We started Route 40 down in El Calafate where we hired our Chevrolet Corsa. After having been quoted around CHF 150 a day for a VW Golf or CHF 300 for a 4x4 from a local car hire company we nipped across the road to Hertz who gave us a far better deal, but unfortunately didn't have a 4x4. Christian promised us that the Corsa would be absolutely fine for Route 40 and that at any point we could call his mobile for assistance (naively thinking we would have mobile phone connection on the roads!).

The drive to El Chaltén was relatively easy going, somehow lulling us into a false sense of ease. El Chaltén town was small and half closed down for the low season. It is a purpose-built town for tourism due to its location, a perfect base for heading into the nearby Andes for hiking and camping. There were spectacular views onto Mount Fitzroy as we approached:

Very quickly the following morning the beautiful smooth tarmac road north (as you see above) ended and we were bumping along a gravel/dirt road. In our low standing car the middle ridges of rocks and pebbles were incredibly high and at times we were acting like a snow (or rather rock-) plough! I was concerned that the sharp rocks would burst our tyres and Richard was worried that they would smash a hole in the fuel pipe underneath the car. Either wouldn’t have been much fun in the middle of nowhere!

We must have passed only about four or five other vehicles the entire day of driving. It really was a deserted road. At the start I drove very slowly, between 30 and 50 km/h, with the worry of damaging the car. But as the road seemed to get longer and longer I slowly picked up the speed, when I could, to try and cover more ground. On good stretches I could sometimes manage 70 km/h, but not very often, and not for very long!

One stretch gave us short relief from gravel, where the road was just mud and water. The pits of muddy water I had to drive through splashed up buckets of brown water onto the windscreen, leaving me temporarily unable to plot my route. The windscreen wipers, for immediate visibility purposes, were next to useless, and as soon as they managed to clean the windscreen the next bucket was dumped on us! On occasions I was dubious that the car would in fact manage to make its way through the deep mud, leaving Richard in his "moon boot" to push us out! But we were lucky, our car survived and successfully drove us on to where the road turned back to a gravel surface. I didn’t think I would be pleased about more gravel driving, but I was!

It was also incredibly windy. If I wasn't struggling to keep the car straight due to the rocks, gravel or mud it was due to the strong winds. Sometimes it was hard to decipher which factor was pushing me off course!

The landscape surrounding us was vast. It would vary from flat, tufty expanses, continuing further than you could see, to hills and mountains. There were herds of guanaco, cows and horses dotted around among the many estancias owning the land. Apparently the majority of Argentine land is privately owned, before by only a few very rich estancia owners, and more recently by a larger number of estancias with the idea of spreading the wealth a little more evenly.

Finally we came to the turn off taking us to Gob. Gregores. We were relieved to have the change in direction, but the road deteriorated even more, and Richard and I started discussing our options and whether we had made a mistake taking on Route 40 in a Corsa! Maybe we should drop the car off in Perito Moreno and take the bus, or drive over to the east coast where the roads are better.....

We made it to Gob. Gregores, and managed to find Hospedaje Mariel down a side street. The town was pretty characterless, fairly depressing and incredibly windy. But the couple running the hospedaje were welcoming and allowed us to use their kitchen to prepare our pasta.

(They were a great old couple who's son was in the army in Buenos Aires and energetically spoke with us in Spanish, although never slowing down despite repeated requests. - Richard)

The following day was kind to us and gave us better roads for driving on, or maybe we had just become resilient to the thumping and bumping. Our energies were restored and we were able to again appreciate the incredible landscape through which we were driving.

Our next overnighter was in Bajo Caracoles. It was the creepiest town I have ever visited. If it hadn't been so far to the next village I would have voted for driving on. There were maybe four or five buildings in the entire town, with a few houses on the outskirts. No roads, just tracks, with a very deserted and eerie atmosphere. The wind persistently howled through, never resting for a moment. I've never experienced anything like it. I suppose the reason we never saw anybody in the ghostly town was because everyone was taking shelter indoors from the wind!

We tried to get a room at the hostel, but no-one appeared. So we went to the hotel which had an atmosphere adding to the creepiness of the town. It was the local store, bar, restaurant, as well as the petrol station. And the man running it looked rather shifty, with a strange forced smile. But we didn't have any choise, we had to stay there. (he looked like a south american Del Boy if you ask me - Richard)

Sleeping that evening was difficult as the wind was howling and rattling anything loose in its path. I thought the gas heater in our room was going to get rattled off the wall!

Needless to say, we were both pleased to be leaving the next morning. On our way we saw a hill close to the road which had an amazingly shaped rock proudly peering down on us. We parked the car at the side of the road and battled against the wind walking up the hill. You could almost defy gravity leaning into the wind, it was just so strong!

Perito Moreno was refreshingly built-up and populated, after Bajo Caracoles. We chose a rather depressing hostel, but there was a lovely white cat living out the back. He did seem quite pleased when I gave him some tuna.

Continuing from Perito Moreno we made it along the last of the gravel roads to Rio Mayo where we had a tea and sponge cake at a pleasant and friendly cafe. As we made it in good time to Gob. Costa, and as the town wasn't particularly attractive, we continued driving to Esquel.

Esquel was a big vibrant skiing town, alive with bars and restaurants. It was a wonderful relief arriving here after four nights of staying in quiet characterless towns. We chose a central hotel, La Tour d'Argent, very comfortable and the owner was helpful and welcoming. Unsurprisingly we ended up in an irish pub for a pint before dinner!

The following day we drove through the National Park de los Alerces (a type of tree). The road followed alongside a number of lakes which reminded me of Lake Lucern, where the mountains fall directly into the water. It was beautiful. We often passed small herds of horses, cows and sheep grazing or chilling at the side of the road. They were all quite unpeturbed by our passing car.

Unfortunately as we were arriving into El Bolson we saw a circus' truck with two beautiful tigers caged inside. One was lying down while the other was impatiently pacing back and forth. Circus' are such unnecessary forms of entertainment and inflict pointless suffering and misery on the animals. It was ironic and rather sad that one of my main aims for these travels was to see a tiger in its natural habitat, and then the first viewing I have was of a caged tiger.

It was a struggle finding a hostel for the night. Many of them had closed for the season and the ones open were either full, manky or without a heater. So in the end we chose to stay at the Amancay Hotel, which was pleasant enough.

El Bolson was somewhere I was keen to visit as I had read that it was quite vegetarian focused due to the hippies that fequented it (a haven I was looking forward to after six weeks of pretty awful vegetarian food or rubbery fish!). But vegetarian food was no easier fo find really than anywhere else. The main road was filled with boy racer cars desparately in need of a service, chucking out pollution as they "farted" their way down the road.

The drive to Bariloche was beautiful, winding through the mountains and passing lakes. The town was fun and lively, similar to Esquel, but larger and situated on a lake. The setting was beautiful. We drove the Circuito Chico, stopping in Llao Llao, the farcicle Swiss Colony, and we also took the cablecar up one of the hills. The view was wonderful, looking onto the hills and lakes. It was very windy and cold so we didn't admire the view for long!

Return to S.America

Return to Home Page