Day 1,590
Hola Argentina
Well who would have thought I'd have had the second best pizza of the trip in Bolivia? We went two nights in a row, it was so good. We met up with fellow Brit, Nate, on the second night and as he ate a family sized pizza by himself, I think he agreed! The following morning we dragged ourselves away from Uyuni, getting ahead of Nate, hoping to beat him up a very big hill. The geology was still inspiring us, but even with that to help us along that hill was tough. We even had a tunnel to ride through, first in a while, though no lights, it was surfaced, so not too bad.
At the top of the hill we were back up high on the altiplano, and we had beaten Nate! OK so he set off about an hour behind us, but that's not the point! After a quick refuel stop, one last bowl of Bolivian soup then we were off, not much later Nate arrived, gosh he is fast! We rode on together towards the border, Nate slowly pulling ahead. Crossing the border was pretty straightforward, though for some reason Tom and I had to send all our bags through the x-ray machine, no idea why as the customs officer was playing games on his phone rather than looking at the no doubt fascinating images of our dirty washing etc. He just waved Nate through, clearly bored with annoying cyclists.
We were in Argentina! Nate led us to a very nice hotel, and an even better restaurant. Steak for the boys, well would be rude not too, fantastic Tom said, clearly not missing clear soup with a bone in it.
In the morning Nate was on his way at stupid o’clock but we opted to wait for breakfast, which didn't live up to our expectations, just lots of dry bread but finally a decent cup of coffee. We were heading towards a small town, Tres Cruces, where apparently there's a great pizza restaurant. Yes, I know I'm mentioning food a lot, but the possibility of another meal I actually wanted to eat is a major draw. The riding was definitely not as enjoyable as in Bolivia, a combination of more traffic, poorer road conditions and a strong head wind were making life tough. The geology though just kept on getting better and better. Cacti, multicoloured rocks, dormant volcanos, it all added up to a dramatic landscape.
We finally made it to Tres Cruces. Here the rocks looked as if someone had rolled them up, but unfortunately they'd also taken away the pizza restaurant. The locals told us it was there, but at 3pm it was clearly closed, wherever it was. All we could see was dusty empty streets and closed up houses.
The most amazing geology we’ve ever seen
Still it was too early to stop and we had our emergency rations, noodles, so we wouldn't starve. A few hours later, 50 miles in either direction from any villages, we came upon a church. The sky was black with rain clouds and the ever present headwind was growing ferocious. Tom tried the door, it was unlocked.
The little church that would provide an ‘interesting’ night
Inside there were quite a few burning candles, which surprised us, just who was lighting them all? We decided to cook our noodles, and unfortunately Tom added all 3 packets of hot spicy seasoning which due to our sore windblasted lips made the meal nearly impossible to eat. I'm so over noodles. By now it was starting to get dark, we'd not found anyone to ask permission to stay, but opted to move inside and set up our bed. The door could be locked from the outside with a bolt and we were somewhat anxious that someone would pop along and do just that. Finally around 9pm the caretaker arrived. He reassured us it was fine to sleep there, but warned us that people often pop in to light a candle and say a prayer. And that's just what happened. At 10pm two young guys were somewhat puzzled to find two Brits inside, then another chap came along about 10.30pm, and on it went, all night long. Tom didn't even try to sleep, I finally dropped off, only to be repeatedly woken up by Tom hissing in my ear, ‘there's another one!’. I had put my hair clip on the bolt to stop them locking us in, but despite having just met us, had a chat about what we were doing etc., habits are hard to break and they automatically tried to close the bolt whilst we cried out please don't!
Around 2.30am Tom got up to do some night photography. Wearing just his underpants, crouched down partially hidden by a rock, he was totally absorbed by the night sky when 6 young guys arrived in a pickup truck. They were clearly somewhat bemused and a bit wary to be greeted by the 6’4” near naked gringo stranger. Tom decided the only thing to do was show them the photos he'd taken, they smiled politely as they backed away warily, then quickly lit about 20 candles each and disappeared into the night.
The photo that helped distract 6 Argentinians from Tom walking out of the bushes in his underpants!
By 5.30am we'd both given up hope of any more sleep and packed up. Just in time, as another family arrived, and finally we were actually useful, they'd forgotten their lighter. Another long chat, but at least we were lying in our sleeping bags this time!
Onwards we went, due to the horrendous wind and busy weekend traffic we abandoned the ride around midday. Fortunately we were passing a small town with a lovely hotel. We have a tour tradition that on the 25th October we treat ourselves, a nice meal, so as it was the 25th the timing was perfect. The reason for this tradition? Well it's my niece Gabs’ husband George’s birthday, and we did it the first year and as you know we do like a tradition!
Wined and dined, we returned to reality and back on the road and it was going downhill. The wind ensured we had to keep pedalling but it was much easier than climbing. One more night camping, then a beautiful few miles climbing through a wild tree-filled mountain side. The birdsong was back, colourful trees, and almost no traffic, just perfect. Then we arrived in the city of Salta. We even had a cycle path to ride on. So now a few days of chores and rest, oh, and planning just what comes next!
