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Published: December 31st 2008
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Christmas walk
The beaches of Necochea were nice, not too crowded, nice to see the sun again. The water was pretty cold and sometimes it was super windy...and smelled a bit fishy. Christmas was pretty low-key here...just took a walk, sat on the beach, etc. Not much to speak about, in terms of biking lately.
Last week, we tried to say 'adios' to Necochea and biked out of town and 18km down Ruta 228. The wind had changed again, just in time to maintain a head wind for us. After a short break to swear and complain about the crazy bus and truck drivers, we took another short break in the shade this time, to complain and swear some more.
Sitting there, we forged a new plan. Instead of biking for weeks to get out of the Pampas, dodging huge agricultural trucks every 20 seconds or less as well as trying to steer clear of heat exhaustion and dehydration...we headed back to Necochea, pronto. Bought tickets immediately for Villa Regina, a small town on the Rio Negro. We had to spend a few more days at the Miguel Lillo campground in Necochea...but were happy to be safe and happy. Also! Met a guy from Alaska in the bus station in Necochea! The first American-looking tourist we had seen since Buenos Aires...and we see this guy with Teva sandals and an REI bag. Mark asks him, '¿De donde es?' and he stutters a bit...his spanish
At one end of the beach
...there was this old, concrete structure. What was it for, not sure... is worse than ours. Very nice to talk with him for a few minutes before taking the bus.
So now, we sit in Bariloche on this New Years Eve. We talked the bus driver into letting us stay on the bus a bit longer until Neuquén, then got out there and immediately bought tickets for the next bus to Bariloche. Sounds like we weren´t so excited to bike, eh? Righto. We saw little for water or shade on the way into Villa Regina, and same for Neuquén (in fact, I´ve never seen a sunrise quite like the one on the bus ride that morning. Completely flat landscape in all directions, no vegetation or a bump in it to put a wrinkle on the horizon.). And even the bus ride to Bariloche was incredibly barren and desolate. Not only lacking in water or shade, but lacking in towns to even purchase water.
You can say we are happy to be here. People don´t think we are aliens here, there seems to be a population of cyclists and hikers, etc. Hay muchas turistas tambien. We´ve heard several english-speakers in stores and shops, not even attempting to greet or question in
Llegamos a Bariloche
The main Centro Cívica, with Argentinian flag...and teenagers. spanish. In comparison with these saps, we feel pretty happy with our meager attempts to communicate. We are using the guides and maps that Ale gave us back in Coronal Vidal...they are very helpful as I lost our Atlas de Rutas the other day.
Bariloche is an interesting town. Beautiful landscapes, very convenient shops (the grocery stores even sell tortillas here), and...lots of chocolate shops. I just ate some, actually. MMM, mentitas. It seems we have arrived at an interesting time too, when every high schooler in the country has also arrived on their break from school to have fun, apparently without much chaparoning. Huge mobs of teenagers roam the streets together, shouting and chanting things. At first we thought they were excited about our bikes, now we think it is just some kind of school cheering squads traveling together, or ___(fill in the blank).
Ah, back to biking. The big part of our trip. Why haven´t I mentioned much about it lately. We´ve tried biking between town and our campsite here, and I´m starting to understand why people think we´re crazy for riding bikes here. The main road (the only one to the campsites)...is ...is...like operating a
Landscapes like home
Feels sort of like Alaska...at a distance. ham slicer in the deli (or so says Mark), except we´re the ham. So...I´m having difficulty describing it. There are many cars, no shoulder, lots of curves, beautiful scenery, drivers looking all over except at the road, mobs of teenagers, bus drivers who have lost common sense...etc. It is less than enjoyable, and that is just for five km getting into and out of town. Becuase we are vacation, we locked up the bikes at our campsite and took the bus today.
It is sad to take a break from bikes, but biking on that road is loco. No need for stress. We´re taking a few days to reconsider the options, ask around about traffic and roads in Chile as well as let Mark's ITband rest up (it was starting to become really painful when we tried leaving Necochea).
For New Year´s, we just ate lunch at an Irish Pub. Tonight we are enjoying a BBQ with our Uruguayan campsite neighbors, we have to go pick up una colita de cuadril at the butcher to contribute. We´ll let you know what this is when we find out. Happy New Years!
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TKr
non-member comment
Awww you named the last post after Jackson! (had to say that before Peter did). We'll toast you two tonight, we miss you. I'll update my blog with the latest craftiness tomorrow. In the meantime, tell us how the Uruguayan barbecue goes. Happy New Year!!!!!