San Juan...good to be out of the rain

Not exactly the image of sun and desert heat we have been painting lately, we rolled into San Juan a couple days ago under a blanket of torrential rains and floods. Rolled in on a bus that is. Despite our best attempts at heading down a new route from Chilecito, the weather – mainly intense and constant headwinds combined with torrential rain – brought us to a virtual standstill. It’s one of those “can’t stay here, can’t go forward (not in any reasonable manner anyway)” situations. Hovering in a middle-of-nowhere hole-in-the-ground waiting for things to break just isn’t how we want to spend our time. Apparently, and according to the corner store guy where I bought our 3-dollar malbec reserve last evening, this part of Argentina hasn’t seen real rain in seven years -- then it rained for 4 days straight. Flooding and washouts are everywhere. In fact, our 5-hr bus ride turned into 9 hours due to a detour caused by a huge highway washout that took out 3 transport trucks.  As they say, you can’t control the weather.

Day one out of Chilecito was going swimmingly as we were out of town before sunrise and cruising down a slight downgrade. By 9 am we were 50 kms into it, and looking like the day was all but sewn up. Then out of nowhere the headwinds slammed into us around 9:30 am. What?! That’s way too early! Usually we have until 11 or 12 before the wind starts to pick up. By 10 we were crawling along like two slugs in a neck-and-neck race. Exhausted, and realizing we weren’t going to make our destination for the day, we found a small settlement in the middle of the desert that was just off the road. Downtown “Los Colorados”:  a collection of mud-brick house with a population of approx 43. Any port in a storm as they say (but we’re saying that a lot these days!). The guy who seemed to run the village graciously allowed us to camp in what looked like the village communal area. Shade and water...basically life support for humans in this environment.

Not so bad, really. Then the rain started. Hmm. Doesn’t seem like much of a desert these days. It rained all night. We woke to wind and drizzle. It was still dark, so we rolled over and enjoyed the sleep-in. Then it was light, and decision time. Do we go forward, or stay here in the rain in the middle of nowhere. We rolled the dice, packed up, and headed into the wind. We lost this time. After a few minutes it started raining, hard. Oh, and of course, the wind. Lots of wind. We pushed through it for a few hours to a dot on the map called Patquia – centre of the universe. Like a couple of soaked cats, we found the only place to stay in town. It had a roof, and a bed. Perfect. Any port in a storm as they say! Next morning the pre-dawn alarm went off. In my boxers I sneak outside for a look. Drizzle and wind. Hmm. Back into bed, wait until light. Not much change. Roll the dice again. Lose again. Head winds right from the word go. After a couple hours of going nowhere, the call went out: abort mission, return to base. Long story short: let’s get the first bus outta here! Which is what we did.

The nearest big town for us was San Juan, a mid-sized city of about 500K sitting about 200 km north of Mendoza on Ruta 40. So via the magic of bus travel, here we are sitting pretty in a lovely house-like hostel in San Juan. Feels like we’re living the song: “...we’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name, it feels good to be out of the rain...” Argentina’s turning out to be another country of extremes. In between towns and cities is relatively harsh. Basically nothing there but sand and scrub. Nada. We’re both surprised with how wide-open and endless the landscape is here. Very much like the U.S. southwest with its endless scrub deserts. Then after a few days of dust and wind and camping in the desert, we get to a town or city, like San Juan, and wham, we’re back living the good life. Steak and red wine for dinner; chilled chardonnay in the courtyard. It’s another head spinner for sure.

So ya, the Argentine life. We both agree that Argentina is head and shoulders the best money-for-value place we have ever been. It’s the best of everything at developing world prices. Argentines are romantics. Everything is old school, takes time, and is done right. Having a coffee in the plaza comes as an espresso shot, with biscotti, and a shot of soda, all delivered by a waiter in a white shirt and black bow tie. Steak comes from a butcher who carves off a fresh slab in front of your eyes and to whatever thickness you desire. Beer comes in a one-litre bottle so you can share it with your friends. And everyone is your friend. The unthinkable would be to walk through a door without a “buenos dias” to everyone in the room – complete strangers or best friends, no difference.  Life is just “good”. Es la vida Buena.

On that note, San Juan is Argentina’s number-two wine area, second only to Mendoza. Naturally then, we have a lot of work to do here. That’s basically the mission for the next few days: R&W...rest and wineries. There’s a string of wineries just outside town which we are planning on making a run for on our bikes. It should be a fun bit of day riding with unloaded bikes. Although, on the way back they should be loaded with wine! J Amy may never leave willingly. More soon... Hasta la proxima.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!