argentina's ruta 40 and the romance of the open road

There’s romance in a love song and there’s romance in a rose, and then there is romance in an open road.

As an American, over the years I have developed a love affair with the Road Trip. As a kid, my parents would pile us into the family car for what seemed an interminable voyage. Once a year we would visit my gram in Dallas, then slug onto New Mexico or Colorado. I didn’t enjoy it then. Even my brother’s and my attempt to break up the monotony by singing The Song That Never Ends, playing “I spy”, and a healthy dose of bickering (our poor parents) did little to ingratiate the institution of the American Road Trip with the younger me.

It wasn’t until I went to college in Oklahoma that I gained a true appreciation for the art of long car rides. My school campus was on Route 66, that offbeat grampa of great American highways. I quickly came to love loosing myself in landscape and began to look back on my childhood trips with fondness.

In my 8+ hour rides between campus and my home in Houston, the freedom I felt on that road felt like a special treat just for me. Life became simple. Nothing to worry about but the next gas stop, what music to listen to and what I want to eat for lunch.

But I’m not alone. Americans have been enamored with traveling the open road for years. The works of Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, Larry McMurtry and Bill Bryson have all found a way into the hearts of American readers.

A road symbolizes a journey, a fact that makes it perfectly suited for story telling. A road carries a character forward and offers endless possibilities of encountering adventure after adventure. And isn’t there something appealing in that?

Yes, I, like many Americans, love a good road trip. So, when I heard about Ruta 40, Argentina’s “notorious” highway, I knew I wanted in on it. Notorious, because it is kilometers and kilometers of nothing, notorious because good portion of it is unpaved, notorious because few towns are to be found along the way.

I took a bus from El Chaltén to Bariloche along this mammoth of a road and soon found that everything I had heard about it was true: it was lonely, boring, dusty and barren. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you’ve ever been on a farm road, you can start to have an idea of what we are dealing with here. Imagine an interminable farm road that works its way up all through Argentina. The landscape is brown, and the sky is blue. That's about it.

With nothing for miles around, the solitary stretches this legendary road crosses serve as a reminder of how small we really are. And somehow, it all comes down to the bare essentials: food, water and where this road will take you.

monday red: chocolate from bariloche, argentina

Bariloche is a beautiful town and it knows it. Overlooking a gorgeous lake, views throughout the city take your breath away. Dubbed “Little Switzerland" in South America, the town and the surrounding area has a feel that is decidedly Alpine - green trees, snow-capped mountain tops and, come wintertime, some of the best skiing around.

Bariloche is also known for its chocolate. For a refreshingly affordable price one can sample three or four delicious chocolates at any number of chocolate shops around town.

I took it upon myself to find the very best chocolate Bariloche had to offer (I take my job of tourist/traveler very seriously) and decided that the winner was Mamuschka.

You step into the cheerful shop and behind a wonderfully large counter that fills the room are countless heavenly chocolatey creations. You make your selection. The possibilities are endless. Chocolate covered orange slices or dulce de leche in white chocolate? Lemon mousse filled or coffee flavored? Yes, it might feel overwhelming, but you can take some consolation in the fact that you can’t really go wrong - whatever choices you make will be delicious.

But don’t take my word for it, you might have to try all the other chocolate shops as well.

Mamuschka

Mitre 298 (esquina Rolando)

San Carlos de Bariloche

02944 423 294

* I post a picture most days inspired by the color of the day. Sundays are Black and White, Mondays Red, Tuesday Orange, Wednesday Yellow, Green on Thursday, Blue on Friday and you guessed it, Purple for Saturday.

see the perito moreno glacier near el calafate, argentina

A friend told me that Argentina has three must-see tourist destinations: Iguazu Falls, Salta and the glacier at El Calafate.

Some of you may remember El Calafate from my post a few weeks ago on the dangers of being dumb and loosing your debit card in a foreign country. But this town has another claim to fame which far more exciting. El Calafate is next to a National Park which is home to a most spectacular glacier.

The Perito Moreno glacier is approximately 250 square kilometers and is an impressive sight to see. Throughout the day huge chunks of ice come thundering down to splash into the water below.

You can take a boat to get a closer view and let the magnificent formation tower above you. For a price you can even take a trek over the ice field.

Although my time in El Calafate was marred by the unfortunate loss of my debit card, I know in years to come, it will be the glacier I remember.

see commerson's dolphins in the strait of magellan

If you travel by bus to Ushuaia, you will get to take a ferry across the Strait of Magellan

The first time I crossed the strait to Tierra del Fuego, I didn't have my camera and it didn't matter anyway because it was raining.

On the way back over the strait, I made absolutely certain I brought my camera with me. Why was it so important? I wanted to get some shots of the Commerson's Dolphins that so playfully showed off for us by racing and leaping through the water.

Commerson's Dolphins are the dolphins that are stylishly dressed in black and white. Often in packs of two or three, they sped along side the ferry eager to keep up with the ferry.