Southern Exposure

Sunday, April 12

We woke up around 10 am thinking we would have another full day at the Estancia and head to Buenos Aires on Monday. At breakfast Fernando told us that the Estancia staff was getting the Sunday evening off, so we would be leaving in the afternoon. We had to rethink our plan for the day. The first and most important order of business was to ride the horses.

We checked with German about the horse assignments, and I got the same white horse as yesterday. She was older and supposidly easier to ride. Matt got a different horse, it seemed younger, stronger and more energetic than mine. Fernando also provided us with gaucho hats that completed of our riding ensemble and made us look like real cool kids on horses.

We set out in a different direction than yesterday, and from the minute we left the gates I could tell my horse was in a bad mood. Every time I signaled her to go faster she would start galloping and immediately head towards the fence along the side of the road, stop and start picking on the grass or try to turn around and walk back in the direction of the main grounds. I then would straighten her up and signal her to get back on the road. She would reluctantly obey, start walking slowly up the road and as soon as I nudge her to gallop, the whole sequence would repeat again. She was completely disobedient and a bad influence on Matt’s horse, who seemed to be confused at to whether it should be doing what it was ordered to do by Matt, or become an accomplice in the white horse’s rebellion against me. It was a bit of a comical sight as we were struggling to take command of the horses, it took a lot of effort to make them move forward at the speed we wanted, and they seemed to be totally oblivious to our instructions. Sometimes they would converge on each other so that Matt’s and my legs would get squeezed in between them. It looked like they knew exactly what they were doing – purposefully testing our patience and being unruly- so that they can go back to the stables.

I finally had enough of this battle and turned my horse to go back home, which was her plot all along. She started galloping so fast I could barely hang on, but after yesterday’s practice run, I felt more comfortable and let her do her thing. Despite her disorderly eagerness, it was fun to ride that fast. I slowed her down a bit in order to turn into the gates and in a matter of seconds we were parked by the stables. I got off the horse, tied her up, told her what I really thought about her lousy performance today, and went to check on Matt who was still on the road enjoying his time alone with the horse who now seemed to be completely obedient, happy and reasonable.

We were done with our ride just in time for lunch, which was again served in the galpon (garage) with kids and adults eating together. We were treated to tasty lomo beef, salad, cheese soufflet (everyone’s favourite), and more delicious dulce de leche ice cream for dessert.

After lunch the adults went under cover and hid chocolate Easter eggs around the lawn area. It didn’t take long for the kids to figure out it was time to start egg hunting and they scattered around the lawn like little bunnies collecting their chocolate treats.

We didn’t have to go looking for our egg though. Adela gave us one as a present along with a bucket of fresh honey made at the estancia, which made me extremely happy as I am a honey addict, and a dulce de leche tablet.

It was time to start getting ready to leave. Back at our guest house we packed the bags and loaded the bikes. A few families who were leaving ahead of us stopped by to say good bye. We thanked Adelita and Vicente and the rest of the family who was leaving after us, said our farewells and set out to Buenos Aries. We were sad to leave, as it had been such a wonderful experience. We can’t thank the Gutierrez family enough for their hospitality. It was so kind of them to share their Easter holiday with us and we will always be grateful.

Fernando and Adela extended their welcome for us to stay in their home in a suburb of Buenos Aires which is where we were heading. Matt had copied the GPS coordinates of the house from Fernando so it was easy to follow the directions, and we knew we had about 200 miles to go that afternoon which would get us to BA after dark. It was about 3:30 pm when we got on the main road. We usually only go about 65 miles/hour on the highways and it was a strange feeling, after the empty Ruta 3 we have been on for the last few weeks where we hardly saw any cars, to be on a two lane but very busy highway being passed by cars and getting stuck in small traffic jams, as everyone was returning to the city from their country homes on this Easter Sunday.

As now was customary, after about 100 miles we made our final rest stop at the beloved YPF, which strangely enough had a full on deli selling a variety of cold meats and cheeses, in addition to a table service cafe. We filled up on gas and got back on the road as the dusk fell.

It was completely dark when we started approaching the greater Buenos Aires area, but the highways widened to three or four lanes in each direction and were nicely lit. I noticed that the moon was exceptionally splendid that evening, its large milky disk with muddy spots accompanying and lighting our way through.

We were only seven miles away from our destination when I felt a snap in the rear of the bike and the motor died. I knew instantly it was was my chain. The damn thing that we changed in Chile broke in the exact same spot – the master link – where Matt’s chain broke off just a few days ago. I announced the bad news to Matt over the radio and pulled off the road. Now what, we thought. It was 9 pm on Easter Sunday, who is going to come and save us now?

Fernando gave Matt a cell phone to use in case of emergencies, so we planned on calling him. We noticed an emergency vehicle on the other side of the highway and waved at it. We saw it take an exit in our direction, but it never came for us. However, a few minutes later, another emergency vehicle pulled up, with two men in it. The driver stayed in, and his companion came out and inquired about our problem. He was a very nice and well composed gentleman and said he would call a tow truck for us that was a part of the highway emergency patrol team. We let him talk to Fernando on the phone and the plan was for the truck to tow my bike to the security gate of Fernando and Adela’s neighborhood and then we would roll it to the house from there.

While we waited for the tow truck, Matt was chatting up our two rescuers, telling them about our trip. We were so amazed (and relieved!) at our luck of being picked up by them just five minutes after the accident. They said that this part of the highway is patrolled frequently by emergency vehicles and especially on the holiday weekends they are always busy helping out people with broken down vehicles.

The tow truck arrived just 15 minutes later. We rolled and secured the bike on the platform, I got in the car with our two new best friends, the tow truck followed us, and Matt followed the tow truck. As we were driving, there were a lot of broken down cars on the side of the road, with a few emergency vehicles helping them out. I guess many people drive cars that they may not have driven in a while or at least not to such long distances as when they go out of town to their country homes on a holiday weekend, so break downs are more common on these days.

A Nirvana song came on the radio, and the two guys were humming along. In my broken Spanish I tried to tell them that Matt and I are from Seattle, the same town that this group Nirvana is from. I used more gestures than words, so not sure if they understood me in the end.

After 7 miles we turned off the main highway where Fernando was waiting for us. He lead our motorcade to the gates of the neighborhood where we rolled the bike off the tow truck. We thanked our saviors profusely. I could not believe how painlessly and quickly we were able to deal with the situation, unlike last time. The service was free, but I think I saw Fernando slip them some money, which was a generous gesture that they absolutely deserved. I am sorry we were too slow to think of it at the time. Thank you, Fernando, for taking care of us and our helpers.

We passed the security gates of the neighborhood. I was following Fernando’s car on Matt’s bike, while Matt was rolling my bike for about five blocks to Fernando and Adela’s house. It was a gorgeous home, modern, clean and simple architectural lines of the white exterior corresponded perfectly with the lit up and glowing blue swimming pool in the front yard. We parked our dirty beat up KLR’s next to their sparkling BMW 1150GS and 650GS, picked up the bags and entered our 5-star retreat home.

We were assigned living quarters on the second floor, which looked like heaven at that moment. The bright comfy bedroom had nice firm beds with down comforters; we had a private bathroom and a separate TV room. What have we done to deserve this luxury?! This was such an incredible treat.

We were offered chilled Heiniken beer which for some reason tasted like the best beer I have ever had. Adela made us dinner, and after the meal, melting further and further into a tired sleepiness, we said our thanks to the hosts and hit the beds feeling completely wiped out from the day, but happy and grateful.