{"id":3323,"date":"2022-08-19T22:38:47","date_gmt":"2022-08-20T01:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/?p=3323"},"modified":"2022-08-26T18:00:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T21:00:04","slug":"chaco-and-formosa-trip-2022-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/archives\/3323","title":{"rendered":"Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Date<\/em><\/strong>: Friday 19 August 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trajectory<\/em><\/strong>: San Mart\u00edn de los Andes \u2013 Chos Malal\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distance covered<\/em><\/strong>:   478 km (with diversions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Todays journey. The diversion to Taquimil\u00e1n is just south of Chos Malal <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I finally left the cabin I have been staying in at 10.15 AM, with sun and clear sky and ice visibly melting. Good feeling to be on the road again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Off, to the sound of canned Heat’s ‘On the Road Again’<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today’s was always going to be an uneventful drive, the day\u2019s aim being to reach first Zapala and then Chos Malal by nightfall and not to dillydally on the way. No birds, no detours, just put the foot down and get there. With a late start and twisty mountain roads it seemed a sensible plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hills between Zapala and `Chos Malal. Patagonia id geologically young, and has many fascinating rock formations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The view from the windscreen was of course spectacular \u2013 Patagonia [Argentina even] doesn\u2019t just have the Andes but also other mountain ranges that can be equally impressive. I tend to drive fairly slowly (80-100 kph) anyway, in order to enjoy the scenery and keep an eye open for wild life, which means I enjoy the views so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ubiquitous ACA sign, always welcome after a couple of hundred kms of rough road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a member of ACA (the Argentine Automobile Club), which gets me discounts on diesel, drinks and food as well as access to a small number of ACA hotels and camp sites. Stopping for fuel (diesel, coffee and lunch) is a regular part of all my journeys and I choose ACA when I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cheap and cheerful lunch – came in at around US$ 4.00.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And yes, I did say I wouldn\u2019t photograph birds today, but as I stopped for a pee this Sierra Finch came to say hello and more or less begged to be photographed. And the camera was handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sierra Finch, I think grey-hooded but am happy to be corrected<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There were other animals on the road, and I was held up for a few minutes for some goat-moving exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s common to see gauchos moving large numbers of domestic animals across highways: in this case a couple of hundred goats.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just short of my destination, Chos Malal, I made one of the diversions I was not going to make to see the ghost village of Taquimil\u00e1n. This appears from time to time in the foothills you can see in the picture below, although you need luck (and perhaps a good imagination) to see it. I spoke to several villagers there; about 50% claimed to have seen the mysterious phantom village. They do say that you need a clear sky in the evening; faith was not mentioned but I imagine it is a useful aid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was accompanied to this vantage point, where, had the light and other conditions been \u2018right\u2019, I would have seen the much touted ‘enchanted village’.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I reached Chos Malal (the name means \u2018yellow corral\u2019 in the language of the Mapuches) as the sun was setting, and found my [very comfortable] hoster\u00eda. A shower, a meal and an early night and Day 1 completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And yes, I spent all day on the RN40, and will do tomorrow too. Definitely my favourite road anywhere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Date: Friday 19 August 2022 Trajectory: San Mart\u00edn de los Andes \u2013 Chos Malal\u00a0 Distance covered:   478 km (with diversions) I finally left the cabin I have been staying in at 10.15 AM, with sun and clear sky and ice … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel-2","category-trip-to-formosa-and-the-chaco-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3323"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3470,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3323\/revisions\/3470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}