Argentina: Ruta 40

…and a race with nandu! The landscape changed very suddenly and dramatically. After crossing the Andes, we found ourselves riding in the midst of total nothing of Argentinian Patagonia. And it feels like you have been riding for eternity, and nothing has ever existed in this universe, except your motorcycle, this road and yourself. Locally called Ruta Cuarenta, the National Road 40 is one of these which make you happy, tired and sometimes even scared of the natural beauty. Exactly: even desert and steppe can be something gorgeous, colorful and spectacular.

700 kilometers of this cult route are now behind. You can think that the English expression “I need nothing” can only be understood as “I do not need anything,” but Argentina offers another option: there really is nothing here, but what is this “nothing”!

People say Ruta 40 has broken many egos. Our Korean chum, who started from San Antonio at the same time as us and who is in a hurry around the world with his scooter, was much less fortunate than us: he passed this route a month ago with rains, muddy places and strong winds. Now the weather is great: today the wind did not turn over a single minibus on the highway, and it was very convenient for me to turn… When you ride the bike with a constant inclination so that it does not blow off, and when you have to turn downwind, you just straighten and the wind makes you where you want to be. But it wasn’t that pleasant to get into the turns against the wind: you are trying to turn, but the wind is lifting the bike back to the straight position 😀

All local people know about 77 kilometers of sudden ripio, which means gravel road, in the midst of excellent asphalt. They are all warning about that and saying it’s terrible. For us? I’m not really sure. After the only road leading to the south in Chile, the Argentine gravel road was a paradise. Seriously. The quality of this road, where there is asphalt, is simply excellent, and any camera lens cannot convey the views. Just amazing.

Along the road, there are grazing guanacos. Guanaco is like a camel, but not a camel. During our acquaintance with them, I had to brake VERY hard in front of one of them, when it just suddenly appeared on the road, but after that guanacos were just making us smile. So cute! There are also nandus, which are like ostriches, but not ostriches. It was very funny to go with one of them in parallel: I am riding on the road, and he is dumping between asphalt road and fence at the same speed, almost 50 km/h! 😀

A local guy told us yesterday that in Argentina they eat any meat. Anything with fur or feathers, which moves, is edible. I started asking him about these ostriches, and his answer was “oooh, very delicious birds!” – so yes, they eat any meat and the interest of animals is just an interest about their meat 😀

And yeah, one more thing. There is a death of a small bird with a mohawk on my conscience now. Very beautiful, fast and stupid little birds fly out on the road right in front of the bike. My left mirror is okay, but the bird, ahem, is not feeling that good 😀

I feel like at home in Argentina. Seriously, the feeling is as if I have been hanging around for a long time and now have returned to my homeland. Cannot wait to know what will happen to us in this beautiful country with its friendly population! 🙂 However, one thing I know for sure: everything is going to be fun and nice. It’s all about your own position and it’s all in your head 😉