Day 338 Tuesday 13th August San Ignatius to Cutervo 241km

Last night we caught two little “Taxis” and went up the hill to where we thought we could get a meal and a glass of wine, the view was great but the place called La Finka was more of a disco than a restaurant, and it being a Monday, there was only 3 other people. The red wine turned out to be sweet and their food was going to get fetch from somewhere as their kitchen was not open yet. So we canceled the order and took the little scooter-taxis back down the hill to a little shop next to our hotel where we sat and started planning our route for the rest of South America. We decided to do Patagonia on both sides of the Andes, so we will go down ad then back up all the way to Buenos Aires where we will call it a day and ship the bikes back to Texas.

The driver’s girlfriend was on duty with him and it Ade out taxi extra heavy and we battled up the hill, it is only a 150cc and they cost $2700-00.

Our hotel did not have any food or coffee this morning and we head off hoping to buy something along the way. But as we entered such a small border there were no Money-Changers and as our route was on the back-roads we never passed a Bank to change money until we got to our Over-Night-Stop, by which then all the banks were closed. The little shops along the way did not accept US dollars and we just had enough local money that we changed from there taxi guys which we paid using our cards at the Disco, and this little money bought us 5 coffees and 4 very small packets of biscuits. After this stop we could not buy lunch or water or worst, ice-cream.

The road was twisty through the mountain passes but ever time we got to the valley we rode next to the river and there were lots of crop-farming, and because it was so muddy they used horses to bring the crop up to road where it was loaded onto trucks, one of which then fell-over going around the 1st bend after loading it.

We were making good time and I was convinced we chose to short a rout and that Google was wrong in its prediction as to how long our journey would take. It was aside road and hardly any other people on the road, just the occasional Tuk-Tuk.

The people in the villages we passed worked on the street, so the welder would have his working bench outside in the street and be welding on the side of the road, so was this Tyre-guy outside his little shop where Pie stopped to try and blow the dirt out of his Fuel Caps Key-locks as he battles every time we fill up with fuel to get his tank open. While he was busy we went from vendor to vendor asking if they would accept US dollar as we were desperate for water, but none would, so we had to push on hoping we would find a bank further along the way.

The villages we passed were very small, so small in fact that their bread is delivered privately by car and people rush out to buy their bread from this lady.

I knew we were in for more adventure when we turned off the rather pleasant tar road onto a very dodgy road:

Luckily we did not need Fuel as this “Filling Station” was closed:

We could see our road on the opposite side of the valley and could see the mist and rain, so no surprises and we could change into Rain-Gear well in advance.

It was mainly substance-farming, but some farmers produced enough to sell. This is a load of potatoes waiting to be collected:

The road was slippery and Tex was too soon on the throttle after crossing some water flowing over the road and took a tumble, not a happy man when the camera’s came out:

There were little Cable-Cars for passing the river which are hand drawn.

There was a police-stop where Pie asked for this photo after they looked at his papers.

When we rode into our town at lunch time we came in from the gravel road and were lost, but we asked a shop owner where the bank is and he jumped on his bike with his girlfriend on the back and we followed him to the bank where we had to wait for an hour to get money changed, every note’s number had to be recorded and it was a groot gedoente.

Then  we went in search of a hotel, which was even cheaper than last night, only $8 per person.

We got the Penthouse, on the roof, with many beds and an outside lounge area.

We took taxis to the Plaza where we found a restaurant and ate. While we were eating a large procession came past with Mariachi Bands and people in traditional dress, they all sang and danced on the square.

As you can see above, I started adding videos. Tex bought a helmet camera, a Sena, if it was a Go Pro I could help him, but he could not get the videos from the camera onto the App on his phone, and for the 1st week he battled and I only got these photos:

But now he has upped his game, so I had to as well, so if he continues taking good videos and the wi-fi is good I can post more videos in future.

Sleep tight

Fleisch