October 17
We had a grand ~300 km drive from Villa Union to San Juan. I don’t know how to explain it, but the desert mountains and plateau got bigger today. The scale of it all… this was day six in the Northern Argentine desert and it was the most remote stretch yet. I felt like a pixel. A molecule. The mountains are so big and the plateau is so wide… I have no adjectives to describe it. One must take the time to travel it and suck the dry air to understand it.
Besides the last 80 km of wind and the gargantuan landscape, the most prominent feature of today's ride was the badenes, or dips in the road to (presumably) deal with the flash floods. Every dip made me appreciate the season we were in and driving through this landscape; these roads must be impassable after the rains. Those trucks with snorkels actually need snorkels.
Our non-warm interactions with the the the locals continue… I say Hola, Buenas Tardes, and get nothing. During our ride today, Ernesto and I talked about the “chill” we get from locals yet the shoutouts we get while on the road. We hypothesize that we are getting shout outs and waves from other drivers on the road because they think we are Argentine. We also hypothesize that the primary reason no one will talk to me when they can see I’m a moto rider is because I’m a woman. FYI, if I question your masculinity with my V, then you must not be very masculine.
Ernesto had two impressive bird sightings today that I only caught the tail end of (ha ha). The first was a green barred woodpecker and the second was an elegant crested tinamou. I am very jealous of the tinamou as all I saw was the brown thing flapping away.
As we rolled into San Juan we felt… strange. This city has everything we could need or want with walking distance, the streets are all labeled, there are traffic signs and lights and we all obeyed them. There are metrosexuals on cell phones and billboards for music concerts and ballets. We experienced our first tree lined streets since Mexico. It is the Southern hemisphere version of anywhere in the USA or Canada (or we are the Northern hemisphere version of them). Many stores were closed for siesta, but still we had at least 40 mediocre restaurants to choose from. We both ordered the churrasco (we needed sustenance). Not even two minutes after the steak arrived a lovely perro arrived and sat quietly and peacefully at my feet (and yes, my feet, not Ernesto’s feet, which I liked). It was definitely the reminder I wanted and needed that I was in South America and I may or may not have shared my meal with her.
October 18
Booooorrrriiiiinnnnggggg ride from San Juan to Mendoza. We saw four parrots and nondescript flora and lots of other cars. For 180 km I got silly in my own head. And it was hot. The most exciting things of today was the enthusiastic trucker who waved at me like Miss Argentina and that for just a slight while, we got to lean left into the wind instead of right.
We navigated Mendoza perfectly (and yes we give proper credit to street signs, flat paved roads, and the overall order and abeyance of local traffic laws). After checking into our hotel my expectations were met: a kitchen. We did not explore Mendoza. We were not interested in meeting and talking with more Argentines and inhaling their second hand smoke. We walked to the grocery store and bumbled around smiling. When we went to check out, this chain of grocery store offered no bags (plastic or paper); it was bring your own bag or carry your shit out with your hands. Back at our Apart Hotel, we made tacos with fresh ingredients. They weren’t awesome, but our meal didn’t involve chicken, french fries, rice, pizza, chips, stale breads, or anything that was made of 50% sugar. I’m even more excited for tomorrow to make scrambled eggs (with leftover tomato and red pepper), bacon, and toasted whole wheat bread. And some of my special Jetboil french pressed coffee :) We also have a couch and a TV (with yet another and new Fast and Furious, wow). It is all very civilized… back support and AC and throw pillows. Ahh.
We had a grand ~300 km drive from Villa Union to San Juan. I don’t know how to explain it, but the desert mountains and plateau got bigger today. The scale of it all… this was day six in the Northern Argentine desert and it was the most remote stretch yet. I felt like a pixel. A molecule. The mountains are so big and the plateau is so wide… I have no adjectives to describe it. One must take the time to travel it and suck the dry air to understand it.
Besides the last 80 km of wind and the gargantuan landscape, the most prominent feature of today's ride was the badenes, or dips in the road to (presumably) deal with the flash floods. Every dip made me appreciate the season we were in and driving through this landscape; these roads must be impassable after the rains. Those trucks with snorkels actually need snorkels.
Our non-warm interactions with the the the locals continue… I say Hola, Buenas Tardes, and get nothing. During our ride today, Ernesto and I talked about the “chill” we get from locals yet the shoutouts we get while on the road. We hypothesize that we are getting shout outs and waves from other drivers on the road because they think we are Argentine. We also hypothesize that the primary reason no one will talk to me when they can see I’m a moto rider is because I’m a woman. FYI, if I question your masculinity with my V, then you must not be very masculine.
Ernesto had two impressive bird sightings today that I only caught the tail end of (ha ha). The first was a green barred woodpecker and the second was an elegant crested tinamou. I am very jealous of the tinamou as all I saw was the brown thing flapping away.
As we rolled into San Juan we felt… strange. This city has everything we could need or want with walking distance, the streets are all labeled, there are traffic signs and lights and we all obeyed them. There are metrosexuals on cell phones and billboards for music concerts and ballets. We experienced our first tree lined streets since Mexico. It is the Southern hemisphere version of anywhere in the USA or Canada (or we are the Northern hemisphere version of them). Many stores were closed for siesta, but still we had at least 40 mediocre restaurants to choose from. We both ordered the churrasco (we needed sustenance). Not even two minutes after the steak arrived a lovely perro arrived and sat quietly and peacefully at my feet (and yes, my feet, not Ernesto’s feet, which I liked). It was definitely the reminder I wanted and needed that I was in South America and I may or may not have shared my meal with her.
October 18
Booooorrrriiiiinnnnggggg ride from San Juan to Mendoza. We saw four parrots and nondescript flora and lots of other cars. For 180 km I got silly in my own head. And it was hot. The most exciting things of today was the enthusiastic trucker who waved at me like Miss Argentina and that for just a slight while, we got to lean left into the wind instead of right.
We navigated Mendoza perfectly (and yes we give proper credit to street signs, flat paved roads, and the overall order and abeyance of local traffic laws). After checking into our hotel my expectations were met: a kitchen. We did not explore Mendoza. We were not interested in meeting and talking with more Argentines and inhaling their second hand smoke. We walked to the grocery store and bumbled around smiling. When we went to check out, this chain of grocery store offered no bags (plastic or paper); it was bring your own bag or carry your shit out with your hands. Back at our Apart Hotel, we made tacos with fresh ingredients. They weren’t awesome, but our meal didn’t involve chicken, french fries, rice, pizza, chips, stale breads, or anything that was made of 50% sugar. I’m even more excited for tomorrow to make scrambled eggs (with leftover tomato and red pepper), bacon, and toasted whole wheat bread. And some of my special Jetboil french pressed coffee :) We also have a couch and a TV (with yet another and new Fast and Furious, wow). It is all very civilized… back support and AC and throw pillows. Ahh.