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Published: March 21st 2006
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Mar del Plata
It wasn^t such a bad place, they have a nice sanitarium. I actually had to ask the lady at the bus station where I was! But it is here on the list of options at travelblog.org. kooky.
Soooo. It´s been a few weeks since writing last, and to sum it up- I was exploring Buenos Aires with my personal trainer Maria, who was able to rip the fat right off my body with loads of vegetables and excersize. It´s a tough life on the road.
Oh, and in case you are following the search for a decent fish dinner, I found it. Of course it helps if you can get into a locals house and eat with them, because you won´t find it at a restaurant. Not without breaking the budget. A nice merluza with tomato, sweet peppers, lemon, and salt. Really nicely cooked. I have been eating well these past few weeks, muchas gracias to the Mezzadra Family!
I was forced to leave due to the changing weather down in the south, I really need to be down there soon to avoid the snow. A bit off schedule (a few weeks or so), but not to worry. After much advice to stay away from the road to Mar
Cali or Argi?
North Malibu or North Miramar? del Plata I took a bus the 400 km. It didn´t seem that bad and it had a large shoulder to ride on, though the scenery didn´t change the entire time. It´s flat. With grasslands. And cows. And horses. Think Texas, looks like East Texas but lasts like West.
So I arrive in MdP, scrounge around for a hotel for the night (some said no to me having a bicycle) at a decent price. Everything was tiny and scummy. Doesn´t surprise me, as it reminds me of every East Coast beach town. Tacky lights and all you can eat buffets that are great if you like the food on cheap cruise liners. It also reminded me of Las Vegas with the rich and poor and beggers all mixed together wandering a neon lit strip. I´m not even gonna waste bandwidth with pictures of the place. Just look at a tourist guide to Myrtle Beach. And double the amount of people you see on the beach.
I fled south along route 88 for Miramar. A nice quiet road with amazing views of the coastline. Think Malibu, but without the houses slapped all over the place. Absolutely gorgeous! Cliffs and
I believe
My tree hugging isn^t so friendly, some people were grinding their trees. I like to keep it a bit more formal. fishermen on mopeds.
Miramar is a compressed little town out of season, with quiet streets and a few high rise buildings downtown. 4 km outside of town is a place called Energy Point. It´s a large grove of trees that block out most of the sunlight and cause twigs to balance on top of each other. This energy will transfer to you if you take off your shoes and hug a tree for a bit. I fell for it and hugged a tree. And then got bit by the hordes of flies in the grove. I encourage folks to visit.
Talk to Polo at the stand with the ducks, he doesn´t speak english but he dragged me all over town on his moped trying to find an american that lived down there. Maybe someday he will be able to get 2 americans together in his town to speak to each other. I never really did figure out why. The particulars of Castellano still elude me- especially intentions.
That afternoon I was able to make it to Mar del Sur. A quiet, not quite dead, town. It was here that I saw the Hotel Atlantico. (cue scary music)
Mar del Sur
A town so slow even the dogs don^t move for the cars. This hotel is run down but owned by a nice man who used to work here back in the 50´s. The hotel fell into disrepair over the years and he bought it in 1991. Then just as he started to rebuild, a former member of the Triple A death squad by the name of Solo showed up and forced him at gunpoint to sign over the deed. Which he wisely did. Solo brought in darkness with him and eventually ran up debts with the local electrical coop. The coop representative came for the money but was sent away with threats and curses. Then a few weeks later the rep picked up a hitchiker and was shot 5 times in the head. Solo was found to have hired someone to kill the rep and was arrested.
Now Solo is in jail and the owner has possesion of the hotel. It took 7 years and unfortunately death squad members are not so good at home repair. The place is falling apart and may be condemned. If you are interested in getting into the hotel business this opportunity might be for you- especially if you are good with a hammer. And
Hotel Atlantico
It just seems SO inviting.... masonry. And a bit of plumbing/electrical work. But what a history!
The next day I left from there and headed south across 18 km of dirt road and then 50 some km into a 15knot headwind with massive semitrucks flying by a few inches away. I like to call this death´s highway. Nothing around, no food, no water, no space to ride. Oh, and then the temperature decided to drop. Quickly. And the sun started to get closer to the horizon with no towns in sight. Finally I camped it just to get out of the wind. As darkness fell, I could see the town lights just over the horizon- guess those weren´t just granaries. But I was glad I stopped because I wouldn´t have found a hotel before dark, and because of a promise I made I won´t ride on these roads after dark.
Oh and due to the fact that I was camped next to a road, I recieved the usual middle of the night visit from the local police. 5 am and I´m awoken to find not one but two trucks full of police surrounding my tent. They must have some vicious bicyclists around these
Hotel Atlantico backside
Just a bit of paint and spackle, good as new! parts. After explaining what I was doing and showing my passport, they were friendly and took turns calling me crazy and getting back in their trucks. Somehow I think that most people down here are going to consider Americans crazy after this trip.
Today I decided that I don´t want to repeat the ¨dear god i´m going to die!¨ with the drivers from yesterday, and bought a bus ticket for Rawson. 16 hours away. or 16 days by bicycle. I´ve been hit by too many vehicles to want to get splattered down here where I can´t even tell them what hurts. How do you say,¨My spleen hurts!¨, in castellano?
Besides it´s more civilized to travel by bus. And I can save my money for eating. MMMMMM. foood.
Hasta luego, mi amigos, I must find some tea.
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