10/23 Had some rain this morning for the first time in a long while. This new Big Agnes Copper Spur tent is amazing in wet weather. I left both fly doors open last night and not a drop fell into the inner tent body.
Route 38 has been a great road to ride on for the most part. There was a shoulder all the way up the big climb and then all the way back down. My camping site last night was a bit of a desperation pick because it was getting late and there were almost no suitable spots before this one. Everything is fenced in on both sides. This place was just a cleared out area that might have been an old road at some point. I couldn’t get back too far and any vehicles going slow enough could see me if they looked over. At the junction for route 64 there’s a restaurant and the guy offered to let me pitch my tent under the awning next door. It was right on the road and next to the outdoor area where people eat at the tables outside. I skipped it. Tough to get much sleep from the rain all night and trucks going by.
My stove gave me some problems last night which ruined a pot of rice of beans. Coffee was just warm enough not to be disgusting this morning. Had to have granola bars; no way it was getting hot enough for oatmeal. Pretty sure it’s just clogged from the poor quality gas I’ve been using in it. I suppose not cleaning it in 3 years didn’t help either. I can’t unscrew the fuel jet screw to clean it so tomorrow I’ll have to stay here and run it over to a hardware store. Everything is closed today. Need to get some laundry done anyway. Elections are today which means no alcohol sales. I’m pretty sure I can buy a beer at a restaurant with a meal though.
Staying at Hotel El Shincel next to the bus station. Room was $60 US for 2 nights. There were cheaper places (80 pesos) but they didn’t have internet.
Update: Took the stove over to the shop and the guy said to leave it and come back in a couple hours. I went back later and after getting ripped off paying him $5 US to unscrew the fuel jet I took it to the hotel and cleaned it per the instructions in the manual. I wasn’t surprised when I went to test it and it still didn’t work. Nothing was dirty/clogged when I was cleaning it. Next step was to clean the fuel pump. I think that did the trick. After replacing two O rings and the fuel filter it worked like a champ.
The plan was to leave in the morning but I’m undecided. I went to check out a couple hostels and had the normal Argentina hostel shopping experience. There are only 2 in the city according to online sources. No one answered the door at Puna Hostel (quite common–the long walk there for nothing was appreciated) and San Pedro only has one room for singles at 120 pesos. Hmmm. What an awesome deal! Just kidding. The hotel I’m staying at is 125 pesos. The room has a private bathroom (hostel is shared), it’s twice the size of the hostel room, there are 2 beds (one queen size; hostel has 2 twin-sized beds), there’s a window (hotel none), there are four tables (hostel has none), a closet (hostel none) and an AC (hostel has a fan). Are the owners of hostels all smoking crack? Besides being generally louder than hotels and maybe offering kitchen access they are pretty much just a tourist trap unless you have just a backpack and don’t mind sleeping in a dorm. Having other travelers around might be worth getting ripped off for some people but this place was empty so it didn’t even have that.
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