Viedma to Puerto Madryn, 305 miles

Mike and I both woke up feeling like we had a little cold. Bummer, but we still managed to get ourselves up, showered and packed to hit the road. We didn’t feel like spending a whole extra day in this town and hoped we’d feel better as the day progressed.

At about every place we stop, whether for a short break, lunch or a gas station, we get plenty of admirers. Mostly they are men, but completely fascinated with the bike, our trip and all of our stickers we’ve collected from the various countries along the way. Every other place we’ve passed through would spark some interest in the occasional person, but nothing like here in Argentina. It seems all the men want to do a Che Guevara trip and love the fact that we are doing one. It’s nice to be in a country where you feel so welcomed by the locals.

More straight roads today that could have even been straighter than the days before, if that’s at all possible. There were two stretches of about 150 miles of straight, with the town Los Grutas in between where we enjoyed a nice lunch along the beach. Los Grutas is a beautiful little beach town. The Atlantic has turned from mud brown to beautiful turquoise and brilliant blue. The bright blue water and white washed walls of Los Grutas were stunning. We enjoyed a little lunch overlooking the beach where all the Argentinean families are out enjoying their vacation. Yes, about all of Argentina vacations during January and February, which means towns don’t have as many stores open AND it’s high season wherever we go. Bummer for us as it’s harder to find a hotel that isn’t full, and everything is at least double what it should be.

Wind didn’t seem as strong in the morning, but then picked right up again in the afternoon. Today we didn’t get into our destination of Puerto Madryn until about 5 in which we spent the next 1-2 hrs just finding a hotel that wasn’t full or under 100 pesos. We finally found one for 85 pesos ($29), but it only had two doubles. At that point we were just happy to have a place for us and Yoshita. Mike wants to start camping, but I insisted we get some sort of foam pad before attempting that route! Sleeping on rocks in the freezing cold doesn’t sound appealing to me.

Today we ride as the crow flies

A light post in El Condor

Caution, wide load

200 miles later, still straight
We're stillll together!