Dancing around

Dear future me,

Still lying on my bed of rocks in Patagonia park, I did manage to sort of sleep until five o’clock in the morning. Feeling quite safe, because up till then I didn’t know I was sleeping in puma country. Anyway, with a sheep skin to cover my face for the cold and the howling of the wind around me, I wouldn’t have noticed anyway if a puma would have been sniffing around. I did want to be awake though as the morning was about to come, just in case a car would come to my rescue. When finally I heard a car engine, I wasn’t fast enough to get myself some light, but the car did see me and moved around me. Only to vanish in the dark again. What happened just right now?? Is this the grand Argentinean hospitality? Totally flabbergasted, I just lay down again. But after 10 minutes I heard the same car come back. The four guys inside the car probably had a discussion about the situation and decided to turn around to help me. Getting my bike back up and giving me some water for my thirsty bike. Ready to pack up again, I waited until the sun appeared to have enough light. Meanwhile I saw herds of Guanaco’s and Nandu’s on the horizon and running rabbit-like Mara’s. What an amazing place to see the sunrise! Even the wind felt humble and laid down for a while. So my first morning in Argentina was fabulous! After my breakfast of some dried fruits, I conquered the last kilometers to the pavement. Only to find that my bike really got stubborn and buckled on me on the last stretch to the habituated area of Baja Caracoles.

If you need gasoline, you are very lucky to find it there. If you need coffee or food, you just have to wait until 11.00 am. If you need a mechanic or transport to civilization, too bad….there is nothing. The only thing I had going for me was the true spirit of the Chilean and Argentinean people who stop at Baja Caracoles. En masse they started to help me. Another motor biker got everybody to do something: getting my radiator out to establish where it is pinched, using egg (whites) to come up with a temporary sealing. Getting people in cars to follow me to Perito Moreno, which lies 130 km further north, to provide water for refilling my radiator. Fortunately, in the end, that was not necessary, because a truck came by that happened to carry cars on a trailer. So in the afternoon, after a good coffee, I found myself in the car of Olivia who lives in Perito Moreno while my motorcycle was on a big trailer. Feeling exhausted, it was the biggest embrace that the Argentineans (and Chileans truck drivers) could give me in this situation.

And the start of a great entrance to Argentina! Perito Moreno was my home for at least ten days, while I was finding a true friend in Olivia and her lovely family. Her boyfriend (Rodrigo) happens to be a guide in a motorcycle group that I met on the Chilean site of the border and again in Baja Caracoles. He offered me to stay in his house in Perito Moreno. And in the company of Olivia, I was completely spoiled with amazing food and many cherished get-togethers with her sons, daughter in law, grandson and sister. As Olivia and I are from the same generation, we had a lot in common and we loved to dance at night on 80’s and 90’s music. While grandson Francesco showed us his breakdance moves. During the day I tried to keep things calm. Olivia was working and I was alone with Pipa the dog and the 2 months old cat. The Patagonia wind was raging outside all day long and I was feeling miserable with my back killing me. So I introduced beautiful nature videos with meditation music to this household to enlighten the spirits (and keep the cat calm). I even got the energetic Olivia to feel peaceful, in between her many jobs and the astonishing social chatting skills. But hey, the Argentineans have their own way to create peaceful moments. The call it Mate. Whenever you see an Argentinean, they always carry a handbag that fits a Mate cup, a Bombilla and a Thermos. And if they lose one of these things, like the Bombilla, while walking in Patagonia park, you can enjoy the sight of heavy distressed Argentineans. Thankfully I could find the Bombilla with my eagle eye sight and get the Sunday spirit back in their eyes.

While a mechanic, called Doctor Moto, was sending my radiator over to a place some 400 kilometers away from here, I got myself a little bit repaired as well with the helpful hands of a masseur and many warm foot baths. But in the end, it also helped to get out of the house and meet with fellow bikers who happen to cross Perito Moreno on their way to the South. Or visiting Los Antiguos in the West, the Cherry entrance to Argentina. Or to hike into Cañon Pinturas to get to Cuave the Los Manos on the other side and gasp at 9000-year-old cave paintings. After 10 days of feeling at home in Perito Moreno, I decided I had to get myself going again. But that came with a heartbreak as well, because it is always hard to say goodbye to people that came into your heart. The downside of travelling is to meet a lot of great people only to say ‘ciao’ again. I think the Patagonia gods were upset with me for that, because in the next days they really gave all they have to knock me down. Apart from the constant wind that makes you see the world from a 45-degree angle, trucks pass by and punch you in the face. But the Patagonian gods underestimated this woman from the lower country where wind is as normal as is the rain. So you can throw whatever you want at me, I smile and keep on dancing around on the road. Like a boxer who is avoiding a knock-out. And so I danced my way to Rada Tilly, to meet another hospitable Argentinean biker. And I tangoed to Trelew to enjoy Dinosaurs of the old age and the Welch settler’s high tea. And finally I Malamboed myself to Puerto Madryn to ogle at marine wildlife.

See ya later,

Annemieke