Picking up the truck and leaving Buenos Aries.
Mike and I got a cab right in front of the hotel after checking out to go pick up the truck. It was apparent the guy had no idea where we were going. There was much talking back and forth between the door man at the hotel and the cabby. The only thing that I figured out was coachay must mean truck as the doorman kept pointing to us, saying coachay and making a driving motion like he was steering a car with his hands.
15 minutes later we pulled up at a race track and the cabby turned to us, smiled and said “coachay” while pointing at the race track. Mike who has significantly more Spanish under his belt then me. (He has one year of JC Spanish in 94) was doing a much better job of communicating then I was.
We chatted with the cabby for a while who was still at a loss and it wasn’t until I drew a map that he started to figure out where we were supposed to be. 20 minutes later we arrived at the coach rental place.
I took a picture of the truck and will upload it into the blog when I get home. It’s a Ford Ranger with a large camper shell. It comes equipped with a small fridge, and a single burner, silver and plates for 2, pots and pans, and a plug. It had all the amenities of home.
It actually took us a lot longer to check out then I thought. There was a lot to cover. Rules of the road as well as safety issues and getting the thing paid for. At any rate, it was a good hour and half. We got on the road at about 1pm.
It’s a little difficult to explain what was going on emotionally as we pulled out of the lot. We had both seen the way people drive here and we knew that the lines on the road were merely suggestions or perhaps a sort of brail guide system for the blind because they sure weren’t there for the general population to use.
The language barrier became even blindingly more apparent as we pulled onto the highway. We had taken, oh I don’t know, 5 minutes before we pulled out of the yard to plan our route for the next 6 hours and we had it pretty dialed accept the simple little step of getting out of Buenos Aries. Literally within 2 minutes we were on the wrong highway. This was not nearly as interesting as trying not to get killed by the other maniacs on the road. BTW, when you do get lost, it's a little exciting because u turns are illegal here.
As we buzzed down the wrong highway we saw a Elwallmarto on the side of the road. There is something oddly comforting about seeing a chain you’re familiar with in a foreign country. We decided to pull over and take care of our camping needs. 750 pesos or 250 US and we were back on the road. Simple shopping list:
Eggs, coffee, cereal, milk, juice, yogurt, a lot of water, meats, fruits, bread, condiments, a cooler, pasta and sauce.
We were back on the road. On the highway, off the highway, in the residential zone, making u turns and driving the wrong way up one way streets. An hour and a half later we were out of Buenos Aries and undaunted by are unplanned tour of several neighborhoods. We were smiling and laughing, the tension of driving in a big city faded from us both as we shot down the road toward Fresno…
We were headed south west towards Santa Rosa. It was really about 2:30 as we left Buenos. We headed out across the country and I kid you not, it was exactly like driving to Fresno or anywhere in the central valley of California. Beautiful but, it was a lot of driving, 700km the first day. By the time we pulled into Santa Rosa, it was dark, and it was about midnight. Keeping with the spirit of the trip, we haven’t made any reservations anywhere. We did discover a few things on our trip between the cities.
1. The GPS unit is off. It puts us from 50 to several housand feet from our actual point on the map sort of randomly deciding just how far off course it would like to put us at any given time.
2. The guide book of maps we purchased doesn’t have most of the cities were stopping in and for some reason
3. The large fold out map doesn’t have any of the highway names or numbers listed on it.
As I sit here rereading this to Mike, he described it as our “kinda sorta navigation system” you never know exactly where you are, but you’re not gunna get too lost.
Santa Rosa was much bigger than either of us was expecting and speaking of expectations I should interject a little more here. I was really expecting something much more third world then what is happening here in Argentina. It has been clean, the infrastructure is outstanding, and the people on the whole are friendly. Mike and I have been joking about it quite a bit.
I think because he and I have both been to Africa and seen just the crazy poverty there that we assumed that the race that moved from that location was probably going to be running through the same sort of thing. Plus, I hate to say it, but when anyone says anything about South America, I think bad parts of Mexico. This is not Mexico. We rounded the corner into Santa Rosa and ran right into a Casino. Not some crappy casino, like a full on Neon, fountains, bright lights big city kind of thing. Actually, it’s odd. Other then the traffic and some of the construction, you wouldn’t think u were out of the country. We have also been surprised at how light skinned everyone is. Another stereo type from Mexico I’m sure.
We pulled into Santa Rosa and used the Kind Sorta Navigation System (from now on referred to a K.S.N.S.) to promptly get us lost. 45 minutes later, it’s pitch black and we're headed down some dirt road that looks sketchy in just about every way imaginable. Undriveable, and unsafe. Deciding that we don’t have to do every crazy adventure the first night we turn around and start to head out of town and in the general direction of Neuquen. We headed that way for about 20 minutes and then pulled over on a dirt road.
We pulled off the road and set camp which consists of pulling out two folding chairs. We cooked a bit of dinner, sat outside admiring the stars, listened to music and swapped stories. Then it was lights out.
This was the place we camped the first night.
