Now we're getting somewhere

KS- Thursday/Friday

Looking back, the days are almost starting to blur together, but not quite.  Thursday morning, I was laying in my tent, half asleep, when I heard a familiar sound.  One of the workers at the campground was trying to start a weedeater. I remember thinking he couldn't be serious, but he was.  As he started cutting full throttle through the thick grass, I knew sleep was a thing of the past.  Crawling out of my tent, I saw the guy from the next tent, and we both looked at each other, our wrists, and then the guy running the noisemakers.  Don't have to speak Spanish to understand that he was thinking the same thing I was.   Idiot.   Pretty soon Chip rolled out of his tent, expressing the same sentiment.  Soon, he headed off to the bathroom near the tents, a very third world affair. No toilet seats, and generally poor condition.  Luckily I noticed the other guy walk to another building in the camp, looked almost abandoned, but I took the chance and headed that way as well.  He had found the real bathroom, complete with tile floors, and toilet seats. So later on, I did inform Chip to the discovery, but not until after he had succumbed to the quad workout of the seatless crapper.

After the usual morning routine of packing up camp, we headed to the local gas station for breakfast. 
Followed by the twisting of throttles and heading south through the mindless terrain of the Patagonian steppe. We stopped at every gas station we passed,  because you only pass them about every hundred miles or so, miss one, and you're probably pushing.  We began seeing some new forms of wildlife along the roads, first was a Guanaco,  kinda looks like a cross between a deer, and a llama.  Typical herd animal behavior, stand alongside the road, and then scatter when a vehicle approaches, usually away from the road, usually. We saw quite a few herds of them, with their young. Pretty cool looking animals,  wonder what they taste like.  The next one we saw looked like an ostrich, but just a litter shorter. Later we learned they are called rhea,  again they hang out in groups, and tend to scatter when you approach.  Not quite as big as I think an ostrich would be, but certainly big enough to cause you to separate from you motorcycle if you met one head on.  Again, ;I wonder what they taste like.

We finished the day a Bajo Caracoles , a one horse town, missing about three quarters of the horse.  There was a gas station, and a few houses.  We pulled into the gas station to fill up, and were told there was no gas.  And since we'd already ridden 500+km., we didn't have the interest in continuing on. Chip has a smaller tank than my bike, and didn't have enough to make the next town 225km away.  They told us someone was bringing gas in the morning, so we decided that's were we would be for the night.  The hotel, which is also part of the gas station, and restaurant/convenience store, wanted $50 US for a room, with a double bed.  Luckily there is a guy who runs a campground just across the parking lot, and by campground, I mean he lets people setup tents in his yard. And by yard, I mean the sandy area between his house and the fence. You get the picture.  He charged us $5 for the two of us.  Not bad.  So we went back to the only place in town to pass the time with drinks and snacks.  Other bikers were rolling in, only to find out there was no gas until the morning, so the hotel started filing up fast from bikers and cars low on fuel.  We met a couple more Americans that evening (yes people from Mexico to Argentina are all Americans technically) Sid from Colorado, and Mia from Washington.   They both camped in the same yard as us, but with variable entry fees.  Sid, being a retired gentleman from Colorado, was charged 250 pesos, vs our 100 for the two of us.  Mia, being a middle aged woman (her words, not mine) was charged nothing, and was offered tea and breakfast in the morning by our camp host, who constantly walked around whistling a tune. He was a very good whistler, even if we didn't know the song. 

This morning we woke up and packed out gear, awaiting the gas delivery.  When we pulled the bikes over to the sticker covered gas pumps, the owner flipped the switch on the pumps and started filling our bikes.  At first we thought he was running a scam,  shutting off the pumps in the afternoon to drum up business for his over priced establishment.  Then I noticed the pickup truck hooked to a homemade trailer sitting behind the pumps.  He had a 300gallon plastic tote in each the truck, and trailer, as well as about 3 55gallon drums in the trailer.  Apparently someone makes the 100mile run about once a day or so to bring gas to the station, fine by me, as long as the stuff burns and we make it to the next pump.   Once the bikes were filled,  Sid, Mia, Chip and myself headed out together to the next town 225k away.  Very uneventful ride, nice weather, but a touch cool. 

Arriving at the next town, we all gassed up again and hung out a bit, discussing where everyone was going next. Chip and I were heading to El Calafate,  the others were stopping at a different town.  All of our routes are heading towards Ushuaia, so we could probably cross paths later on somewhere.  Mia decided her bike needed an oil change, and after purchasing 2 quarts of overpriced oil, rolled her bike around the corner of the gas station and proceeded to do the job.  Got to say,  I was impressed.  Sid was going to search for the ever elusive working ATM,  so Chip and I decided to head on down the road.   Saying our goodbyes, we left out of town on a rocky road that soon turned back, into pavement.   Later on, we ran into a construction site on Ruta 40 that lasted almost 70km,  It was nasty loose rock, deep in places, with plenty of washboards on the hills.  Chip took the wiser approach by slowing down and picking his way through.  I on the other hand, decided that speed was the answer as I slid and waved my way down the gravel road, aided by the 40+ mph crosswinds that did a wonderful job of knocking you off your preferred line into deeper rocks.  By the time it was all said and done,  Chip had stopped to help another rider pick up his BMW GS that just crashed in front of him,  and I stopped at the end of the gravel section, to find my chainguard bracket broken and flopping around.  Out comes the toolkit, off comes what's left of the chainguard.   Met back up with Chip, and down the road we go, fighting the notorious Patagonian winds but on an easer, paved, battleground.

After passing beautiful mountain views, and amazing emerald colored lakes and streams, we arrived in El Calafate.  There was a long line of cars at the gas station, due to the power being out, so we proceeded to a nearby campground, where the power was also out. After getting a campsite and setting up our tents in close quarters, it is a weekend after all in a tourist town, during peak vacation season, it was time to relax.  We cooked our dinner at the picnic table, and discussed our plans for tomorrow.  Should be pretty cool, but you'll have to read about it later.  Our days here are winding down,  the end is in sight,  but were not there yet.

Sorry for the lack of pictures,  it seems that good internet is not easy to find here,  I'm running all this off my phone, which can't quite handle the pictures.  Don't worry, we'll put some up one of these days.