Day 380 Saturday 29th November Perito Moreno to Gobernador Gregory’s 378km

Yesterday afternoon after our late lunch in the Cafeteria some of the group went for a late afternoon nap while I did the blog. And let me just say, the two youngest people on this group has had the most afternoon naps, (yes I am counting,) claiming to be sick and faking coughs just to get a 30 minute shut-eye, while the oldest and 2nd oldest in the group dont sleep in the afternoon, they sleep during dinner and during the time we have a Loop Dop (one for the road.)

We went for a stroll though our little town, to look for a restaurant to eat at. We walked past the one house where the local band was practicing  then past the little dress shop, the chocolate shop, the coffee shop and past the Machanic and a few shops selling sweets, shoes and then we were at the end of town and turned around and started looking down the side streets, We found a shop that sells everything, like a Cafe with a Liquor License. We sat in the street and drank a beer waiting for 19H00 when the 3 restaurants would open after Siesta.

During the Pavement Sundowners Pie and Peens decided they wanted to try and sort out their wallets, see which countries currency they still have, and thought it would be great plan to do this on the street in full view of the town who were all either going to Gym or Cross Fit, our table on the pavement was in between both, so we were fortunate to be able to listen to two different work-out-tunes being blasted from the two premises. The Cross Fit was small, so the members had to do their Running Part of the work out in the street, great entertainment.

The 1st restaurant which was a rotisserie type place was maned by a very rude lady that shouted at us when we carried her furniture out onto the pavement. We decided we dont like being shouted at and went across the road to another place where we asked if we could carry the tables and chairs out on to the pavement, the lovely lady said no, but ib a friendly manner, so we sat inside and had a LOVELY meal.

Our travel back in time to 1960 last night was not without the consequinses that comes with Time Travel, as we have seen in the movie Back To The Future. We discovered that in the 60’s they put 2 single matresses on to of one another, that way you can buy a cheap new one and slap it onto of the old cheap one. But this genius plan obviously does not work. I was woken up at 3h22 when Peens fell on the floor and bumped his head against the bed-side-table. I however refused to be ejected from my bed and stayed awake while kicking myself in-place by applying pressure against the foot-end-wooden-plank. This morning Dog confessed that even him was trying that method, but gave up after 2 hours of pushing with his legs, switched on the light and discovered that the top mattress has shifted off the bottom mattress, making your bed work like a kiddies playground slide.

Our Suite:

So this morning during “breakfast” which was included, (and I use the term “Breakfast” very loosely) which consisted of bread of various ages, some weak coffee, watery yoghurt and butter and jam, they  looked at my route I had planned, and once again, some “friends” (also used very lightly”)  felt the day should be longer with 128km and should include more gravel. Immediately the group was split in two groups, those that slept well and those that did not , ( except Peens, who slept bad and chose the extra gravel.)

The place we though was a very small town where we had to fill with fuel turned out to be a Sand Stone building and a fuel-pump that was covered in stickers, and a group of 15 Chilean Adventure Bike Riders were there before us, so it was a long wait to get fuel, from the same aunty that ran the shop, made the coffee and probably cleaned their handful of bedrooms, with communal toilets and showers, I know as I walked into the Bano (toilet) to find a man in the shower.

The lady rides the BMW, a very heavy bike, fully loaded, I have a lot of respect for her. The Chilean group of 15 were on a 2 week trip and each just had a little kit-bag and no panniers, and that is a very different way of traveling as you can’t even carry a tube or some spares, probably in a back-up-vehicle following them.

The little shop was stocked with many things and had a good coffee machine, the oporater was just not around a lot as she also had to pump the fuel.

We met with a couple from Australia who had toured around the USA, also felt the Canadians were rude, especially around Quebec and Ontario where they speak French, they are on their way to Ushuaia as well.

Photos of the road:

Nou gaan ons Braai:

How rare is this, (since the flipped Chineese has mistaken the little animal for Viagra !!!!! )

Notice how the  Road- Signs has two different cars they use, one a Sedan and the other a Sports Car.

And Dog got worried when he saw this sign, does it mean wind ????

There were lots of animals on the road, herds of Guanacos which is a Lama looking wild animal, and many small Ostrich looking birds called Lesser Rhea’s.

Tonight we are 330km away from El Calafate, the town where we leave the bikes. Our little town is very small once again, but we found a very nice little hotel, the rooms are very comfortable and wi-fi is good, can’t report on the mattress yet, but the good thing is that Peens and my faces are at least 1m apart, these very small rooms have us sleeping face to face.

Photo of the main road in our dorpie:

Note this ancient, Ox-drawn Grader, it belonged to the great grand-father of the Psycho Grader Driver of yesterday, they have been out spoiling the rides of bikers for decades.

That is all folks, chat tomorrow.

XXXXXX

Fleisch