January 5th
The cabañas we stopped in Villa La Angostura seemed to be run by a crazy Argentinian cat/dog lady. The next morning all bikes evidenced a cat’s close attention.
Cat prints on the seat.
Inquisitive cat.
Where the proprietor had us park the bikes was the animals litter box and her husband’s orchid bed. She said to park anywhere in the area but to avoid the one orchid, which Oggy proceeded to ride over.
Given the shortage of gas in Argentina, any station with gas was worth a stop. Not half bad with views like this.
Argentinian gas stop
Our, my, dinner choice was probably not the wisest. The waitress did not seem to be happy doing her business, a complete contrast to the night before. Having never had fat tripe before, I had to try it. I probably don’t need to try it again.
As you can see, fat tripe is the deep fried intestine of some grossly overweight animal. Luckily, I’d ordered a potato tortilla, which was a tortilla in the Spanish not Mexican sense. An omelette loaded with French fries.
Part of the discussion tonight is where to go next. Today, we had ridden a section of the famous Ruta Cuarenta (Route 40). Our plan was to do a couple more days and reach El Calafate. However, the wind howling down from the Andes was making us re-think the plan. Two more days of hard-ridding on an arrow straight road leaned into the wind, is not our idea of fun – that does not include the return trip either. Everyone agrees, we should head back over the Andes and into Chile for more fun.
