Disco chicken and all-you-can-eat beef

We're now in a small town called Guandacol, and we got here by bus from Villa Union. I've damaged my  knee somehow - not badly, but bad enough that the odd day off here and there hasn't been enough for it  to recover, and each cycle seems to make it worse. So we're having some proper rest time and will  probably bus the next couple of trips. It seems that when cycling heavy bikes up hills, your body  doesn't complain about pushing it too hard till the morning after when it's too late!

Marion on the Miranda Pass

The cycle into Villa Union was wonderful, over the Miranda Pass. It was the toughest climb so far, but  the mountain scenery was spectacular - much better when seen from a bike than from the 4x4 a couple of  days before! We also had an entire afternoon of downhill, which was nice.

Villa Union is a junction town, only mentioned in passing by the Lonely Planet. There are a  handful of posh hotels on the outskirts which we assume are used by car-tourists as a base for seeing  the national parks. We stayed in a slightly less posh (though still had cable TV!) place in the  centre, thinking the best restaurant(s) would be in town. It turned out the best restaurant was  actually a couple of km out of town, by the  posh hotels which, with hindsight, makes sense.

The wonderful menu at La Palmera

'La  Palmera' is the kind of place whose menu consists of meat, wine, and desserts - really. Not only that,  but the meat options (which include the fantastically named disco chicken) are 'libre' - all you can  eat. We were served by an Argentine version of Bruce Forsyth who was single handedly waiting on the 30  or so guests. He managed this by using a persuasion technique which involved telling you what you  wanted, rather than asking. This way he could make sure everyone ordered the same thing so the parilla  (BBQ) in the back could work much more efficiently. So we both had all-you-can-eat Beef ribs, and a  bottle of Malbec. To be honest it's what we'd have ordered anyway which is probably why he gets away  with it.

Tomorrow we're going to try our luck at hitch hiking. We need to get down to San Hose de Jachal next  and there are no buses (it's in the next province and it seems there's not a huge amount of  cooperation between Argentine provinces). For now, we're going to enjoy the rest of the evening  sitting outside the local hotel. The owner has just turned up with a bag of beef. Things are looking  up :)

The heat on the way to Villa Union