Motorcycle Trip!

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Ok. So it turns out that Bariloche isn’t all that boring after all. This week I had two Tango lessons, went mountain biking and rented a motorcycle for the entire weekend. The motorcycle was obviously the highlight of the week (or trip even?) but I have become happy with Barilcohe and all the fun that the city has to offer. I guess that I will begin with the Tango.

I took a few lessons in Buenos Aires so I have a little bit of a clue on how to dance. Two of the girls from Holland, Jo and Elisabeth, invited me to come and I was more than happy to go. Tango dancing is challenging yet rewarding when you can finally get it right. I think that the place was a little small for the amount of people dancing but we figured it out. Elisabeth made me go into the intermediate group and we began to learn some new steps. The Sandwich, Ocho, and one other that I can’t remember the name of. As always, the man has to do most of the work but I kind of like that part of Tango. I think the women like it as well. I may not know the moves that well but I can lead the women where she needs to go. As long as no one is watching my feet we look pretty good. That was Tuesday night and we went again on Thursday. It is a great workout and only cost five dollars. We plan on going next week as well. It is really great to have a dance partner so that we can avoid the unwanted pickup partners. Old men/women. Kind of creepy yah know.

Wednesday was mountain biking. I was thinking that it was going to be easy because it was a school event but I was wrong. The ride took about five hours and most of it was straight up a mountain. There were times where we would go down massive hills but I would have to say about 75% was me being in the lowest gear pedaling as fast as I could. Our guide, Mateus, is really into riding so I guess that he chose a moderately difficult path. Don’t get me wrong, it was great. We saw an old Swiss Colony, Colonial Suissa, a retirement home for the overly weathly, and one of the most expensive hotels in South America, Llao Llao. I will post a picture of the hotel, really amazing. At one point the entire area where the hotel is located was destroyed by fire. They built the hotel on the land so that it would be completely secluded and only the exclusive would be allowed to stay. We had to get permission just to ride out bicycles through the parking lot. Towards the end we were going down a tight path with loose dirt when Ellen, a fellow American, fell and broke her arm. Only a hairline fracture but they still put her in a cast. I feel really bad for her now because she cant do anything except go out to eat or just sit around. That night one of my classmates ,Brian, told me about a casino in town. We went there despite my tiredness and played a few games. No poker but the did have video poker and man, is it cheap. They have nickel slots in the denomination of pesos so divide 5 by three and that’s how much I had to pay per game in cents. We sat there for awhile before we were both bored and went to a bar. I didn’t make it long because I was so damn tired. The next day I decided to figure out my plans for the weekend.

When I first came to Bariloche I was trying to figure out the motorcycle when I met Mike, the owner of Bariloche Moto Tours. They normally didn’t rent out bikes for weeks, but only rented them for guided/ planned tours. I guess I gave them a good impression because he told me I could have it for the weekend. I was really excited but had no clue where to go. They (Mike and his wife Sofie) told me to head south for a good weekend ride and stay in a town called Trevelen. I would go through a national park and would be riding on some gravel/dirt roads. It sounded cool so I made it my plan. I picked up the bike at around 9 on Saturday and headed out. There really aren’t traffic laws here in Argentina so that scared me a little bit but once I got out of the city I didn’t run into any problems with other vehicles at all. Some a pretty slow going up the mountains but I easily went around them. The roads going out of the mountains were well kept and twisty. The landscape was amazing to look at but I had to concentrate on the intricate roads too much to get a great look. Saturday I was pretty worried that I wouldn’t get to Trevelin before sundown so I was really moving on the smooth stuff. I stopped in El Bolsen for gas and picked up some groceries for lunch. I had about an hour before I hit the rough stuff. Mike had told me about the road. It had fresh gravel on it and I had to be careful about hidden ruts. If your tire goes into one it is like quicksand and will just take your front wheel from you. I didn’t run into any real deep ones but nevertheless, it was quite difficult to maneuver on these roads. I tried to find the tracks of cars for the smoothness of them but it was neatly impossible and I was forced to just creep along sometimes. After awhile I came to some smoother roads but something was wrong with the feel of the bike. I found a tiny town called Cholila that was occupied by cowboys with French berets, and pulled into a gas station. It was one of the only buildings in town but had a garage and a pretty nice owner. Never did catch his name. A guy with only one hand. I pulled up to the pump and he came out to fill up the bike. He started saying something to me and pointed at the front wheel. Crap, I had a flat. I had a little bit of the “oh shit” feeling but It was still fairly early and I was in a town at least. The station had a mechanic and we took the front wheel off together. With great speed this guy took the tire off, found the puncture, repaired it and put the wheel back on. I’m talking 15 minutes. I was amazed. I asked how much and he said doce. 12 pesos, 4 Dollars! I gave him twenty and thought that it would be a little weird if I hugged him. I took off and in about 30 minutes made it to the national park. The road into the park was still only dirt and I really wonder how some the cars made it into that place. Steep roads and big rocks were everywhere. A couple of times I almost ate it pretty bad. I came of the seat one time and have no clue how I pulled out of the slide. I was going pretty slowly on that one though so I would have come out of it with only bruises. The bike was setup pretty nicely with a crash cage so the damage would have been minimal. I had about 60 km of rough roads through the park and I didn’t get out of there until around 5:30. I was getting tired. I wanted to just zone out like in a car but I had to concentrate to keep the bike from falling over. I liked the park because there were few people and the view was absolutely amazing. I tried to take pictures but I was pressed for time to get to the hostel before too late. I made it to paved road and not too long after, Trevelin. I heard from a few people that this hostel was the best in Argentina. It was called Casa Verde, the green house. I talked to the people there and was given bad news. There was only one spot left and it was in a room with 3 girls. I had no problem with it but I guess one the girls did. They called the next town over and sent me to stay at the hostel there. Esquiel is a small ski town with a great view. I checked into the hostel and paid the 35 pesos. I met a Canadian and a Colombian guy and we went to dinner at a pizza joint. It was about 8 o’clock and I was absolutely exhausted. I told myself that I would stay awake until nightfall, 10pm. It was hard but I made it. I talked with a couple from BsAs, a Lawyer and a Musician. Really neat couple. They both barley spoke English but I figured out what they were saying and vice versus. We drank one of the massive beers they have here in Argentina and I went to bed. I think it was really noisy in the open bay hostel but I never woke up. I slept for nine hours, hard sleep too. So nice. I woke up and headed straight out. Someone blocked me in with another motorcycle so I had to work to get the massive motorcycle out of the parking spot. I decided on taking the highway this time instead of the dirt roads. I nice ride with wide open land and mountains on the horizon. I made it home in 4 hours. Now I am trying to figure out what to do with the bike now. I have until 7 tonight. I want to take one of the Dutch girls for a ride but I think they are scared of it, or me maybe.

My Spanish is progressing nicely and I can now convey my messages to people a little better. I have to write a four page paper in a month so it will need to get better in that amount of time. I am missing the states less and less everyday. Who knows, maybe I will just live here forever. Patagonia is pretty damn nice. Until next time. -Chau Eric

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Comments

[Mike]

Sounds incredible!
That trip sounds like so much fun, man! I would have loved to have been there! I think I might need a few more years experience before I take on roads like that!! I'm glad you're having a great time, keep writing man! See ya!