2nd January Estancia La Angostura – Perito Moreno 186 miles

We topped up with 5l of gas each and left the hospitality of the Estancia straight into ripio which was horrendous for me. Martin now seems to settle in quicker but first thing in the morning ripio is awful. We managed OK with no issues or accidents, a few dramatic recoveries it has to be said. We are noe going to be on this stuff for some time now so I guess we need to get used to it and get on with it.
This section, both yesterday and today are in the midst of being updated and in a few years it will probably all be tarmac or pavement as we refer to it here. Martin and I have been trying to work out how, when, with what and who builds these roads. We had similar issues yesterday, but today we were diverted to the side of the original road as they were putting in drainage gullys and we then came to an almost finished section but they were waiting for the drainage gullys to go in. Also we came to a section that was not open but had the base coat of tarmac on it so we trucked on downthat section, now in the UK you would not be able to do that because of all the plant that would be parked on it, we have not seen any plat. Today there was a compound with some gravel about 4 big trucks and a couple of conveyers, apart from 1 digger yesterday that has been it. The other thing is that you can do 200 miles on ripio and then a 30 miles section of fantastic road unveils itself and then abruptly back onto ripio, such is life.
We did our good turn for the day today for some locals who were stranded in an old and very rusty pick up truck. They were parked on the side of the road with a shredded rear tyre and I mean shredded. We stopped and they only spoke Spanish with a few words of English, just like us only in reverse. They had a spare which was punctured and flat, no tools other that a jack and a wheel brace and a look on their face thinking I am sure that 2 motorbikers will not be able to help. This was now about 13.20 and they had been there since11.00.
They showed us a split in the tyre which we not have been able to fix but it transpired that this had a tube in it. We dug out our tools not sure if they were up to removing a truck tyre but we would try to assist. Well we managed to get the tyre off and found a puncture in the tube, martin stuck a patch on that and I instructed the guys to check the inside of the tyre. All was well other than this split which may have pinched the tube, gaffer tape may solve that, we hope. We managed to get the whole thing back together and put some air in it and changed it for the shredded wheel. All seems OK and they are very pleased and most grateful offering us water and a beer that is running around in the back of their truck, we thatnk them but decline and they are on their way. We then have to repack our bikes and the whole job took about 40 minutes and by the time we are packed and away it has cost us about an hour. A good experience, particularily for them but also for us as we now know our kit will work.
Still hunting down the gas station we finally arrive and they will serve us gas in 20 minutes, OK we will have a coffee and a sandwich. Fed watered and gassed up we leave with a new destination in mind, we had 139 miles left to do on ripio and it is now 16.20, so we will go to Perto Moreno (the town) and decide this evening whether we are going to look at some more local sites or should we run North and try to catch up ou schedule.
It was a good move because 30 miles on the road turns to pavement, my bike was grateful as I think it thought it was going to be shaken to pieces, I was grateful also. The road surface was fantastic and the road weaved around the mountains, a fantastic ride all the way to the town.
Having arrived we went to a campsite which was, in Martins words ‘a bit squalid’, we look at 2 more one deserted and the other taking the p*ss as they wanted to charge us 3 times as much for the bikes as they wanted from us, then the showers were extra, etc. OK, let’s look at a hostel, that’s not there, so we work around some hotels, way too dear. Back to do a final check on the deserted campsite and there is a chap there now, it seems fine, good pitch and the showers seem clean enough.
We decide to stay and Raul the main man here shows us a camp stove run off mains gas in the garden, supermarket is next door so a meal is concocted, cooked and eaten. Raul is a s mad as a box of frogs but what a fantastic character he is very helpful and hugely entertaining.
We now need to think our next steps over as we cannot visit everything and we want to get up country to see the Dakar so we may just head north. I’ll let you know what we decide to do tomoorow.