I am not sure anyone can be prepared for the vastness that is Argentina. It is a huge country, separated by thousand upon thousands of miles of open pampa. It feels wild, untouched and uninhabitable in many areas where we were more likely to see a herd of guanacos or rheas than a person. Sometimes a lone gaucho would gallop by surrounded by sheep dogs and sometimes large flocks of sheep. But for the most part we were alone on the Patagonian pampa with nothing but the relentless ice cold wind to keep us company. The roads seemed to disappear into the distance with no end in sight. I loved Patagonia in Argentina, even with the wind that was so strong it could rip your car door off its hinges and made being outside unbearable sometimes. If it was easy here, there would be more people, and I love the places that still feel wild.
The endless roads of Argentina. And believe me when they are gravel they feel like they will never end.
We headed to Argentina across the small border of Paso Roballos. It was one hell of a spectacular drive. The terrain changed from the glaciers, green trees and blue lakes of Chile to the red cliffs, wet lands and open pampa of Argentina rather quickly. On this drive we saw our first herds of guanacos and were so excited (little did we know we would see thousands of them for the next few months). We decided to set up camp for the night and found a wild camp spot with views of the mountains on the Chilean side of the pass.
The road to the Argentinian border.
Our first guanacos. Kind of like vicunas in Peru.
This land is also owned by Doug Tompkins and is being turned into a nature reserve.
As we were eating lunch we heard the familiar pur of a diesel engine, it was Fritz, the Defender of our friends Michael and Simone! They also chose this remote pass and saw the XP camped up on the hill. We had not seen them for a while and it was so great that we ran into each other literally in the middle of nowhere. We set up camp together for the night and had planned to have a fire and eat outside. However the Patagonia weather thought differently. The temperature dropped drastically and it was too cold to be outside, so we huddled up in the XP and made dinner inside. The next morning we woke up to snow all over the mountains that were bare the day before, it must have been very cold during the night.
Morning with snow covered hills behind us.
These Australian guys had rented a Wiked camper and got stuck in a river a few miles down the road and needed us to pull them out. Hero to the rescue, again…..And why they were driving a two wheel drive camper in a river is a mystery to me. Sam is getting our tow strap out of our back storage area.
Road to the border.
Snack break.
More red rock scenery. The road was that little bit of ripio on the left side of the picture.
So much open space.
This might have been the sleepiest border we crossed. Just a few guys in a wood cabin.
We drove for hours, and hours on these gravel roads. Actually, we drove for two days until we got to our next destination. The landscape just seemed to stretch forever.
The wind was intense and it was bitterly cold. I was so glad to have my warm down coat.
Herds of wild rheas were everywhere. They are like a medium sized ostrich.
We saw wild horses running free across the pampa, it was a breath taking sight. This is out our window, you can see the mirror.
More blue lakes with the Andes in the background. The other side was the green and lush Carretera Austral.
The lakes were also glacier blue on this side of the Andes.
After being so excited to see guanacos we realized in Argentina they were everywhere. We had to be careful not to hit them, they loved running right in front of the truck at the last minute.
There were flamingos in some of these lakes. But after Bolivia, we were so spoiled with hundreds of flamingos we did not even take pictures.
After almost a week on nothing but gravel we finally hit a paved road. While traveling on the Ruta 40 in Argentina is much faster on pavement, I think the charm and rustic feeling that goes along with a dirt road is lost. We drove faster, but I missed the dirt roads. In a few years all of this area of Patagonia will be paved. I am glad we got to drive some of it while it is still dirt, even if it was teeth rattling, truck destroying, tire popping torture. I have learned to love a good dirt road.
The road still goes on forever, we just could drive MUCH faster.
The good news is that the four of us did not stay on pavement too long, instead after a night camping in a small town and doing a huge grocery shopping and gas refill we headed out to Perito Moreno National Park and this was the view out our front window:
This picture just slays me. Seeing that beauty in front of us and knowing that we were heading into it was the best feeling ever.