Riding from San Agustin to Villa Union Looking for a Mechanic
 

TRIP INFO BOX
Route: San Agustin de Valle Fertil, Argentina – Villa Union, Argentina
Distance: 177Km
Travel Time: 2 hours
Road Conditions: Good Tarmac
Weather: Warm, Sunny
Terrain: Flat, Dry but plenty of green, Mountains on Horizon, Long straights
Food and Petrol: Villa Union
Accommodation: Los Alamos Cabana, Villa Union


The trip to Villa Union is about 177Km and fairly monotone, but there’s some impressive mountains on the horizon.

It turns out the place is even smaller than San Agustin and there is hardly anything out here.

We find a super cheap cabana, Los Alamos, for 30Pesos/pp a night, on the main road into town. It’s no luxury but it’s got plenty of space and running water. The owner points us the way to a bike mechanic and we head there (it's a private house).

The mechanic is a really friendly chap by the name of Angel. He goes tests the battery which seems fine. The little coil thingy (solenoid) which I tried to repair in the morning seems to be the issue, because when we bypass it and send current directly to the starter it works. The problem is that we cannot get that part here as they only drive small bikes out here. Angel says I will have to go to a capital city like La Rioja or Salta. I tell him we were planning to go via Chilecito, across the mountain pass, and he tells me I might have luck there as it’s four times bigger than Villa Union.

Angel doesn’t accept a single peso as payment and wishes us a good journey. What a saint. Earned his name I would say.

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Pictures: Villa Union, Argentina
Our Worldwide Motorbiking Experience Notes: India, Laos, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil