laguna de los padres y balcarce

I left the hotel in mar del plata at 10am taking the main road out of town which then became "ruta provincial 226", this was the route which was described to me as the most beatiful in the buenos aires province (by the drunken guy in the pub two nights before...{-:).

I felt my bike sooooo heavy but as far as I was riding it and not carrying it I would have been ok, people in town and outside on the "motorway" were looking at me with both curiosity and disbelief.

It was quite hot and sunny and the route was actually not that bad, I had bought some fruit and had plenty of water and getting to my first destination wasn't too much work.

Laguna de los padres was at about 17km from mar del plata, it was here that an english and a spanish priest based their mission in the eighteen century to teach the indios how to cultivate their land, and obviously a bit of the old religious stuff.....they had to leave a few years later menaced by a local tribe's dislike for their methods.

The lake was quite big and the view was very nice, I rode my bike all around it and looked for a place to camp, all the people I stopped and asked for information were very nice and a tanned guy on a motorbike was very keen on telling me lots of things (he finally stopped talking when his friends arrived on a pick-up) about how beatiful the south is and how the people are so welcoming and giving.

I found one camping right on the lake's shore but the lady asked me for 40 pesos (10 euros), the same price I paid in the hotel in Mar del Plata...."that's not right !!!!" I thought.

After visiting the residential area and the belvedere in the near village of Sierra de los Padres I finally found a very nice camping, where the friendly people there charged me only 17 pesos for the night, ahd they even had three swimming pools !!!!

I put up my tent, had a very nice cold beer, a well deserved shower and sat down reading all the comments some of you guys were asked by Eli to put on my little note book (thank you Eli). Some of them were serious and deep, some funny and some other just simple....I still felt very happy in reading them because I found they were all very supportive, so thanks to everyone for your thoughts (and this is the end of the romantic bit....) .

The day after (yesterday) was a different story, I had 50km to the next town of Balcarce along the ruta 226 but misjudged distance, food and water provisions and most of all my capability of riding a heavy bike in hot weather and on some uphill roads.

I stopped twice and when I should and could have eaten I didn't, thinking: "I'll find another place along the route" but when I found it the guy there said "no ay nada para comer aqui" (there's nothing to eat here) despite signs of "parrilla y comidas para llevar" (mixed grill and food to take away) outside his f$*#ing shop.

The result was that after stopping in two houses on the side of the motorway where bemused people gave me some water and sugar (but nothing to eat) I gave up, sat down on the side of the motorway and waited for a very friendly truck driver to stop and take me to Balcarce or at least to the next service along the route.

I know some of you will think I am crazy, my family would kill me and some others would make funny jokes about the nice truck driver, but I had to stop and get a lift....

The truck was a very old style, noisy machine and the driver had collected some wickers in the fields for his mum to decorate her flowers compositions.

I realized how close I was and felt a bit disappointed by my first "failure" but after all, I almost made it and most importantly I learnt a lesson or two: take plenty of food and water just in case and if where you stop is good enough, don't think you might find anywhere better !!!!

After eating plenty of small pizzas and sweets at the first shop I found I went to the tourist information office and found a hotel near the centre of Balcarce.

The owner is from ....guess ????? Italy of course....a very nice talkative old lady born in Bologna and grown up in Argentina gave me the keys to my room and asked me lots of questions, I had a shower, a good rest and went for a beer, a parrilla tenedor libre (mix grill and more, as much as you can eat...eh eh) and a nice ice cream.

This morning after a good rest, I went to visit the "Museo del Automovilismo Juan Manuel Fangio", the interesting and unexpectedly very well organised museum about the history of racing cars and one of Argentina's sport greatest heroes (or maybe the greatest....mmh mmh.....Maradona ????) .

Tomorrow I will leave Balcarce to take the Ruta 55 to Necochea, the next big seaside resort stopping on the way to a camping and a city called Loberia.....don't worry I'll be fine !!!!!!