Belen

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An easy ride today, both downhill and down wind.

I have figured out more about these red shrines that appear everywhere along the route. In this posting, I’ll include five photos which are about half those I passed today. As photo above indicates the shrines honor/thank Gauchito Gil. A complete story is at the link, but Gauchito Gil is a legendary Argentinan folk here. A sort of “Robin Hood” who was an outlaw but also helped protect the needy, the poor and those less fortunate. The shrines thank Gauchito Gil for requests fulfilled.

Hualfin hosteria was a nice place to stay and even had a restaurant to get food in the evening. Since I didn’t have far to go today, I left a little later. People from around town seemed to have a cleanup day and were busy painting and otherwise cleaning the entrance to their town.

Nice desert scenery that alternated between wide open places and some more narrow canyons.

The road continued to be good and even had a paved shoulder for a bunch of the way.

Gauchito Gil shrine.

Another Gauchito Gil shrine.

Cattle family portrait.

Not every shrine was to Gauchito Gil. This one with “Taxi” on top didn’t have the distinctive red color.

Another Gauchito Gil shrine (I took pictures of about half of them, so they occurred more frequently than every 8km (five miles) on the route today.

A narrower section of canyon today.

Gauchito Gil memorials here too.

It was early when I arrived in Belen. This is more of a tourist town and even has a bike shop. I haven’t been inside yet since it was closed for siesta. The hotel even has reasonable wifi connection (first in a while). Once the shops open after siesta will get a chance to see more of the town. Also expect a two or three day gap from here to Chilecito, depending on the wind, so get some food for along the way.

Also in town today were Laura and Ernie from pedalling2patagonia.com. They passed me on the way to town, though I haven’t seen them around yet. Several of us cycle tourists leapfrogging each other all headed towards Mendoza.

Hualfin

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Two days cycling brought me from Santa Maria to Hualfin.

I wasn’t quite sure if I would ride this distance in one day or two. The distance (118km) was further than my normal one-day ride, particularly if there was wind or gravel. However, I also didn’t know of good places to stay, other than an abandoned house at 67km. So I decided I would take things as they came.

As it turned out, I found a great little camp spot and even had pizza for dinner.

I crossed the river and returned back to the main road from Santa Maria and then turned north. This next stretch the road was paved, but seemed to climb over evey little hill.

At 24km I came to a sign for “Fin Pavimento” and thought OK, now the fun begins. Fortunately, the section without pavement was only a little over a kilometer. I crossed the river again and found myself with a well-paved section of Ruta 40. Not 100% certain, but I suspect if I had stayed on one side of the river, it would have remained better pavement.

This next section came through several villages, one even with a bicycle sign. It was a bit slow climbing and I wasn’t feeling 100% so I kept an eye out for potential to camp in one of these villages.

At 35km, I came past this great little shop. The sign had a bicycle on it and said “camping”. Signs for “pizza” and “fresh bread”. What more could a cyclist want? I stopped and inquired and camping next to the shop was free. I had gone far enough that the next day would be a reasonable ride.

So while it was only 11am, I decided to stop for the day. Had a little pie and a while later a second one. Otherwise, got in the tent out of the wind and read and relaxed.

Later in the afternoon, Alex came cycling up and also stayed at same place. He had taken a rest day in Cafayate and cycled to here today. One of his spokes on rear wheel was broken and we didn’t have the right tool to take off the disc brake. I ended up giving him a fiber spoke that he used instead. I’ve carried these things forever and now was first time we could actually use one.

I was a nice evening and we both had a pizza for dinner. By 7pm the sun went down and it became cold.

Next morning I was on the road a little past 8am. Once again it was cold (-5C/23F) in part due to the elevation (2150m/7000ft) and it didn’t really warm up until 10am. However, otherwise cycling was good and was particularly pleased by the lack of wind.

A little church in middle of nowhere.

A lot of free ranging livestock including cattle, sheep, goats, horses and one donkey.

This was the abandoned house in middle of nowhere. Other cyclists had stayed here out of the wind, but I was glad I had stopped at my little bakery instead.

Otherwise mostly wide open road.

Once I crossed from Santa Maria region to Belen, the road started a reasonable descent. The top was somewhere around 2300m/7600ft and highest point I will reach for a while.

On the way down, my rear tire went flat. There was a weird hole in the sidewall near the valve stem. I decided to swap out the rear tire instead. I’ve now used all my spare tires, though I still have both that I swapped out. One in Peru where I kept getting flats and this one with the sidewall. Hopefully don’t need to use either again until Puerto Montt. If I can find Schwalbe Tires in Mendoza then I’ll pick new ones up there, otherwise may be part of a trip back to the US before I start the TDA riding in Puerto Montt.

After this not too much further into small village of Hualfin. The first 2km into town were gravel and after that some quiet streets. I haven’t found much of a commecial center, but did find a nice little hostel. Also a chance to figure out next places between here an Chilecito.

Santa Maria

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Pleasant riding as I come into more open and more desolate areas.

Cayafate was a nice little town. I believe the other cyclists may have taken a rest day there as I didn’t see anyone else on the road today. The first 15km out of town I passed many vineyards, some looking rather fancy and others plainer.

Tucuman was a town with vineyard, church and communications tower. As far as communications goes, Argentina doesn’t seem to do 3G as well as other countries so far, so I only rarely have a data signal with my phone.

Eventually it got drier and with more cactus.

I passed from Salta Province to Tucuman Province and then later Catamarca Province today.

Much of the route looked like this, a wide dry valley without much vegetation. I am on Ruta 40, one of the longest roads in Argentina as it goes from northern border to southern border. I’m still more than 4000km from that southern border.

The signs were too inviting to pass up. I stopped here for a lunch with empanadas.

Also llamas at this place.

At 52km the pavement stopped and I had gravel road for the next 13km and then intermittent after that. The first 5km were the most difficult with a lot of soft gravel.

It got better once they wet things down.

Nice to pass on to Catamarca Province.

One of the last little bits of riding before going into Santa Maria. The main town square was torn up for construction but otherwise looked like a reasonable town. First hotel was full but found one not far away.

Expect a more desolate stretch coming up in next days and hopefully mostly on pavement, but will see what the road brings.

Cafayate

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Two days of picturesque cycling have brought me to Cafayate, a tourist town in the wine region.

Day One – Salta to La Vina
Overcast and cool with occasional showers on my rest day.

Streets were very quiet on a Sunday morning as I departed. I could follow the grid pattern of streets to eventually make my way south to the major highways leaving town. These were a little busier, though I expect much quieter than a week day.

I crossed several small towns including Cerrillos. Despite it being Sunday, I had an impression that more places were open than I had found before Salta.

La Merced was one of those places and had a very religious name.

An election is coming soon and hence many posters were up. Not sure of his politics, but I found the poster for “El Bicidiputado” interesting.

Church in one of the small towns.

Along the way, I met with Alex (boundlessbiker.com) who I had first met in Baja California back in December. We cycled for a bit together and stopped and had lunch in Coronel Moldes. After that we both we cycled further to La Vina and shared a room in a hostal. Alex was a bit faster so I encouraged him to go ahead. Fewer photos though from this point.

A photo of the road, by now it was calm riding without much traffic.

Coming into La Vina were signs for upcoming businesses.

Found a hostal that was only 250 pesos per person and otherwise a nice comfortable place to stay. It was 1.5km from the town of La Vina and we walked into gas station for snacks. In the evening a meal at the hostal that was surprisingly expensive, particularly given the inexpensive accommodations.

Day Two – La Vina to Cafayate
Great day of cycling through a picturesque canyon. Met several additional cyclists today.

It was colder than expected this morning. I left right around sunrise and temperatures ended up going down to -2.8C (27F). Otherwise beautiful starting out.

This area is marked as the wine route and I even passed a few vineyards this morning.

At 24km was an overlook into small Allemania settlement. The railway station is a popular place for cyclists to camp and this would have been the backup plan from yesterday.

After this the road more closely followed a canyon on way up. Colorful sandstones that reminded me of the American southwest.

Another photo of the canyon while cycling on way up.

This is a natural preserve and had multiple signs like this one for most interesting places.

Another photo of the canyon.

Mid-morning two cyclists passed. Laura is English and Herbie is Irish. They had camped at Allemania last night along with an Austrian cyclist (Claus) and an Argentinian cyclist (who I didn’t see). They started in Vancouver, BC last September and are on their way to Ushuaia. Their web site: www.pedalling2patagonia.com.

A short while later we met up with Claus and Alex at a scenic deep gorge.

A picture of entrance to the gorge.

El Sapo, a toad-shaped rock.

More scenic canyon photos.

Close to Cafayate, I met these two cyclists from Uruguay. They had started riding in Paraguay and were on their way to Salta.

Made it to Cafayate. Mural on the wall commemorating a journey approximately 100 years ago.

Salta rest day

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An easy rest day in Salta. The streets were all busy in the morning. After 1 pm, shops close and it becomes quiet again for the siesta until 5 pm when it all gets busy again.

My bike has been riding fine, but I decided to visit several bike shops to see what they had. Once again, there is a separation between sales and service places. I tried to see if I could find a mirror for my glasses. At four different shops, they understood what I was asking but none of the four had a mirror.

One of the shops reminded me of an auto parts store with a large selection of different components for sale.

This little shop did some repairs and was otherwise completely crowded with bikes.

Also bought a SIM card so I should have phone service and mobile internet in Argentina.

I’ve also spent some time looking through blogs for the next section to Mendoza. The total distance is around 1300km with some small towns as well as a good section of desolate desert areas in between.

The elevation profile isn’t as high nor as hilly, though others have reported more wind. Also reports of plenty of sharp plants with thorns to puncture tires. So expect a mix of camping and occasional hotels. Some report cold nights, though not quite sure how this compares with the Altiplano where it was below freezing. The route is mostly paved, but there will some some stretches of gravel road.

While I’ve been fairly rested from the rest day today, this is an interesting enough city that plan is for another rest day tomorrow and then to leave the city on Sunday morning for an approximately three-week ride to Mendoza.

Salta

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Cycled a great little country road today, in between two larger cities.

It was hectic leaving Jujuy as I followed a major road out of the city and crossed the freeway. However, within 10 kilometers I was up a short hill and the road kept getting more rural. I passed the small airstrip in photo above.

The town of El Carmen was at 32km and had this conquistador as statue entering town.

Not long thereafter, I passed this bicycle rental place.

It was next to 3 kilometers of bike path that I followed.

It ended at the municipal campground.

The campground was next to one of two lakes.

At 40 kilometers the road split and I followed this small road. Trucks and buses were prohibited and the entire road was signed as 4m (13ft) wide for both lanes. Even small cars had some difficulties fitting into the lanes and in multiple places a sign would indicate cars to go one at a time. The road wound its way back and forth as well as slowly climbed 300m/1000ft.

It was a great quiet little country road.

By 65 kilometer mark I had passed the high point, and came past a second lake. The road widened a bit here and traffic also increased.

The bottom outlet of the lake had a rather bit blast of water coming from below the dam. While it was mostly downhill, there were a few other hills to climb here.

The last 15 kilometers, I came to a larger highway and then into small city streets again as I came into the large city of Salta. I found a hotel about a block from the main square and did a quick walk around some of the shops. Overall a nice place and I plan to take at least tomorrow here as a rest day. Nice to make it to this larger city.

San Salvador de Jujuy

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Downhill but not always easy riding.

Started out at 2500m/8400ft still in a region with cactus. The first 30km was a continuation of easy cycling, an easy descent and not much in the way of wind. The route crossed a few small villages where a set of raised markers were placed between opposing traffic lanes to keep them separated. This also meant vehicles were more reluctant to pass me, but fortunately mostly well behaved.

A good example of the valley I followed.

At 30km, it mostly leveled off and a headwind kicked up. The next 15km were tougher riding as there wasn’t much descent and even a climb of ~100m/350ft as the wind increased. It got somewhat overcast. After this a 6km steeper descent back to the river valley and less wind for rest of the ride.

I’m not sure who “Watson” is, but nice to see a bike sign. The road didn’t have a paved shoulder and gradually traffic was increasing. The “RN 9” is ruta 9 at 1716 kilometers north of Buenos Aries.

In the little town of Yala, the road became four lanes.

I saw two touring cyclists on the opposite lanes, but it was a divided highway and so not possible to talk further.

The last bits of the ride brought me into Jujuy, also known as San Salvador de Jujuy. This is a town of 300,000 people and hence largest place I’ve been in Argentina so far.

There is a central square with a large church.

Also fountains and a nice government building.

I was surprised to see palm trees again on the main square, particularly since I just left the tropics with cactus and not palms.

There are oranges on the trees in the square.

Typical shop hours for many places in town. The afternoon siesta from 1pm to 5pm is longer than other places I’ve been (Colombia might have two or three hours) and takes some planning.

Tilcara

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Almost a rest day. Short easy ride today with 425m/1400ft of descent to another touristy town.

Today I continued to follow a valley downhill with grades at ~1% or occasionally 2% downhill. I crossed two small villages before reaching Tilcara.

The bus stops are getting fancier mural paintings.

It seems to be a touristy area with places like this selling pottery and other wares. Apparently, the mountain scenery as well as early civilization ruins are the attractions.

Some of the canyon along the way.

More scenery.

More of the canyon.

I crossed the Tropic of Capricorn today.

In North America, I usually had the midday sun on my face. I started at 70 degrees north latitude so at solstice the sun was approximately 45 degrees from the horizon. By the time I was in Baja around 23 degrees, it was winter solstice and so still around 45 degrees from the horizon.

In South America, I’ve usually had the midday sun behind. Even in Colombia when I was 10 degrees north, it was April and hence the midday sun was further north. The Tropic of Capricorn is the point where the sun is overhead at (southern hemisphere) summer solstice, and hence after this point, the midday sun will always be north all year long.

Made it to Tilcara before noon as well as before time the cafes close for the midday siesta. Nice little touristy town to wander through. As the sign indicates, this is a World Heritage location,

One of the murals in town.

Humahuaca

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The town of Abra Pampa came alive after dark. As I walked around it was a big contrast with around 4 pm when I arrived. I saw little shops I hadn’t noticed before, most likely because they were closed but also the night light made them easier to spot.

I started with my standard ritual of watching the temperature on my cycle computer decline from the inside hotel as I got on the road. It got to -4C (25F) before it started back up again.

I think the photo above was of a memorial shrine, they are getting fancier here in Argentina.

The first 25 kilometers were a gradual climb and still in wide open spaces.

I got to the top at this sign, 3780m/12400ft. When I was there I wasn’t thinking much of the altitude since I had already been as high as 4500m. It wasn’t until later that I thought, “this is higher than Trail Ridge Road, Loveland Pass, etc”. It will also be the high point for a while as this marks start of a gradual descent towards Salta.

After this I started following river valleys including this one with interesting banded rocks.

I met these Argentinian cyclists who were on their way to La Quiaca, and almost there.

Watch for ice on the road!

Here was a closer view of the frozen waterfall from the previous picture.

I climbed over one valley and then started downhill again.

This is a region with some large saguaro-like cactus.

Without too much trouble, found my way into Humahuaca. This is a touristy town and I spot more tourists walking around as well as a number of different hotels and guest houses. I am also now around 3000m/10,000ft and have started the descent off the altiplano.

Abra Pampa

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Big sky country. A lot of riding in wide open spaces without much in way of trees, hills or anything else to block either the view or the wind. The land is mostly fenced and I seem to be on a boundary with some llamas and also some cattle.

Clocks were set ahead by an hour crossing into Argentina on top of the hour that they were set crossing into Bolivia. This means sunrise around 8:00am and sunset around 7:00pm. It was still cold so waiting until 9am before setting off and still had it below freezing the first half hour.

There seems to be a “pottery” theme as I saw these large pitchers leaving La Quiaca.

I was on Ruta 9, which is marked for distances to Buenos Aries.

Small memorial on the hill.

At 15km came across a section of road construction. It was 15 kilometers long and most was reasonable to ride but some shorter sections of washboard road as well.

Sections of llamas and cattle in fenced off area.

Puesto del Marcos was a small settlement that seems to be site of a battle in 1815. Signs in advance of the settlement warned of a 1200m long urban area. Interestingly enough, I couldn’t find a single open business in this town.

Statues for key players in the battle.

Nearby church.

As I got near 74km, I could see Abra Pampa in the distance.

Main street in the town.

Pottery on the town square.

I found the hotel in town and then wandered to see what I could find to eat. A nearby store had a few things. The restaurant near the bus station was mostly closed, so will likely need to wait until 8 or 9 pm when they seem to open again.

Otherwise a nice riding day as I slowly make my way through the big sky country. I believe I have another ~50km before the road starts to descend further as well as enter warmer regions. It will have been several weeks above 3000m/10,000ft of riding since I left Arequipa.