Refueling in Argentina

This morning we drove to Perito Moreno very early. We had been driving for a while when Christian noticed that the tank was only half full. That's not a problem in Germany, but it's almost a catastrophe in Argentina. Because there are hardly any gas stations in the Pampa. We had completely forgotten to fill up this morning in the hurry. Fortunately, there was a small town with a gas station on our route. Others seemed to think the same. Because this gas station was very crowded. So we joined one of the four lines. And of course ours was the slowest. We tried to figure out the phenomenon and found the reason. Since we were standing in the line on the right, we were only served about half as often as the lines in the middle. The only gas station attendant who worked at this busy gas station always ran from one side to the other and then filled up the cars. Unfortunately, no one thought of refueling themselves. When there are about three cars ahead of you, you sometimes wait half an hour. But, as we have observed several times before, Argentinians like to wait. But not Heike! So she got out and started refueling herself. When the gas station attendant came to our car and found the gas hose already in the car, he first looked puzzled and scratched his chin as if he was considering whether he had been here before and had already started refueling. When Heike wanted to remove the fuel filler nozzle, the gas station attendant hurried over to take it from her hand. He also didn't let it be, as he filled the already full tank up to the top. Heike was also happy that a long line formed in front of the men's restroom, while everything was free in the women's restroom.

The further course of the road reminded us a lot of Nepal, of the route from Kathmandu to Pokhara. The potholes in the road looked like lunar craters. For the first time, we understood why you should only drive 40 km/h here. Even the tough Argentinians, who overtook us at 150 km/h in curves where you really couldn't see anything, now drove calmly in front of us.

In Porito Moreno, as usual, we headed to the tourist information center. Here, too, we asked for a list of accommodations. The confident employee called the campground first. Heike was surprised because normally there are no cabins at campsites. But I thought maybe the lady at the information center knows more. Heike also pointed out that we definitely needed a kitchen. As expected, there was no kitchen or accommodation at the campground, only camping sites. Since Heike had contacted rental property owners in advance, we ended our accommodation search at the tourist information center. However, her colleague even tried three times to force accommodations on her customers, but they always politely declined because they were traveling with a camper van. Instead, we inquired about the sights in Porito Moreno. The competent lady marked some points on a map. But when we had questions about opening hours and reservations, the competence was already over. Because she had to consult her colleague for every question, but her colleague had her own customers. Accordingly, she reacted joyfully to every inquiry from our lady. We had no choice but to wait until her colleague was done with her customers. In the meantime, Heike asked about the addresses of the accommodations she had already researched. Because, as in every place, we had no reception here and could not use the internet. The wait was worth it because we received the information that we did not have to pre-book for our visit the next day and that a guided tour took place every hour.

According to our lady at the tourist information center, our accommodation should not be far away. When we arrived there, however, there was nothing there. It turned out that our accommodation was at the other end of the town. If you are dependent on the tourist information center like we are, it is really important that the employees actually know the town. The ignorance surprised us because the town consisted of only a few streets. We found our accommodation only because there was a sign with a tennis racket in front of it, which of course magically attracted Heike. So she got out and asked a man who turned out to be the landlord of the accommodation. Unfortunately, this accommodation was too small, so we had to keep looking. But that was nothing new. But we wondered why someone would rent out cabins and not even put up a sign indicating that.

We drove out of town because Flora had seen signs for accommodations before. As it turned out, they were also the accommodations that Heike had contacted. Therefore, she could say exactly that one of these three accommodations was already occupied. However, it looked the best, so we tried our luck anyway. As it turned out, however, each accommodation was available. That surprised us, but at the same time it pleased us. Nevertheless, we wanted to visit the other two as well. Eventually, the price-performance ratio of the last accommodation convinced us.

Since Flora really wanted to treat us to a three-course meal today, we went to the supermarket and bought the necessary ingredients. She made delicious pumpkin soup, spaghetti with tomato sauce garnished with grated carrots, and for dessert, we had brownies. Since we had a lot left over, we gave the rest of our food to the landlady, who was very happy about it.