Day 14 - 193 KMs, Esquel, Argentina (10:00) to El Hoyo, Argentina, Camping Puero Patriada (16:15)

My campground - Not too bad for a urban camping area :)

Getting Deep into Patagonia

I woke up a tad late around 10am.  Lazy as (ass) me?!?   Before eating breakfast I got a nice hot shower!  Oh yeah man that felt good. The neighour of mine was (camper) was suddenly in the bathroom and he was whistling.  Very strange gent if you ask me.  He was watching me oddly when I was changing shirts at my van.  Ummm oh well!

I cooked a quickie breakfast while I charged my gadgets once more. Yes you guessed it I made porrage and coffee.   Same old shit, but it fills the belly for a driving in hot weather.      I packed up the van, plugged the solar battery back into the car cigarette charger and off I went back into town the of Esquel.   I saw a place that I wanted to stop at to get a gag gift for a friend.  I went to a diry bookstore and got an Argentine Adult porn mag for a friend. He’ll love it!

Running errands in Esquel - nice architecture - very pleasing
to the eye colours...

I then left the city of Esquel for northbound towns and scenery.   At 94kms from my start of the day, I stopped at what looked like a shrine of some sort (see photos).   It looked like some sort of place that was made when someone passed away from an accident, but this was more.  There were plastic bottles filled with water creating a path this little shrine. When I walked up to it, it had a sort of “Jesus Christ” sort of feel to it.  I took photos and videos of it then left the area.

The path of water
filled bottles to the
shrine

Shrine - up close

At 102 km I noticed what looked like smoke in the sky.   The smoke was covering the sky. If this was Los Angeles, I’d say its smog but there are no big cities here to cause that sort of colour.   I took a few photos because it looked strange (out of place for the time).   The drive from there was pretty uneventful on a good roads.   However the only thing I can recall seeing was a flock of large Andean Condors hovering overhead in the burning hot sun.   I guess something must have died nearby and they were getting ready to eat their meal.  These birds over 3m wing spans and are bigger than North American Bald Eagles for sure and can be even larger than the 3m wingspan Wandering Albatross that I saw on the Drake Passage. Only the Wandering Albatross that I saw on my Antarctica cruise are bigger. 

Andean Condors - soar effortlessly in the thermals over the high desert
steppe above me. Truly amazing sight! 

I arrived in a small town called El Hoyo, Argentina. I filled up the petrol tank and then drove down the road to the Informaton Centre.  It was a small dusty shack, but she still spoke a little of English. The very helpful girl gave me the name of a campsite that was 14 kms away from this spot and YES it was on a lake.  The name of the place was “Camping Puerto Patriada”.   

Camping Puerto Patriada - Lakefront camping!  Awesome!

So I will give it a go. The road there was shitty gravel like the gravel backcountry mountain roads down in Southern Chile.  Fun!  Anyway, I arrived there and yes, there were van camping spot right on the lake!  A+++ to the information girl!  I drove down to the manager’s office and after some two-way “language” challenges, LOL, I paid my cheap 25 Pesos and picked my spot.  

The first thing I did was get my swimsuit on and jump in the lake with my lake-safe biodegradable soap for a cold bath!  Yeah!   While frolicking around in the lake I saw no toilets nearby and about 20 people within view of myself.  I have no idea why, but I started think about that I had not taken a dump (shit) in over 36 hours.  Strange thing think about – yes?!?   Suddenly a massive fart came out of me like a bubbling geyser.  Haha! I thought.  After 5 more minutes I felt a massive pressure in my hind-side.  Uh oh!  I had no where to go, and people all around me on the shore of the lake. The only advantage I had now was no one else was dumb enough to be in the COLD late up their necks.

So  in a pathetic manner I dropped my swim shorts (under the water of course) and pushed it out. Ewwwww!  Yeah I know what you’re thinking.. nasty man!  But nature called, and  I had to answer the phone.   Anyway, 4 pieces that looked my last night dinner floated up.  Eeesh!  I splashed them away from me to float into the middle of the lake!  I kept splashing until the wind got them and took them for a ride.  Am I am scumbag for doing that? No. I had nothing else to save myself at the time. I will try to never do that again. I hope they sink eventually, but then again the lake camp was dead empty because school holidays were over.  Lucky me!

I went back on shore like nothing happened out there, and got changed. I hung my shorts and towel as usual and casually looked where “they” were. I could not see “them”.  Good!  I then worked on my blog on MS Word for 2/3 (yesterday) and thought about dinner now that I had more space in me. Just kidding! LOL.     ;-P

Completely empty campsite.  Have it all to myself. Nice!

I decided to make a simple meal of avocado, canned strawberries, and hot chocolate for dinner.  I need to eat my cans of food (bought too many) so it’s canned food for me now for the  next few days!

While eating my canned masterpiece of food, I noticed the sky was turning orange in the distance over the mountains past the lake.   However the birds, horses, and other animals nearby to me were not in a panic so I was all good with this.  Still however, I was the only one, yes the ONLY one at this beautiful lakeside campground.  With the smoke in the air and no one there, I was more open to the idea of quickly leaving at night if the forest fire got closer.   So I set up the van accordingly “just in case” I had to leave quickly.

Forest fire smoke looms nearby...  eeesh!

I cracked open the van windows more than usual so I’d be able to smell smoke easier and hear animals.  Before going to bed however, I grabbed my Antarctica hard cover book I bought on Port Lockery, Antarctic Peninsula.  The more I read the more fascinating it was to me.  I went to bed with a whole new appreciation for what I was lucky enough to see on my Antarctic cruise from 3/2 to 13/3 just a few weeks ago.  Those 13 days were incredibly special for me and always will be. I will ALWAYS miss being around those adorable and smelly Gentoo and Chinstrap Penguins of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The end of another great day in Patagonia...time to reflect
in so many ways,  I don't even have words to describe it..

Time for bed..  11:15pm..   zzzzz

Daily Summary:

Despite the hot sun, today was pretty good day.  Driving 193 KMs on a fast sealed desert road is fine.  The only thing missing was A/C in the van, but I compensated for that by driving with the drivers side window down all the way.  Looking forward to tomorrow!  :)