Patagonia, or the long way to Neuquen

Back in Argentina, it did not take too long until I travelled again. The ETI tango festival this time was organized in Bariloche, so it was a perfect opportunity to take a road trip to this part of Patagonia.
The trip was loooong, 14 hours drive the first day until Neuquén and half of that time the day after to Villa la Angostura. Since we were two Americans, one Russian and one Argentinean in the car, we entertained ourselves listening to tango songs, cuarteto and Argentinean rock and translating the lyrics (and found out that sometimes it's better to keep the mistery...).
We had a small settlement Pehuajo on our way, so while on the trip we learned a popular children song Manuelita de Pehuajo, and even took a picture of the monument. Manuelita is a little turtle who lived in Pehuajo. She was in love with a male turtle which unfortunately was not mutual. Manuelita figured that this was because she was old and decided to go to Paris for a beauty lift. They did all kinds of beautifying operations to her in Paris, and she

became beautiful and could finally return home to charm the male turtle. However, the journey home was so long that she got old and returned just as wrinkled as earlier. End of song.

The landscape of pampas and down to Neuquén was an experience in itself. It was a straight road, with no lights or signs of life during long parts of the way, and completely flat. Nice for the first ten minutes but quite challenging on the tenth hour...

The day after, heading from Neuquén down to Villa la Angostura, we found a much more inspiring landscape, including some dinosaurs!