San Clemente del Tuyú

The drive out of BA was quite a bit slower than the drive in. On our way in to make some connections at the dealership and get a few new spokes and a tire, we had speed limits of 130kph! We flew right into the dealership without so much as a slow down. BA is a cool place, it reminded me of Paris. I can't wait to explore the neighborhoods when Lisa arrives! We finished our business at the dealership pretty late in the day so we ended up in the big city for a night. The hotel was a dump, no A/C and it was hot in that little room! I opened the window so we could breathe and I was treated to a rat circus. The big grey furry rodents ran up and down the drain pipes just a foot outside of our window all night long. I don't really mind rats so I left the window open and just figured that they wouldn't bother us if we didn't bother them. The only problem was that each time they went up or down the pipe it rattled pretty loud and kept me awake in the pool of sweat that I was in. At about 5 am, when the rodents had tired themselves out, the bar scene came back to the hotel and smacked their headboards against the wall for about an hour before passing out. Not the best nights sleep. The next morning we decided to lighten our loads on the bikes a bit and ship some things home that we didn't use. We got all repacked and headed to FedEx. The cost was outrageous, 200 USD for a small backpack weighing about 3kg. We kept the stuff and headed out of town only to be greeted with gridlock semi traffic heading for the port. We crawled along in our claustrophobic semi enclosed lane for about an hour until we were finally spit out on a crowded highway of cars all headed for the beach. About half way to the coast we tried to find some lunch, but everywhere we stopped was closed, so we settled for sardines and crackers in a park after we stopped for gas. The station attendant was smoking like a fiend as he pumped gas! (pictured with cigarette in hand). Of course, right after we ate we drove through a town, with what must have been, 100 smoking BBQ grills and the juiciest looking steaks sizzling away. We made it to the coast in the late afternoon and I have to say, I have never seen anything quite like this place. We drove through a mostly quiet town, looking for a campground, to finally take an extended rest while we wait for my wife and friend to arrive. The streets quickly turned to sand and the sand got very deep! Soon we were riding on the beach! I had no idea I could even ride the big GS in that deep of sand! My dad and I came upon a roundabout and the sand sent him in the wrong direction so he just went with it! Riding against traffic! It was worth a few laughs for sure. We eventually gave up on the camping and found a hotel for the same price, after some haggling, as the campground! The hotel even has a private lockup for the bikes and the front desk father and son team both ride motos and speak a bit of English. I think that the motos may have something to do with the smoking deal! We changed into our swimsuits and headed for the beach which was over a set of sand dunes. When we crested the dunes the beach stretched for miles in both directions and there were more people than I had ever seen at the beach. The people must have numbered in the tens of thousands! All with umbrellas and little shade tents, clad in their tiny bathing suits playing beach games and sunbathing and swimming in the ocean. It was surreal, there were so so many of them! The beach is clean and the people are nice and all seem to be having a great time, that explains the deserted feel of the town! We were lucky to find a place to stay at all, as this is a tiny town and must have a hard time handling this volume of people. I bet it gets pretty wild at the bars late at night, or should I say early in the morning as bars don't really get going until 2 or 3 am. I haven't been able to stay up that late yet, but I have it on my to do list. I tried taking a nap yesterday in hopes of getting up for some fun later, but I just slept clear through the night. I will give it another shot today! Sorry I don't have a picture of he beach, it was rainy today and I didn't bring my phone yesterday. See you tomorrow!