A few km before La Rioja we passed the 3000km mark. Needless to say we were happy. 
No Donnie Darko hasn't joined us on his bike, it's Richard with a cows skull on his head. 
These little bridges are the only shade (and shelter from the wind) for 70km. A great spot for lunch and a little siesta.
Approaching Villa Mazan the wind whipped up the sand. Sarah put the pain to the back of her mind and thought about the exfoliating effect on her leathery face!
The road to Saujil was long and dry.
Arriving in Saujil we found no accomadation so in an attempt to find somwhere to camp we asked advice at this teacher training college. 
Marie del Carmen Diaz from the school kindly offered to take us in for the night. We had a lovely evening cooking, feeding her animals and conversing in Spanglish.
Amazingly only one days cycling changes the scenery from the Jungas to this.
As usual our destination lies at the end of a very long road, it's just we don't usually see it stretching out before us.
The roads in this area of Argentina are scattered with these little 'shrines' to a character called 'Guachito Gil'.
Up.
Up.
And up. It made a change from Bolivia where the air was thin and very dry. Here it was hot and very humid. Not sure which is worse.
At the top was a ruined police station built in the 1960´s to combat problems in the area with a guerilla group. 
A Cream Backed Woodpecker looking for some tasty grubs.
We shared this beautiful green field with a wild horse and some noisy parrakeets. 
The full moon rose like a huge ball of fire (which of course it isn't, it's cheese), silhoetting the shapes of the jungle.
We met this group of cyclists at Alpachin who kindly escorted us to the campsite and were very patient with our 'touring pace'.
Wild horses are everywhere in Argentina.
Only our 3rd puncture in 3.5 months.
Rather than staying in the valley we decided to head over the cordillera to our east away from the oppressive heat of desert south of Cafatayette, towards Tafi.
Looking back down at the desert scrub.
Our dutch friends Mark & Robbert will be pleased to know we've found another kettle bush. 
The wine here is so good that there are signs warning people that they'll spill it if they drive. 
34km downhill on paved roads. (2390m-370m). 
Sarah enjoying a siesta.
The dark and moody sky promised a storm but there's been no rain here for the last 6-7 months!
Sarah, and in the background the mountains through which we would find our road.
Every mountain a different colour!
As the sun becomes lower the shadows stretch out and the colours change every few minutes. 
It felt great to be back on the road again, fully rested and with Argentina ahead of us. On leaving Salta we chose to head directly to Cafayette, a small desert oasis renowned for it's wines. The quebrada on route was spectacular, we were especially thankful of the cloud cover as this region gets very hot.
´'The devils throat' and my Koga. A dry waterfall, only one of the imaginatively named features along the length of the quebrada.
Putting my feet up for 5 minutes.
