It all changes at the rivers

Woke to another hot day (how is the snow?) and tapped the next destination in to the Sat Nav: "In 20 meters (ie the hotel was next to the road)  join Ruta 22 then continue for 482 kilometers! Certainly not complicated then.The rule book says never pass a Pertol Station if you have half a tank or less. So I filled up just before I left the town. It is very comforting to look down and see the gauge full.

The Pampas continued much as before with a good straight road to follow.. Then you cross the Rio Cordoba (about 100 meters wide) and the Pampas gives way to harsh gorse. No trees, just gorse and tough bushes about 5 feet high. The change is immediate and it feels that bit more intimidating. There are no cattle, no horses, no Estancias (farms). Even the birds change. Along the Pampas you see Birds of Prey (medium size, brown, white & black) every few miles hoovering above the grassland. Here you see large black "vulture" like things picking at road kill & sitting on Telegraph poles (reminded me of the Disney vultures in Dumbo).

Oh and at the river/provincial border was another Food inspection! Luckily this time, a very bored lookng guy couldnt be bothered with me so just waved me through.

Then you come to a small town called Cheole Cheol. you drop down a small incline, marked with a "steep hill" sign at the top. The Argentians like to put dramatic signs on the roads "Sharp bend signs" when (& I kid you not, the change in direction is less than 10 degrees). The incline was so slight you would happily have gone down it on roller skates, in fact there was a guy on a pushbike and he was pedaling down it! God knows where he had been because I had just covered several hundred kilometers at 80 ish and there wasn't anything there!

It is an Oasis in the middle of a sea of gorse. There are large green trees and lush vegatation - a bit like England without the snow. I got more fuel and was given directions to a cafe on a river. The Rio Negra is obviously responsible for the change in vegetation and local beauty spot.

I pulled up at the little cafe there, took of my jacket and hung in on the back of the chair. The trouble was that the jacket is heavy and there chair was not very substantial. I turned to enjoy the view as i sat down, but hadn't heard the chair fall backwards under the weight of my jacket. Well the locals enjoyed that! Like a Salmon I leapt back to my feet as if i normally do that sort of party trick. I thought i had got away with it (well sort of) until i couldnt find my glasses. They had spun backwards about 20 feet and were handed back to me by a smirking waiter! Anyway it was a very nice ham & cheese sandwich.

Back on the road (feeling a bit of a prick) i did a few more hours of bleak wilderness but eventually the ground starts to rise and becomes greener. In fact it turns in to a major fruit growing region so gorse gives way to apples and grapes. As with everything in this country it is by the mile & there were miles of fruit. The local town Neuquen looks very prosperous on the back their produce.

It was another hot one and there is nothing like a cool shower after a long day in the saddle, so I have had my shower, obviously kept my socks on and now they are drying on the back of the fridge.

Tomorrow i should be getting in to the lake district and hopefully will use my fishing rod for a day or two.

Jason Are you reading these?

Newcastle 2 Aston Villa 1 - does that mean you owe me a tenner?

no golf after all!

Was a bit of a mix up over cell phones so didn't make contact with Marcelo until it was too late. I thought about dumping the golf shoes but i would like to get a game on the most southerly course in Usuhaia (not sure if you need long socks, jacket & tie).

It was a long drive today as it took a while to get out of MDP and through Bahia Blanca. The sat nav on the phone is good at the main roads but losses the script in built up areas.

The Pampas goes on forever, as do the roads. I thought i had taken a few pictures but only this one is on the camera.I  will try to take another one with cows & horses in next time.You see the verge is neatly trimmed - it is like that for literally 100's of miles!

The roads are not only long but straight as an arrow and single carriageway. On the dual carriageways the Argies and very law abiding (something to do with a police car every 5 miles parked at the side of the road). On the back roads they go for it. At 70 you are just ahead of the trucks & at 80 a few old cars will keep you company. Only at 90 are you beginning to keep pace with all but the fastest. Overtaking becomes a game of Chicken & thankfully most cars drive with their lights on. I misjudged a couple of moves today that could have been a bit nasty.. 

The heat was intense & the wind too - 38 degrees. It really was like riding behind a jet engine for mile after mile. So what i didnt need, when only 10 mins from my hotel was a Food search! Every vehicle got pulled over on the "county border" and searched for food - any fresh food being taken and binned. There is a 1,000 mile border yet they search the cars? I had to untie the tyres so they could look in the panniers, all in 38 degrees of heat. He looked in each bag and said ok! I have no idea what that achieves for the health of the nation!

I couldnt find the hotel i had booked despite going up and down the road, even went up a sand track. Stopped at this place and it had a room  - so sorted. £22 & far nicer than MDP.

Within striking distance of the hills tomorrow so a change of scene will be nice.

BsAs to MDP

It was time to leave Buenas Aires, a lovely city but time to move on. It took me longer than i thought to work out how to take my golf shoes with me but i did it!

Woke the car park attendant at 7:00 (scratched nuts as normal - his not mine). Drive out of BsAs was easy and I was soon on the road south. There was a fair bit of traffic but the road was good (too good really as it felt like cheating). It is amazing how much they like the bike - lots of waving and thumbs up. Every time you stop they ask to take pictures. I will have to stop draping myself over it my gold lame budgie smugglers.

The Bike has tyre pressure monitors and the front was reading low so i stopped at a tyre place along the way. Looked like a father and son team - 110 & 80  years old respectively. Whilst the father checked & put some air in the tyre, the son told me he had been born in the UK and was in the Royal Navy - I think he must have left his teeth onboard his last ship, well most of them. Again money is not an object to the people, i offered a few notes but he said "just one coin". The largest coin is 1 Peso - 15p and he only wanted this as a token..

The drive is across the Pampas - basically the biggest, flatest field you ever saw, with a lot of cows and horses. There was an occassional smattering of Sunflowers (just past the flowering stage which was a shame) and corn. When I say a smattering - I suppose the fields were about the size of Surrey. The farms or Estancias are absolutely enormous and miles apart. They have impressive entrances and names, obviously not as big as the ones you see in suburban Surrey but these guys only have about 20,000 acres.

As luck would have it, the road passes Fangio's hometow, Balcarce. Well sort of. On the Ruta 2 i passed this monument with a road sign saying Balcarce (no distance on the sign). So i did a u turn, took a picture and headed off., I then saw a guy at the side of the road so thought i would check i was going the right way. So in "perfect" spanish i discovered i was and it was 7 kms away. I drove on full of the joys of spring. 7 kms came and went so i started thinking about what he told me.......it wasn't 7 (seite) it was 70 (setenta). Now i am looking at my fuel gauge as i head further in to the pampas - without any cars for company (70 there 70 back).

Luckily the first thing you see in Balcarce is two Petrol stations next to each other (YPF and Shell).The bike got it's usual attenton which gave me the chance to ask directions. Balcarce is not a large town but it is real farming territory, so the drive to the Museum takes you past all manner of Agri equipment lots. I stopped to ask directions once more and i was right in front of the building! but as you can see it is not like a museum admittedly it did have some rather large flags with Fangio written on them.
 It is the best museum i have been too (been to Le Mans & Ferrari in Modena). It is really well laid out and they have "all" his cars there - Maerati 250f, 300s, 450s, Ferrari, Mercedes, Gordini, Talbot, Chevy (Alec Daly has a Chevy like these that Fangio drove). A Senna McClaren MP4, Merc Group C car and more silverware than Catlow.
 Bumped in to a petrol head (who spoke perfect English) and gave me his card - he runs a bar in Cordoba! I will have to pop in when i am in the North!
I would like to have bought all sorts of things from the shop but just havent got room for anything else (well not until i ditch the golf shoes).
Got to Mar Del Plata shortly after so i dug out my phone and tapped in the address of my hotel. well it lost the plot and sent me 20 kms in the wrong direction (20 there 20 back). I ended up turning it off and using my nose (and you know how big that is).
i went round and round - basically because i got different information from each person I asked. Then at a set of lights a Taxi driver pulled alongside, all smiles & thumbs up. Telling me wasn't good enough so he said "follow me". And bingo straight to the hotel. He parked and came over (on an very busy street). "this is my dream bike etc". The Hotel is right on the front with a 4 lane highway next to it (attractive eh?). so he talks to the doormans - just put it on the pavement "Si, si". so i part the hordes of holiday makers and park it by the revolving door ( I would have liked a picture of this, but that would have been pushing it).
Transpires they have an underground car park & the taxi driver personally leads me there.What a nice man - no money required but i did manage to give him a few pesos. 
Pisser was that it was a tight car park and I had to park on a "pavement" - hit a bollard and knocked one of the spot lights off! Should be fun trying to find Superglue, if not i have my xmas present from tom - duct tape!

Mar Del Plata - what to say? a picture paints a thousand words:i know you cant see any sand but this really is the beach, whats more this area is for the exclusive use of hotel guests. You want to see more?

I can only say it is Torrimelinos (however you spell it) meets Blackpool (I think i got this one right) on a Bank Holiday weekend. A shame but at least i have seen a different side of the Argentinians. Do you think this is what they would like to do to the Falklands?

Don't post a parcel from Argentina

Last day of school and as expected this test sorted out the wheat from the chaff. Brazil and Switz took a commanding position and the rest of us slunk out of class feeling rather demoralised. I am the only one leaving this week, so the others have another test to endure next week.

It is amazing how many "youngsters" are travelling, incredible experience for them but i do wonder what they will be able to do in later life to "top" what they are doing in their 20's. They are all, without exception, intelligent, polite and fun people. 

Poor Swiss Dan - he was listening to his music waiting for a Tube train to turn up. There was a big push to get on the train at which point Dans music cut out. Strange he thought "that's not the end of the track". They had managed to pick his pocket of his iphone & unplug the earphones whilst he was listening to the music! All in the blink of an eye. You have to hand it to them - that is a talent!

I started to pack and sorted out what to send home. the short story is that "the Argentinan postal service is bureaucratic":
The longer version for those of you who are bored:
Pack up Enzo bag & other bits in corrugated brown paper & strong, wide brown tape.
Try to find a Post office (a challenge in itself).
Told wrapping does not meet Arg PO standards - "has to be see through tape". Really?
Wander 6 blocks trying to find something suitable - flat pack cardboard box & clear tape - perfect (or so i thought).
Back to the APO, make up my box, rip open my original creation (filling every bin within range in th process) put items in my nice new box and tape it shut.
Over the tannoy "senor..........you still need brown paper". At this point I of thought of Eddy Izzard doing the "you will need a tray" scene from the Death Star.
You're kiddng me?
Off I go again (6 blocks there, 6 blocks back). The only roll they have is 10 yards long and about 4 feet wide, I need about 1 yard.
Back I go and start tearing off the bit I need ready to wrap my nice new brown parper box.
"Senor........before you do that, we ought to weigh it" Ok, it's not that heavy so shouldn't be a problem. The crowd were enjoying the show at this point (What is the Gringo going to do next?), the queue even parts to let me get to the desks. They take it behind the counter.....................
"Senor, is complicated....................it weighs 3kgs and you can only send 2kgs without a customs form".
I was really pleased at this news.
I take it back to the area, I now like to consider mine, and rip off the clear tape. One of the things i was sending home was the bike lock (the one for which i forgot to bring the keys). So that went in the bin.

Finally i could wrap my box in my brown paper and get it sent  (only took 3 hours).

The trouble is i dont think it will get there...............they needed my passpport number (who takes their passport to the bloody post office?). I can't remember mine so i just made one up. It was either that or do a Basil Fawlty impression.

Off to Mar Del plata tomorrow. Early I hope so as to beat the city traffic and the heat. It should be an easy 400 km drive due south, taking just over 4 hours. Eddie has spoken to a good friend of his - aparently there is a nice golf course there!

I have had a lovely time in Buneos Aries and will look forwards to coming back here in about a years time (hopefully).

Wilks is now on the continent too, up in Brazil.but he is heading to BsAs next week - great timing eh?

Anonymous Grafitti

There is a bit in the news about an underground movement of Geeks (Thomas you probably know all about this through those web sites you frequent) who are targeting the big companies & the US government after a change in their attitude to copyright infringement. I was walking down a street and saw this on a wall. this is their emblem as shown on the news.Tom, is this going to kick off?

Class was difficult yesterday and the thumping headache from too much Mendoza produce didn't help, as last night, after all the rain, we eventually found a restaurant with steak & wine. I was worried about my supply of tea bags but I hadn't expected to run short of "Resolves" this early.

Through Eddies friend (Bobby - ex Broker with Marsh), I was put in contact with Alec Daly, a mover and shaker of historic cars & racing in Argentina. We had a very nice lunch, at a motoring themed restaurant called LaBiela - which means "connecting rod". We talked about our various cars, Fangio, Le Mans, Goodwood, Mille Millia etc .Apparently Argentina has its own historic Mille M but this one is a 1000 miles not a mere 1000 kilometers!

Alec was very kind and it was a nice long lunch, a bit like a working lunch of days of yore. Shame i dont have more time in BsAs as it sounds like there are some people with amazing car collections.

Exctly as yesterday, beautiful day then the heavens opened, at about the time i needed to get a taxi, to meet Eddie, his wife Valaria and some friends of theirs.
Took a long time for a Taxi to come down the street, he stopped across the road so i ran thru the torrent rushing down the road and jumped in - already soaked through! i gave him the address and all of sudden the arms were waving and he was talking at 100 mph. Basically he wasnt going anywere near Palermo after yesterdays flooding. So i get out & get even wetter running back to the canopy of the apartment block. I call Eddie & he is already at the restaurant and there is power and no flooding. I get changed as my chinos look less than pristine.The leather soled shoes were a liability too.

I do eventually get another cab, just ashame this one didnt have a clue where to go - i don't think his spanish was quite good enough to understand my scholarly efforts. It took so long Eddie phoned, worried that i have been hijacked and was on my way into the white slave trade.

When i did eventually get to the restaurant ,we had another lovely meal and great fun. Eddies friend was also his boss many years ago when he managed his ranch for him (10,000's of thousands of acres). He now runs a company selling frozen embryoes and sperm for cattle and polo ponies! I am not making this up.

We left there at about 1:00 am & Eddie wouln't let me pay - which is annoying as he has been a star! He and his family head to Europe skiing on Saturday but he has even found time to arrange a contact for me in my next stop Mar Del Plata & a game of golf perhaps!

Hasta manana

At least the rain was warm

Thunderstorm last night broke the drought. my timing was a bit off as we had arranged to have dinner in an area called Palermo (which i now know is a bowl shape). It was raining hard when i managed to muscle an old lady out of the way for a taxi. we drove through some pretty impressive water backing up along the streets and i should have noticed that there were no lights on for the last few blocks of the journey. The driver got to the restuarant, where i had agreed to met Sam (oz) & Dan (swiss). I should have smelled a rat when two people virtually dragged me out of the cab whilst trying to pay.

Matt, one of the Aussies, has kindly sent me some pictures he took on the night. i dont know why it is on its side (it isn't on my computer) perhaps because it was taken by an Aussie half way from down under?

I found myself at a restuarant with a flooded cellar, no electricity & in torrential rain,  Sam apppeared from the shadows, completely soaked & we got a call from Dan saying they had shut the underground down & he was stranded half way to meet us. I had just let the last taxi go that we would see for an hour or more!

Sam had walked past shops with 2 feet of water in them.so we decided to walk our way back in to civilisation as apparently we were in a "bowl" which was getting the worst of the flooding.

Some soggy time later we found a bar that had beer but no lights (apart from candles) & it was Warsteiner!