We left Trelew at 08h00 for what was supposed to be a 400km run to Caleta Olivia. By lunchtime however, when we got there and realised that the place wasn’t worth staying at and that we were both still feeling fresh, we decided to push onto Puerto San Julian and it turned out to be an 800km day!! So much for not wanting to do the long stretches!!
Our 800km ride for the day
The ride down the east coast of Argentina is Boring! Its hot to start with, flat and mostly barren. The southerly half is the same except its cold but peppered with the occasional tourist spot and beautiful natural sight! The towns are primarily functional (read industrial) and mining or fishing in nature and not really worth visiting. That said, I have always maintained that you can only really feel the pulse of a country by riding it on 2 wheels and without seeing the plain and boring, you cant have a proper appreciation for the beautiful and the magnificent and therefore I am not unhappy that we have done this stretch even though its been somewhat monotonous.
Some of the occasionally beautiful sights
A lot of the ride today reminded me of riding through the Karroo. Anybody that has done this drive will tell you that’s its beautiful, but after about 3000km of this stuff, its just now enough already and one of the reasons that we have been pushing through quite fast and have averaged 600km per day since leaving BA last week Wednesday.
Similar to the Karroo..no?
One of the things that I do love about travelling like this is the comaraderieship of travellers on the road and particularly between motorcyclists who ALWAYS wave and hoot regardless of where in the world you are riding.
We bumped into 3 Brazilian guys riding around South America in their 1958 Mercedes.
The night we are spending in San Julian has not disappointed in that it is exactly the same as the towns I described above except for the discovery that us South Africans, are slowly taking over the world, one small industrial Argentine town at a time…
Tomorrow we cross into Chile.
