I was on the road early as I expected it to be a long day. Overall, a nice ride through some wide open scrub and easier than I expected.

Leaving Belen I passed their war memorial. Here was a sign that said, “Las Malvinas Son Argentinas”. Essentially claiming that the Falkland Islands belong to Argentina. I was a bit surprised to find this here on an official sign. As you may remember, in 1982 Argentina invaded the Falklands before being defeated by the British. It is still official Argentina position to claim the Falklands leading to uproar like this. However, I still hadn’t expected a Las Malvinas reference here so far away from the South Atlantic.

The first village was Londres at 15km. Not quite sure what this banner means, but they also had yellow stars with the names on the road as well.

Gnomes on the roof.

Once I left town there was a 65km stretch with very few houses or other settlement.

Fortunately the road was good and there wasn’t yet much wind.

A somewhat elaborate Gauchito Gil shrine on the right.

Many of these shrines seem to have a lot of empty bottles around them.

A sign to a settlement off the main road.

A dead cow.

After 85km the road became Ruta 60 for 5 km and went more sharply into the wind. It was a slow grind.

Fortunately back to the intersection with Ruta 40 and a more southerly direction.

While most of the shops are closed for siesta, the ice cream places do seem to be open. I had a nice big ice cream here.

A sign for the first campground I passed. Not sure what all the service signs mean, e.g. the peace sign.

This monument was painted, though with names of local villages so not quite sure if this was intentional.

At the end of the road I found the municipal campground. It was good wifi, dirty bathrooms and as far as I can tell is free. Nice place to stop after a long ride today.