פֿאַרעפֿנטלעכט: 26.02.2020
Tuesday 25.02. and Wednesday 26.02.
We started on Tuesday at 7 am from Puerto Madryn to Bahia Blanca. Bahia Blanca has approximately 300,000 inhabitants. Another day trip of 660 km. Since Norbert and I share my BMW, we don't have to be so strict about the mileage. In Bahia Blanca, we were greeted by the police and taken to our next accommodation, a currently vacant police school. Here, we don't have to sleep on the floor but can use bunk beds. The accommodation for the local police cadets is more rustic compared to our police schools. In the evening, the head of the authorities and some of his employees were shown the promotional video of MotoForPeace. After that, we had dinner from the local kitchen.
On Wednesday, we first went to a meeting with the local bishop. Here, the background of our tour was explained again. Since the bishop personally knew Cardinal Turkson, he was amazed by the MotoForPeace initiative. Then came the meeting with the police chief of Bahia Blanca. He is the superior of approximately 3,000 police officers. The Buenos Aires province has approximately 90,000 police officers, but it is also the most populous province in Argentina. I handed him a patch from my department and immediately received the patch he was wearing on his arm. Here, we were also able to visit two armored patrol cars of a special unit. By the way, we were explicitly allowed to take photos.
Finally, we had a meeting in a home for severely disabled children and adults. The wish of some of the disabled, who indicated that they would like to sit on the motorcycles, was fulfilled. You can't imagine how happy they were when they could twist the throttle. When you see such misery, you can be grateful to have healthy children. I couldn't do the work of the local sisters and assistants. Physically, maybe, but not mentally. Upon returning to the accommodation, we found a grill filled with meat. It tasted excellent. The rest of the day was free. In the early evening, we took a stroll through the city. I have to mention here that many of the information I write down in this blog would not be available without Norbert and his Spanish language skills. I would be lost here linguistically.