A taste of Route 40

Nov 25 San Julian to Rio Gallegos to Rio Turbio

We overnight in a nice Bed and Breakfast, Hosteria Ketty, and then make tracks in the morning for Rio Gallegos. Another day bucking the wind of Patagonia and fueling up more often that usual because of it. We are also noticing alot of motorcycles along the route, probably more that we seen all last winter in the northern part of the continent combined. At one gas stop we bump into two Portuguese riders who tell us that they were in Ushuaia and there was a travellers' meeting there just a few days ago. This explains why so many bikes are being seen.  A nice exchange of travel stories is shared then it is back into the wind for the last push to Rio Gallegos. It was a total relief that when we turned East for the last 10km into town we could finally rest a bit while riding, the wind was finally at our back. 

Rio G is a unattractive town, mainly due to the wind blowing debris around and the general feeling that this town is past its' prime. Maybe it was just the bad first impression from the striking workers burning tires at the traffic circle that has tainted my view but either way we were not sad to be leaving in the morning. 

There was a lengthy discussion about the feasibility of going all the way to Ushuaia for a picture by a sign. Lets see, 5 days round trip, 1500km each way from here, not much to look at from our research, and all the Ant-arctic tours are full, not much motivation there. The final straw was the police check point on the edge of the city when we were leaving. The officer asked where we were going and then told us that the border has been closed on the Chile side, no entrance today and only a 50/50 chance tomorrow. Well that was the sign that we were to head West across to the Andes instead of South to the sign post, the only issue is that today there is a 45km/h wind with gusts to 75km/h and we are going straight into it. 

We take a short cut across through a pasture to connect back to Rte#3 West, then it is tuck in behind the windscreen and hope for no rain. The next 250km is going to be grueling.

We had already packed an extra 12 liters of fuel for expected trip south and a good thing because at the 175km mark my bike was done, we still have 100km to go to reach Rio Turbio which has the first services. I think at this point we had seen 3 vehicles since leaving Rio Gallegos, and one was upside down in the ditch. We poured in the extra fuel and kept going much to the delight of the sheep that were watching all this action. That is one of the amazing things about Patagonia, it is all fenced, which to me means that someone owns all this land. It is literally like riding on Hwy 22 south of Longview, but it goes on and on for 3000km, similar distance as from Calgary to Phoenix. All flat, all fenced, no tall trees, the occasional sign for an Estancia (ranch), and then a few cities sprinkled about. This is truly a barren landscape.

That is just a couple of the things you think about while hunched over the gas tanks for hours on end. Then we join up with the famous Routa 40, whose claim to fame is intermittent pavement broken up by deep rutted gravel roads, washboard gravel road, strong cross-winds, construction in an attempt to join the pavement sections, and if you are really unlucky—rain. The rain held off and the construction equipment was not in use today so there were no added delays there. I do not understand why a country would try to build 200km of road all at the same time, why not tackle small sections at a time?? Again, something that crosses my mind as I am navigating through endless construction detours and deep soft gravel. 

Brenda feels she earned her Gravel Badge today, I guess that is a peak into what she was thinking about. In any event the bikes handle this terrain like champs, they seem to like it more than constant highway speed for hours on end, and before you know it we are enjoying a nice freshly paved road into Rio Turbio. Not too bad, 6hrs of travel time and 300kms completed, plus almost two full tanks of gas each which is almost 50% more than usual. Damn wind.

There are not many options for hotels, actually we could only find one, and it was $70USD and a dump. You would not likely stay here if this was in Canada, again everything is just a little bit broken. The light fixtures in the dining room either have burnt out bulbs, missing globes, or paint splashed on them. The tables have random chairs, the floor tiles are cracked, the curtains don’t match, the toilet in our room requires removal of the tank lid in order to flush, you get the picture. If it wasn’t 5C outside we would have pitched the tent. The saving grace is that the people are very friendly and courteous. They make us some coffee to help warm up and one of the other guests chats me up while I am doing my daily bike maintenance. Rio Turbio is a border town with Chile, and a coal mining town, a lethal combination in any country I suppose. No biggie, this is just an overnight stop before attempting to cross the border into Chile tomorrow, country number 18 of our bike journey. Sure hope that the border is open.