After the extreme disappointment of Carlos Paz, the Ocean City, MD of Argentina (with all the jet skiing, teenagers strolling the waterfront and souped up cars whining past at all hours) we decided to only stay the one, stormy night and then head over the Sierras to the smaller, riverside vacation town of Mina Clavero.
Knowing I'd never make it through the hills, not to mention my disabled hands, the boys saw me off at the bus station and we planned to meet on the other side... But what hills they were! Snapping pictures out the bus window of the rocky, rolling Sierras Chicas and then the bigger mountains (Sierras Grandes), I got more and more worried about their chances of making it up and over in only one day; two would have even been pushing it! There are national parks in those mountains with names like Los Gigantes and Los Condors, and neither of those conjures up mental images of "small hillocks" or "easy second day of biking" so I'm not sure what we (they) were thinking.
I was off the bus and relaxing with a cafe con leche at the terminal's cafe when Jay rolls up around 6pm to my sheer and utter disbelief. Jake was just around the corner paying the cab driver he had decided to call when they realized the enormity of the task they had allotted themselves. Even Jay admitted it would have been "tough" to do in one day ... or maybe impossible.
Not wanting a repeat of last night's Spanish party music camping experience, we asked around for the "mas tranquilo" campsite and headed out a soft sandy road littered with signs of the country (read: horse droppings. Yay, caballos!). Camping La Siesta was right beside a huge sandy bend in the river, surrounded by horse-filled fields as well as the last stop on a dead end road. Muy tranquilo, indeed!
After a night not quite as quiet as we'd hoped (mating season for wild pigeons? Who knew?) we spent the next day exploring the rocky paradise of Rio Mina Clavero, bouldering, taking pictures and getting burnt.
All in all, we ended up staying almost four days, relaxing, catching up on laundry, enjoying the river and trying to decide what came next. With me unable to ride and my hands not showing any immediate improvement, we had to rethink our already rethought plans.
Eventually Jake and I settled on taking a bus down to San Carlos de Bariloche, the lakeside switzerland of the Andes, where we would wait for Jay, who decided to continue the bike-quest and pedal his way south through San Luis, Nequen, Zapala, San Martin de Los Andes and Villa Angostura. We were bummed to not be joining him for the adventure, but wished him luck and sent him off with the iPod Touch and promises of updates!
Vamos, hermano!!
