Casa de Uco and Trucks

15 November 2025

So the truck was really nice, there were four of us in the cab. Three across the front and someone lying on the bed at the back. Someone hadn’t had a bath in awhile and the smell was interesting. With the top speed of around 50 km an hour And 670 km to suffer San Rafael it was gonna be a long night we finally got out of the Laurie park at 3 am and headed off along router 40. After about an hour and a half we pulled into some sort of shantytown on the side of the road to drop off one of the Crew members. And we continued with three. I’m guessing we lost the one who hadn’t bathed because the smell got better after that. I saw an incredible sunrise over the mountains.

And soon after we hit theRipeo. It was the worst I had come across so far because this road is heavily used and this is led to large corrugations in the surface. The truck rattled and banged over the surface and I thought of Tim just setting off four hours behind me, having to ride this section of road. The section is around 140 km long and crosses a vast arid region with a single river that runs through it. We saw Shepherds with goats, and a few isolated cabins along the route but very little else.

During this section of road, I was able to contact Casa de Uca, which was to be our hotel for this evening, and ask them to organise a driver to pick me up in San Rafael to take me to the hotel. The truck was only going as far as San Rafael, and would wait until Monday before going the final leg to Mendoza.

We eventually rolled into San Rafael at around midday, and arrived at the truck park to find a very smart taxi waiting for me. I immediately transferred my bags said my goodbyes and paid. For the transport and jumped into the car for the next 2 1/2 hour journey to the Uca Valley. It was wonderful to arrive at a really nice hotel and be greeted and shown to a lovely room. I jumped in the shower to get the dust from the road off and as I looked out of the window I saw the KTM roll in. I think both of us were relieved to see each other. One because I know that Tim had had a tough day, and Tim was just relieved that I’ve made it.

We decided we would sit outside on the terrace and have a nice glass of wine and something to eat, as we both realised neither of us had eaten anything all day.

We now have all weekend at this beautiful hotel to relax and get ready for Monday in Mendoza