Ruta 40 (Patagonia)

Oficialni odjezd do Bariloche 23.20, skutecny 0.30, nic zvlastniho se nedeje. Mozna jsme dalkove busy tady puvodne trochu prechvalili. Sluzba SemiCama evidentne znamena neco jineho na severu a neco jineho na jihu zeme. Sedime v obycejnem busu s lehce sklopitelnymi sedackami. Cele predni sklo je skryte za mrizi a po 100km vime proc. Ruta 40 v teto casti zeme je sice legendarni, ale to znamena, ze jsou to tisice kilometru ujezdeneho prachu a sterku s hluboce vyjetymi kolejemi. A tak misty doslova plaveme jak na snehu 40km rychlosti na sever. Planina a pustota kolem je neuveritelna - vsechny smery kam dohledneme jsou jen zlutohneda placka s trsy travy. Hodiny a hodiny ubihaji, vyhled je absolutne nepozmenen a je to presne tak nepohodlne jak si dovedete predstavit. Celou noc se vsichni snazi najit idealni pozici vhodnou ke spanku, ale nic takoveho neexistuje...
Po prvnich 16hodinach zastavime na 2h v osade Perito Moreno, kde nas i se zavazadly vylozi aby pro nas po prestavce zase prijeli. Smysl to moc nema..? Osada je par zaprasenych baraku s benzinkou a smeckami psu. Chvilku si povidame s tlupou americkych motorkaru co to tu brazdi na endurech. To musi byt silena makacka...
Pokracujeme dal. Kolem 11vecer prijde na radu zavada motoru. Vypada to na tekouci chladic, kazdych 30min zastavujeme a ridici lezou do motoru a snazi se to spravit. Neustale dolevaji vodu, i za jizdy.. Pri jedne delsi oprave vyndaji na podlahu kusy motoru a jdou mezi cestujici hledat nejake tesneni. A najdou - kondom zachranuje situaci. Pokracujeme a uprostred noci prijde dalsi zavada, ale tentokrat asi neco jineho. Ja spim, ale Janca to videla asi takto:
Jeden ridic lezi v motoru zevnitr, druhy zepredu a treti zespoda. Po 2h vytahnou nejakou trubku s krabickou na konci ktera je plna malych soucastek a hraji si s tim. Bonusova otazka, co to bylo?
Ridici uz nevypadaji jako ridici, ale jako mechanici co se rozhodli polit olejem a vyvalet v patagonskem prachu. Predpokladany prijezd misto v 8.00 ve 14.00. Takze ne 32h ale 38h na ceste! Tusime, ze tenhle rekord v jizde busem budeme prekonavat tezko. Ale jak se rika co te nezabije to te posili...

fotky jsou k dispozici na:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51859&id=1344786025&l=15c68228df

Official departure for Bariloche is at 23.20, real one 0.30, nothing special. Maybe we overpraised long distance buses. Servise SemiCama apparantly means something different in the north and in the south of the country. We sit in an ordinary bus with seats that go down only tiny bit. The whole of front screen is behind fine bar and after first 100km we know why. Ruta 40 in this part of the country is legendary, but that means dust and gravel with deep tracks for thousands of kilometres. And so sometimes we drift like on a snow reaching max speed of 40km/hr. Desolate plateaus all around us are overwhelming. All directions are just brown-yellow flat surface with bits of dry grass. Hours and hours pass, view unchanged and the seats are as uncomfortable as you can imagine. The whole night is everybody trying to find the perfect position to sleep knowing that nothing like that exists...
After first 16hrs we stop for 2hrs in a place called Perito Moreno. We get off together with our luggage and then the same bus collects us. What is the sense...?
The place consists of few houses, gas station and packs of dogs. For a while we talk to band of American bikers that cruise this part of the world on enduros. It has to be a tough trip...
We continue, around 11pm defect on engine..It looks like a leaking cooling unit, every 30mins we stop and driver look into the engine and try to fix it. They refill the water all the time, even while driving..During one of the longer repairs a lot of engine parts lay on the floor and the drivers go and search for a gasket among the passangers. And they find - condom saves the day.
Again we hit the road and another defect happens in the middle of the night. Something different. I am asleep, Jana saw it this way:
One of the drivers is laying on the floor looking into the engine, second doing the same from the front, and third the same from the bottom. After 2hrs they pull out a tube with a box at the end full of small parts and play with it for a while. Bonus question, what was it?
Drivers don't look like drivers any more, more like mechanichs that decided to swim in an oil and than roll out in the patagonian dust...
Expected arrival changes from 8am to 2pm. So it won't be 32 but 38h in the bus! We reckon, this record will be hard to beat. But as it's said what does not kill you makes you stronger...

For pictures please go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51859&id=1344786025&l=15c68228df