24th November 2011
We are off! We said our goodbyes to the other couples and left for the mountains. We are heading up route 51 and towards San Antonia de los Cobres.
The first day was a combination of tarmac and dirt track which meant slow going. The tarmac went well and we covered the first half pretty quickly then we hit the dirt and we were slowed to a crawl. The corragations are the main problem and you have to use all of the road to get the smoothest line as possible. We only had 26km of this to do, but it was uphill, hot and it may as well have been 260km.
What really made up for this though was the spectacular scenery. It changed with every corner and the higher we climbed the greater the and higher the mountian became. The stuggle on the dirt started to pay off. We stopped on route to refuel and have a rest and we soon realised how quiet this road was. There were cars and lorries were around, but few and far between, but when we did see them we almost always got a wave and a toot.
The grind continued untill we reached the tarmac again and it wasn´t far from here we decided to look for a place to camp. We found one place which appeared ideal, but when I ventured down to join Sarah to have a closer look I stepped on a small snake which scared the crap out of me and I was certainly not camping there (for those of you who think I´m a big girls blouse, I did recognise it as one of Argentias venomous snakes)! We climbed back on the bikes and cycled a bit further and soon found what we thought was the perfect pitch, but when we tried to put our pegs in the ground was too hard. So we had to hunt around for a piece of ground where we could, which wasn´t ideal as it was more in the open, but no one seems to mind over here. The other plus to the pitch was it had a large pool which we could wash in, Sarah when in for the full monty, however, due to my allergy to cold water I had a good wash on the side.

22nd - 23rd November 2011
We´re in Salta now and staying at the municipal campsite, which has the biggest swimming pool I think I have ever seen! It apparently takes a week to fill (it was empty whilst we were there). We decided to stay here for a couple of day to sort out ourselves, decide on a route and just take it easy.
On our first day we headed in to the city on the bikes, which was a little hairy as Argentinian drivers especially the bus drivers don´t have much time for cyclist, but we arrived unharmed. We found somewhere to secure the bikes and walk to the museum we both wanted to visit. It was the museum of high altitude archaeology and the main exibit was the almost perfectly preserved remains of three Inca children (only one was on view at anyone time). The preservation was remarkable, not only of the children themselves, but also the items they were buried with. Feathers which had been dyed rich colours still looked as if they had been done yesterday, fabrics as well. It was an amazing place and well worth the money.
The rest of the day we chilled in the city centre drinking coffee reading and generally being lazy.

The 23rd was another lazy day, we rode to have a look at a view point to see if we could get a gauge of what lay ahead of us. The view point was atop a small mountain, (sorry it was probably a hill) and you could either walk up or take a cable car. We opted to take the car to save our legs. At the top the views were hazy, but still very impressive if not a little worrying. The mountains were huge even at the distance we were from them and tomorrow we intended to venture into them.
So, with that in mind we went shopping and made sure we ate and drank plenty. The bikes were given one last inspection and we sat down and chilled out with 2 cycling couples we had met, a swiss couple who had been cycling for 18mths and a Japanese couple who had been cycling for 2 and a half years. This made our little trip fell rather pathetic, but hay we will still have as much fun as possible.  

21st  November 2011

We left Iguaza today which took a little longer than expected as our flight was delayed for a few hours, but we finally took off and we where on our way to Salta. At the airport we were bracing ourselves for a hefty excess baggage charge, due to the fact that we only had a 15kg allowance. It never came and when the guy at check-in gave us our tickets and told us which gate to go to, we just stood there looking at him waiting for him to tell us the cost for the bags. Once our brains processed the fact that there wasn´t to be one, we made a hasty exit and counted our lucky stars at the money we had saved.
The flight wasn´t anything special although it give us an idea of how hard it would of been to have cycled over to the west side. We did receive an in flight meal of cake, cereal bar and a toffee (more than you get with easy jet!). The flight was over very soon and we soon found ourselves waiting by the conveyor waiting for our bags and bikes. This bit is always a worry. Are the bikes in one piece? Are the bikes even here? The bags kept on coming, but no bikes... Then there they were, being slide onto the conveyor with thankfully no damage to the boxes or contents. Now we had them we now had to put them together so we could get into Salta and the campsite, so we found a quiet corner and put them back together.

Pedal power up to Iguazu

Well we've done a fair few miles since the last blog entry, but it has all been worth it. Back in Posadas we booked a flight for tomorrow (21st) from Iguazu to Salta so when we left Posadas we now had a deadline to make! We adapted a 10min in the lead, 10 mins drafting strategy for the next few days which made time on the bikes go much faster. Pretty much the entire route from Posadaas to Puerto Iguazu has been up and down the whole way. In 10 mins there is about time to zoom down one long hill, cool off abit and then slowly slog it up the next hill. We tend to start with 2 hours cycling initially and then find a nice spot to stop for food and refill water bottles. Then 1-2hours more and lunch and so on. Usually at least one if not two ice-cream stops! Most of the way had a hard shoulder so less danger from the passing lorries and buses. On the parts of the road without then there was always a grass verge to dive onto if needed.


14th Nov Posadas to San Ignacio 39.55M
Our shortest day on this stint  as we wanted to stop at the Jesuit Missionary ruins and explore them. Biking was relatively quick and easy and we found a lovely hospedaje that allowed camping in their garden. Luckily the tent was up before the rain started. Unluckily the rain continued throughout our exploration of the Jesuit missionary ruins, which although well preserved don´t have roofs anymore. It was warm but we were soon pretty wet. The ruins were interesting but the rain did turn it into a rather speedy tour.

Our good intentions of cooking ourselves soon vanished and what started as a stop for a beer to 'see what the weather was going to do', soon turned into a full meal. Very very yummy however and the Argentinian beer 'Quilmes' goes down very well too.

15th -17th Nov San Ignacio to El Alcazar 68.25M to Wanda 62M and to Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) 45.2M
3 days of up and down cycling. Some lovely campsites and satisfingly good days on the bikes with many miles covered.
Arriving initially on the 17th in Puerto Iguazu in Argentina at midday we decided to make the border crossing into Brazil that afternoon. Initially the idea of crossing to Brazil came about as we wanted to get another 90 days on our Argentinian tourist visa when we re-entered the country. However it proved to be well worth the border crossing as customs itself was simple and surprisingly quick and we then had time to make our way to see the Iguazu falls from the Brazilian side. Absolutely amazing. Waterfalls everywhere, thunderous noise and just awe-inspiring. We took loads of photos (along with everyone else around us) and although good just can't really do it justice.

A night camping at a hostel in Brazil, lovely and chilled out.

18th Nov Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) to Puerto Iguazu (Argentina) 8.15M
Almost missed the huge hostel breakfast as we hadn't realised Brazil was 1 hour in front of Argentina (it was only on the otherside of a bridge, but that hour difference did explain the seemingly early closure of the park at the falls yesterday)! Breakfast of bread, cheese, fruit, sweet breads and lots of cake seems the norm in certainly this part of Argentina and Brazil. A short pedal back across the bridge to Argentina and Puerto Iguazu and a nice new 90 day tourist visa for Argentina issued. Settled ar a lovely hostel in Puerto Iguazu and started sorting out some cardboard and packing tape for transporting the bikes on the plane on Monday. Our spanish vocab is increasing but probably not with the ususal conventional words!

19th Nov Iguazu Falls Argentina

A day spent at the Argentinian side of the Iguazu falls. Absolutely amazing again. I'd certainly recommend to anyone if you've got the time to go to both sides. On the Brazilian side you get more of an idea of the vast scale of the falls, on the Argentinian side you can get up closer to more of the individual falls. On the Argentinian side there is also a larger area of park to explore and first thing before actually seeing the falls we went for a walk down the 'Macuco trail´, a 3km out and back jungle walk. It was completely worth it being a bit away from the crowds and ending at  a natural pool at the base of a waterfall, where on a hot day I very much welcomed a swim! Also on the trail we saw loads of wildlife including a toucan, vultures, crowned eagles, a tiny owl and cai monkeys. We felt very lucky to have seen all of this and Gareth especially getting very excited about the birds.
It was a full day out at the falls and Argentinian national park but worth every peso of the entry fee.

20th Nov Puerto Iguazu
Another blog entry by me as Gareth is busy packing the bikes away for the flight tomorrow to Salta. Feels a bit like the end of a travelling chapter. It has been worth every pedal stroke to get up here to Iguazu despite some times when we felt that it was too hard, too muddy or too flooded! We've both had thoughts at certain times of quitting the bikes and jumping on a bus, but so glad that we didn't and I can definitely feel those pedalling legs are developing now!

Civilisation again!!!

HI All,
Been a while since an update largely due to Gareth and I being away from the technical radar for a while and vastly underestimating distances and road conditions so a route that we thought would take 6 days actually took 10!!

2nd Nov Paso de los Libres to Mercedes (90.6M)
As predicted the 'Gran Capitan' train out of Buenos Aires took a lot longer than the advertised 16-18hours, more like 21 (a bus would have taken 10 hours, but was more expensive and we were having trouble getting the bikes transported on hte buses). This actually worked in our favour as at least we arrived in Paso de los Libres (pass of the free) in the daylight at 8amish, instead of 5am as scheduled. From Paso we unfortunately immedately made a navigational error and turned up at the airport on a deadend road, a few directions later we retraced our steps took an unsigned dirt track turning and eventually managed to get to the main tarmaced road. We then had 130km to go to Mercedes our goal for the evening. After 20km we turned onto a slightly quieter road and then had 110km of very very straight road. Lorries appeared on the horizon about 5minutes before they reached us. The corners were signed, just in case the drivers had fallen asleep I assume, there were 6 to the left and 8 to the right and at least 4 of these were in the final 10km to town. We reached Mercedes as it was getting dark, got directions to the hostels address, only to find it no longer exists as a hostel (they still have a very nice website up and running, which we'd checked before leaving BA). I got directions to Hotel Sol which was ok, at least had hotwater and a comfy bed!

3rd Nov Mercedes to Wild camp by river (37M)

Well stocked up wih breakfast from the hotel we set our weary legs (2 weeks in BA wasn't really good training) back on our bikes. A quick stop at the petrol station to fill up our fuel bottles for our stove. I looked a bit stupid standing a queue for the pumps behind 5 motorbikes and a car. The petrol attendant asked if I'd run out of fuel in my car, seemed happier with my reponse it was para cocinar (for cooking). From then we had 7 miles grace before turning northwards into the wind which was to continue that way for the rest of teh day (another very straight road!). We had a further few miles grace of tarmac before a police check point and and then the dirt track began!. Ok in places, also very loose and hard work in others. Our legs were tired and especially Gareth who'd only just got over his stomach bug meant that we were never going to reach the next town today. There were very few places to camp out of sight of the road but next to a largish river we found a lovely spot, obviously used before, flat grassy and out of sight of the road. Even a river for water.

4th Nov River wild camp to Carlos Colonia Pellegrini in Esteros del Iberia (wetlands) (44M)

Up early to beat the heat (well at least for a few hours) and onwards along the dirt track. Passed a few road works again, probably be tarmaced in a bout 1 years time. Again loads of wildlife, caracara and other birds of prey, colourful songbirds and at our last stop of the day a small armadillo, very cool looking. Also Carapincho, the largest species of rodent in the world. Can grow up to 75kg, look like giant guinea pigs and sound like dogs barking when they get spooked. Semi aquatic and sort of cute ugly. Eventually after a very very hot day we arrived at the visitors centre for the wetlands. Today all we managed here was a well deserved rest in the first decent shade for the day in the shadow of the building, info about nature trails for another day and directions to the campsite in the village over the bridge. From the visitors centre to the campsite was about 1km, mainly causeway with a rickety metal/wooden bridge in the middle, had to make sure we balanced across the planks ok, otherwise could have well got our tyres stuck.
The campsite was lovely. Individual covered areas, BBQs and shady pitches, only 2 tents the 1st night there and amazing views across Lagos (lake) Iberia.

5th Nov to 7th Nov Carlos Pellegrini 

This is what the hard miles of cycling had been for. A lovely chilled campsite, a boat trip out to see the bird and wildlife on the lake including lots of birds and animals we'd seen on our cycle in but more species as well and Caymen, some growing up to about 150m long (I decided against swimming in the lake when it got hot!), some walks at the nature trials from the visitors centre, spotting howler monkeys as well.









8th Nov Carlos Pellegrini to Wild camp (mosquito) (31.7M)

We knew it was going to be bad, we knew the road out north was reported to be worse than the one that we'd come into the wetlands on. It was bad. The first 12Miles were ok, sandy but cyclable, we stopped for a second breakfast and watched some Guanchos herd their cattle on horseback with their dog. Then the rest of the day was hot sweaty and largely consisted of pushing our bikes through sand! We left C.Pellegrini at 8.15am and at 7pm we were desperately looking for somewhere to pitch tent, 11 hours on the go and only 32M covered, not great statistics. We found somewhere a bit off the road, pitched tent, used up some water to wash some of the sand and grime off, doing some very silly dancing to try to keep the mosquitoes off us then rapid cooking of mountain dried meals (thank you Gemma!) and quickly into a very hot tent. very muggy and hot, it took until the early hours of the morning before it was vaguely comfortable in the tent.

9th Nov Wild Mosquito camp to Wild camp flood (45.8M)
For the first 3miles today  a combi of riding and pushing the bikes similar to yesterday and then for the rest of tadays milage the cycling got easier. It was still rough roads but a lot less sand and much harder packed. Again very very hot, 40 deg C on Gareths watch thermometer, just about bareable when there was a breeze but in shelteresd spots very stifling. A lovely Argentinian man donated us 2litres of ice cold water after stopping to check we were ok etc. Later on crossing a large river replenished our water supplies. At 4pm ish we opted to stop before reaching the main road for another wild camp. Off the road and out of sight, small area of shade until dusk when we set the tent up. Ideal spot unless as Gareth pointed out it should rain as it did look like a dried up previous water holding area, no problem we thought as it hasn't really rained in the 4 weeks we've been in Argentina....

10th Nov Flooded wild camp to Gobernador Virasoro (23.4M)
Yep it rained last night, a lot! It actually started a little as we went to bed, Gareth got the clothes in and put the guy ropes up. Then as the night went on the rain got heavier and there was a spectactular thunder storm. Still not too worried as we were't at the lowest point of the area and no sign of water pooling yet. At 5am when the alarm went off it was throwing it down, raining so hard Gareth didn't hear the alarm. I didn't really think about it enough at this stage, just decided we wouldn't be cycling in this rain and reset the alarm for later. Then at 6.30am I woke to the plonk plonk of rain on water. A gaze out the mesh and sure enough there was a risin edge of water lapping at the bottom edge of the tent. I got Gareth up and it soon became apparent 2/3 of the ground sheet was floating!!!. A very rapid decamp, luckily the rain was stopping so we didn't get too wet packing our bags.
Our porblems didn't quite end there. back on the road we had about 3 miles rough track to reach the main tarmaced road. We managed 1.9M and then became stuck. The rain had turned the red dusty road to red clay. Our brakes, wheels and frames became jammed. We scooped out the mud and managed to roll forward about 2 meters before being as jammed as before. STUCK! Unsure what to do at this point, we tried lifting the bikes, not possible for any distance at all. Thankfully farly soon another extremely nice Argentinian in a 4WD pick up stopped, took one look and asked if we wanted a lift. Yes please! Even his truck had problems getting going on the wet clay, but manage to and took us up to the main tarmac road where he dropped us close to a service station and we spent the next 2 hours cleaning our bikes. In hindsight if we'd only made it to the garage last night, I think they would have let us pitch behind the garage and  we'd have not had any muddy problems. Post bike cleaning and filled up with beef sandwich and empanadas we set off again. The miles went by a lot quicker this time. Tarmac mkes a big difference! Arriving at G. Virasoro we stopped initially just to pick up ice cold drinks, icecreams and so snacks. Afterwards having asked at the small tourist office we decided to stop here for the night. The next town was a lot smaller with no hotels and I for one was to tired for much more. We found a lovely B and B, Posada los Lapachos, so nice that I doubted I'd heard the price correctly and that we were going to have a nasty surprise tomorrow. We'd decided that it'd be worth it whatever. A lovely shower and air- conditioning and comfy beds!

11th Nov G. Virasoro to Posadas (62.8M)
A huge lovely breakfast at the B&B. Bread, jam, cheese, ham, cake, cheese scones, fresh orange juice and coffee. Definitely a shame to be leaving and I hadn't miss heard the price so although more than our usual budget of campsites or hostels not stupid money.
On the road again recharged. Tarmaced roads and from halfways onwards with a good hard shoulder which made cycling easier and no requirement to be constantly checking over our shoulders for approaching buses or lorries. The landscape was now becoming more varied. Less flat (not hilly, certainly not by yorkshire standards) and more bends in the road. Posadas is a large city and despite making good time it took almost 1hour to make it across town with the stop/go traffic lights and grid system but eventually we arrived at  Vuela el Pez hostel.

12th-13th Nov Posadas
A couple of days of catching up with ourselves. Deposited washing with some poor people at the local laundrete, agreed on the price before I let them see the state of our washing. Wandered along beside the river Parana gazing at Encarnacion in Paraguay on the otherside. Phoning and emailing. Also nice to chat with some English speaking travellers at the hostel and apart being woken early by the late return of some hardcore party people to the dorm room have managed to catch up on some sleep.