tHE BiKEs From Bra Zil - part 4

Day 47 was a ride across the Chaco plain, only 450km though so we could reach our destination of the Las Curiosas Resort just south of Avia Terai for a late lunch. Initially curious as to where the bloody entrance was because the GPS tried to take us into a camping ground, once found it was very spread out with about 100m spacing between all the buildings. Checking in was a bit of a challenge, no-one on reception could speak English so communication was via arm waving, pidgin Spanglish, and Google translate. I said Bennett, mi esposa (wife) would be entering the building directly. The young lady asked via Google translate was I in a man - man marriage? No, married to a mujer, but Peter and Mick who were sharing a room would be along shortly I replied via arm waving and louder Spanglish. Fortunately mi mujer came in the door at that moment, allowing me to present credentials. A picnic lunch and then heavy application of air conditioning as the Chaco is notoriously hot and humid, then a light dinner with choice Argentinian wines and more showing off to the staff how close me and the mujer were saw out the day.

Goodnight to the Three Tigres

We were just about to leave on Day 48 when what sounded like a male koala trying to intimidate a rival was going off just behind our room. A quick check up in the trees showed it was a howler monkey family, not something you want if trying to have a sleep-in. Another +600km ride for the day, but at least we’d reach the destination of Salta and the road for the first 450km was nearly dead straight, no holds on the average speed. I think the highest recorded speed on the GPS was reached on this day; 182kmh and could have been more but there was very slow traffic moseying along at 120kmh who blocked me.

Climbing up into the hills was a relief, the humidity and temperature dropped off a bit although the internal temperature went through the roof when our GPSes decided