Dog on Wheels Tour - Diary - Argentinia (Nov07-Jan08)

1.11.2007 (Buenos Aires):

We have arrived!
After spending 11 days in Madrid running around trying to organise spare parts for the bike and our broken stove, health certificate for Tarmo, bike boxes and about 1001 other bits and bobs, we were ready for the Bahamas!
We managed to get everything to the airport, but there we had to box my bike and the trailer. Then after hopping from one desk to the other checking in first the ´normal´luggage', then paying Tarmos fare (ouch!) , we had to hand in Tarmo and the bikes. It was not a nice moment seeing Tarmo disappear down the luggage chute.
At least we saw him being lifted into the aeroplane, so we knew he was on board.
On the Argentinian side the customs were very painless; we just had to hand in his health certificate and out we rolled. Tarmo was pretty confused and just curled up in a ball in a corner whilst we tried to put our bikes back together again. It took us over three hours! Somehow various parts just did not want to go back into their old position. Quite a nerve test when you are overtired and hungry. But in the end we were set and ready. The bikes are not quite the same, but not necessarily worse.
Though we did have to keep stopping and adjusting saddles, low riders and handlebars.
Whilst we were trying our best at being mechanics, people would stop now and then and ask some questions or give us advice on what to see in Argentinia or how to get away from the airport. We should have no problems here in improving our Spanish!
We are now about 40km southwest of the airport at the beginning of the route 3 which we are planning to follow down to Patagonia.
Here we have also experienced the helpfulness of the locals. We have been accompanied around town in search for a cheap accommodation and we have also had an interview and a photo taken from a newspaper journalist!
Tarmo is back to normal again.
And after a decent night's sleep in a proper bed, I think we will be as well tomorrow!

8.11.2007 (Sierra de la Ventana):

The first week is over and it feels as if we have been here for ages. We have seen armadillos, iguanas, sheep in mouse costumes and loads of big birds. The sheep in disguise were actually the worlds largest rodent. It looks very bizarre and well out of proportion.
The first few days cycling were pretty strenuous, one day we were just crawling along fighting against the strong headwind. But since then our luck has turned and we have had some nice days cruising along.
We are now in a small town in the hills called Sierra de la Ventana. Unfortunately it has been a very wet and cold day, the clouds hid most of the peaks. Tomorrow we will have a closer look at the hills and do a bit of hiking before heading down to the city Bahia Blanca.
The landscape has finally changed. The first 6 days we only had plains and cows. Now we have hills and cows.

16.11.2007 (Viedma):

Another week has passed and looking at the argentinian map it looks as if we are crawling forwards. Luckily we have enough time

When travelling you often find that certain topics are typical for certain countries. In India it was, well, maybe I shouldn´t mention that topic here.... Anyway, in Argentinia it is for sure the wind. And if you are mad enough to cycle around the country, then it is for sure the topic number one. What a huge influence it has on us! Two days back we were fighting against headwind, Jochen swearing and me trying to remember what exactly the reasons were for choosing bicycles as our form of transport. Then the next day the wind changed and we were sailing away, managed 198km with not much effort and loving every minute of it.

25.11.2007 (Penninsula Valdes):

Oooooh, the wind! It never sleeps! Though one day it did help us to a lift on the back of a small lorry. The driver couldn't imagine anyone wanting to cycle through the bare pampa, without a hope of reaching a town that day. So he stopped and asked us if we wanted a lift. Of course we did! What a great change! A bit too much for our bikes, they tried to take off twice. Two water-bottles managed to escape.
The wildlife is just as incredible as the wind. We cycled (well, crawled to be precise) to the penninsula Valdes to see some sea life. We had a stretch of 80km against strong headwind and no food. From 9am until 4pm we only managed 50km. It was soo strenuous. Poor Tarmo had to do quite a bit of trotting. When we finally reached a small information centre, we were shattered. The chocolate at the centre that we were promised turned out to be hot chocolate. No food. So Jochen filled his stomach with hot chocolate. Some friendly tourists told us about the storm that was coming. Great!
Luckily we could convince the staff that it was not possible for us to reach the only village on the peninsula, 27 km away. So they let us sleep in their watch tower. When the storm swept over us in the night, we were very happy to have a dry and safe place.
The peninsula is a great place to watch wildlife. We see whales every day, yesterday we also saw penguins, just 1 meter away from us, also sea elephants, lamas, weird hare-guinea-pig-deer-kind of animals (madras). And some cows.
It would be a great place to relax, though unfortuntely not very safe. Jochen had his purse stolen, with visa card and some cash. A bag was also stolen with spare parts together with tools from another bag and Jochen's sandals (yummy).
The bag is the worst, we will not be able to find a bike bag here.
On the other hand, it could have been worse....

10.12.2007 (Esquel):

We have arrived on the west side of Argentinia and have now cycled more than 6.000km. Someone could have told us that cycling from the east to the west means constant head wind....
But at least we now see some more colours besides the constant brown of the pampa.
Here we have snowpeaked mountains, blue lakes and beautiful forests. What a difference to the east coast!
Although the last few days on the penninsula were really nice. We met up with some Swiss travellers and had a really nice time with them. BBQs in the evening, a round trip in their vans across the penninsula and even a lift from the penninsula to the next town. We would have had head wind again....
First we had to buy a new bag that we could attach somehow to the bike. Now our monotonous orange coloured bags have now a black one amidst them, makes finding the right bag a bit easier.
From Trelew we headed west, slowly leaving the dry, brown pampa behind us. After 5 days of battling against the wind, and one night of seeking shelter under a bridge, we were asked by an argentinian couple travelling in a motorhome if we would like a lift across the other half. What luck! It was the windest day ever and we wouldn´t have been able to cycle at all. We spent a nice day with them at a lakeshore with beautiful views on the snowcovered mountains and had a nice hike in the forest close by. It was great to see yellow and red flowers, green trees, blue lakes...
Though the wind is even stronger here ;-(

19.12.2007 (El Hoyo):

I promise this time not to mention the wind!
We are currently in a small village called El Hoyo, close to the hippie town El Bolson.
We spent a few nice days with an argentinian family in Esquel. We met the son three times on our tour in Argentinia, he was on a nine months motorbike-tour through South America. On the last evening they prepared a huge meat-grill (parilla), of course argentinian style for Jochen. Since I am a veggie, I enjoyed preferred to eat a salad, it was really good!
From Esquel we cycled through the nationalpark "Los Alerces". We spent three nights on three different lakeshores. It was beautiful. Well, except the road, that was pretty tough, a dirt road with gravel.
On the way here we stopped over at the huts from Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid. They were pretty hard to find, signposts seem to be unheard of here.
Today we visited a nice waterfall and tomorrow we are heading off to look at some hippies

See, no mention of the ever-present wind

31.12.2007 (El Bolsón):
A Happy New Year to all of you!
We will be celebrating the New Year with the other two visitors of a campsite a bit north of the hippie town El Bolsón around the campfire. Nice food (and of course drink!), a clear river infront of us (our drinking water), stars above us, mountains and forests around us. And maybe even fresh fish if we Jochen can get the hang of fishing

The last four days we spent hiking in the mountains around us. We were accompanied by the American Richard. We hiked from hut to hut, saw a glaciar, waterfalls, cristall clear streams, condors, a giant-chinchilla, beautiful forests and great views over valleys. We camped next to the huts and cooked on a campfire.
Tarmo went nearly crazy when he finally saw snow again! He rolled in it, jumped and ran around and was a very happy dog! Even the hiking in the forests where much more to his liking then being towed along roads.
We wish you all a very Happy New Year and may you have the strength to follow through any of your resolutions!

15.1.2008 (Bariloche):

We are on tour again! After spending nearly three weeks on the farm of the german family, we have now arrived in Bariloche.
After New Year the family needed a bit of help on their farm (chacra) and as we had some time on our hands (ha!) we decided to help them. The work was mainly bringing down tree trunks from a slope. Very different work compared to my last job!
It was interesting to see what it really means to start up a new life in a foreign country.
In the meantime the great holiday season has started, it seems as if all the argentinians are on a move. Since we are in a touristic area, it is a bit of a shock to the system.
We will try to move a bit faster over to the chilean border. But first we need to sort out the documents for Tarmo.