In Perito Moreno
Today was a slow day. It wasn’t intentional, it just turned out that way. We were reluctant to get up, so by the time we had had breakfast, showered, packed up and Dennis had replenished our water supply, it was 11.20. We had quite a long drive, but before we could get on the road we needed to shop, again. As Dennis said, there must be mice in the fridge.
We came through Perito Moreno before, when we came across the border from Chile Chico on our way to Ushuaia. I remembered there was a large supermarket on the outskirts of the town. It’s an Anonima, they seem to have a monopoly as they are the only sizeable supermarket in every place we have been to in Argentina. All the stock is identical, so it has become a bit monotonous.
We could not believe the price of fruit and vegetables. A punnet of strawberries, which in the UK would probably be about £3 was the equivalent of £8. The vegetable selection was poor and they had no blueberries. I had read somewhere that prices were due to go up by 15% in January.
We decided to return to the centre of Perito Moreno as Dennis thought he had seen a fruit and veg. shop. As we were driving down the main street, there was an overlanding vehicle from Ireland in front of us. We pulled up next to them at traffic lights and they wound down their window and asked us to pull over for a chat.
This we did and spent a very convivial half and hour talking to Fiona and Paul. They live in Dublin, although Fiona was born in Sydney, and are widely travelled. They are driving a Toyota Land Cruiser, which they had fitted out in South Africa, and are heading south. We discussed how expensive everything is in Argentina.
Paul and Fiona have advised us the road we are taking up to Gobernador Costa, route 40 still, is extremely pot holed. Not something to look forward to. We have exchanged details and hope they will stay in touch.
Our shopping was still not finished, but soon found the fruit and veg. shop and completed our purchases. On the road, at last, but we had wasted a lot of time and it was now almost 13.00.
On the road, at last.
We decided we would cover a bit of mileage before we stopped for lunch. We were hurtling along when I saw an armadillo stepping out onto the opposite edge of the road. Screeching to a halt we turned around and went back. This is the first live armadillo I have seen and I wanted to photograph it. Of course, there was no sign of it. It had vanished into thin air.
The scenery is all the same. Pampas with tussock type grasses, small plants and a few hardy, stunted shrubs. There is the occasional gateway with a sign for an estancia. Sometimes the estancia can be seen from the road, usually because of the trees surrounding the building to provide a wind break. Often there is no sign of any habitation. The clouds today make more interesting viewing.
After lunch we are bowling along again at around 90 kph when Dennis says he’s seen another armadillo. I’m looking at my phone and not watching. He doesn’t stop as past experience has shown they just disappear.
Road disintegration
Soon we meet a sign telling us the road surface is badly damaged. The potholes Paul and Fiona were talking about. It is so bad that a parallel gravel road has been installed. We drive on the gravel for a bit, but we haven’t prepared for it and let the tyres down. I looks as if the surface is improving so we return to the tar seal. No such luck it continues to be terrible and lasts for some 40 – 50 kms.
This slows us down considerably and so we didn’t arrive in Gobernador Costa until over two hours later than expected. We eventually rolled up at the Municipal Campsite at 18.20. Tonight’s camping has cost us the princely sum of 4,000 pesos, a bit less than £4. It’s a scruffy place though, so I suppose you get what you pay for.
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