Day: 4
Trajectory:  Perito Moreno – Los Antiguos – Los menucos

Distance covered:   123 km

This is a day that did not go as planned. It started well and finished badly. We had been looking for an adventure, and we got one. Be careful what you wish for, ….

Cabin at Perito Moreno Municipal camping site

We had spent the night at the municipal camping site in Perito Moreno; no heating but we had sleeping bags. No wifi either, a pattern that would repeat itself for the next few days. But it was a good night, we slept well and we left in great spirits.

Fuelling in Perito Moreno

We filled up with fuel in Perito Moreno and drove off on what we had planned to be a side trip to visit Los Antiguos, a pretty town to the west. Once there we decided that rather than drive back to Perito Moreno we would drive over the R41, a mountain road that would link up with our day’s destination, Bajo Caracoles. We had been told by our friend Gonzalo that this was a spectacular road, and indeed it turned out to be so.

Bakery in Los Antiguos, and dispenser of advice and wisdom

This decision was supported by the lady in the panaderia in Los Antiguos who told us we would be likely to see Macá Tobiano (Hooded Grebe) in lagoons alongside the road and that it was a straightforward drive, a view supported by a woman in the Aduana at the Los Antiguos frontier.

Juvenile condor in its brown plumage, one of some half dozen on the R41 from Los Antiguos

So we set off on the R41, and indeed it was a beautiful, spectacular drive. We didn’t see any Hooded Grebes (it was always too good to be true) but did see a lot of birds, including  steamer ducks and half a dozen juvenile condors who circled us with interest. They were accompanied by a single adult female, and seemed to be learning how to fly, taking short trips and returning to land. We were of no concern whatsoever to them and sat for some twenty minutes enjoying the spectacle.

Tiso enjoying the condor show

Further along the road we came across a car with a family camping in a valley who flagged us down. They were suffering from a flat battery and had been there for three days in which time no traffic had gone by.

Playing good samaritans …

We found out later that this was because the road was closed, but traffic is so light in this part of the world anyway that it sounded normal to us. We were able to help them, and continued on our way.

Finally snow blocked the road completely.

The road continued to climb way above the treeline until we reached the top of the world, or at least it felt like it, some 2,300 metres high. We continued, until finally there was simply too much snow for us to drive through. The combined depth of snow and soft mud beneath was too much for Silver the Jeep to handle.

Tiso surveys the terrain

Tis went off to look at the rocky land to see if we could skirt the snowfall by driving overland. He found a route that looked firm and where the rocks were of a reasonable size and we set off cross country, trusting in the Jeep to get us through. It would probably have worked, but what we couldn’t see was that we were crossing an underground stream and the weight of the fully laden jeep was just too much. The jeep and its inhabitants were going nowhere.

Heavy jeep + soft ground = immobility

Our spirits were good, but our attempts to dig out were useless, the Jeep continued to sink until its floor was resting on the ground and there was nothing we could do to get it onto solid ground.

Tiso valiantly tries to dig us out, to no avail

We evaluated our position. It was about 6 pm, and we calculated that there was a border post which would probably be manned some 25 kms away. There was clearly insufficient time or light to walk that night so we agreed we would spend the night in the car and set off at first light. We had the proper equipment for an emergency like this, but were also aware that a lot depended on the weather – it can change very quickly in the Andes, and walking through a snowstorm the following day was not a prospect to be welcomed.

Probably not the ideal movie for our situation

As night fell we munched on the bread we had bought in Los Antiguos and watched one of the three movies I had on my iPad, Donnie Darko. The film itself is surreal enough, but watching it stranded in the Cordillera in subzero temperatures lent it an extra sense of the bizarre. The message was not too encouraging either, but neither of us commented on it.

Night falls in the Cordillera as we plan our walk to safety the following day

Obviously we did get away, and I’ll explain how in the next day’s blog.