Spending 2 weeks with our own wheels exploring northern Patagonia from Bariloche to Los Antiguos with stops in between, a stretch of 950kilometers along the mamoth and infamous Ruta 40. As we headed further and further from Bariloche, the distances between towns and all signs of life increased dramatically. Other than the occasional estancia, there was nothing between the towns of Esquel, Tecka, Gobernador Costa, Rio Mayo and Perito Moreno. But the landscape was dramatic and the long straights though sage brush were interupted often by a river canyon, snow capped mountains or some critter bounding across the highway. We drove through cattle and sheep grazing land that stretched out in every direction, some times the highway was fenced off and other times it wasn't. Honking our horn to ward off sheep too close to the road became more than just safety precaution as they would high tail it into the sage brush at the so
und. Spring time here is baby time and all the animals had younguns by their side. In addition to the livestock, we saw guanacos (type of wild llama), nandus (ostrich), flamingos, rabbits and armadillos.
Patagonia's Ruta 40 and it's wild reputation called to me and fond memories behind the wheel crossing vast western states deep in thought with little concern for traffic or difficult conditions. Although we were warned in books and by our car rental agency that the roads are bad in Patagonia, we headed out on good paved roads from Bariloche in a 2 wheel drive wagon with all the clothes we owned (just in case), musical instruments to bide the time if stranded, mate, and food rations that might have lasted us 6 hours. The lake district of Bariloche is very picturesque with blue lakes and white mountains in all directions, the spring colors are in full bloom and it is just georgeous - I could drive through this forever... paved roads in good conditions. We stopped in El Bolson for lunch, paddle boats and helado and continued south to Esquel for the night. Day 2 was our long drive and I was gettting comfortable doing 130 km/hr on our 2 lane hwy as we headed further east from the Andes and into flat plains of sage brush and sheep as far as you could see. We started the honk at sheep game here and as the kilometers flew by we had thoughts of traveling as far south as El Chalten, the rugged south with jagged peaks and glaciers abound. As we approached the border of Chubut and Santa Cruz provinces the roads started to deteriorate slightly and around the km marker 1500 a nice sized rock was kicked up from an oncomming truck right into our windshield. It was a hard enough smack to send glass shards into my lap. Pretty scarry and a rude awakening to the true road conditions here. After a brief stop along the road to collect myself and duct tape (blue) the windshield (not in my direct line of sight thankfully) we continued on at a much slower pace and the thoughts of a long road trip south vanished like sheep into the sage brush.
Still a good ways from our planned stop in Perito Moreno, we stopped in the next town of Rio Mayo to get gas and look around for someone who might be able to fix our windshield or comment on it's safety. Gas yes, but this sheep shearing capital of Argentina did not offer much else and we decided to trudge along. It was at this town that Ruta 40 went from asfalto to ripio. I was glad at first because I didn't like the wind pressure against our windshield and Patagonia is very windy all the time, driving 90 into the wind is probably like 150 on a calm day, but as the gravel hwy carried on with the ruts and the large stones scraping things under the car that you don't want scraped I was no longer enjoying the ride with the wind blowing through my hair (parts of it are longer than they have been in years, maybe 1.5"). The town of Perito Moreno was a welcomed sight and a paved Ruta 40 about 10 km before town. The visitor center gave us the bad news right away that we had arived just in time for their town's festiva dia and all hotels were full for the occasion. The next town of Los Antiguos was 60 km away on the shores of Lago Buenos Aires, the second largest lake in S. America after Titicaca. We drove on thankful that the sun doesn't set until 10pm......
und. Spring time here is baby time and all the animals had younguns by their side. In addition to the livestock, we saw guanacos (type of wild llama), nandus (ostrich), flamingos, rabbits and armadillos.Patagonia's Ruta 40 and it's wild reputation called to me and fond memories behind the wheel crossing vast western states deep in thought with little concern for traffic or difficult conditions. Although we were warned in books and by our car rental agency that the roads are bad in Patagonia, we headed out on good paved roads from Bariloche in a 2 wheel drive wagon with all the clothes we owned (just in case), musical instruments to bide the time if stranded, mate, and food rations that might have lasted us 6 hours. The lake district of Bariloche is very picturesque with blue lakes and white mountains in all directions, the spring colors are in full bloom and it is just georgeous - I could drive through this forever... paved roads in good conditions. We stopped in El Bolson for lunch, paddle boats and helado and continued south to Esquel for the night. Day 2 was our long drive and I was gettting comfortable doing 130 km/hr on our 2 lane hwy as we headed further east from the Andes and into flat plains of sage brush and sheep as far as you could see. We started the honk at sheep game here and as the kilometers flew by we had thoughts of traveling as far south as El Chalten, the rugged south with jagged peaks and glaciers abound. As we approached the border of Chubut and Santa Cruz provinces the roads started to deteriorate slightly and around the km marker 1500 a nice sized rock was kicked up from an oncomming truck right into our windshield. It was a hard enough smack to send glass shards into my lap. Pretty scarry and a rude awakening to the true road conditions here. After a brief stop along the road to collect myself and duct tape (blue) the windshield (not in my direct line of sight thankfully) we continued on at a much slower pace and the thoughts of a long road trip south vanished like sheep into the sage brush.
Still a good ways from our planned stop in Perito Moreno, we stopped in the next town of Rio Mayo to get gas and look around for someone who might be able to fix our windshield or comment on it's safety. Gas yes, but this sheep shearing capital of Argentina did not offer much else and we decided to trudge along. It was at this town that Ruta 40 went from asfalto to ripio. I was glad at first because I didn't like the wind pressure against our windshield and Patagonia is very windy all the time, driving 90 into the wind is probably like 150 on a calm day, but as the gravel hwy carried on with the ruts and the large stones scraping things under the car that you don't want scraped I was no longer enjoying the ride with the wind blowing through my hair (parts of it are longer than they have been in years, maybe 1.5"). The town of Perito Moreno was a welcomed sight and a paved Ruta 40 about 10 km before town. The visitor center gave us the bad news right away that we had arived just in time for their town's festiva dia and all hotels were full for the occasion. The next town of Los Antiguos was 60 km away on the shores of Lago Buenos Aires, the second largest lake in S. America after Titicaca. We drove on thankful that the sun doesn't set until 10pm......
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