Waterfalls, Lakes and Volcanoes

28th Dec, Petrohue to Puerto Varas (39M)

Up early again to try and beat the wind,bound to be a westerly and therefore headwind. It is certainly chillier here that it was further north in Argentina. Sun was on the snow capped volcan Osorno opposite, but hadn´t reached our tent yet. Porridge and coffee helped us to combat the cold, but we had to pack the tent away wet from the mornings dew. Then down to the now warm sunny jetty to wait for our lift across the river.
Once across the river we had about 4M of gravel road before the tarmac began. We stopped to visit the ´Salto de Petrohue´waterfalls, lovely little falls on the river that the road was following. It did feel a bit touristy, as we were joined by a couple of bus loads of people visiting the waterfalls before they continued up to Petrohue for a boat trip.

We continued onwards following the river downstream towards Ensenada and Lago Llanquihue, where we had a stop for bread and empanadas before continuing on around the lake for 50km to Puerto Varas. The road was rolling and hard work at times, but the beautiful views of the lake on our right and the volcanoes Osorno and Calbuco behind us were stunning. With just 15km to go we stopped for a lazy rest on a lakeside beach, black warm sand and a cool breeze were a lovely combination. Only the odd horsefly to keep Gareth awake and occupied while I had a little doze.
Arriving in Puerto Varas was like arriving at an up-market seaside resort. No arcades, but lots of hotels and people swimming in the crystal clear lake waters. What was lacking was a campsite, so we spoilt ourslves to a hostel and after a bit of bargaining got a cheaper rate for a double room rather than saving our pesos in a dorm.

Chile here we come....

27th Dec, Campsite Petunia to Petrohue. (28M)


Up and packed again. It feels a while since we´ve been on the move on the bikes. The day started with a relaxed 13km ride to Puerto Panuelo. Stunning views of the lake. From there we caught a boat to Puerto Blest. Another very peaceful 3km bike ride to Lago Frias. On the organised tour there were busses to transport the other passengers so we got out bags transported for us.
Across lake Frias in another smaller boat to Argentinian customs and then bikes fully loaded again we had 27km of dirt track to get to Puerta Peulla and Chilean customs. The first 4km was very steeply uphill. Hard work when you´ve had virtually a week off the bikes and only flat riding for a while before that. It was however lovely and quiet, as the tour bus had left before us, we had the road to ourselves.

After 4km of ascent we reached a sign welcoming us to Chile. Then began one of the steepest roughest descents I´ve had to do for  a long time on a fully loaded tour bike. Hard work on the arms and more technical riding than ususal, it did level out after a bit but the stoney road continued, explains while the tourist bus was a chunky 4WD! We met a couple of tour cyclists heading the other way and stopped to exchange a few words,  I´m thankful that we were going in our direction however,
they had 23km of bumpy hot uphill.

Through customs and despite declaring that we had a few food items such as dried milk and raisens that we thought might be a problem on entering Chile, our bags went unsearched and we proceeded to our final boat crossing of this trip. 1.75hrs later, again through beautiful lake and volcano scenery even though some of it was slightly obscured by volcanic dust, we arrived at Petrohue a small village at the foot of the very impressive snowcapped volcan Osorno.
Having reloaded our bags back onto the bikes we were planning to look for a campsite. We didn´t actually have anywhere further to cycle today however as on leaving the jetty area we were directed back onto a small boat and taken across the river to a small farm with camping areas surrounding it. Surrounded by chickens, a few cows, pigs rooting around in a pen nearby and the ususal campsite contingent of dogs it was a lovely site made better by the stunning views of Volcan Osorno across the river.

The only real nuisance were the huge number of insects, swarms of small sandfly/ midgey like things and humungous horseflies. Thankfully for me they seem to find Gareth more attractive and generally leave me alone. Big and generally slow moving they are relatively easy to swat but there were certainly lots of them and they didn´t seem detereed by the relatively windy pitch we chose either.
First opinions of Chile, volcanoes, lakes, greener scenery, and huge huge horseflies.

Beautiful lakeside camping

26th Dec Campsite Petunia

A lovely relaxed Boxing day. For once we managed to get a shady pitch and so no morning sun to bake us out of the tent. So we had a lovely lie-in and then spent the day enjoying the lakeside scenery, booking and sorting travel plans for the rest of our trip.

MERRY BLOODY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

25th December 2011
Now I would say I´m a fairly easy going guy (others may disagree), but to be woke at 2am by the thumping of music is one thing to get my back-up. The party started at 2am and was to continue on until 6 that morning. The guy who had warned us wasn´t kidding either, the noise was so loud you could hear yourself think. I gave it till 3, then I broke! Pulling on my trousers (inside out) and with no t-shirt I ventured down stairs to inquire if they might be able to find the volume control and turn it down. The initial response was a rather startled looking guy, who on reflection was probably trying to figure out whether I was wearing a see-through t-shirt or if I have a strange tan (he was right with the latter). The second guy however was a bit more coherent, though not at all helpful and told me if I wasn´t happy I could leave in the morning and have a refund for that night. I returned to bed and found Sarah awake now and this is how we spent the rest of the night, awake!
When the morning did arrive we went downstairs to have breakfast and to tell them we were leaving. When we got down stairs there was an silence, which no-one seemed to want to break, that was untill the South african guy came down and asked if anyone was kept awake by the noise last night. We weren´t the only ones!
After breakfast we informed the girl behind reception that we intended leaving and wouldn´t be paying for the previous night, she kept on apolagising. So, we packed and headed off to a campsite which we had been told about at the tourist infomation.
The great thing about the bad night is that we are now at a very nice campsite which has everything we need, including phone which we can use to call the folks.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERY BODY!!!!

Christmas Eve

24th December 2011
We moved rooms last night to a dorm room which was comfy, but I was woken by the music from the bar below. We had been warned by a fellow guest that if the bar got going there was a lot of noise which had kept him awake all night, I soon fell asleep though, so little was lost.
Our day was again to be a restful day with only few jobs to sort out, such as buying our ferry tickets and food for tomorrows Christmas dinner. The menu for our festive lunch is to be salad, potatoes and a selection of empanadas all swilled down with a nice glass of melbec.

What a beautiful day!

23rd December 2011
It´s aways nice arriving somewhere in not so ideal circumstances, because when you wake the following morning to a beautiful sunny day, it makes it all worth will. This morning is one such day.


After our breakfast we went for a wander and found a very nice little beach to sit on to admire the view of the mountains and see if we could spot this erupting chilean volcano? Nothing, not a single sign, just a haze of yellow dust in the distance. Afterward we popped into town for a look around and to see whether we could organise the boat trip that are going to take us into Chile, but got to the agency when they were closing for siesta so just got a little infomation for now. We did find a nice coffee shop for a sit down, coffee and a traditional piece of spanish strudel. Yes, I no it´s an Austrain dessert and if you could see this place you´d understand why it´s here. It´s like being in some alpine ski resort. Little wood cabins that look like they´ve been built using a chocolate box for plans. The place really feels very odd and not at all Argentinian.


The day finished very much as it started, beautifully, with the most wonderful sunset that cast an orange glow across the snow covered mountains.

Luxury Travel

Thursdays 22nd December 2011
Well I never thought I´d sleep so well on a bus, but I have. The seats are so very comfy and it is surprisingly smooth, so used to the worn-out buses of home. Anyway, when we did wake the scenery had changed little it was still very flat and windy! It is really starting to sink in what a good choice this was and how by doing this we can now concentrate on enjoying Patagonia and getting ourselves down to Ushuaia in time for the trip to Antarctica.
Breakfast was served, a little disappointing after last nights meal I was expecting a very nice continental style breakfast. Instead we got some crackers a tiny muffin and a sugar loaded biscuit thing, which even with my sweet tooth could manage.
We still had 7 hours of travel left and in this time the landscape started to change. Part of the reason it had stayed quite flat was due to the route we took had swung away from the mountains, but now we were returning back towards them. The faint shadows of snow peaked mountains could be made out in the distance and they slowly got closer until we were back in the beautiful scenery we had got used to further north.
The closer we got to Bariloche the more I hope of seeing signs of the volcano, but there seemed to be nothing. Until we rounded a corner and had a view of a beautiful lake. The back drop behind was obscured by a creamy yellowish mist, which once we got to was coursed by ash that was being blow up from the ground by the wind. The effects of all this ash made the area look as if it had had a strange coloured snow storm. Everything was covered in this fine dust and the wind created dust devils which moved across the landscape. The sun burnt though the dust every so often and when we finally came into view of Bariloche, we were greeted by a town which was a bathed in the sun.
The bus arrived at the bus station and we started noticing that everyone was walking around in thick jackets and we soon found out why. It so cold! A chilly wind was blowing and the temperature was only 18degC, which after the weeks getting used to 30deg C plus was a bit of a shock to the system and as soon as we got off the bus we started layering up. We got the bikes off the bus and put them back together and pedalled into town (Back into a head wind which was icy cold!) to find a hostel. Once dune we wondered into town for alook around and to buy food for dinner. No sighs of the volcano though, just some piles of ash here and there.

Boomerang!

Wednesday 21st December 2011

We had company for breakfast

I was woken at 3am by a wind which sounded as though it wasn´t taking any prisoners. I fell back to sleep praying it would have abated by the morning. It hadn´t! Possibly a little bit lighter, but it was still coming from the same direction. We packed up with a sense of the impending slog and we weren´t wrong. As soon as we pointed the bikes toward Mendoza the grind began.

I put my head down and do what I always do when into a head wind, I picture a long climb and just start churning. The reward for this futile logic? 3 miles in 30 minutes! We arrived at another check point (they really like their check points over here) and it was here we both realised what sort of day was ahead and a re-think was needed.

Whilst we sat trying to decide I came up with the idea of thumbing for a lift. Yeah right! Who in their right mind would stop and load two heavy bikes into their vehicle? No-one. Our decision was simple, we turned our bikes around and utilised the very strong wind and started cycling back to San Juan.

What a tail wind! The 3 miles were covered in 10 mins and the ride from where we had camped back to San Juan took just over 3 hours, 1 1/2 hours quicker than yesterday. Our plan was in the form of heading to the bus station and finding where we could get a bus to? Sarah with her growing Spanish vocab went forth and organised a bus to a place we had previously dismissed due to the very active volcano situated on it´s door step.

Bariloche was our destination some 21 hours on our bus and what luxury it was. Our seat reclined almost flat and we had a evening meal of half a cow and veg. Which for an ´in-bus´ meal was delicious (our palates are easily pleased these days). We got to see what the road would of been like if we had carried on. What a good call this was, nothing but flat exposed desert and what plants we did see were being flattened by the wind and still from the same direction. 

The Thin White Line

Tuesday 20th December 2011. 54.3 miles

After a nice couple of days off the bike, we are now back on the road. The plan seemed good and we headed off along Route 40. There was another side route which we could have taken and probably had quieter roads, but the extra miles were less attractive so we opted for the quickest route. Regardless of this decision one thing was certain, the head wind was very strong.
The road was to prove to be very busy to begin with and it wasn´t till we got about half way it quietened down (partly due to it being siesta time). We had started on a 4 lane highway with a hard shoulder to a 2 lane highway with only a 6 inch white line to follow and a gravel hard shoulder to escape to if needed. Thankfully most of the Argentinian drivers give you plenty of room as and when they can. So we had no nasty experiences over the 54 miles.
After four and a half hours of pedalling we were hot and bothered and eager to find a place to camp and as luck had it we had just arrived at a border control. Sarah asked if it was possible camp here and the border guy seemed very happy for us to pitch camp under some trees. Perfect! The only problem, no facilities, but as luck has had it we had filled to 2 litre coca cola bottles with water at a stop with the knowledge that we may be rough camping. It was such a good idea, but for one thing. The sun had warmed it so much it was only just bearable, we reckoned that it must of been close to 60degC! Once clean we ate and I ventured off to dig a loo with my trusty ´I POOED´ (no head phone jack though).

Hot San Juan

18th Dec and 19th Dec. Rest days in San Juan
Definitely time for a  rest day... or possibly 2 as it turned out. Again our 1st rest day was a Sunday, but the lack of shops being open gave us chance to get some clothes washing done, sleep in a bit late and generally swelter in the very hot and humid San Juan.
We stayed on the extra day at San Juan to give us a chance to make some decisions about future travel plans. Thanks to a contact from our friend Paul we´ve just spent lots of money on a ´once in a lifetime trip´ to Antarctica, booked for February. Very expensive but at a reduced rate and something we´ve both always wanted to do but never thought we´d get a chance, we couldn´t really refuse. It does mean that our travel plans need to be changed to get us to Ushuaia for the 15th Feb. Time to cycle before and after the Antarctic trip but a definite change in itnery. Plans are more complex at the moment due to impending Christmas, as buses and planes are more booked out than normal. After much debating we decided to cycle out of San Juan tomorrow towards Mendoza, continue cycling until after the New year and then speed up the travel by getting on a bus at a slightly later date.

Hot flat roads and headwind

16th Dec- 17th Dec, San Augustin to Marayes (71.25M) and Marayes to San Juan (53M bike, (and 45M in the back of a pick up))
A bit of a theme at the moment, hot, flat roads and head wind. The next 2 days certainly had all of that. We debated about having a rest day in San Augustin and in hindsight probably should have as we were both tired, but decided to push on to get to the larger city of San Juan in 2 days.
The cycling was hard work without any really rewarding views although we did make good headway southwards. On the 16th after a long days cycle we stopped at a small ´maxikiosk´ (family house with one room from which they sell a bit of everything) for a cold drink before looking for a wild camp site, we obviously looked incredibly weary and the owner,  after finding out we were from England offered for us to pitch tent in her back yard. We gratefully accepted. The Argentinians are generally incredibly friendly and helpful despite the language barrier. However the next morning after a night of listening to live music and partying from the house opposite we were both wishing we´d rough camped elsewhere, but the kind offer was there...and it was good to observe the very differnt lifestyle of this Argentine family, that had to use a horse and cart to carry barrels of water to a tank in their house, use a bucket of water to flush the toilet and at least 2 of them slept on beds outside, a really good idea in this heat. So very different from life back in the UK.

On the 17th we contuinued onwards towards San Juan. We made good time with, to be fair, a bit of a tailwind. Still relentlessly hot though. After an icecream and cold drink stop at a garage we cycled on for about 500m and found our way onto a brand new double-laned cycle path away from the traffic. Within minutes of being on the cycle lane a pick-up pulled up offering us a lift to San Juan. '60km ahead of very hot flat riding ahead, miss it out, do you want a lift?', he said, . Both very tired and having already cycled a reasonable distance it didn´t take much to convince us. I felt a bit guilty but the scenery wasn´t that interesting and certainly wasn´t changing much. The only wildlife was the odd vulture, probably circling waiting for another hot cyclist to fall off their bike. So as it turned out we arrived in San Juan mid afternoon, found a hostel near the centre and enjoyed a good shower (cold by choice for a change) and a good parilla (BBQed steak) meal out.

Coooling off by a air conditioning unit in San Juan

Flat roads, head wind, bread and ice cream

15th Dec, Valle de la Luna to San Augustin de Valle fertil (46.5M)

A late start on the bikes after a really good chat with Claus and Bettina who also camped at the visitor centre last night. They´ve been to Argentina numerous times before and had lots of stories and advice to tell.

Already late, we made use of the free internet at the visitor centre before leaving at about 11am. Another day of head wind and relatively flat and straight roads. We passed through very few villages but probably the highlight of the day being our stop at a small village for lunch that sold amazing homemade bread and large tubs of ice cream, YUMMY!

To the parks....3 punctures later....

12th Dec (52.4M), Chilecito to Wild camp nr Pagancillo

Again pedalling southwards, we left Chilecito, still following Route 40. There had been quite a thunderstorm last night which cleared the air a lot, although the pull on tarmaced roads up to the village of Miranda was still incredibly hot. We then had the ´Miranda pass´ to go over. Described in every text I´d read in travel books or travel guides as ´the beautiful Miranda pass´ and after today I could see why. Most of it was gravel (ripio) road, but most of  it was hard and therefore ´good going´ (no sand!). The road wound it´s way up through a beautiful valley with many different shades of red rock showing through. It actually seemed to be almost effortless on the bikes as we were constantly stopping to look at the view, birds or take pictures.

There were numerous Andean Condors circling overhead and a pair of tiny red tailed comet hummingbirds that we spotted purely by luck as we were admiring the views across the valley yet again. So large and so little, both very uniquely South American. The Condors we even saw perching on rocky outcrops below us as the road wound upwards and watched as one spread it wings and took off, barely 50m from us!

 Despite seeming virtuely effortless, the top of the pass was still at 2020m so we had an amazing descent on the otherside, only delayed by the 2inch nail that Gareth managed to cycle over, resulting in a roadside stop and puncture repair, not from a cactus thorn this time!

Another beautiful rough campsite, just off the road after we´d finished the descent. Surrounded by cactus it wasn´t easy to get the bikes to it but we managed, and with only 2 vehicles passing us all evening, it didn´t matter we weren´t miles away from the road.

13th Dec (27.7M), Wild camp to Talampaya National Park

Just a short(ish) cycle on flat roads to Talampaya this morning, with an obligatory stop at the panaderia for fresh bread at Pagancillo, the 1st town we came to after our wild camp. From there we left the rough roads and were back on the tarmac.

We arrived at Talampaya at midday, perfect timing as there was a tour going at 1pm, enough time to change out of cycling kit and get some food and water. Yet again, it was very quiet and Gareth and I were the only ones on our tour. I would have thought by now the tourist sites would be getting busier as we were coming into high season but certainly not so today. Starting at 1.30pm (1pm approx start, Argentinian time) the tour took us in a minibus towards the towering cliffs of the canyon. We stopped at various sites enroute up the canyon to see petroglyphs, left many years ago on the oxidised sandstone slabs, unique plant life to the area, a condor, perched on a jutting piece of rock, and at the wind sculputred rock formations many of which were given names such as ´el Monje´ (the monk), ´el Catedral´and others. The red sandstone cliffs towered 150m above us through the canyon and were incredibly inmpressive in their own right.

After the tour we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and pitched tent at the visitor centre campsite. Actually an incredibly tiring day as despite the less than normal milage, we´d got up early and 2.5hrs of tour and lots of concentration to try and translate as much spanish from our guide as possible. Definitely more tiring being ´touristy´than just cycling I think.

14th Dec (50.2M), Talampaya to Valle de la Luna Provincial Park

80km of very flat riding today to get from Talampaya to Park provincial Ishigualato (valle de la luna). Lots of desert and except for the last 17km, lots of head wind. We arrived at Valle de la Luna visitor centre weary and hot. 2 Punctures during the day for Gareth and 2 frustrated riders. Despite that we had made good time and again managed to get on a tour in the afternoon. Many thanks to Claus and Bettina who transported us around in their vehicle for the tour. A slightly weird system at this park as the tour involves a 40km loop which you need to drive around in your own vehicle but in a tour convoy, someone transports the guide and at 5 points you all stop and the landscape, rocks, weather etc are explained (in Spanish). Surreal ´moonscape´ like landscape. White rocks on which nothing can grow. Again more wind-sculptured shapes and towering red cliffs behind (these probably not found on the moon). In some ways Gareth and I were a bit too tired to completely appreciate the tour, but it was lovely sitting in a vehicle for a change and afterwards we could camp at the visitors centre.

A fair exchange?

My turn to write the blog again after I struck a deal with Gareth that he did all the clothes washing and I write the blog.... seemed a good idea at the time, now more days have gone by and I have lots and lots of blog to write!

11th Dec Rest day in Chilecito

Again we were at a largish town on a Sunday and elect to have a rest day. Fine in theory but generally everything shuts at midday, if it opens at all. So still up reasonable time to get to the Supermarket and sort food supplies for biking tomorrow followed by a nice relaxed afternoon, just not much opportunity to do much else.

Other cyclists also resting at Chilecito for the day.

10th December 2011
Today we have been away for 2 months and it really does feel a lot longer than that.
We rose early had a very picturesque breakfast, of porridge and coffee this has become the chosen start to our days. After this we packed and were soon on our way and the start of the ride was pretty much all down hill, so we cover the miles very quickly, stopping for a break at Pituil. It was after this break that we started to feel the wind. The winds over here generally start to build around midday and get stronger as the day progresses. If its a tail wind then great as your generally getting tired at this point, headwinds thought are not welcome! Especially when the road starts to take you up. As usual we didn´t let this get us down or slow us to much and before we knew it the signs suddenly notified us we only had 10km to go until we reached Chilecito. HURRAY! Our first stop was to a store for a celebratory ice cream (this is the usual case on hot days, well any day really). Whilst we sat enjoying our cold drink and ice cream one of the four who we had met in Cafayate came over and was quite surprised to see us as they had reckoned we´d arrive late evening. (little did they know). It is here I will confess and I´m sure Sarah will say the same, but there may have been just a smidge of competitiveness about the last couple of days. Only a smidge ;-).

 

9th December 2011
Strange start to this morning, we had both had a great night sleep and were up bright and early. The strange bit was we had no water, which was not only a pain because we couldn´t wash, but it meant no ability to cook. So we packed up and decided to head for the bakery for breakfast. Just as we were about to leave the warden appeared and Sarah asked and he claimed due to the heavy rain he had to turn it off, but it was soon on. So we had our breakfast there.


Today's cycle was to take in some beautiful scenery and some very straight roads! I was incharge of nevigation today,I think Sarah thinks I cann´t get lost on straight roads, but I was a little puzzelled at one junction and had no idea where I was?


The time and miles past very quickly and to hurry them along I practised my Spanish with Sarah. I can now count to 100 (in Spanish as well as English)! As well as answer random questions about my speed, distance and max speed which I´m hoping I will be able to use at some point on this holiday? Sarah also took a little time to brush up her spanish, although I was drafting or cycling next to her as all that weight and one handed! It will only lead to tears.
We soon found ourselves at San Blas which is where Sarah had found some camping last time we were on the Internet. It was OK, but the toilets looked a bit shabby and it was right on the road, but we decided to ask how much. It was here our new found northern values kicked in and I wasn´t paying $30 (about 4.50 for us both) for a night to only have a cold shower, no matter how hot it was!! So we had an ice cream, went and filled up with water and headed on to wild camp.
About 12 miles down the road we found a lovely little pitch, well out of sight of the road and with great views of the surrounding mountains. We did have a nice warm shower, as the water we had carried from the campsite had warmed to a lovely temperature whilst cycling.  

A much deserved rest Day

8th Dec, Rest day in Belen
Good intentions of visiting some Inca ruins vanished after a leisurely breakfast from the local panaderia. So a nice chilled day, replenishing our food supplies, watching the midday thunderstorm pass through, diary and blog writing and eating far too much.

Down the valley and through a gorge

7th Dec, Wild camp Sand dune to Belen (68.3M)
Once awake we both had a tentative listen out for the wind. It was still there! However subjectively not quite as severe as the previous afternoon. Our speediest decamp yet followed, as we wanted to get away before the wind got any stronger. Very soon there was a curve in the road, and then more of the straight stuff, but the road was heading downhill more now and we were fresher this morning so we made better headway, eventually getting to a bit that despite now becoming dirt tack was easier to cycle and even out of the wind on occasion.
Due to the early start our initial destination of Hualfin was reached by midday so we elected to continue. The road soon became Tarmac again and we made good time down the valley to Belen. The final part of the journey through a gorge was unlike anything we´d cycled through in Argentina so far.
At Belen we had a half hour queue at the cashpoint to get money before we could do anything else. Then food, tent up, hot shower and bed.

The Romans have invaded Argentina!

6th Dec, Santa Maria to Wild camp Sand dune (47.6M)
Rain overnight lead to a late start as we waited a while for the tent to dry out. It was then a slow and steady ride out of Santa Maria, and through a couple of other villages as we continued to head south on route 40. A rest stop after 2 hours of cycling was doubly welcome. Refueling with food and the discovery that my back brakes had been rubbing, no wonder it felt hard today! I blamed Gareth for sabotague, he was the last one to adjust them!

Onwards more rapidly now, especially with the very dark clouds threatening over our right shoulder. Seeming to hang on the moutains, but every so often we could feel a splatter of rain. Climbing out of the valley we reached an antiplateu at 2000m, completley composed of one very very straight road and desert. Neither of us had any idea from out map that this was to be the case. In hindsight I guess the absence of all villages on the map in this area should have given it away. We were carrying full complement of water (part of the reason the bikes felt so heavy) incase we needed to overnight camp away from civilisation.
So we had one very straight road and one very strong wind blowing continuously striaght at us! Horrible! We managed 5-7mph, taking it in turns on the front 2mins at the time. Very demoralising with vehicles every so often appearing on the horizon and then taking an age to meet us, it was obvious the road was very long!
Eventually, having checked out and disregarded 2 boarded up goat herder huts, we found an area where the sand dunes had got large enough to give us some descent shelter from the wind to pitch our tent.


Our tent truely felt like a safe secure home that night, dry (it did rain and thunder later as well), sheltered from the wind and cosy, only the small amount of sand that found its way into everything to annoy us.

Pedaling south on tarmaced roads!

5th Dec, Cafayate to Santa Maria (55M)
A good day on the bikes, covering the distance reasonably quickly on tarmaced roads. The valley south from Cafayate was through a wide valley with many vineyards dotted around. We decided against any wine tasting this morning. Again at Santa Maria a deserted campsite. Initially ourselved were the only campers although a couple otherws turned up later. Cheap with hot showers and tables to cook and eat on, it met our needs fine. As seems a regular occurance in this area at the moment, there was the usual evening thunderstorm and rain, thankfully most of dinner had been cooked, and we were safely in our tent before it really poured!

Tourists and empanadas

4th Dec, Cafayate
A day off the bikes, a good catch up with some fellow tour cyclists we´d met before and the meeting of more. Our bikes were given some much deserved and much required TLC today as the sand and grit from the last 8days was very apparent. Cafayate itself deserves a mention as we spent a good morning being ´tourists´and browsing through the numerous tourist shops. Didn´t actually buy anything, it always has to be weighed against whether we really want to carry it on the bikes! What was bought and promptly eaten were lots and lots of empanadas!

Wine Country of Valles Calchaquies

30th Nov Cachi
A planned rest day in Cachi today. A leisurely rise, breakfast and coffee. After waiting out the rain from the passing thunderstorm we went for a wander up to the cemetery on the hill over looking the town. Said to be a good view point. We´d seen so much amazing scenery lately that although the view was lovely it just didm´t quite compare to the high Andes pass we´d just cycled through. What did trump it (certainly for Gareth, who said that it was like a dream come true) was out first sighting of a pair of Andean Condors. Huge huge birds, cicrling on thermals over the valley. Amazing!

1st Dec, Cachi to Molinos (30.8M), 2nd Dec, Molinos to Angastaco (28M), 3rd Dec, Angastaco to Cafayate (48.7M)
For the next 3 days we cycled down the Valles Calchaquies. A beautiful valley, which got better as the days progressed. All dirt track except for the final 25km into Cafayate. We passed through many small villages and camped in the municipal campgrounds at a couple of them.












Despite generally following the river valley downstream, the road wasn´t always in the downhill direction and there were certainly a few curses from me as we ascended bumpy dirt track roads which in my head shouldn´t be there as surely we were cycling downstream! The up-side of the uphills were the descents. I had one notible one, probably captured on video by the watching tourist at the bottom of it. I overtook Gareth, got some good speed up and then hit sand! Quite a lot of teeth gritting and swaying later I arrived in one piece next to the waiting tourist. It felt more like skiing than cycling and if I´d been on skis I´m sure I´d have been looking back at a lovely set of tracks, but not quite the line you want to take on a bike!
Cycling more sedately onwards, we continued through beautiful wind sculptured valleys. The soft sedementary sandstone and winds creating some really beautiful scenery.










At San Carlos, as the dirt track of the last 8 days became tarmac we stopped for an celebratory ice-cream amd then continued happily and smoothly onward to Cafayate. Naughtily we then stopped for our second icecream in 2 hours, these ones were special however as they were made from wine, the white wine grape ´torrontes´and the red wine grape, ´cabernet´ ...umm...yummy.

29th November 2011

Today was all down hill and again through some amazing scenery. We had a leisurely rise and when we ventured out the mountains were bathed in sun shine and SNOW! Well we think it may have been hail which had fallen on us, but being at a lower level ours had melted. We were soon packed up and on our way.
The great thing about this Route 40 is how quiet it is. Yesterday we saw probably 4 cars all day and there weren´t many more today.
The ride in all took in all sorts of different landscapes from the high mountains to beautiful lush rivers. We had to ford one river in particular several time. A couple of times we removed our shoes and waded across, but a few time we found the bottle to cross on the bikes. I would like to say we didn´t  get wet feet, but we did, not from falling in though.
We were soon in the home straight and we were truly happy to see the sign which welcomed us "CACHI". We went straight to the campsite, which was deserted! Tent pitched, ourselves showered. We headed in to town for a celebratory meal of goat and beef and local wine.

28th November 2011

Now those of you who bike with me (Gareth) you will know I like my hills. However, today's "HILL" was to be my greatest hill climbing achievement ever!
We started early as we knew we had a pretty large task ahead. The road out of San Antonio had be very nicely graded thought the early hours which made riding back to the junction alot easier. We already knew there was about a 1 1/2 km of sand to get past, after our first try. Once we had got past this, the surface seemed pretty good. We did stop for a quick break in an old sheep pen which was occupied by chinchillas in the stonework. We did umm and ahh, on whether to continue or to set camp here and hit the climb tomorrow, but we opted to continue.

From here on we knew we had to get up and over today, or risk potential altitude sickness. The climb was spectacular as the road wound it´s way up. With every corner negotiated the scenery became more beautiful and wildlife started to appear, vacunas (a wild llama) could be seen on the slopes and ahead. It was all a bit awe inspiring.
The down side to the whole event, was the affects of the altitude on myself. Sarah seemed to be unaffected and was always up ahead stopping to take photos of me or the scenery.

I just kept on grinding away, but in the last 2-3km it really started to affect me. The only way I can describe it, it´s like trying to breath through a straw and after awhile all I could do was ride 200m then stop catch my breath and start again.This in it´s own right was a challenge, as it was the most exerting part of the whole affair.
Our prize? To be able to say we have stood on the highest pass in Argentina and we have cycled higher than Mont Blanc! Altitude 4900m.

We only hung around on the top long enough to take a couple of photos and then we descended. The wind at the top was something special, it was so strong at first we couldn´t get on our bikes! The decent was at time hairy and I certainly would not of wanted to drive it in any sort of vehicle. Our destination was to be an old ruined farm at 4000m. Here we set camp, cooked tea and listened to the thunderstorm which rumbled overhead.
What a great day!!

27th November 2011

We had a day off today here in San Antonio de los Cobres. The accommodation we had last night was not the best so we went looking for the hostel that was in the lonely planet, but when we found it, it was full. The plus side to this disappointment was we have now found the hotel we saw on a sign yesterday, but couldn´t find and very nice it is. There´s even room for the bikes!