Tuesday, December 25 (Photo Now Available) El Chelten to Estancia la Angostura

NOTE: due to slow internet speeds, I am posting this blog entry without photos for now.  Once I get faster internet, I will add the photos and indicate in the blog title that photos have been added.

Last night, when we returned to our hotel after dinner, there was light rain.  This morning we woke up to clear, cool, and crisp mountain air.  The weather app said the temperature was 36 degrees F. with light winds. We are so ready for a day with light winds!

Before we left town, we stopped at an ATM to get more local currency because in this section of the route, many of the gas stations don’t take credit cards.  Unfortunately, the ATM was out of cash.  While we were attempting to get cash, someone backed into Pradeep’s bike and knocked it over.  Fortunately, the bike only received a few minor scratches.

Today we rode part of the famous Ruta 40, a major north/south roads in the region.  Much of the road in this section is still unpaved.  A couple of sections were the most challenging we have ridden so far due to the amount of loose rock on the surface;.  If you get into the loose rocks, it is very easy to crash.  Here are a couple of photos to give you an idea of the road conditions we were dealing with.

Wilfredo had ordered box lunches from the hotel for us to bring along today because there are very few places to stop along the route. We enjoyed our lunch along the roadside of Ruta 40 with this wonderful lake view!

After consuming our lunch and doing a few drone flights, we continued to our destination: Estancia LA ANGOSTURA which is located near Gobernador Gregores.  It is a 20,000-acre working ranch in Argentina that also accepts guests.  While this may sound huge to many people, the owners indicated that the typical ranch in this area is 40 – 60 thousand acres! 

This place is in the middle of nowhere!  I have ridden in some very remote places, but I think this is the most remote.  We are already in the middle of nowhere on this section of Ruta 40; then we go 40 km off Ruta 40.  Then we do down a 5 km driveway before we reach the ranch.  No cell phone service or internet here!  We did manage to take a truck to a mountain top and after driving around a while there, we found enough signal to get messages to our families that we are OK. 

The ranch is on an old river delta from the previous glaciers.  This is the only place that has been green for many, many miles.  There are the typical ranch animals such as cattle, sheep, ducks, chickens, dogs and more.  There is also an abundance of wildlife that is attracted to the water that remains on the ranch.  There was one lamb that was bottle fed.

One of the very old and unique things we saw is the equipment used today to shear sheep.  It is powered by an old Jenbacher engine that drives a belt that then drives up to 6 shearing stations.  Wilfredo mentioned he has seen one of these in a local museum but the one on the ranch is in better shape and is still used today.

The ranch has a nice selection of old farm tools that are displayed around the property.  We even helped on the ranch by hooking some real horse power up to the old wagon!

A Pair of Tenere's Pulling the Old Wagon

Dinner at the ranch included a variety of dishes.  Appetizers include some dried gaunaco and hare (rabbit).  The main course included lamb with a variety of vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and corn.