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Published: March 21st 2014
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WOW again....
What a great ride we have had from Salta down to La Rioja, via Cafayate, the Tafi Valley, San Miguel de Tucuman and the fabulous Cuesta del Portezuelo.
Leaving Salta we made our way down towards Santa Barbara, following the Rio de las Conchas (river) with a lunch stop on the way.
We stopped at the Devils Throat and the Amphitheatre as we made our way through the red rock canyon. As we entered Cafayate, I met up with the fellow that helped us a few years ago when my KLR died, he owns a restaurant there. Later that night, Bones and I went back and had a meal there, it was the best bit of rump fillet I have ever eaten, it had been aged forever!!
As we left the Restaurant, we went to thank Baco for the meal etc, and there was Pierre, the French guy that I had met last year in Los Flores, then visited his house in Vicuna, Chile.
He was riding with Baco's cousin, whom he had met in Vicuna while they were looking for a hotel room..We do live in a small world really!! This encounter was
to make it a pretty late night for us, with such a lot to catch up on over the last year.
Heading south the next morning, we visited Museo Pachamama in Amaicha de Valle, before heading over the Paso Abra del Infienillo, down into the Tafi de Valle. We encountered really thick cloud/fog and could not see 10m in front of us - we had to concentrate on looking for oncoming traffic with no lights on and of course the usual amount of wandering stock and dogs.
We all welcomed the lunch stop, even though it consisted of the usual ham and cheese toasted roll, washed down with a hot coffee.
After lunch, we encountered our first bit of rain on the winding section as we followed the river down on very slippery roads. Everyone took their care and we arrived in drizzly rain to our hotel in San Miguel de Tucuman.
The next morning we planned to take a ride up the mountain to a small village called Villa Nougues for lunch, but as the mountain was still in cloud, we agreed to reassess at 1.00 pm. The cloud had lifted by then, so it
All with clean boots
Well that lasted about a day, but we all felt good for a while. was 'game on'. As Mary decided not to come on this ride, that just left the 4 of us. As we left town, we lost Gerardo and Bob, as Gerardo had put another town into his GPS.
We waited for about 15 mins, and decided to carry on, as they could make their own way or whatever.
We climbed and climbed, with really tight switch backs, which made it quite tiring on the brute of the Harley - even without all our luggage, many of the turns needed 1st gear to get around.
Again we entered the cloud/fog at the top, but on the way we were able to take a good selection of photos with the WOW factor - in fact the fog added to the whole experience.
Villa Nougues, was a pretty little place, with nice old stone buildings, but NO Cafe!!. making our way down again, we came upon a stone bridge, that gave us a 'Pigs Tail' turn. (check out the photos!) It was just such a great ride and I know the D Duke had a ball once the cloud cleared and he wound up the revs.... We regrouped at the
Counting the money
Gas attendants sorting a wad of cash bottom, where we headed back to town for coffee and cake, as you do.
Leaving San Miguel de Tucuman the next day, we rode through very fertile country, with the main crop being sugar cane.
Our ride was interrupted twice by protests, both for different reasons, but both blocking the only way over a bridge, which gave the protesters full control of who goes and who stays?Luckily they have a soft spot for motos, so in both cases we made our way alongside long queues of traffic, up to the front and through the blockades that they moved aside for us, much to the distain of the pissed off people stuck in cars and trucks....
I spent much of my time looking for somewhere for lunch, we pulled up at one place, but nobody was happy that there were that many flies around!! We were out in the countryside for goodness sake!! Anyway, we moved on up through a nice winding section, with D Duke stretching his legs again. We just took our time and met up again as we entered a small village. We found a cafe/restaurant and waited for Bob, Mary and Gerardo. We waited
In the Cave Under the Tree
Sheltering from the heat of the day. and waited, ordered our coffee and drank it before they joined us. It turned out that Gerardo went ahead to do some GoPro video, Bob stopped on the side of the road to take a photo, lost his balance and ended up with his leg trapped under his bike on the side of the road. Bob and Mary are in radio contact within line of sight, but Mary slowed and waited, then decided to go back, there she found a couple of guys that had stopped, helping Bob to get vertical again. All ended well with no physical damage and no broken bike bits.
After lunch we took a detour and rode up the Cuesta del Portezuelo. What an absolutely fantastic ride that turned out to be. Those of you that have ridden the Concepcion to Andalgala road will relate to this ride, the big plus is, this road is sealed ie TARMAC!! Gerardo was not keen to continue up, with the sheer drop offs and the hight we were gaining 1775m at the top (he is not good with heights). Mary took pity on hime and rode back down fro the first lookout point.
I have taken
a few photos, but you just can't capture the vastness and the three dimensional aspect of this ride, you've sorta gotta be there!!
This diversion added more time to our day, so by the time we got to La Rioja at 7.00pm, everyone was happy to get off their bikes.
It was free night for dinner, as there are many restaurants around the plaza, but strange as it may seem, we all finished up at the same restaurant!!
The last few times that I have been here, there has been a VW split window, double cab pickup, all covered in dust, obviously not being used, and stored in the parking building. It has only got 68,000km and no rust!!.
Today, with the help of Gerardo, we were able to track down the owner, unfortunately, she is a very well off business woman, here in La Rioja, and she also has an immaculate white, early seventies convertible beetle, plus another late sixties beetle....so didn't need or want to part with the pick up....BUGGER!! now that dream will just have to fade away.....
We have two night here in La Rioja and then onto Talampaya and Villa
Union, so until my next blog, hasta pronto, Rosco
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Melean
non-member comment
WOW!
Great to catch up with how you guys are going, and to recognise so many of the photos! It sounds like you're having a brilliant time, especially on sealed hairpins!! Have fun and stay safe, and have an empanada for me! Cheers, Mxx