Feb 5 2020
Although last night went on later than expected, I got a good sleep. Tim leaving around 8am woke me up, but I ended up getting another hours sleep. There was frost all over the bike, and the bed looked far more inviting. I took a look at the map, trying to decide which direction to go. Eventually, I decided to head to Esquel, and Parqes dos Alerces. I fancied a bit of lakeside camping. After packing my bike, I ended up leaving around 11am, later than I had intended. Google Maps took me 7 km in the wrong direction, just to make a U turn in a dead little village called Jose de San Martin, where the road I had arrived on appeared to end.
Scenery back on Ruta 40 was semi-arid rolling hills, reminding me of Rannoch moor with the complete overcast. Temperature was 8 degrees and the intermittent problem with my heated grips continued. A pleasant ride though. I stopped in Tecka to get fuel and a Milanesa sandwich. Tecka is in a small gorge, an oasis of green in the barren hills of Chubut province.
More hills. An idiot in a car overtaking towards me nearly forced me off the road. I gave him what I think is a fairly universal signal, and the truck he was also overtaking blared it’s disapproval. A bit further on I saw a parked motorcycle, so pulled over. The bike had an improbably large top-box, and was ridden by Richard, a 70 year old Frenchman on an Africa Twin. Like me, he was meeting his wife in a week, though further south. He didn’t really like his bike. He couldn’t pick it up, and had dropped it a couple of times.
I was glad of the manageable weight of the Himalayan. We had a quick chat, and shortly afterwards I turned off Ruta 40 onto the RN259, and, as has happened so many times here, the scenery and climate instantly changed. Now it was green, with trees, livestock, valleys, mountains with snow on them. Temperature shot up to 18 degrees. Ten minutes later I was in Esquel, a tentative stopping point for the day, the point I had aimed for. It looked a bit of a shithole.
It seems geared towards winter skiing and like all ski resorts, has a forlorn feel in the summer. I found a little shop run by a father and son, a small grocers, where I recharged my Argentinian sim card, and also changed some dollars. I then carried on to Trevelin, one of the several towns around here where people speak Welsh. It looks a bit Welsh. iOverlander once again found me a great campsite, El Chacay, on what looks like a small farm on the edge of town.
Fancying steak for dinner I walked to the nearest shop. I bought an onion and some tomatoes in a small grocery, then a steak in a butchers, and as I came out of the butchers I heard accordion music.
It was a small bar, a real spit and sawdust place with very little furniture, and 5 old guys drinking. One guy was playing a guitar and singing, and it was the barman on the accordion. I bought a litre of beer and introduced myself. They all seemed really happy I had dropped in. As so many people do here, once it was clear I knew no Spanish, they carried on talking to me as if I was fluent. Google translate amused them all greatly The music was excellent, and I videoed a bit.
Back at the campsite, I cooked up potatoes with onions and tomato, and fried the steak. To my surprise, it was really tough. Still a good meal though. I flew the drone for a bit, before turning in for the night. Another great day on the road, though a fairly shot one; I’d only covered 205km.
Rain was forecast for the next day, so I decided to take a day off. I needed to do some bike maintenance and wash some clothes. Then it’s a few days in the Parque Nacional de Alerces before heading north to meet Jackie.
