January 17-21, 2019
What happened…
A few days of uninspiring landscape but cool wildlife and we’re finally starting to meet people.
Amanda writes:
We started in Barrancas on the 17th. The views were different than anything we’ve seen before. Not amazing, but different. Sweeping landscapes of shiny black volcanic rock and volcanoes in the distances. It was super hot hitting 34 degrees at 6pm! We wild camped this night and it was tough to find shade but we lived.
Our camping spot in the middle of the pampas.
The next day we started with a big climb and the landscape changed from volcanic rock to pampas. The landscape again was pretty uninspiring but the wildlife and bugs kept me smiling. Probably saw 10 snakes on the road, most of the them dead and loads of beautiful shiny silver butterflies which were incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it and they were everywhere seemingly riding alongside me. There were these massive thumb sized black beetle type bugs with red backs we kept seeing on the road. Andrew tried to get a closer look at one and while we think the bug was trying to get in the shade of Andrew’s bike, it almost seemed like it was chasing him. Andrew screeched like a school girl and almost knocked himself off his bike. And it seems the season for babies as there were baby goats, baby pigs, baby cows on farmers lands. Oh and baby rheas which are those flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bone than run like hell. And that reminds me of the cicadas chasing me before that I forgot to mention. A cicada is a jumping/flying bug that can be as big as a humming bird and they’re noisy! They have prominent eyes set wide apart, short antennae, and membranous front wings. They have an exceptionally loud song, produced in most species by the rapid buckling and unbuckling of drumlike tymbals. They’re noisy and apparently they liked my fancy new bright shirt I got for Christmas. So much so I couldn’t move 5 feet without them flying into me. I ended up having to walk around without a shirt on to do anything; it was actually quite funny.
Met this guy on the road for 8 years and started in Inuvik like us!
Another lovely sunset in the desert.
On the 20th we had 65k to ride into Las Lajas to arrive before the store closed for the day because it was Sunday. We left too late and had to push so hard in the fierce headwind. I know it’s just a glimpse of whats ahead but man it was hard. We could barely do 16k per hour. We arrived just in time and caught the store closing at 1:30; yes!!!!! Then we had ice cream and used their WiFi and went in search of the only hotel. We found it but couldn’t reach the owners. We were just pulling away to go to the campsite we heard about and the owners pulled up; perfect! The hotel was way more expensive but as we were deciding if we wanted to spend the money we meet another cycle tourist from Canada who was staying there and we decided to join him. So we met Jacob from Canada and Monte from Colorado who was motorbiking. We stayed two days and blogged and landed a house sit in NV for the summer which was great timing in terms of deciding to stay an extra night. So for everyone who thought they’d have to put us up while we visit, you’re off the hook. Everything happens for a reason.
Monte from Colorado sets off!
Andrew writes:Jacob from St. Catherine’s is a pretty cool kid. He started in Santiago a few weeks ago and has been cycling south. Jake’s spent the last few days dealing with intestinal issues or dehydration, or maybe just sick of riding. We convinced him to ride with us for a few days in the hopes of providing inspiration to continue. It’s always nice having a guy around to shoot the shit with.
The aerial view of our ride:
Today’s Flickr Photographs
[flickr_tags user_id=”17145280@N00″ tags=”011719,011819,011919,012019,012119″]Cycling Stats
January 17, 2019
Start Point: Barrancas, Argentina
Destination: Wild camp Ruta 40, Argentina
68.85 km trip, 15 km/h average speed, 53.70 km/h maximum speed, 4:35 time on the bike
January 18, 2019
Start Point: Wild camp Ruta 40, Argentina
Destination: Chos Malal, Argentina
56.63 km trip, 15.38 km/h average speed, 60.31 km/h maximum speed, 3:40 time on the bike
January 19, 2019
Start Point: Chos Malal, Argentina
Destination: WC Ruta 40, Argentina
96.64 km trip, 16.04 km/h average speed, 47.67 km/h maximum speed, 6:01 time on the bike
January 20, 2019
Start Point: WC Ruta 40, Argentina
Destination: Las Lajas, Argentina
66.04 km trip, 14.77 km/h average speed, 49.48 km/h maximum speed, 4:28 time on the bike
Route Description:
January 17, 2019 Paved road entire day. Undulating hills with sweeping views of volcanic rock and volcanoes. Stopped at small town and got a drink and restocked water.
January 18, 2019 Start day out with an 11km climb. Then big downhill and again another big climb before a big descent into town. As you near town there are some undulating hills.
January 19, 2019 25k climb to start day. Then a 20k descent and then another 15k climb. Got water and a cold drink at Nuestra Casa which has a sign on the road. It’s on the right.
January 20, 2019 The road was undulating hills and paved but the headwind was fierce.
Accommodations:
January 17, 2019 We wild camped on this night.
January 18, 2019 Decided to stay in hotel although there are campgrounds available. Our hotel had an area to clean clothes, private bathroom, clean, WiFi, cooking area and near town centre. Hospedaje Lemus.
January 19, 2019 We wild camped after basically stopping after 6 hours of riding and likely could have gone a bit further to a nicer WC spot we read about on iOverlander.
January 20, 2019 We stayed at only hotel in town with private rooms and kitchens and bathrooms and wifi. There is a reported nice campground in town too. We stayed for two nights. The hotel was 10000 per night.