Category Archives: Argentina

Guandacol

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Today was supposed to be an easy day.

There were times I was cycling at 8 km/h (5mph) downhill that I had to remind myself. A strong headwind had kicked up and changed that equation.

There were some clouds but otherwise, nice weather starting out. Villa Union had several vineyards. I cycled back to Ruta 40 and then along a wide range of mountains with an open valley. The road had a gentle 1-2% climb.

At the 12 km point, Alex came past. I had stopped to take a photo of these rocks just as the sun was coming from under a cloud. I mentioned my plan to stop in Guandacol for an easy short day.

Very soon thereafter, the wind started picking up. It just kept getting stronger and the temperature dropped 5C (9F) within a short period. My guess is a front just happened to pass through.

I got to the high point, but here the cycling was at least as difficult as when I was climbing.

This photo on the descent asks for caution during flooding conditions. You can also see that the blue skies from before have been replaced with haze from all the sand/dust kicked up by the wind. There were a few lower water crossings, though only one had water.

I was happy to see the sign for Guandacol. You can see the flag blowing briskly in the wind coming from the direction we would head next. There was a gas station here and Alex had also decided to stop for the day. We cycled several kilometers further into the town itself and found a hotel for the day. Later in the afternoon Laura and Herbie also arrived at the same hotel, so back to four touring cyclists in the same town again.

Weather forecasts for tomorrow are for the wind from the other direction. I hope the forecast holds.

Villa Union

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Beautiful ride today as I climbed up and over a low ridge of mountains.

No longer as cold in the morning, so easier to depart at sunrise. The first 16km went slightly downhill and along the mountain range to Nonogasta.

Nice views of the sunlight starting on the hills.

At Nonogasta the road turned west for a 30km/1100m climb. There were one or two short sections of 8% climb but most was much more gradual.

Passed a turnoff for small town of Sanogasta.

Alex came cycling past.

Looks like a local mountain biker.

This truck was loaded with household supplies and very slowly driving down with speakers on advertising the wares for locals to come shop.

The shrines have become fancy with this one having a painting of Gauchito Gil.

Another more fancy shrine. Somehow they become fancier in more remote areas.

This donkey was grazing right next to the road. As soon as she figured out I wasn’t any threat, she continued the graze.

Close to this shrine the road started to climb more steeply.

Here is a view looking back on the canyon I had climbed up.

The summit was just over 2000 meters.

A brief descent and then a second summit.

A pretty canyon on the other side as well. There was a small village at the 60km mark. I stopped and had a coke stop here. I had originally considered stopping here for the night, but it was a hot afternoon over 30C (high 80s) and the likely camp spot seemed hot and dry to stop in middle of the afternoon. Instead, I descended further and eventually the canyon opened up and it became flatter.

Some wide open cycling the last distance.

At 107km was a turnoff to Villa Union. The town was still several kilometers up the road, but I stopped at first reasonable hotel I found since I knew I would need to come back on the same road again tomorrow. Overall, a warm afternoon but pretty cycling particularly in the red canyons on both sides of the pass.

Chilecito rest day

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Happy San Martin Day!

I didn’t realize until later that today was a holiday. The supermarket was open on Sunday hours, so open in the morning and closed in the evening. Fortunately, I stocked up on most things in the morning. A number of the other shops still stayed closed, though I didn’t figure this out until later.

Four of us cyclists in town all on a rest day and all planning to depart tomorrow, so nice to catch up with others on similar journeys.

Some of the cars around I had previously seen in Europe but not for many years.

Otherwise also got a bit more rough planning together as I have three months (November 21st) to get to Puerto Montt some ~2150km from here. TDA will cycle the same distance in just under a month, so I do have a little time to play with. Following is a rough updated plan:

  • From here to Mendoza is ~650km and will have combination of an occasional town but also camping along the way.
  • I’ve booked a short flight back from Mendoza to Colorado in September. This gives me a chance to pick up new tires and potentially a few other spare parts. I had budgeted the time+money for one trip back to the USA and Mendoza seems like a good place for such trip and tires are a good excuse. The only drawback of flying from Mendoza instead of Puerto Montt is I’ll still need to carry anything extra I bring to Puerto Montt.
  • From Mendoza to Puerto Montt is another ~1500km to cycle most likely heading via Bariloche on the Argentina side.
  • Puerto Montt to Ushuaia with TDA is ~2475km and a more intense month of cycling – though no longer carrying my gear. TDA ride finishes in Ushuaia on December 21st at the summer solstice.
  • After that, fly back to the USA. My tenants’ Austin lease finishes December 31st and I will re-enter the working world in 2018.

Chilecito

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A longer day through more areas with wide open views and a bit more climbing than yesterday.

I discovered the downside of my free municipal campground last night. It was Saturday night and around 9:30 pm several motorcycles came, unloaded large boom-box type speakers and started blasting music. I was 200 meters away but it was still very loud. I went over, told them I wanted to sleep and asked to turn the volume down. That lasted about ten minutes before the music went loud again. A lot more people arrived and eventually late at night the party wrapped up and it became quiet again.

I had a second dose of loud music at 6:30 am as well, though I was already awake and so not as big a deal.

Once I got back to the main road, the route started with 150m of climb, one of three somewhat longer climbs today. The wind was more headwind than a tailwind, though never really strong.

A different type of shrine, this time to Difunta Correa with water to calm the eternal thirst.

Pituil was the only town today in distance of over 100km. I decided to take the road into town to stop at a small shop.

Here was the main square, otherwise a quiet place.

Warnings for narrow bridges, though I didn’t notice many.

What I did notice was that the road had been carefully patched for many kilometers. Quite a bit of work, though also led to a more bumpy ride.

These guys were parasailing. I first passed a guy with what looked like two green backpacks organizing his stuff in middle of nowhere. Next, I passed another guy wrapping up some red nylon in the bush not far from the road. Both had apparently landed not long before and were now organizing things to get rides back.

It wasn’t until I came past the main group as well as a sign with a parachute that I figured out what they were doing. We had a good conversation and they offered water and told me about the road ahead.

As the 3900 marker indicates, slowly chipping away at the distance on Ruta 40.

From here it was a slow steady climb up two hills and then into larger town of Chilecito. On Sunday late afternoon it seemed even quieter than one might find during siesta. Without much difficulty, found a reasonable hotel and then something to eat not far from the town square.

Otherwise figuring out whether to take a rest day here or shuffle some shorter days – as well as the next section of road which will have a 1200m climb up and over a pass.

San Blas de los Sauces

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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.

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.