Small wheels in a big world
Monday January 21, 2013
After waking up about 10 o´clock we had the typical argentinian breakfast, some sweet small croissants, which they call here „half moons“( spanish: media lunas) and some coffee. You practically won´t find a breakfast in Argentina with scrambled eggs, cheese or even bacon, and breakfast buffets exist only in the more luxury hotels at tourist regions.
Sunday January 20, 2013, 92 km (57 miles) – Total so far: 988 km (614 miles)
From San Rafael you can decide between two options: Take the paved route passing „La Cuesta de los Terneros“ or the unpaved route through the mountains passing „Valle Grande“ and „Canyon del Atuel“ which is the more scenery way. We decided to do the option through the mountains to get one more of the nature experience Argentina has to offer.
Saturday January 19, 2013
San Rafael is one of the very little towns in Argentina where people more or less respect week end. So today, which is saturday, at noon the place was more or less empty.
Friday January 18, 2013, 138 km (86 miles) – Total so far: 896 km (557 miles)
We started at 7:30, bought some water at the gas station and pedaled through the village to reach the main road. There was a lot of traffic and the road had no shoulders. In Argentina that means you leave the road however you manage when the heavy trucks or buses want to pass you-or they´re just going to roll over you.
Thursday January 17, 2013, 114 km (71 miles) – Total so far: 758 km (471 miles)
Of course we had breakfast in Matilde´s house before we packed our stuff to leave for San Carlos. The farewell was emotional, Matilde was crying and so did we. In these few days we really felt part of their family and before we didn´t know each other at all!
On the first stretch out of Mendoza the road was like a highway- two lanes for each direction and a lot of traffic.
„Mendoza to San Carlos: Searching for a place to sleep“ weiterlesen
Wednesday January 16, 2013
Today the second daughter of Matilde took us to mountains around Mendoza on the old road to Chile. It´s just a great landscape with great views and impressing sceneries. The road ends at „Cacheuta thermal springs“ and we walked around there.
„Around Mendoza: Cacheuta & Potrerillo reservoir“ weiterlesen
Tuesday January 15, 2013
Today we went to the center of Mendoza. It´s a nice city with a pedestrian area and some plazas, all located around the main square. We just took the atmosphere of the city and had some lunch. In the midday the daughter of Matilde took us to the „Cerro de la gloria“ a small hill with a monument of San Martin on top.
Monday January 14, 2013
After having breakfast we decided to visit some relatives of a friend back in Germany. We got the direction and phone number before we left for our trip and yet we were quite unsure if we should call and drop by or if we shouldn´t. In the end we called.
„Mendoza: The house maybe small but the heart is huge….“ weiterlesen
Sunday January 13, 2013, 115 km (71 miles) – Total so far: 644 km (400 miles)
We left very early in the morning to enjoy the fresh air of the new day. It was raining during the night and the sky was quite cloudy, very unusual. The road was nothing spectacular, with more traffic then before and without difficulties we headed towards Mendoza. The surrounding with lots of vineyards, trees and green fields. Fertile ground here.
„Villa Media Agua to Mendoza: ….like famous people“ weiterlesen
Saturday January 12, 2013, 59 km (37 miles) – Total so far: 529 km (329 miles)
As Mendoza is about 170km from San Juan, we thought of doing a stop in the middle. People told us there was a possibility to sleep in between. „Media Agua“, a little village after 60km. So we took it easy. Road 40 seems to like a highway on this stretch, each side with two lanes.
„San Juan-Villa Media Agua: One of the lost villages on road 40“ weiterlesen