when I started from Bahia Blanca, I reached this city after riding for about 300 km. It was really getting colder as I moved towards south. I booked a hostel from booking.com where I met Chan and 'The Hungarian girl living in USA'. Good thing was that she came with full preparation. Chan was also driving from Peru on his motorcycle. So, we hung out together for two days and had a few parties together.
I went to snorkeling along with her to be among the Sea-lions.
We drove along the coast with our motorcycles and found something (the picture below) that seemed to be some superstitions work in the valley.
We were on the beach the whole day and it was good. It was first time that I saw some birds floating on the sea water in order to catch fish.
All except me knew how to swim. I had to use the floating tube.
Then each of us headed our own way. Chan remained in contact with me, and I still contact him through email.
[Puerto Madryn to Rio Gallegon]
I stayed in Puerto Madryn for three days and when I hit the road back, I felt it was colder than I had ever felt. And when, after travelling around 50 kilometers, I found my hands getting red without gloves, I knew that something was terribly wrong. I checked the temperature. It was minus three degrees centigrade. I had a trip of 300 kilometers ahead because all the cities in Patagonia are that apart. I had two options, either go ahead or return to Puerto Madryn. I decided to move on.
Following was the only place I found to have a short break in the route to next city from Puerto Madryn.
[Rio Gallegon to El calafate]
I reached the southernmost city connected by road. If one needs to travel to the southernmost city of the world, that is Ushuaia, one has to take ferry from Rio Gallegos. I never took one and also, I was running out of time of my visa validity in Argentina and also for Chili.
It's not that I couldn't extend my Argentina visa but date of my entry to Chile was getting expired. That's the pain of an Asian or a poor man who wants to travel around the world - Visa.
The temperature remained above zero for 5 hr. window and I had to drive 300 km daily with my small bike, it was a challenge which I can't forget.
[El Calafate to Gobernador Gregores (Ruta 40)]
After leaving the Calafate, I started the journey towards North and was somehow happy that the more I traveled towards north the warmer it would get (I am driving in southern hemisphere).
The RUTA 40, as many have described, is the most adventures and beautiful road I have ever driven.
Still, I manage to take few pictures
The road has not been paved for 72 km after 60 km and it was so cold.
The map below which I took from the hotel is accurate and google map was completely wrong. I tried to put this in google map or correct their map, but I didn't find an easy way, so I got my golden rule and that's
"Though technology is advancing, it's always better to cross check with humans wherever possible".
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