Dec 29, 2005
The road from Neuquen hugs the foothills of the Andes, and follows a river north to Zapala, then continues on through very green high desert, bright red rocks remniscent of Sedona, AZ, and buttes that remind one of the west.
Suddenly the road is gone (this is one of the main thoroughfares in Argentina, Ruta 40), and I was on gravel and sand, and patches of broken pavement where the road was once paved, for 120 miles. It was hot, dry, dusty and I passed about three cars the entire 120 miles. I ran into 6 guys from Mendoza, my next stop, on motorcycles out on this road. They were on their way to La Angostura, the most beautiful town I have encountered so far, the one with the wildflowers that I didn´t know the name of earlier after driving through.
In the middle of this dusty gravel and dirt road, I came across a perfect intersection with new streetlights and pavement going off in all directions. For about 100 yards.
I was lucky when I got to Malargüe, because a hotel was easy to find, and it was about a block away from where they were having a concert to celebrate the new year and announce the candidates for the beauty pagent for the Goat Festival that is coming up. While the idea of possibly getting a glimpse of the next Miss Goat over the heads of the throng of people who will show up for anything free, I hadn´t eaten since breakfast, so I found a parilla, which is an Argentine steak house, and had a nice steak, thinking I had ordered shortribs, salad, and for dessert something I thought would be cheesecake, but ended up being a piece of cheese with some flavored gelatin on it. Definitely interesting.
So it was off to sleep, and then at 3 AM the fireworks display started. Apparently Miss Goat is an important part of the social fabric in Malargüe, and mortars are cheap, because they set off a lot of them, very near my hotel.
Interesting thing about this hotel, it was the first one I´ve ever been in in my life where there was plenty of hot water, but not enough cold.
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