We survived our night in Esquel, not the finest place in Argentina, and the day got off to a brisk start with a visit to Esquel Circuit, a small local race track which has, I imagine, seen better days. There we had a "handling and manoeuvrability test on a variety of roads and surfaces" which was over in about 5 minutes and we roared off to another world in the shape of Alerces National Park, see attached photo, a stunningly beautiful and peaceful area, until we turned up anyway. It is famous for magnificent Patagonian Cypress trees, some of which are around 3000 years old.
The morning coffee break was in a lovely restaurant with a stunning view of the mountains, we could have been in the Swiss Alps, the lemon cheesecake was especially memorable and the local school children came out to cheer us on which was fun. Most of the roads today have been unmade and very dusty, two of the cars, a Mustang and a Rover, had a coming together as the visibility gets quite difficult at times, thankfully no one was hurt and both cars were able to continue.
This was the best day of the rally so far, great roads up and down mountain passes and alongside lakes, challenging driving in awesome surroundings. Things could be improved if they tarmaced the roads so we could see some of it though!
Tonight we stay at the famous Llao Llao Hotel, more of which tomorrow...
No comments:
Post a Comment