Don't cry for me, Argentina... I cry for you Argentina!!

Don't cry for me Argentina... I cry for you Argentina!!

(I know the song wasn't actually meant this way FYI)

 

I crossed over into Argentina from the Carretara Austral in the place that I did because it was suggested that the scenery in this area was beautiful. I admit I was also pretty done with dirt/gravel roads (called "ripio" in Spanish) and getting off of the Carretara Austral meant paved roads again. It didn't take long before I regretted that decision. 
Argentina has translated to "wind" for me so far.  I thought that this area I was crossing into would have less wind than southern Patagonia but I learned the hard way that this wasn't true.

I took a spill on my bike (and broke my handlebar bag bracket) because I was pushed off the road by the wind. Even motorcyclists talk about fighting the wind here and having to lean to one side while riding and how the rubber gets worn on one side of their tires!
To top it off the scenery was just okay. Sure some places were pretty when I got back towards the mountains bordering Chile but outside of those areas it is arid grasslands that are windy! Granted I think I am jaded now because of the amazing beauty I have seen so far, the Carretara is a hard act to follow.
I feel bad for Argentina because it seems like it was short-changed geographically and Chile won all of the good parts! I may be stating this prematurely but I don't think there is anywhere in Argentina that can rival the places I have seen in Chile. My apologies to my Argentine friends Diego and Agustin! Poor Argentina, all they got out of the deal was a bunch of oil!

I asked for a place to set up my tent in this town, Las Cipreses, and was offered this place by a man who overheard me. He checked with his wife first then gave me the garage. The place was perfect except he had three little yappy dogs that I was afraid would pee on my tent, so I put up the stuff around the tent. He also had lots of chickens and some roosters living in the yard. I hate roosters! I hate their crowing in the middle of the night, middle of the day, all times. Previously on that same day I had been thinking about how I hate roosters and that same night was offered this place in which to "camp." I had to laugh at the irony and thank my stars for my earplugs-don't leave home without 'em!.

Leaving the mountains behind.

Jumping for joy that I finally reached pavement in Trevelin, Argentina.
I got lucky and took this photo on the first try using my automatic timer set for 3 successive shots.

It was definitely fall here, the colors are gorgeous. It reminds me of fall in
New England when I was a kid. I love the fall!

This was a super cold day where I was pelted on and off with hail while riding.
I was racing to keep ahead of this storm. This is looking back behind me.

Not many trees to speak of really but I got the point about the wind anyway. Take a closer look at the detail of this sign in next photo.

I don't think the sign comes from the manufacturer this way but someone had some spare time!

Back in the pampas (grasslands) and subsequent winds of Argentina.
Yuk!

No other places to camp out of the wind. 
This would not have been my first choice of places 
to camp under different circumstances. 

Results of a car accident I happened upon and later saw the cars at the police station where I camped. The locals told me there were a lot of accidents that Easter weekend caused by the strong winds.

The people in Argentina are much nicer than the wind in Argentina.

This man is an immigrant to Argentina

from France. He and his wife run a campground in

Argentina now and I stayed there for a couple of days

waiting for the wind to die down. I asked if they knew

of a place to have my plastic handlebar bracket fixed

and he instead fixed it himself using fiberglass!

Who would have thought?! The fix lasted

for a couple of weeks before separating

from the plastic but it still held on anyway.

Not very pretty as it looks like I have honey spilled on my handlebar bag bracket, but I didn't care because I was happy to have a fix!  It broke even worse but my friend in Rancagua has put a metal piece inside the bracket the plastic now.

Bees are alive and well and flourishing in Chile and one stung me too (not this one).
It was the first bee sting I have had since I was a kid. There is "homemade" honey for sale everywhere and it is really good! I think I am addicted to it now. I ate a pound of honey in 2 1/2 days!

This was definitely a pretty area but there aren't that many places like this in the route I took except on the Route of the Seven Lakes.

This is the kind of wild camping I like to discover. I liked this place a lot and it wasn't on private property and there wasn't a charge to camp here. It was one of my little hidden spots that I found not too far from the road but just out of view.

The little waterfall across from my wild camp spot.

Volcan Lanin is located in Argentina but is super close to the Chilean border.

I guess I can't escape nasty roads entirely!

Back in Chile! Yes!

This road was like a dream come true!! Will you look at that shoulder!!!!

It made me very sad to see all of these dead parrots.I don't know what happened, maybe a truck hit the whole flock at once. BUT one thing that made me happy about this is that if I was seeing parrots it meant I was getting into areas more tropical!

The threat of volcanic eruptions is real here.

Looking over a short fence at a trail that I had to camp on one night. There weren't any flat spots anywhere along the side of this road and it was getting dark and the sun was setting. I tried to ask the people in the house across the street if I could camp in their yard but they weren't home. Notice the log going across the "hole" in the trail at the top of the photo; the edge of my tent straddled across that area because this trail was only wide enough to barely accommodate my tent.

I had to stuff anything I could in the bottom left corner of my tent under my mattress to try to level out my sleeping space because I didn't want to end up putting pressure on that side of the tent as it was the side straddling that hole in the ground. I kept sliding down into the corner all night in spite of my efforts to level this space. It was crazy!

The next morning I awoke and started packing up and the man whose property this is discovered me here on his path. I apologized for camping on his property without permission and explained there was no where to camp and that I had tried to ask for permission but they were not home. This is the first time I have camped with disregard to a fence/private property. He said everything was fine and invited me to have coffee with his wife at their house-see next photo.

Having coffee with the owners of the property where I camped without first getting permission.

I discovered the cut in this tire because of the bulging inner tube showing through. I lined the tire with a 1000 peso bill and continued to ride on this tire for more than 600 miles! Money bills are usually really strong, durable, and super thin so they make a perfect liner for a tire with a cut. Most people replace a cut tire but this little known trick to salvage a tire was shown to me on my first bike trip across the United States 18 years ago although I had never used it until now.