No not like that, I am high in terms of elevation (and im pretty high on life), I am currently sitting at 3000m (10,000ft) in Tupiza, Bolivia and got up to about 4000m (13,000ft) on the way here. Sorry for the delay in this blog entry, internet acess and speed leave a bit to be desired in northern Argentina and Bolivia. I got to Cordoba planning on spending 2 or 3 days there, but I was having so much fun catching up with Evan (OG bum dog and one of my riding companions in southern Chile and Argentina) that I ended up there a bit longer than planned. It was great to see him and we certainly made up for lost time partying every night like it was our last days on earth. Robin even made made the trip up from San Martin giving us 3 out of the 4 original bum dog members (te extranamos Greg!) so needless to say in standard bum dog fasion 2 days turned into a week. I finally get back on the bike and start my run at the Bolivian border, the ride from Cordoba to Tucuman was uneventul, shitty, and dangerous. The road had no shoulder, tons of truck traffic, and generally not much to see. This one sunset photo is about the only cool thing in the 600km (400miles) from Cordoba to Tucuman.
I get to Tucuman and check into a local hostel and go for a walk around the city, Tucuman has a lot of history, it is where Argentina declared its independence in 1816 and this is its ¨House of Independence¨
After talking to a few locals I decide the best way to get to Salta is the back way through the Great Chaco Rainforest. Seemed interesting, The Great Chaco Rainforest is the second largest ecosystem on the American continent after the Amazon. It was quite a bit furthur and had 2 massive climbs but I was promised it would be worth it. And it was, the rainforest was a welcome change after the weeks of riding in nothing but deserts, this is the start of the first climb of about 50k (35miles)
and about half way up going through the little town of El Indio, which I think has the best empanadas in Argentina
I get about 15k (10miles) from the top when it starts to get dark, and decide that my only option is going to be camping in the rainforest which was nice but very cold and very wet. I camped along this little river, pictured here.
The next morning was pretty brutal, it was raining and absolutely freezing cold, packing up my tent and getting everything in order brought back memories of those 5am hockey practices where your hands are too cold to even tie your skates, I realize the only way to warm up is going to be getting on the bike so I suck it up and get moving, I knock the last 15k (10miles) of the climb out and pop out into a nice little valley where the sun is shining and its warm. You can see the clouds in the left hand side of this picture, thats where the rainforest ends and the high alpine valley starts, weird little inversion effect they got going on there. I load up on supplies in the little town pictured (Tafi de Valle) and think im in for an easy ride to Quilmes.
Oh how wrong I am, the clown at the hostel told me that as soon as I hit Tafi de Valle its just rolling hills until Salta, he forgets to mention that after the big 50k climb through the rainforest to Tafi its about 10k (6miles) of flat riding before another massive 35k (25miles) climb bringing you up over 3000meters (10,000ft). Bike touring is as much a mental game as a physical one, and when you get a huge unexpected climb it can be rough, I struggle to the top in the baking hot sun quite a differnce from the day before where I was climbing in the cold and rain and rip down the other side into Amaicha de Valle.
I meet Leo from the Rio (Leonardo from Rio de Janiero, Brazil) on the way down, Leo´s a fellow bike tourist who has ridden here from his home in Rio and we camp and trade war stories in Amaicha, both pretty amped up from the awesome last couple days. We wake up the next day with the plans to take in the Ruinas de Quilmes which despite the shitty 5k dirt road climb to get there was quite worth it.
After taking in the ruins we continue north on the Ruta del Vino (wine road) towards the wine making town of Cafayate, we camp in Cafayate with no idea that the next day would be one of the more amazing days of our entire trip. The Quebrada de las Conchas is a small canyon road following a river through some absolutely spectacilar scenery, we only manage to ride 50km (35miles) because we are literally stopping every 2min to take photos. Here are a few
We stop to check out some natural amphitheaters along the road with loads of people coming though on busses to do the same. We decide the amphitheaters are so nice that we may as well camp in one, we head down to the river and gather a bunch of firewood and get a nice big fire going in the middle. We sit around the fire eating, drinking wine, and listening to Brazillian samba curteosy of Leo´s laptop. I must say falling asleep while watching the orange colors from the flames dance off the amphitheaters walls in perfect rythem with the brazillian samba is something I will not soon forget. Without a doubt this was my favorite campsite of the trip.
We get to Salta 2 days later rest up and recharge a bit before hitting the road to Jujuy. We meet a couple awesome girls Sheryl (a Kiwi) and Cath (a Aussie) who are bike touring from Tafi de Valle to Bolivia and end up having an awesome week of riding with them before they hop on a train to La Paz. Leo had some school stuff he needed to do so the girls and I leave Jujuy to head up into the hills to ride a loop to some hot springs (Termas de Reyes) we had been hearing good things about. After an afternoon spent lounging around the hot springs we start the long dirt road climb up to Yala.
We hit the top and are on our way down when we come across some massive mud slides, the road is absolutely gone and it takes us a couple hours to unload all our gear and ferry it across the area where the road used to be.
Now at this point its dark, so we camp in the middle of the road between 2 massive slides, we could hardly make it though with our bikes so camping in the middle of the road was no issue as there was no way a car or anything else was getting through, we spent a nervous night camping between the 2 huge slides hoping that a third doesnt come and sweep us down into the valley. We wake up and rip the downhill into Yala having an absolute blast doing some real deal off road riding for the first time in weeks. This is the trail we came down
We load up on supplies in Yala and hit the road for Tilcara, going up yet another big climb
and by some pretty funky colored mountains.
We spend the night in Tilcara and get on the road early the next morning heading for Humahuacha, just outside Tilcara we come across a pretty cool sign
We are now offically in ¨The Tropics¨ pretty cool to think that I have ridden my bicycle from the southern most city in the world to the Tropic of Capricorn. If only it felt like the tropics, while camping that night I go to get a drink of water only to realize all my water is frozen solid, some first night in ¨The Tropics¨. The day following we climb up to the 4000m (13,000ft) town of Tres Cruces and ride along the altiplano towards Abra Pampa where we have a little farewell party as the girls are getting on the train the next day, we spend the night playing gin rummey and drinking Fernet, bummer they had to leave but theyll at least have all the cool mountain biking trails around La Paz dialed so Ill know whats good as soon as I get there. ¡Buen viaje y mucha suerte chicas! I have an easy 70k (50mile) ride to the border the next day and Boom! Im out of Argentina..
Onto the last frontier, Bolivia, the poorest, most unexplored country in South America. Feels great to be here, had a mellow 95k (58mile) ride from the shitty border town of Villazon to the rad little western town of Tupiza where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed in a hail of bullets in 1909. Just before reaching Tupiza I stop to take some photos when a guy on a Vespa pulls up, turns out its a fellow Norte Americano (North American) Sean Jordan who is riding around the world on of all things a Vespa moped, we check into the same hostal, drink a ton of beers and trade travelling stories until the wee hours, check out his site at www.vespa360.com
I am a little apprehensive about the next 200km (120miles) of riding to get to Uyuni where the famous salt flats are, Ive heard multiple reports that its the worst riding of the entire trip, guess there is only one way to find out for sure, Ill keep you all posted. Thanks for reading
No comments:
Post a Comment