The Captivating, Legendary and Problematic Route 40

National Route 40 crosses the country longitudinally, connecting small villages and big cities from Cabo Vírgenes (Santa Cruz ) to La Quiaca (Jujuy). This route has become an attraction for tourists and the spoils of war for politicians on duty. In this article we tell you how it is being transformed. We invite you to go through it!

National Route 40 can practically be considered Argentina’s backbone, running along 5,000 kilometers (3,100 mi), crossing 18 important rivers, 20 National Parks and Natural Reserves and connecting 11 provinces: Santa Cruz, Chubut, Río Negro, Neuquén, Mendoza, San Juan, La Rioja, Catamarca, Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy,.

Similar to Route 60 in the United States, but many kilometers longer and reaching higher altitudes (almost 5,000 meters -16,400 ft- above sea level in Abra del Acay, Salta), Route 40 has become the new star of tourist products offered in the country, which is why it is planned to be completely paved by 2010.

Not all that glitters is new pavement…

Even though the government has, in theory, a clear intention to pave this very important route, in practice, there are some bureaucratic difficulties and conflicts of interest against which inhabitants –at least from the south- are ready to raise their dissident voices.

The Secretary of Tourism provides funds to the provinces for maintenance and additional infrastructure works, and the provinces of Neuquén and Mendoza have done so. However, further south, in Río Negro, the situation is different. Apparently, the money destined to pave Route 40 has been secretly diverted, however, the maps started showing route 40 as paved. What was the trick? Daniel Barrios, a neighbor from Bariloche, explains it clearly in his Web page: “Instead of actually paving Route 40, which runs far from the mountain range, two other paved routes were renamed after it: Route 237 going from Senillosa to Bahía López, and Route 258 going from Bariloche to Epuyen”. This way, Route 40 now goes across Bariloche and El Bolsón, the stars of the north Patagonian lake region.

But, has Route 40 really been paved?

What about dear old Route 40?

Former Route 40 has passed to the hands of provincial governments and is now called the “old route 40”. The decision to pave the route to El Bolsón and Bariloche and to leave out a vast region from Alicura dam in Río Negro to El Maitén in Chubut -going across Cerro Alto, Pilcaniyeu, Las Bayas and Ñorquinco- is a political decision aiming to drive tourists to a region promoted well enough.

Something similar happens to the route that borders Lake Cardiel in Santa Cruz, where the new route has been outlined further to the East, near Gobernador Gregores.

Everyday Problems

For practical purposes, the alteration of the outline and the name of Route 40 will cause some problems until the modifications are officially set and the local people get familiar with them.
Visitors will have to update their maps and brochures and will probably need directions from the local people when traveling the road on their own.
Inhabitants will have to restate their mailing addresses and update the kilometer where they actually live since these changes will force them to act as if they had moved.

Likewise, when car accidents take place in this region and have to be officially reported, there will be confusing legal aspects and bureaucratic issues. Not to mention that many officers will make mistakes when they record the information, since many of them work using their memory and knowledge of the area.

But it is no news that the decisions taken by a few for their own benefit (or to take federal funds) affect the lives of many others.

From South to North

Despite these ups and downs, Route 40 is still an astonishing road, a rolling myth, the place of places that represents a milestone. For those who dare take it, there will always be a “before and after” the trip on Route 40. Below you will find a brief summary of  the route, as well as some interesting facts from its history.

Since its creation in 1935 and while kilometer 0 (zero) was located in Mendoza city, on the intersection of San Martín Avenue and Garibaldi Street, the route was divided into North and South. But as from 2004, the Highway Department (Dirección Nacional de Vialidad) moved this point to Cabo Vírgenes.

From the current kilometer 0, located 124 km (77 mi) from Río Gallegos -the most southern point of the continent- up to Puna in Jujuy, the route is approximately 5,200 km (3,200 mi) long and goes across a variety of climates, geographies and cultures.

It borders the Andes range for the most part, from latitude 52º to parallel 22º 45’, and goes through three different regions: Patagonia, Cuyo and Northwest.

The area of the Patagonian region that Route 40 crosses (Santa Cruz, Chubut, Río Negro and Neuquén) shows a geography of plateaus and mountains and arid cold climate. This area is characterized mainly by a landscape full of lakes, mountains and forests. Some outstanding points are: Cabo Vírgenes, Río Turbio coal bed and Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park, Cueva de las Manos in Perito Moreno National Park and Los Alerces National Park, El Bolsón, San Carlos de Bariloche and San Martín de los Andes.

In Cuyo region (Mendoza, San Juan and La Rioja), the geography varies between plains and mountains and the climate is mainly arid. Here, the rivers come down the mountains to provide water for the vineyards, whose products are  internationally well-known . The most outstanding points touched by Route 40 along this area are: Caverna Las Brujas, Las Leñas, Agua del Toro dam, Laguna Diamante, the famous Penitentes, San Rafael, the imposing Aconcagua, Talampaya National Park, Valle de la Luna and Chilecito.

On the other hand, in the Northwest (Catamarca, Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy), the geography presents plateaus and mountains; the climate varies between high altitude arid climate and subtropical. Landscapes are breathtaking, showing mountains in thousands of colors and green valleys, full of vineyards. But in the northwest the beauty of nature equals the cultural richness, since Inca and Kolla traditions are kept intact, alive and everlasting in each town and every inhabitant of these high lands. Some of the interesting points the route joins are: Santa María, the Quilmes Ruins, Cafayate, Angastaco, Molinos, Los Cardones National Park, Nevado de Cachi, Abra El Acay and San Antonio de los Cobres.

Route 40 and its surroundings bear an endless number of attractive places. Some are displayed as treasures in a showroom. Others are kept a secret. You only need time to discover them. Go ahead and dive in the “Route 40 experience”!

Some tips

For those who want to join in a trip along this mythical route, here are some tips:

• It is convenient to travel around Cuyo and the Northwest in the winter season since summer rains tend to flood and badly damage the route. In Patagonia, instead, the best time is from October to April, since winter snow and ice make the trip harder.
  
• In terms of clothing, for dry mountain winds or snow storms it is advisable to have a spare change of light clothes and warm clothes as well as sunscreen lotion and related accessories (sun glasses, lip balm, gloves).
  
• Although the trip can be made by car, it is convenient to increase the standard tire air pressure (28 pounds) to 32 pounds.
  
• Water is vital in this kind of trips. A drum to quench your thirst, to use in an emergency or for the engine is always useful.
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  Article taken from here.

With an eye on the Pink House

Primary elections are an opinion poll
Like most Argentine institutions, “primary elections” are a North American product that may have worked well enough in the US, a country whose inhabitants are happy to get along with just two big parties, but is of little use here where there are dozens of them and every self-respecting politician feels free to invent his or her own. Not surprisingly, many people dislike being obliged to vote in elections in which nobody will actually be elected, though they may be allowed to choose the candidates who in October will represent an improvised leftist coalition in Buenos Aires City.
Even so, townships up and down the country have been plastered with pictures of individuals who, with a smile, exhort people to vote for them because “they can”, or might want to “join in”, belonging to mysterious political factions identified by a number (list 7524 has the answer, we are helpfully informed) that may, or may not, be connected to Cristina’s Victory Front, some other Peronist outfit, what is left of the Radical Civic Union or, perhaps, a tiny neighbourhood grouping that dreams of taking over the local municipality from the scoundrels who currently run it.
Politics in Argentina being a top-down affair in which the party boss always has the final say when it comes to naming the candidates, by general agreement the primaries are being treated as an unusually inquisitive opinion poll. As it is assumed that the results will tell us how Cristina’s popularity is holding up and whether the Tigre mayor Sergio Massa is a serious presidential contender or merely another attractive image that, like a jellyfish exposed to the sun, will melt under scrutiny, senior politicians are taking them seriously.
Cristina certainly is. She has gone to quite extraordinary lengths to improve the chances of her young representative, Lomas de Zamora mayor Martín Insaurralde, cheerfully trampling on the electoral rules, getting him a photo op with Pope Francis and making full use of the State’s resources to finance what in theory is his campaign. For weeks now, campaign ads showing Cristina, Insaurralde and the Buenos Aires Province governor Daniel Scioli, accompanied by the habitual inane slogans, have been popping up in the Internet sites of a wide range of foreign newspapers, right-wing and left-wing blogs, places frequented by enthusiasts for minority sports, those interested in scientific developments, religious controversies, literary affairs and, no doubt, many less respectable pursuits.
The consensus is that, unless Insaurralde manages to get more votes than Massa, Cristina will be in deep trouble. Argentine politicians do not treat lame ducks with the kindness they deserve. Should the word get round that Cristina really will have to leave the Pink House in December 2015, people who up to now have been among her most fervent supporters will immediately start trying to ingratiate themselves with whoever they think is most likely to succeed her. In other countries, that would merely mean that the next couple of years would see plenty of political bickering. In Argentina, the loss of power by a president accustomed to behaving like an absolute monarch of the old no-nonsense school, one, moreover, who has assembled a sort of Praetorian Guard of people who are not exactly democrats, could give rise to a huge political crisis similar to the one that drove Fernando de la Rúa from office.
As Cristina and her more rackety followers are well aware, plenty of people would like to see the lot of them clapped in jail for helping themselves to large dollops of taxpayers’ money. So, if Insaurralde fails to surprise all the pundits by sweeping to a splendid victory, they would have little choice but to depend either on Massa’s presumed reluctance to make waves or, as would be more likely, on the help they could receive from Scioli, a man many Kirchnerites dislike intensely because they suspect that deep down he is a “neoliberal” but who, nonetheless, has remained, at least nominally, one of their number.
Barely a month ago, many assumed that Scioli had made a big mistake by refusing to ally himself with Massa. Since then, most have changed their mind. Scioli’s strategy has always been to put up with the president’s tantrums and the insults thrown at him by her “soldiers” in part because he needs federal money to keep his province’s public employees more or less happy, and in part because he has always thought that sooner or later the ruling cabal would have to find a successor to Cristina capable of bringing in the votes. As Scioli is the only person who says he supports the government who fits the bill, he is better placed than anybody to offer the country the “continuation and change” that it appears to want. That may prove a possible combination, but promising to deliver it could enable him to win the next presidential election.
Scioli has played a substantial role in the primary campaign. Politicians familiar with the ways of Buenos Aires Province have noted that support for Insaurralde has risen sharply in the districts where he has been most active. So too have many Kirchnerites. Distasteful as Scioli may be to the fanatics who would like to believe they are ramming through something resembling a revolution, they have come to appreciate that he could be the only person who is popular enough to save them from an uncomfortable fate. If Insaurralde loses by a small margin, as many predict, that would be attributed to the help he received from Scioli who would then be hailed as the coming man. Were he to win big, his prospects would look only slightly dimmer because Cristina would benefit, but should Massa romp to a decisive victory, he would face a far stronger challenge than he would like in what he must fondly believe is his own personal fiefdom and therefore in the country as a whole.


 Article taken from here.