A Million Minutes in Africa

Towering towers of granite tower above us.

Rheas everywhere.  These giant flightless birds are quite common throughout parts of Argentina and Chile. Taste like chicken.

Man, that is one goofy-looking rhea. Sheesh.

Ripio is the Argentine word for gravel road.  We have driven thousands (at least two thousand we figure, but who´s counting?) of miles on the stuff.  Long stretches in Argentina are just straight with gently rolling hills. There is a portion of Route 40 between Bajo Caracoles and El Chalten that is 200 miles with only a few estancias (large ranches) and not a lot else.  No gas stations, no Burger Kings, no nothing.  You can cruise at highway speed on the gravel and it is a heck of a lot of fun when the truck starts to drift sideways.

Glaciers galore! The ice is blue and it tastes like chicken.

rain, clouds, bites

Population 31.  This place is in the middle of nowhere and consists of a gas station, hotel, hostel, campground and police station.  We got a room at the hotel and sat down for a coffee.  Who should walk in but Chris, a Canadian motorcyclist we met on Feb. 1 at the Peru-Bolivia border.  He had already ridden down to Ushuaia and was on his way back north.  Small world, or at least there are a limited number of routes for people doing this trip. 

Don’t go here.  It’s a not-so-attractive, overpriced town where the cabanas are full of earwigs.  Ick! 

So, I like boats. Whatcha gonna do ’bout it?

It’s rainy in March along the Carretera Austral. However, that didn’t stop us from visiting Parque Pumalin, a privately owned park with trails and a visitors’ center. It’s something like a national park, only maintained better and without an admission charge. The man behind it is American billionaire Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of Esprit, the clothing company. We hiked a few trails there — Sendero Alerces, Sendero Tronador, and Sendero Cascadas. Fern-coated tree trunks fill the temperate rainforest here, and there’s no shortage of scenic waterfalls. We also saw our first fiord.

Had lunch in the high-quality organic restaurant in the park – yum.

There ain’t nothin’ around here except trees, lakes, glaciers and rough roads, so don’t worry if we don’t post or return emails for a few days.

(posted from the lonely little town of Chaiten)

 I guess someone likes his boat.

Here is what a little roadtrip will do to an air filter. The white one is new, the brown one has seen a lot of gravel and diesel fumes.