Junin de los Andes to Chos Malal, 272 miles
After a long and boring drive to the very un-touristy town of Chos Malal, Amie spent about 5 hours online and I read Che Guevara’s “Motorcycle Diaries.” It was a relaxing afternoon.
Our hotel is nice and cheap, with the big bonus of free wireless (hence Amie’e extended online session). There were not many restaurants in town however so we had to cruise it for a while before settling in for dinner. I’ve got into the habit of adding up the bill in my head so I know what to expect when “la cuenta” arrives. Often, there is a mistake making the total a couple dollars more than it should be. I wonder if these are honest, or geared towards milking the unsuspecting tourist for all they’re worth. Either way, we have been traveling far too long for this BS. You could imagine my surprise when the waiter gave us a total much less than we had expected. It was like he just pulled a number out of thin air right in front of us. We paid and left a good tip.
One other interesting thing happened at dinner. I ordered a Fernet and Cola, one of the national drinks. What arrived was not what I expected, the waiter brought a bottle of Frenet and an unopened 1 liter bottle of coca cola, he set them on the table and walked away. I mixed my own drink, and then when we asked for the bill, he asked me how many drinks I had. Maybe I got a discount for being my own bartender?
A word on “Motorcycle Diaries.” This was one of the books I wanted to read on the trip and in fact brought with us from home. I leant it to Adam Pate who was in need of some reading material in Mexico but he left the book behind at a hostel. After searching most of South America for another copy he found one in BsAs and I was finally able to read the book. Che Guevara is probably the largest cultural icon there is in Latin America. His image is everywhere: t-shirts, tattoos, graffiti, stickers, you name it. Nearly everyone we meet compares our journey to his… Americans say snidely “Oh, cool! You’re doing motorcycle diaries.” But Argentine’s hold motorcycle travel near and dear as Che Guevara was indeed Argentine. If George Washington, or Ben Franklin went on a life changing trip by motorcycle when he was young, Americans might feel similar.
We in advertently followed most of Che’s route: from Cordoba to Buenos Aires, then down the Atlantic coast to Villa Geselle, Neocochea, and Bahia Blanca, our route exactly. From there he cut straight across to Bariloche, Junin de los Andes, the 7 lakes route and San Pedro de los Andes, where the Norton 500cc died. Many of the observations made 50 some odd years ago are very similar to ours (however infinitely more eloquently recorded.)
A 40's army jeep almost as nice as my uncles
Beautiful rivers at every turn
Thanks adam for these great photos!
Our hotel is nice and cheap, with the big bonus of free wireless (hence Amie’e extended online session). There were not many restaurants in town however so we had to cruise it for a while before settling in for dinner. I’ve got into the habit of adding up the bill in my head so I know what to expect when “la cuenta” arrives. Often, there is a mistake making the total a couple dollars more than it should be. I wonder if these are honest, or geared towards milking the unsuspecting tourist for all they’re worth. Either way, we have been traveling far too long for this BS. You could imagine my surprise when the waiter gave us a total much less than we had expected. It was like he just pulled a number out of thin air right in front of us. We paid and left a good tip.
One other interesting thing happened at dinner. I ordered a Fernet and Cola, one of the national drinks. What arrived was not what I expected, the waiter brought a bottle of Frenet and an unopened 1 liter bottle of coca cola, he set them on the table and walked away. I mixed my own drink, and then when we asked for the bill, he asked me how many drinks I had. Maybe I got a discount for being my own bartender?
A word on “Motorcycle Diaries.” This was one of the books I wanted to read on the trip and in fact brought with us from home. I leant it to Adam Pate who was in need of some reading material in Mexico but he left the book behind at a hostel. After searching most of South America for another copy he found one in BsAs and I was finally able to read the book. Che Guevara is probably the largest cultural icon there is in Latin America. His image is everywhere: t-shirts, tattoos, graffiti, stickers, you name it. Nearly everyone we meet compares our journey to his… Americans say snidely “Oh, cool! You’re doing motorcycle diaries.” But Argentine’s hold motorcycle travel near and dear as Che Guevara was indeed Argentine. If George Washington, or Ben Franklin went on a life changing trip by motorcycle when he was young, Americans might feel similar.
We in advertently followed most of Che’s route: from Cordoba to Buenos Aires, then down the Atlantic coast to Villa Geselle, Neocochea, and Bahia Blanca, our route exactly. From there he cut straight across to Bariloche, Junin de los Andes, the 7 lakes route and San Pedro de los Andes, where the Norton 500cc died. Many of the observations made 50 some odd years ago are very similar to ours (however infinitely more eloquently recorded.)
The trout capitol of Argentina
A 40's army jeep almost as nice as my uncles
Beautiful rivers at every turn
Thanks adam for these great photos!
posted by Pedro and Maria at 5:06 PM
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