HelenWe head south on the main road for twenty or so miles before turning right and heading upwards, doing a loop of the Calchaquies valley, which is meant to be an uphill climb with some hairpin bends, beautiful vistas, and a nice off-road hill section. We could carry on south on the main road and get to Cafayate in two days but where would be the fun in that! It’s hot once again, and very humid in the afternoon. When we turn off the main road it suddenly gets quiet, the valley opens up and we’re cycling towards beautiful green mountains, with fields of what turn out to be tobacco plants either side of us. We follow a river, which is fairly dry and narrow but more than enough water for us to use. The road narrows and winds upwards gradually.
We camp by the river, interesting birds jump around the trees, keeping a watchful eye on us as we cook dinner, fireflies dance around the tent as it starts to go dark!Bright green parakeets fly by in the morning, whilst horses drink water from the river, it’s good to be wild camping again. We set off uphill, and wind up the narrow road, it becomes steeper and our legs suddenly remember what climbing hills is like!
At some point the nice asphalt road suddenly turns to dirt track and I think they must be repairing this part of the road. But two miles later I realise there’s no repair work going on, it’s all like this!! It reminds me of being in Peru, but hotter! Although the scenery is stunning so I try not to complain in my head too much. Motorcyclists pass by, beeping and waving, as do many cars. It’s good motivation. After 23 miles of climbing we find an opening and a flat grassy secluded area away from the road. We set up the tent, cook dinner and watch the light changing over the mountains as the sun sets. We’re at 3000m again but it doesn’t feel that cold.
In the morning we climb the final four miles to the top of the pass before it gets too hot. The views looking back down from where we’d come are unbelievable, the long winding road surrounded by beautiful green mountains. The descent on the other side, surprisingly, is dry arid mountains with thousands of cacti. This apparently is due to the humid air rising from one side and dropping down the other side as precipitation. We pass two people in a campervan who clap and wave as we go by, asking if we need any water. We see a fox up close on our descent, it stops and watches us go by.
We drop down into Cachi, a colonial village surrounded by mountains, some of them snow capped. We camp in the municipal campground and meet a French girl travelling from Buenos Aires, hitchhiking all the way to Colombia. We also meet Marco, a young German cycling for four months through Argentina. It’s fascinating some of the interesting people we meet. It’s also really easy to start conversations with people when you’re travelling. I think, because your barriers are down, but also because you instantly have something in common. I feel so much more confident since being out here, I guess because you have to be brave and talk to people, otherwise your day may be very lonely.
Is it really sad to be very excited to have realised that you can buy audiobooks! I have no idea why I didn’t think of this before, but then I looked through Anna McNuffs Instagram posts and she mentioned listening to a Spanish audiobook. So I’ve bought 101 Spanish and am very excited to start listening to it, surely I’ll be fluent in two weeks!
We leave Cachi and start our three day journey to Cafayate on dirt road. We’re pleased on the first day as the road clearly isn’t as bad as people coming north had made out, it’s definitely not as bad as some of the Peruvian and Bolivian roads we’ve been on. But nightfall brings Disaster! Yes with a capital D! The tent zip has completely broken and won’t zip up at all! This is my worst nightmare! Especially in tarantula central! Fortunately we have two entrances, so we try to unsuccessfully to seal my side with tape and sew it with tooth floss but there are gaps! I have a really bad nights sleep, waking up constantly to try to re-seal the zip, twitching every time I imagine a spider crawling over me!
I’m really tired the next morning and the road surface has different plans for us. Suddenly we’re cycling on soft sand and bad washboard all day long, it’s hard work along with the 37 degree heat which doesn’t cool even towards the evening. But the landscape is stunning, amazing rock formations, beautiful colours, quiet roads. We wild camp alongside a dry riverbed, Chris successfully seals the tent door shut with strong glue and strips of his shirt (don’t worry he had another one!) and we sleep in just the inner part of the tent, looking up at the moon and thousands of stars. In the morning a fox sits in the distance and curiously watches us as we pack away our things.
By day three my undercarriage is so painful from the constant bumps and heat I’m losing the will to cycle! But once again there’s no escape, so I push through, counting down the miles until we finally reach asphalt! We’re both so grateful for a bit of smooth road we high five and whoop! We cycle into Cafayate, a bustling town surrounded by vineyards.
We meet up with Marco once again, and also two French cyclists, Aurelia and Matthieu, who have almost finished their journey. They came over by sailboat, which took them 22 days, then they cycled through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia before entering Argentina. Now they’re heading north back to Bolivia for their flight home. We all have dinner and share wine and stories. It’s good to be in company.
The next day we do some wine tasting with Marco, his Spanish is good and he explains what the Spanish guide is saying. We sample three wines sat out in the sunny courtyard. It’s £1.30 for the tour and wines! Later on we visit another a bodega to try their wines, for 50p a glass we sample a white Torrontes and a red Tannat, both from the local area. The glasses are filled to the top and we leave a bit tipsy and ready for snacks!
We learn there’s a general election this Sunday and it’s a big thing as one of the candidates is far right wing with some radical ideas such as making abortion illegal and making guns legal! We also learn that although to us, the country so far seems fairly wealthy and very European compared to the other countries we’ve visited, it’s actually in a bit of a mess, financially, and statistics show that 40% of Argentinians live in poverty.
We leave the next day, rested, and head south, through dry desert surrounded by many green vineyards. Its strange to see grapes and cacti together for some reason! It’s incredibly hot in the mid day heat and actually it stays pretty hot through the night, the only relief is the cooler mornings before the sun has risen! We cycle through this desert landscape for days and it becomes a bit of a mental game trying to stay motivated, although we have no choice, there’s no public transport around here!
On day four the rain finally comes! It pitter patters on the tent during the night and in my sleepy haze I think it’s the leaves falling from the tree above us! Eventually I realise it’s rain and a while later the air finally starts to cool. We get a bus to Catamarca. We stand waiting at the bus station and I observe another country, it’s people, how things work, how people interact and communicate, what food they eat. We’re in our fifth country now and each one has been unique in certain ways. With about four months to go before the end of our journey, I feel more relaxed here than ever, a ‘part’ of the country, not just an outsider. I’ve seen so much but it’s always the people that teach me the most. The connections you can make without much language, and a smile can change someone’s day, sometimes mine. The power of human connection and kindness, humanities real strength.
Our bus takes us to Catamarca, the main city in this area. From here we hope to get a bus to Mendoza so we can head over to Chile, but all the bus companies won’t take our bikes! This is new to us as we’ve never had a problem in the whole of South America. One company, Andesmar, takes pity on us and directs us to a logistics company that may take our bikes. We’re less than hopeful as we don’t have bike boxes, but the man working there is really helpful. He says no problem, as long as we can take the wheels off the bike, it can be delivered in two days! He also informs us the bus won’t take all our bags as they’re separate, so he bags up four of them and takes them too. He’s so kind and helpful, and goes way beyond what he needs to do, even with our broken Spanish. We buy him some panettone to say thank you.
We set off on our 11 hour bus journey at 10.45pm, I put my seat back and plug in my earphones to listen to my Spanish audiobook. It’s the best sleep I’ve ever had on a bus! The next thing I know, the bus is pulling into San Juan station, two hours away from Mendoza, it’s 7am and it’s a beautiful morning! Surely my Spanish must be fluent after eight hours of unconscious learning!
We arrive in Mendoza to a power cut, so my hopes of enjoying a coffee sat out in the morning sun fade fast. We find a hotel close by and check in for the night before exploring the city. The next day we cross the road to the logistics company to collect our bikes and bags, only to be told they haven’t arrived and may arrive next Tuesday or Wednesday – it’s currently Friday! After seven months of travelling we’re relaxed enough to take this news in our stride, after all there not a lot we can do about it. We find an apartment for a few days and realise it’s a good time and city to relax in. I’ve been suffering with back pain and fatigue for a few weeks and Chris wasn’t really enjoying the cycling through the desert so much anyway. The apartment fortunately has aircon, as the temperature soars to 36 degrees during the day! We relax and make plans for crossing the Andes once again via the famous passo de La liberatadores, dropping down into Chile and to Valparaiso at the pacific coast.
We have a slight panic when the delivery company tells us the bikes won’t arrive until next Wednesday, and we realise Chris has left most of his insulin in one of the bags! But he has just about enough to last and it’s a good excuse not to eat any cake! We collect the bikes Wednesday morning, do some last minute preparations and once again head off, this time in search of Chile…
