Southwards through Patagonia

I don´t get away from Esquel very quickly but I am lucky, the "Old Patagonian Express" is just coming up to the level crossing as I´m leaving town, it only runs one trip a whole week and here it is ! It´s a narrow guage railway (1m) and all that´s left of a much bigger network in Patagonia (it was built during the first world war, they picked it all up cheap, nobody wanted narrow guage in Europe at that time). It has the dubious honour of being the only passenger train ever "flipped over" by the wind alone, perhaps not the best decision in this region !!

20 minutes after I took this picture of the train I stopped to inspect the bike, as I could smell Petrol. The gust of wind rolled it right off the side-stand and for the first time it fell right over. It was a pig to get upright fully loaded, a few scratches and a bent footpeg were the result, note to self: I have to leave it in gear on the side stand ! I learnt the hard way.

A typical scene from the Ruta 40...

The next 2 hours are a battle with the wind, going South on Ruta 40, the first "proper" Patagonian wind I´ve experienced. I´m blown right across the road in strong gusts, fortunately there is no traffic, but it´s a little bit frightening. I also find that a very strong gust from the right and the engine peters out, I can only think that the wind is creating a low pressure across the airbox, not helpful !!!

I have lunch at Tecka, there appears to be nothing here except a local drunk who talks to me (one sidedly...) for 20 minutes. I´m surprised at how quickly it´s become rural, there are NO tourists here, except one ! That night I stop at "Gobnadore Costa", which is little better. I find a strange, cheap, little hotel run by a large South African, the "Hotel Sudafrica" !  Not for the first time I ask for a restaurant and get directed to the cafe at the petrol station (in fact that was all that was open), so, not much of a supper...

The next day is the biggie, 262km of absolutely nothing but Pampas to Sarmiento. It goes OK, thankfully the wind has died down a lot, I see only about 10 cars the entire day. I pass two totally, and recently, abandoned service stations, which would have been useful if still open. I also see two super-speedy tortoises crossing the road in front of me, they turn out to be Armadillos ! too quick to take a picture. Sarmiento turns out to be a something of a dump, it reminds me of Invergarghole in NZ, it´s difficult to find anywhere to stay. What I do find, in the end is horrible, and expensive, with more sandwiches for Supper. I´m having trouble finding proper food to eat in this place, everything is shut (but it is a Sunday), I am literally cheesed off !!  On the way to Sarmiento, by a lake, an Argentinian chap takes an interest. I thought he was about my age but he turns out to have been one of the conscripts in the Malvinas,  I really don´t know what to to say to this information, but he is OK about it. There is an airforce base in Sarmiento, so a few people here were involved in the ´82 conflict.

From Sarmiento it´s 160km East to the Atlantic !! This is an easyish day, the road twists and turns through many productive oil fields, complete with nodding donkeys (well-head pumps) and 10,001 new white Toyota Hiluxes, I could be in Texas !  As I approach the ocean, the weather improves, so I make a snap decision, instead of going 10km North to Comodoro Rivadavia (the wrong way) I decide on 60km South instead, to Caleta Olivia. I´m in for a nasty surprise, Ruta 3, marked as a significant highway on every map I´ve seen (it is the only main road to Patagonia) is nothing of the sort. It´s a just typical two lane road, with no paviemento, and a lot of traffic and a very bad, deformed surface. The fact that there is no paviemento is really significant for me, I can´t get out of the way of the buses and trucks. When the 3rd artic truck has just run me right off the road I have a temper tantrum !! This road is a national disgrace !!

Caleta Olivia is coastal oil town, replete with moored oil tanker just offshore. It takes a while but I find a cheap hotel, the Hotel Capri, unusually they let me ride my bike right down the corridor and I park it outside my room ! how very convenient !

It´s very noisy overnight, vary hard to sleep, lots of people coming and going, I think it maybe one of THOSE hotels...

I think I need a rest so I stay another day, it´s typically a beautiful day, sunny and warm, the first good weather since Bariloche. The day is partially ruined as I try and book a flight home and find that Barclaycard has blocked my card again, at least that´s what I thought at the time, with no Skype it was hard to tell. It turned out to be a fault with Expedia´s website, it caused me a lot of frustration for nothing in the end, I could not book it all.