Patagonia

I ended up in Patagonia after meeting a friend of a friend who was traveling with her family in Peru.  We got along and she invited me to join her and another friend from LA on their trip to Patagonia to visit our mutual friend who was working at Las Pampas, a fly fishing lodge in Chubut, Argentina.  A few months later we met up in Bariloche and rented a car, a tiny car, and drove south on Route 40 for about 8 hours.  Our plan was to visit the towns of Esquel and Bolson and find somewhere to stay for the night.  We did not know that it was feriado, which in South America generally means some national holiday.  This meant that every.single.hotel was completely booked.  We tried everything, asked around, even went through their yellow pages to find somewhere.  Not happening.  So we decided to take turns driving and power through the the remaining 5 hours of the drive...in the dark...with no navigation except my friend's memory of her doing the same drive down last year.  At about 3am no one could keep their eyes open and we have no idea where we are, so we pulled over to sleep for a few hours.

We eventually made it to Rio Pico and spent Valentines Day 2016 with an asado, a few guachos, and a bucket of dulce de leche. 

Excitement ensues on the hungover drive back to Bariloche at 5am when our car skids of the side of the road and gets stuck in the gravel shoulder.  Since we all had flights out of Bariloche that same day, our plan was to drive the 8 hours straight back to the airport....so this was not good.  We are, of course, in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone service or people nearby.  And then, like a mirage, a Toyota Hilux comes into sight and, even better, pulls over to help us out.  Best yet, the driver is maybe the most handsome guy I've ever seen.  I think I actually rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  Naturally he has a cord in his truck that he fastens to our toy car and effortlessly pulls it back onto the road.  I still thank about that gorgeous gaucho when I daydream about a house in Patagonia.