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Once we had our fill of the Patagonian fauna, it was time to make our way to Buenos Aires and a mere 1400km were ahead of us, which we covered in 1.5 last days with a few stops.

Heading north on the Ruta 3, Cédric and I made a pitstop at a local olive oil producer because, if you read Cédric’s post from Spain, we have a aficionado among us. Despite the fact that Cédric invested in two liters of olive oil shortly after returning from Spain, we’ve now added an additional 1/2 liter to our collection in Augsburg. Apparently we charmed the producer and upon leaving, he stuffed our pockets full of delicious walnuts and took multiple pictures of us for hours website.

The next day, after camping in the mosquito-infested town of Rio Colorado, Cédric and I continued driving north. We noticed that once we entered the Rio Negro province, the landscape shifted from barren steppe to fertile farmland. However, the more north we drove, the more flat and endless the horizons became. On our second day of driving, we were surprised to see the Sierra de la Ventana mountains suddenly appear our of nowhere. Thankful to have scenery, Cédric and I stopped in Villa Ventana for lunch. After a few minutes back on the road we picked up a hitch-hiking veterinarian who was also on his way to Buenos Aires (hitch hiking is quite common in southern Argentina because the long distance public transportation is both sparse and expensive). Our hitchhiker explained some more of the Argentinian way of life and taught me how to prepare a perfect yerba mate tea while riding in the car.

In Buenos Aires, we spent two days stretching our legs after 8000 km in the car. We covered the who city, from hip Palermo to the painted neighborhood of LA Boca. As Cédric and I were wandering through the city, we found that Buenos Aires reminded us of other cities that we had visited, it had some Parisian architecture, the vastness of Sao Paulo, wide, lighted streets like New York… To say the least, it was completely different than the serene steppe that we had only seen a week before.

And, since Cédric and I ate through our supply of campfire food, we opened ourselves up to various cuisines in Buenos Aires. The first night, wanting something a bit different than the normal Argentinian fare, we had a Peruvian dinner. Our last night, with extra pesos to spare, we treated ourselves an asado steak but the half serving was big enough to share. Instead of the traditional side of french fries or mashed potatoes, we were craving a salad and fresh greens.

The next day, with our car cleaned from the nice people in the parking garage, we drove back to the airport and took off back to Germany.