Ruta 40 by junge1

Photography • Landscape • posted on Oct 05, 2007

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Description

This old wagon, somewhere between Tres Lagos and Bajo Caracoles, marks the turn-off point from Ruta 40 to a distant estancia. Never have I seen a country so vast and so empty. There is absolutely nothing, just open areas. There are no telephone poles, power lines, windmills, cattle guards, houses, cattle, or sheep. In the Southern part one can see occasional Guanacos, or Rheas, and sometimes a Condor, but these are usually closer to the Andes to the west. On this particular day, 21 December 2003, there were occasional sleet or rain showers, and the wind was blowing constantly from the Southwest. The slightly more than 600km drive from El Calafate to Perito Moreno took 14 hours, and during this entire drive I saw 6 cars going in the other direction, and not one that was going my way. Between Tres Lagos and Perito Moreno, about distance of about 500km, there is only one one-pump gas station at Bajo Caracoles. I hope the commentary explains the picture. My passion is travel, and my camera is my tool to try to capture and record things and events I see. Thanks for viewing and the wonderful comments. To 'bugatti' thanks for the hints and comments. Things probably haven't changed much at all, and I had to laugh about your descriptions of the places-still the same. What one has to know about the pump at Bajo Caracoles, it often runs out of gas. So you better plan ahead. But the people are so warm and friendly, and the food is good, so is the wine. And Land Rovers are used the way they were meant to. No fancy gimmicks, over-sized, low-profile tires and chrome. To 'efferre' thanks for the comments about the Thar. It will be in my future plans to visit.

Comments (6)

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LMcLean

10:28AM | Fri, 05 October 2007

Quote - "The slightly more than 600km drive from El Calafate to Perito Moreno took 14 hours, and during this entire drive I saw 6 cars going in the other direction, and not one that was going my way. Could be a problem if you had car trouble, but on the other hand it's kinda nice to think there's still somewhere on earth that isn't paved and full of power lines and the like. Beautiful image that has a peaceful and somewhat melancholy mood to it. 5/5

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bugatti

10:56AM | Fri, 05 October 2007

Brings back so many memories ... I drove the whole 40 when I was a kid, 1960 or thereabouts. Remember I had a map from the automovil club, showed a place on the map called Piedras Blancas, only dot in hundreds of miles, and when I got there it was just that, two big stones painted white. And another dot on the map had the indications general store, telephone, postage office, bar, gasoline etc, and when I got there it was just a shack with a phone, a gas canister and a mail collection box. By the way, no problem if you got stuck, those few cars that go by will always stop and do anything they can to help. Help to repair if they can, or tow if they can't.

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efferre

11:14AM | Fri, 05 October 2007

Beautiful shoot! I have never been on that route 40, but the landscape reminds me very much of the Thar desert, in between India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, a magic place to travel…same time ago Have a nice week end!