San Luis to Junin

November 17th San Luis to Junin

The roads are straight for mile after mile

When the land is as flat as this you begin to be aware of the enormous blue sky. Though it looks lovely and warm, the incessant wind keeps the temperature down. Most of today was spent at 23 degrees. It was a long day, 330 miles and though the landscape was very flat, it was not uninteresting. There were many lagoons hugging the road and consequently the birdlife was amazing; buzzards, numerous types of waders, ducks, moor hens,coots, pink flamingoes, herons and storks. The stork really is an unattractive bird, its dinosaur ancestry evident when up close.

 Storks in abundance, but I only caught the one!

There were also lots of catlle with small wind turbines, providing water for their needs.  Horses were also common in the extremely large fields.

I had a couple of stops today, once to fill up the bike and the other to refresh myself at a motorway cafe. I was quite pleased with myself, as at one of my stops I had a conversation with an inquisitive local and was able to answer his questions in Spanish - and be understood. I emptied the jerry can at my second fuel stop, as I need it to be empty before shipping. Tomorrow's ride into Buenos Aires is only 150 miles, so one full tank should be more than sufficient for this side of the Atlantic. 

I passed a number of signs along the road today, which upon each siteing brought me right back down to earth and Argentina. These signs are all over the place and I must get a photo of one before I leave. They read 'Las Malvinas son Argentinas' (The Falklands are Argentinas). Made me feel a little uncomfortable with my big GB sticker on the back of my bike!! I have been shown the greatest respect by everyone I have spoken with, so they must clearly be a forgiving nation, even if they have very long memories.

I'm still finding it hard to believe my trip is nearly over and that today was my penultimate ride and penultimate blog. I know some of you will have to find an alternative routine to start or end your day after tomorrow.