Km707 to Km634: Murphy strikes again
We all had plenty to catchup with on-line so we decided to quickly make our way out of Brazil passing through Uruguaiana and then spent the day in Paso de los Libres just inside Argentina. The border crossing took a lot longer than most border crossings we had made in South America but it didn't come close to the average time spent at even the easiest of border crossings coming into or leaving South Africa by land. When we arrived in Paso de los Libres, Argentina it was just before midday and the heat was beginning to indicate things to come. Every single town we had been to in South America no matter how small had had at least an Internet café or 2 and the Internet worked, albeit sometimes on a rather outdated PC. However, somehow the one day we plan to spend the day in what is a rather sizeable developed town using the Internet the Internet was down in the entire region so not one Internet café had functioning Internet. Now with the heat hovering in the late 30s it was too hot to move on but being in a town there wasn't even anywhere to chill under a tree so we just chilled at the local petrol station which even eventually chased us off!
Having now waisted most of a day sitting, sweating and eating ice creams outside the local petrol station it was time to make our way out of town on to the Route 14 which would taken us up to the border with Paraguay. The Internet had of course sprung into action as we were about to leave town so having now spent a little time on the Internet we were only making our way out of town as the sun was setting forcing us to take the first available camping spot. The region we were now in is covered in commercial forests so the only option we had was to hop across a fence and camp in the forest. We had been having troubles with finding the right fuel for our camping stove as 'White Gas' seems to have a different name in every country we entered and we had again had trouble finding the right fuel when arriving back in Argentina only to discover that night as we started up the stove that the fuel we had bought could have just as well have been waster because it wouldn't burn for anything. Andy and I had steaks to cook and Mark had oats to cook, neither of which would be taste raw so we had to make a plan. Knowing the risks and possible legal implications of starting a fire in a commercial forest we weren't too keen to start a fire but we were left with little choice so we cleared a large area leaving just sand, dug a whole and then held up sheets of plastic around the fire to hopefully prevent the cars passing by the edge of the forest from spotting our little camping fire and reporting it. We cooked our steaks quickly and Mark heated some water for his oats in anticipation of the dreaded sound of a fie engine coming flying up the highway. As soon as the food was done we doused the fire with water and buried it deep again dousing it until it was cool to the touch. Fortunately or rather unfortunately there was absolutely no wind that night so although we wouldn't be getting much sleep due to the hot air that just sat around us as we lay in our tents we could at least be comfortable in the knowledge that the wind would not be starting the fire up again and burning down any forests.
Km634 to Km544: The Death Road
We had been warned that the Route 14 was an unpleasant road but we did not realise just how unpleasant it would be. It is the main route running up from Buenos Aires to the north and is jam packed with big trucks pulling big trailers, buses and impatient holiday makers heading in both directions at well over the speed limit. On any other road this may be ok but the Route 14 although newly tarred only has one lane going in either direction and does not have any hard shoulder to speak of just a white line about a hand wide. To add to this we had a wind in our face which made it near impossible to hear the trucks and buses sneaking up from behind us. With no oncoming traffic passing trucks would make a little space and then go flying by hooting just as they came screaming past but if there was oncoming traffic there would be no slowing down to make space just a blast of their horn 2 meters behind you then you were thrown from the road in almost paralytic fear. We had worked a little system that when there was oncoming traffic one of us would check behind and shout big fat truck or BFT to indicating that we should all hit the gravel. Unfortunately though some trucks even without oncoming traffic still chose to pass dangerously close causing you to shudder from fear as the blast of wind from the truck almost sucked you under its wheels. Below is a little poem Andy dedicated to this section:
Argentinian Highway
Long road without end
No steep up hills or serious down hills
Just a long white line
Cars going 140 on your left
A steep drop off of 10cm to your right
And all you have is a long white line
Trucks sneaking up behind
Hooting in your ear
Millimetres from your bike
They instil great fear
Stupid drivers overtaking
Stupid trucks only hating
And only one white line
Gales in your face
Barry Wronger on the back of your bike
And all you have is a long white line
That evening we were quite relieved to pull into a beautiful little town called La Cruz, it had been a draining day and not very pleasant so it was great to just go down to the river and freshen up. As we had come into town we had seen they were setting up for a carnival that evening but when we asked around we discovered that it only would be starting around midnight. We decided to stick around in town and have dinner then perhaps pop into the carnival for a bit then head back down to the river to camp. There was a nice little hotel with a restaurant that had wifi so we decided to have an drink there and then see how it panned out.
The staff at the hotel were so friendly and immediately came and plonked a big fat fan next to our table so as a result of their great service we decided to eat there. The food was good too, then halfway through the meal the waitress came over and asked if we wanted a room at the hotel but explaining we had planned to camp at the river we declined. She then came back a little later and said the owner had invited us to stay in the room around the back for free as she had herd it may rain that night and they wanted us to enjoy our time there. It was now quite late so we accepted and headed off round the back to scout out our sleeping spot. There were a few girls round the back too but preparing for the carnival later that night but it became clear that the carnival would not be starting any time soon so we decided to take the opportunity to get a good nights sleep, planning to make good ground the next day to try and get off the Route 14 as soon as possible. The room we were in did not have air conditioning but it did have a huge fan which we took the liberty of setting up over our sleeping spot as we headed off to bed. Unfortunately though the supersonic jet engine 9000 fan made such a racket that I hardly slept a wink that night, I thought that would teach me for not taking the opportunity to enjoy another all night carnival!
Km544 to Km467: The day that just wasn't meant to be
The prior night of no sleep had been a sign of things to come. We tried to get going early in the morning but then as we headed off Andy discovered he had a puncture. Then of course while I was attending to his puncture some idiot tried his best to reverse over my bike resulting my fruit juice exploding all over my clothes and bags which delayed us even further as I tried to rinse the overly sugary Argentinian fruit juice from my kit. Now departing a lot later than planned we head off back onto the dreaded Route 14.
We had spotted on the map that there was a alternate dirt road further on that headed back towards the river passing through a tiny town called Cuay Chico and then continued on joining back up with the Route 14, thus avoiding about 40km of the Route 14 all in total. Normally we would never consider taking a dirt road over a tarred road but under these circumstances I would have been happier walking dawn a dirt road if I had to in order to avoid the Route 14. About 50km into our days cycle we came to the dirt road indicating Cuay Chico 8km so we took the turn off then about 6km down the road we came to a farmers game, confused we just opened it up and continued on. Eventually we came to the farm house were the owners we as always at this time of day having a siesta leaving us with the farm worker to give us directions. According to him Cuay Chico was not down this road and was in fact down another little road in the opposite direction which made us begin to doubt ourselves but the map clearly showed it was on the right and so did the sign coming off the Route 14. We now did not have enough food or water to continue on in the wrong direction so we had to turn around and head back up the road now bringing the total to 12km of wasted dirt road ridding only to be back at the same point on the Route 14. We never did work out where we had gone wrong but we do believe we may have encountered one on the lease informed human beings on planet earth that day so that had to count for something.
Having risked our lives for most of the day on the Route 14 we came across a river and decided to freshen up there before going on to find a camp spot. We stopped at the river and had a swim but it was not refreshing at all, I seriously think that the water flowing down the river was warmer than your average jacuzzi, this may seem a bold statement but I wouldn't really want a bath much hotter than what that river was. As I wallowed in the water I could actually begin to feel myself sweat, I think the evening air outside the water may have been cooler perhaps even a breezy 30 degrees which really did not instil much confidence about what kind of temperatures we were going to find further up river. After our swim we went on hoping to make some good ground in the now cooler evening but within 5km we came across a motorcyclist and his passenger stranded due to a burst tire. We spent about 2 hours assisting them with their tyre trying to repair a perished valve with the last of our patches to no avail which we knew wouldn't work but we couldn't exactly just leave them stranded. Eventually as the sun was setting and it was too late to cycle on much further I discovered I had mobile phone signal allowing them to call for help. Needless to say we did not get much more cycling done that evening and had to camp pretty much where we had stopped to help them bring to an end a very frustrating unsuccessful day.
Km467 to Km403: The Perfect Pool
We got going early the next morning getting to Santa Tomé in time for or mid morning break, Santa Tomé is also a border town with Brazil so we had been stopped and questioned by the army as is often the case but what gets quite frustrating is that you could see in this case they didn't really care about our documents they just were abusing their powers to stop us so they could have a chat and give themselves something to do for the day. While we don't mind stopping and chatting for a bit and being polite we do mind when its going on for midday and we don't want to cycle in the heat of the day, the last thing we want to do at this time is spend 30min satisfying some army officers ego. In Uruguay, the one lot of army officers that stopped us felt they should make it look like they were doing something official so they sat and wrote down our passport details on a scrap piece of paper but got them so muddled up that they landed up taking my details down for both Andrew and I landing up with my second name being written down as Andrew's first name so they ended up with Edgar and David Collett and we were miraculously the same age. Looking a little confused at the details they had taken down incorrectly they asked if we are brothers and we told them the truth and said yes, but we never said we were twins nor is Andrew's name Edgar!
Santa Tomé is a very cool tropical looking town and everyone is very friendly, strangely it didn't have that usual edgy feeling you often have in border towns. After asking once and without having to pronounce it in 200 different tones someone directed us to an awesome coffee shop with wifi serving great pastries and ice creams, needless to say we enjoyed a good breakfast there while updating few more things on-line. The word wifi in Spanish drives me mad because for one they have rarely heard of unless they actually have a wireless laptop themselves and if they have it is Spanglish so they all pronounce it differently ranging from 'why-fie' to 'wee fee' then if they haven't heard of it trying to explain the concept in Spanish is even more fun because you have to use the word Internet another Spanglish word so you land up going through a list of things trying to describe it using different tones puttying emphasis on different parts of the word Internet to no avail 'Tienes Internet libre?', 'Tienes Internet gratis?', 'Tienes Internet in el aire?' until eventually they say 'I no speaking English'.
Now having stuffed ourselves on delicious pastries and 250g of ice cream it was time to head off to the Route 94 which were hoping was going to be a drastic improvement on the Route 14, and thankfully it was. I have never been so happy to see pot holes in a road in all my life because for every one pot hole it would mean a whole lot less cars and trucks. The Route 94 ran almost parallel to the Route 14 up towards Misiones, world renown for being home to the awesome Iguazu Falls, high temperatures and heavy rainfall, through acres and acres of forests interspersed by wide marsh lands. With all the rainfall in the area and the huge marshlands we were crossing it was no surprise the roads and low bridges had almost been washed a way in parts creating an even greater deterrent for passing traffic, it was so great having a road almost all to our own and the traffic that did come by was going so slowly to prevent loosing an axle that we had plenty of time to get out of the way. The area we were crossing was so beautiful and there was no shortage of trees to relax under, the place where we had stopped to enjoy lunch had a very tall fire watch tower which Andy immediately decided to explorer. A few days prior I had been thinking about the Love Trust that we had dedicated this leg to and how we could make a sign to get a photo with and had come to the conclusion it would be much better if one day while sitting under a tree we could make the 'LOV' logo using ourselves and bikes then take the photo from up in the tree. Unfortunately, 2 or 3 days passed and we never did find a suitable tree so while Andy was climbing the towering tower I suddenly thought, wow what a perfect opportunity to get the photo!
Getting the camera up the tower, clambering down before the timer was up all the while hoping the 'V' of the 'LOV' logo made by the bikes doesn't collapse was all part of the fun, not to mention the thorns we had to throw ourselves down onto! Eventually we got the perfect shot and went back to relax for a little longer under the tree next to the gate we had come through, just in the nick of time actually because while we were lying under the tree a truck full of army guys spotted us. Oh dear we thought, caught trespassing now we're going to be in trouble just thank heavens we weren't still buggering around on the fire watch tower. As the army vehicle pulled up to the gate a whole lot of guys got out laughing hysterically, it was the same guys we had chatted to earlier that day coming into Santo Tomé just before the road split to the Route14 and the Route 94. We had told them we were heading up to Enarnación and for them the Route 14 is the obvious route so they were convinced we were completely lost. They weren't phased at all about us chilling under the tree on someone else property they just wanted to let us know we were lost and were quite amused by how little ground we had made since we had met them earlier that day. After we explained this route was better for us they all smiled, shook our hands and headed off back down the road, there really is something to be said for just being friendly and respectful to the local authorities when you see them because although they may just be abusing their powers to stop you just so they can have something to do for the day you never know when having them on your side may be handy. I often wonder how different this trip may have been if we were from the USA and also had not learn some Spanish, being South African, knowing a bit of Spanish and being able to banter a bit about our trip and the up coming World Cup in South Africa really has enabled us to quickly make friends with the authorities.
Although the area was very humid we had seen a distinct lack of water around deeper enough and accessible enough to swim in so were hoping in vain we would come across a nice little dam that we could cool down in and clean the layers of red dust and sweat from our tired bodies before heading off to our tents. It is amazing how often this happens but just as the sun started going down we spotted a body of water on the other side of a long bridge crossing another bit of swampland, it was just what we were looking for in fact even better it was the 'Perfect Pool' as it as an old quarry that had filled up with water and some kids were already swimming in it. After finding the owner of the land and getting permission to camp there for the night we went and set up camp up on top of a little ridge behind the quarry. The 'Perfect Pool' was absolutely amazing, the water was so clean you could see your feet, it was nice deep and refreshing too because it was deep so it hadn't warmed up too much under the intense midday heat and there was a 4m high ridge you could jump off into the 'Perfect Pool'. I mean really this was just the most amazing body of water, to a child or even a grown man it was an absolute dream come true in a hot place like this I could just imagine myself playing in this water for hours, jumping off the rocks, making sailing boats and playing around in a kayak for hours on end.
Km403 to 332: Ojo!
Having had a great nights sleep awaking to the sun rising over the quarry we were in good spirits and keen to get to Apóstoles for lunch. It was an absolute scorcher of a day so by the time we hit the fine red sand dusty road into Apóstoles we were parched and in desperate need of shade. I again had lots to do on-line that day (banking, picture backup, blog update and a few more things to update regarding the LoveTrust) so Mark and Andy were kind enough to feed me 'empanadas' or fried samoosa like pies while I carried on catching up on-line but that still didn't stop me from causing the delaying our departure so by the time it was pitch dark we hadn't gotten very far down the road towards Paraguay leaving us no daylight time to look for a suitable camping spot. Now pitch dark with rather hostile traffic heading towards what we had been warned by many in Apóstoles was a very dangerous country. We had all been informed by different people when we told them where we were heading that way that we´d better 'ojo' or watch out in Paraguay as it is very very dangerous giving hand gestures of a man with a gunwhilepulling dwon their bottom eyelid, the universal sign for 'ojo'. Not long before we stopped to find a camping spot Mark had a had a plastic bottle tossed t him, an absolute first on the bikes so we were a little uneasy as it was and now we stuck for a place to camp. The only option we had was to camp on the grass patch between the busy road and the barbed wire fence or go on in the dark, it was late and we didn't feel like lifting our bikes of the fence risking ripped shirts or going on in the dark so we just decided to camp right there on the grass. It wasn't long before a policeman spotted us passing by a couple of times trying to get a better look at us then moving on. Later we then spotted a rather seedy looking car drive up next to us do a u-turn only to do another u-turn further on passing by us again. Not the best camp spot from a security perspective but that was the lease of our worries that night. That night as probably one of the hottest and most humid I had experienced in the entire 10 months. I just lay there sweating, my bed was so wet and when you that hot anything will disturb your sleep even the most discrete of 10 ton trucks rattling by would have me wide awake again. Needless to say I was relieved to see the sun come up because I knew it was time to head to Encarnación in search of a very well air conditioned hostel room!
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