After our adventures in El Bolson Dennis and I originally would go see the whales in Puerto Madryn. But our stay in Bolson extended so many days that we had missed the wales and there was no reason anymore to visit the town on the Argentinian coast.
We had heard about a little town called El Chalten in the south of Argentina and decided to continue our journey in that direction. Since Dennis and I have all the time in the world we decided to try to hitchhike the estimated 2278 km to the south. The most adventures way to do this was to take the famous Ruta 40.
Hitchhiking Ruta 40 is not the easiest nor the fastest way to travel. Big parts of the route aren't cemented yet and that's why a lot of drivers traveling to the south often take the paved Ruta 3 by the coast. Hitchhiking would be difficult because only a few cars per day would travel our route. Also this part of the country is well known for its strong winds and cold temperature. But Dennis and I didn't want to miss the scenery of the virgin lands around Ruta 40 and we really wanted to visit the famous Cueva de las Manos, so we packed enough food and water and started our journey...
Day 1.
Almost midday and Dennis and I are standing in the burning sun. No tree or bush to shelter us from the heat... We wanted this right? It's hard to look friendly and keep smiling under these conditions. But it sure is necessary, who would otherwise want to pick up two sweaty strangers?
This was the day Dennis and I learned that if you want to hitchhike you should get up early and get your stuff ready as soon as possible, because you don't want to miss the early birds going to work and you certainly don't want to stand on the side of the road at midday.
Luckily we were picked up in less then an hour and a few hours later we had traveled the 161 km, to Esquel, we had planned for the day.
Tomorrow we would hitch in the direction of the coast to take Ruta 3 because the guy at the camping had convinced us in the morning that hitchhiking Ruta 40 was risky and very, very slow.
But that afternoon, in the hostel, we met some travelers who where traveling from the south on their mountain-bikes. As usual we compared our trips: where we had been, where we were heading... And so it came to be that they told us we shouldn't miss traveling Ruta 40 because it was worth it and not as slow and risky as the camping guy had told us. The best thing about traveling is that plans always change as quickly as they were made...
And so we where back to our original plan: Hitchhiking Ruta 40.
Day 2.
We woke at 6 and by 7.30 we where walking out of town with our tums up. In less then 20 minutes a car stopped and the driver screamed over the roar of the passing cars: "Go to the gas station, I will be waiting there for you and I will take you with me to Governador Costa!" and then he drove of leaving Dennis and me with a huge question mark on our foreheads...
How do we get to the gas station before him leaving? Will he wait? Is he bluffing? Why couldn't we get in now? What do we do if we get another good ride, do we get of the gas station and risk it?
Luckily the next driver to stop was a man going to the north but willing to take us to the gas station! We where really lucky because when we got to the station the first driver was waiting for us and before midday he dropped us of at a little town called Gobernador Costa, 200 km further along our way.
We started walking again to the end of the town. As soon as we passed the town gate one of the men of the Gendarmery post shouted that we had to come inside and show our passports. As you know, our Dutch passports aren't very popular with the kind policemen... This time as soon as they saw that we are Dutch their expression changed and they said: "Aaaah, hmmm, Holanda.... Marihuana... Fuman?" "No, not every Dutch citizen smokes pot." I answered. It seems they like that answer much more then the one Dennis had given 2 weeks earlier, because before finishing my sentence the two men where kindly smiling at us. Hell, they even offered to stop the bus going to El Chalten so we could arrange something (of the books) with the bus-driver. Though this was very tempting for us, Dennis and I said no and continued hitchhiking.
We got picked up by a truck driver who left us 40 km from Rio Mayo (another little town in the middle of nowhere). At the spot where the truck-driver left us we made a little video to keep us busy while we waited for the first car to pass by.
After a total of 4 rides, 410 km and a whole day of hitchhiking we decided that we where going to spend the night in Rio Mayo. This was easier said then done, because Rio Mayo is so small that the only camping was closed in off season and the only (crappy) hotel was much to expensive...
During our 6 day hiking trip in the mountains around Bolson we met a guy who gave us a great tip: "When you don't know where to sleep, ask the firemen for help. Most of the times they let you camp in their backyard."
We tried that, but it didn't work. We ended up sleeping at a "Valdio" (piece of land without an owner) in front of the fire department. Just in case we also went to the police station to tell them we where sleeping there because the hotel was to expensive. Luckily this was ok and both the policemen as the firemen promised to keep an eye out during the night.
We slept like little baby's.
No comments:
Post a Comment