Esquel – January 25th, 2015
Jan 27th, 2015 by rallyadmin
We’re leaving the south and heading into the flat land of the east coast of Argentina. The route today will take us up the coast more than 200 kms before we head northwest at Commandante Luis PiedraBuena towards the Andes. Flat land that becomes increasingly arid and desert like.
Boring doesn’t even comes close to describing this route. Desert, desert and more desert. This road is similar to the section of Ruta 40 that we traveled on the way south. But this is paved.
The only thing that breaks the boredom is the wildlife. There are hundred of guanacos. Solos, small groups, large groups up to maybe fifty animals. There is cattle fencing along both sides of the road but that only stops the very small newborn crias. The larger guanacos gracefully hop right over the fencing leaving the crias stranded on the other side. I assume that the herd hops back to the crias and doesn’t leave them there.
There are also plenty of rheas about. They’re much harder to see as their grayish color blends in nicely with small shrubs that grow along the roadside verge. And when you see an adult it is usually surrounded by up to 6 little ones scurrying about.
At Casa Riera, we rejoin Ruta 40 and stop for fuel. Fuel is an issue on this run up to Esquel. It’s a long, barren way to travel and there are very fuel stops along the way. We stop at any fuel stop we can find to top up.
At Casa Riera, we see an old Lada 4X4. I mean ancient old. And the owner looks like he may have bought it new. And he looks weird enough to be an Argentine who owns a Lada. How and where and why he got it is anyone’s guess. There’s a story in there but before was can chat him up, he’s gone.
Fianlly, the route close to Esquel starts to get closer to the Andes and the desert gives way to upland semi-arid forest. The boredom of the previous hours gives way to better scenery and twisty roads.
We arrive at Esquel and find that it’s a major tourist destination. We’re both beat from the day of driving with a fierce crosswind (I didn’t mention the crosswind, did I?) and we start looking for a place to stay the night as soon as we get into town.
And there’s nothing available. We’re checking cabana places that have small cottages and the only one we can find for the night is about $250 a night though it looks very nice and will sleep 6. We pass and keep looking.
We finally try a campground that has some small cabins. The have a cabin for 4 that’s only $40 a night. Of course, there’s a shared bath and toilet that’s a couple of hundred feet away which during the day isn’t an issue. At 3AM it might be a different story. But we’re done and we take it.
There’s a parilla restaurant up the street that we walk to. A parilla is a restaurant that does mostly grilled meat. It’s just opened for the night and it’s filling fast. They have steaks that are the main attaction. We order one each and a bottle of wine.
When the steak arrives it’s enormous. The new york strip style cut must be well over a pound of great looking beef. You comments that it isn’t really a steak. “It’s a small roast!” The local wine is good enough for us to start on a second bottle that we save most of for the next day.
We walk back to the cabin down the the center median walkway on the main drag. What a day. And tomorrow’s going to be another.
Obi-wan