Monday, October 16, 2006 

3000km!

A few km before La Rioja we passed the 3000km mark. Needless to say we were happy.

To have cycled our first 3000km without any major problems feels great. But to have another 7000km in front of us feels even better.

The anticipation of the adventures we will have and the people we will meet is almost too much!

 

Saujil to Villa Mazan

No Donnie Darko hasn't joined us on his bike, it's Richard with a cows skull on his head.

Not sure what passing motorists thought, but he seemed to be enjoying hiself.









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!

 

To Saujil and the classroom

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.

The moment we arrived we were enthusiastically ushered into a classroom to be used as live 'native english speakers' for the class. We had a great time swapping stories of our different cutures and countries.







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.

Her garden was amazing, the following were growing just outside her back door: Sugar cane, Plums, Mandarin, Peaches, Lemon Grass, Avacado, Lemons, Limes, Oranges, Walnuts, Olives, Prickly Pear and Grapes.

Amazing and delicious.

Gracias Marie

 

Over the top and back to the desert at Andalgala.

Amazingly only one days cycling changes the scenery from the Jungas to this.

The valley below was desert and a huge salt flat. A little further down the valley Olive groves stretched for about 130km, irrigated with water from these mountains.







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 drop was about 900m down a very bumpy road with more switchbacks than we care to remember.

The wheels were getting so hot we'd have to stop and pour our valuable drinking water over them at every turn!




Choosing some music to disguise the crunching noises on the descent!











The roads in this area of Argentina are scattered with these little 'shrines' to a character called 'Guachito Gil'.

He was a 19th century South American Robin Hood and had a friend named Poco Juan!

People now go to the shrine and make a wish, if the wish is granted by Gil they tie a red ribbon or flag to the tree or shrine.

 

Climbing towards El Charquiadero.

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.

It was an incredible sight climbing up these switchbacks watching the jungle unfold below.








At the top was a ruined police station built in the 1960´s to combat problems in the area with a guerilla group.

Problems with rogue groups of gorillas roaming the mountain sides kidnapping cyclists would have made for a more interesting story.







 

Avalon?

A Cream Backed Woodpecker looking for some tasty grubs.












We shared this beautiful green field with a wild horse and some noisy parrakeets.

Andres and Luis, two 'twitchers' from Buenas Aires acted as our guides to the local fauna and flora. (hence us knowing the type of woodpecker).








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.














 

Monteros & 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'.

We asked the police in Alpachin where the nearest campsite was. After laughing a lot and saying he loved Maradonna, he told us it was only 6km.

18km of continous uphill we arrived exhaused!




Wild horses are everywhere in Argentina.













Only our 3rd puncture in 3.5 months.

We'd like to thank Steve at Cowley Cycles for his technical support.
















Ciao.

 

Crossing the mountains; from desert to Jungas

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.

Look closely at the sign. Does Richard have a South American dopleganger?








Looking back down at the desert scrub.













Our dutch friends Mark & Robbert will be pleased to know we've found another kettle bush.

They really do exist.










The wine here is so good that there are signs warning people that they'll spill it if they drive.

So don't!










34km downhill on paved roads. (2390m-370m).

From altiplano type fauna through pine and then deciduous forest, to jungas jungle and finally to the vast flatlands and the 'Garden of Argentina'.









Sarah enjoying a siesta.

Thursday, October 12, 2006 

Through the Quebrada to the vineyards of Cafeyette

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!
We're having trouble downloading images.

I think the administrator is having a siesta.










As the sun becomes lower the shadows stretch out and the colours change every few minutes.

Definately the best time of day.











Leaving Cafayette the next morning surrounded by vineyards.

 

Back on the road. Quebrada de Cafayette

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.

There was an alternatve route to Cafayette taking in SA highest pass at 4895m, it was only 10m LOWER than the highest pass we cycled in Bolivia!


´'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.