The Trip

In April of 2009, my wife Bobbie and I did a road trip across Patagonia in a pickup truck camper; driving down the Andes on Argentina’s western highway Ruta 40, coming back east along the Straits of Magellan in Chile, and then back up Argentina’s Atlantic Coast highway Ruta 3. We camped along the way in national parks, municipal campgrounds, truck stops, and many times just alongside the road; and we stopped at every place possible, both famous and not. You can see our route of travel here.

This travel blog is a daily journal of the trip, along with a few pictures (see
http://parkenbi.zenfolio.com/patagonia for more photos). The "Last Entry" below is the trip summary, but our journey actually began at a train station in Florida so you'll want to start there ... go to "We're Off".

Friday, April 3, 2009

Day 2 - Mystery of the Very Red Doghouses

Laguna Lobos to Bahia Blanca, Ruta 3


UNPACKED our suitcases and stowed the supplies in the camper this morning. Hit the road … a two lane highway called Ruta 3 headed southwest from Buenos Aires through pasture and ranch lands, flat as a pancake. Many trucks on the highway, typically double trailer. Drive. Pass truck. Drive. Repeat all day. Weather perfect in the morning, storm in the late afternoon.

The views were forever – farmland stretching out endlessly, with some autumn harvesting underway. Every so often there would be a small stand of trees alongside the road, sometimes with a picnic table between the trunks, but almost every time with a one or two foot high wood structure painted vividly red that resembled … well, a dog house. Red banners and flags were draped around the house, and there always appeared to be something inside (the one in the picture below has a ribbon decorated old wine bottle and a magazine titled “Guacho”). We saw dozens and dozens of these sites -- clearly they were religious shrines, and clearly Christian, but for what? Hoping to find out and advise later.

[Post trip note: see the blog page "Day 27 - Gauchito Gil" for the explanation on these roadside shrines]

Made it to Bahia Blanca and found out there is no camping anywhere in the vicinity – apparently not something people do in the area. So tonight we’re hangin’ in a truckstop outside of town, along with a bunch of those same trucks I noted above.

No comments: