San Carlos de Bariloche to Rio Mayo….

This is the updated version of my ride from San Carlos de Bariloche to Rio Mayo…

For the most part, the buildings in El Bolson were either drab concrete or painted plain white, except for this little establishment, that stood out...!!

When I left the hostel in Bariloche, I mentioned to the people who had asked, that I planned to ride all the way to Rio Mayo today… They all looked a little skeptical, and told me that it was a very long way to Rio Mayo, especially as I wanted to do the Circuito Chico, a long looping ride to the west of town, before heading south…

There were plenty of warning about "deformed roads"...!! And something about "Maxima 60"... Pretended not understand a word of it...!!

“You should stop to rest in Esquel…!!” Cecilia advised… “Many people overnight there… Beyond that I have no idea where you will find a place to stay or petrol for your bike…!!”

After my little tete-a-tete with the wind, I got back on the road and in the sudden absence of any wind to speak of, pinned the throttle back and rode as hard as I could for Esquel, passing through the small towns of El Bolson, Golondrinas, Epuyen and Fitirhuin, before touching sides with the Rio Chubut, the river after which the province I was riding in, is named…

The countryside was mostly flat here, the road surface tarred and “grippy”, so we were able to make good time, averaging about 120 km/h for most of the way…

Out to the right of where we rode, the foothills of the Andes loomed… The higher elevation snow-capped, and contrasting sharply with the browns and dull grays of the countryside around me…

Los Andes runs parallel to Ruta 40, breaking the otherwise featureless landscape...

Riding under the pale blue Argentinian sky... For the next few days, the weather would play ball...!!

Entry to Esquel went smoothly... No cops on duty...!!

After 350 km of hard riding, I got to Esquel where I needed to refuel and have something to eat… The police post which you normally find at the entrance to all “major” towns, was deserted, so no delays there…Even the long arm of the law takes a siesta at midday in Argentina…!!

The officers who man these posts sometimes let you through without bothering to question you, and on other occasions will ask you to provide all the documents pertaining to the vehicle you are in or on…

My speedy entry into town came to abrupt halt when I joined a kilometre long queue for petrol…!! I had never had to wait this long for fuel, and was surprised when I was later told that the more remote towns had been without fuel for days…

This is apparently the norm in these parts, and in future, I would always make sure that I knew there was fuel in the town I was heading for, before riding out…!! There is literally NOTHING between them, so running out of fuel here can mean a long, dusty and thirsty wait for help to pass by…!!

Join the queue, Hombre...!! Every man and his dog was out to get some of the scarce stuff...!!

"This waiting in the hot sun for fuel is just not on, Dudes...!!"

The folk in the queue were a good natured bunch, laughing and joking, shrugging their shoulders in my direction and saying “Argentina…!!”

I joked along with them while I waited in the hot sun, swapping my helmet for a bandana to stop my pip from getting burnt…

An hour later, I had filled up, had a quick sandwich I bought at the service station and then got back on the road… On the way out of town, I thought I saw a trio of bikers who I had met very briefly in San Pedro de los Andes a few days previously…

Colourful entrance into an otherwise drab and windswept Tecka...

They were the only bikers around in Esquel, which surprised me, as I had expected to run into many more on my way down Ruta 40… Later they would tell me that they had waved to me as I zoomed by, but I clearly had other things on my mind…!!

Rio Mayo lay over 400 km to the south of Esquel, and by the time I left town, it was already 3.00 pm…

A light wind pushed me from behind as I tore south, forgetting for the moment that the sun only set at around 9.00 pm… I also had to conserve fuel, and might even be stuck in Rio Mayo if their service station had run dry too…!!

There are parts of this area that remind me of the Kalahari and the Northern Cape, except that it is even flatter out here…

For hundreds of kilometres, there was not a single tree to be seen, and the tallest bush would barely have reached waist high… I guess the wind and the cold here do not make for conditions that trees would want to stand tall in…!!

Two hours after leaving Esquel, I stopped to drink water and take a stroll amongst the shrubbery...

Flat as the proverbial....!! With a disconcerting lack of shade, I might add...!!

Translation: "Precaution...!! In winter this infernal road has ice on it...!!"

The temperature began dropping the further south I rode… It was still pleasant enough, but the heat I had experienced for most of the day began slipping away…

The road became narrower, and painted middle lines non-existent…!! This made dodging the occasional bus or truck a stressful affair, as they seemed to think the entire road was theirs to use…!!

Tilting horizon...!! The wind made me do it....!!

I passed a sign warning of ice on the road in winter, and was grateful that I had always planned to ride here as close to the middle of summer as possible… Hitting a patch of ice at the speed I was riding, would have seen me ploughing a new road through Patagonia…!!

It would have been a very short one, ending in a cul-de-sac, with a sign saying, “GB went this far and no further…!!”

My deal with the wind seemed to be paying off, as I was rarely troubled by it, except when I came out of a long narrow valley and was trying to take a photograph of the empty landscape around me…

A sudden gust took me by surprise, tilting the bike for only a moment, before the Big Fella straightened up with a low growl…

Mmmm.... Seems like this place has most things....including rust...!! As long as it had petrol and a bed, that was fine by me...!!

Rio Mayo lies up against a low bluff, where the river veers off to find softer ground to cut through...

Ruta 40.... The easy part was behind me, the hard yards lay ahead, and I still had not found anybody to ride them with...!!

I finally reached the little town of Rio Mayo, reminding myself that “The Asphalto stops here…!!” as I rode past the little information shack on the main road… A few hundred metres past that, and apart from one road leading down part of the main street, every other road was hard packed gravel, littered with large smooth stones…!!

Basic as basic can be...at a price...!!

I stopped at the Aka-Ta Hotel where the landlord wanted to charge me 250 Pesos (R 475.00) for a room with three beds in it…!! It was as basic a hotel room as I had ever seen, with a tiny bathroom… The type where the shower wets everything in sight, including the toilet roll…!!

When I threatened to go someplace else, (not knowing if there was even a “someplace else”…!!) he dropped his price to 160 Pesos, and I accepted this grudgingly…

I hate it when people try an pull a fast one on who they assume to be unsuspecting tourists…!! “I SUSPECT”….Got it…??

It did have free internet though (Australia Outback, take note…!!) and I wasted no time in checking my mail and writing the prelude to this posting…

While I was busy I heard a few bikes pulling up outside, and hurried down the dark corridor from my room and out into the still sunlit, dusty street…

The three guys I had seen in Esquel were negotiating with the landlord, who had told them the hotel was full… Apparently I had got the last room…!!

I asked them where they were going, and the magic word “Ushuaia” came from the younger ones lips…!! Providence was smiling down on me again…!!

The stories of the road ahead were legendary, and I had been hoping to find someone to ride with me, just in case I came to grief and needed assistance of some kind… Talk about arriving at the last minute…!!

Two of the guys spoke passable English, while the third remained silent… I suggested we ride together, and they gladly accepted my proposal… We arranged to meet at 8.00 am the following morning and they went off to find another hotel, while I went back to my laptop to edit photos…

Hotel Aka-Ta, Rio Mayo... The last stop on sealed roads for a while to come...!!

I slept a lot easier that night, and I think Patricia was as relieved as I was that I would not be tackling the harder sections of Ruta 40 alone…!! We had Skyped earlier, and this was one of the main topics we had discussed… That and her impending trip to Miami for an operation that would hopefully bring an end to the hassles she had been experiencing since Bali…

Not being able to be there for her bothered the hell out of me, but getting to Miami from this part of the world was something that just wasn’t possible to do in the short time available..

Today's ride: San Carlos de Bariloche to Rio Mayo... 747 km, and going like a Boeing...!!

We have now covered just under 2 000 km in three days of riding since leaving Santiago, with one rest day in San Carlos de Bariloche…!!

Just over halfway there, with about 1 800 km of gravel, wind and busted-up tarmac to deal with before we get to Ushuaia…

Just living the dream, Muchachos,…. Living the dream…!!

©GBWT 2012