So, we started in this town called Neuquen, the sort of place where people said ¨why are you starting there?¨  Well, because it was important to ride to the Andes for both of us, and we were itching to get on our bikes. 

And in Neuquen, Cultral-Co, and all the places along the desert roads, we saw a very different part of Argentina. 

-A single building, painted a faded blue with a tin awning, chickens too hot to even bother to peck much, nothing else for miles and miles in the insane desert sun.  The very old toothless man sold cold water and soda pop, and there was a falling-down shack that held the bathroom (hole in floor).  I wonder if anyone else lived with him.  I wonder who will man the outpost (because that´s what it was) when he is too old to continue. 

-hundreds of correas (I think that´s the word)- shrines along the road filled with candles and dried flowers and remembrences, but mostly filled with bottles of water.   Sometimes they have a red theme-red ribb0ns tied to trees or to the shelters, and always, even in Patagonian wind, lit candles.  It´s impossible to describe how many of these there are along most roads. 

-Argentina pampas, dry and flat and hot, where no one speaks English and you can tell that everyone really did lose their savings in the crash.  Small depressed towns full of dust.  Not the kind of place that tourists are likely to go, but even so, people there were kind and helpful. 

Very different from Bariloche and the Lakes.  I am incredibly glad to have both experiences.