December 28, 2010

We ventured out on our own to do a day trip to Jorge and Carmen´s previous home town: San Martin de los Andes. To get there we followed a gravel road for 80 kilometers (50 miles). Bumpety-bump-bump, cough, cough, but lots of great views.

There was a waterfall on the way:

As we approached we could see San Martin which lies at the end of a long lake:

The GPS was constantly overoptimistic, thinking we could do 80 km/h on the gravel road. By the time we arrived it was already time for lunch.

Being at the waterfront in San Martin felt a lot like being in Dale in Telemark in Norway. Same location at the end of a large narrow lake in the mountains and beautiful wooden buildings. We found a very nice looking restaurant..

Ordering food at a restaurant in Argentina can be a big challenge. Sometimes when you order “pork” you get a single slice of meat. You are supposed to understand that you need to order potatoes, peas or other vegetables separately. Other times, like in this restaurant, you get 3 large slices of pork, each large enough for a hungry lumberjack, with plenty of sauce, potatoes and a salad thrown in on the side. The strange thing is that prices and normal tourist logic also often fail. This restaurant was schmack on the waterfront of a well-known tourist target and prices were low. The only way to really find out is to communicate with the waiter.

In other words, we had more than enough food (Iseline boycotted the photo):

After lunch we crossed the street and the kids could go swimming.

We drove a bit around town before heading back

There were more great views on the way back. This area is so beautiful I´m having a hard time trying to not swamp you with too many photos:

After having done 80 km (50 miles) of tough gravel road in one direction we had done 65 (40 miles) in the other when the road suddenly started to feel more bumpy than what should be possible. Helene pulled over and we found out that one of the tires had exploded. With no cell phone coverage we were glad the spare wheel was in good shape. I guess you cannot call this a flat tire, this is more like a non-tire:

The jack was so hard to turn we had to take turns turning it:

We saw there was an electric cable going into the brake which was broken. However the hydraulics worked and the brakes worked as they should. We took the risk and drove back.

We explained what had happende and Jorge brought me and the car over to one of his neighbours which he explained was a car mechanic. He lived with his family in what looked like a small farm. We said hello to everyone who was sitting outside before we went over to the barn. OK, I guess you have to use time on getting-acquainted-rituals, but showing me the barn seemed a bit excessive. Except, it wasn´t  really a barn. Once the barn door was opened a garage and large storage area was revealed. Wow, I would never have guessed from the looks of the place from the outside. Here were shelf after shelf of parts in carboard boxes. All sorted and marked with a thick black pen. I wanted to take a picture but in some situations it just doesn´t feel right. I explained to the guy what the cable looked like, he asked for the type of car. Seconds later he showed me a spare brake with the same kind of cable. He explained that this was connected to an infrared sensor inside the brake which was there to signal if there was dirt inside the braking mechanism. Who would have guessed? There was no danger and we didn´t have to get it fixed immediately. Very good to know.

In the evening we had all been invited for dinner at Carmen and Juan Carlos´s place, the parents Lili, the neighbor. They live just outside the center of Villa La Angostura in a fantastic house in a beautiful and very well kept garden, which you can barely see in the dark:

Carmen and Juan Carlos lived in Buenos Aires until a few years ago. They wanted to escape the crime-ridden capital and moved to be in the same town as their daughter. They told us that they just didn´t feel safe in Buenos Aires and that it was a pain with metal bars in front of windows, high fences and locks everywhere.

We were served finger-licking-good empanadas of different flavors:

It seems to be the standard in Argentina that you stay at someone´s place until at least one of the children fall asleep.

Eirik

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