Farm Farewell

El Chalten on the horizon

The little gray fox not happy with Marc

Sheep hides hanging on the fence rail for what ever reason

Marc and his son Eduardo holding the Armadillo that we found while out riding

After four nights it was time to leave. I was having so much fun that I really didn't want to leave at all. Marc knew this and offered me a job at the farm where I could simply work for 7 hours a day. He had another ranch further down Ruta 40 which had a cabin on it that needed work and fencing to be done. I thought about it for a minute and told him that maybe I'd return. It was time to hit the road and I looked back toward the farm as I rolled out with the wind in my face and the blue sky lifting my spirits. I was heading south again and the road was dry and in good shape.

I asked Marc to give me 2 litres of fuel before I left because I knew that I'd be pushing it to get to the next town of Gob' Gregorio. A carbon copy of the other two times that I ran dry of fuel, I could see the town and ...putt...putt...the bike ran out. Luckily I have a 2 litre reserve which got me the 2 km to the town. I was so happy that I didn't have to push. I filled up with fuel and dropped some letters off for one of the farm hands at the post office and headed my way back towards the 40. Along the way I saw a flock of sheep being chased around by a red fox. I couldn't believe my eyes. The fox heard the bike and scattered. I drove by and just around the corner was a farm house some way up a long drive way. I decided to stop in and inform the farmer that there was a fox chasing the sheep. I knocked on the door and an old man with a beret style hat came to the door. I tried explaining to him why I was there and he offered me lunch and drink. I declined and continued to draw pictures of what I had seen. He finally understood and we hopped into his 1970's ford truck and trundled along the road to where I had seen all the action. Alas the fox was gone and we returned back to the farm. The old man continued to walk me around the farm yard and show me a bunch of equipment that needed repairs. At this point I had only been on the road for 2 hours and the jobs were small but I couldn't bring myself to stay there and work on his cars and other projects that were there waiting for a guy like me to roll along. I shrugged and said godbye and again he offered me to stay and eat but I just wanted to get going.

I wasn't sure where I was going but I had an idea to head toward the town of El Chalten. I could see from 93 km away a mountain range with towering spired that perked my interest and so I took the exit toward the town where the Cerro Tore and Mt Fitz Roy were located. The ride in was along a glacial lake and there was a huge glacier calving bergs into the lake. The scene was surreal and I stopped to take alot o pictures of which none do any justice to the beauty of this area.

I was happy when I rolled into El Chalten and saw that it was a small mountain town with fewer than 400 residence's. The town definately catered to tourists. I'd say that the majority of the people staying at the hostal that I found were from either Europe or the US. I bunked down for the night and had trouble sleeping in the hot dorm room with some chick farting all night and another chicks cell phone ringing as text messages rang in from another place somewhere in the world. At thuis point I was considering going outside and sleeping in my tent but I forced myself to sweat it out and eventually fell asleep after 1 am. I'm unsure what to do today and kinda feel like riding the machine rather than hiking up to a mountain tht I'm sure would be an epic experience.......I'll figure it out later.