Blogs from La Rioja, Argentina, South America
April 18th 2012
We were not able to make it to Cachi, from San Antonio de Los Cobres as Ruta 40 forced us to return and take another route down to Salta and onto Cafayate. The story so far, after a couple of nights in San Pedro de Atacama, we were ready for the challenge of Paso Sico over the mountain to San Antonio de Los Cobres. This pass turned out to be one of the most spectacular we have tackled, but we sure as hell had our fair share of corrugations, created by the huge trucks that ply this pass. We arrived in San Antonio just on dark and had time to get Paul's puncture fixed at the local Gomeria (tyre man) and check into our hotel before darkness set in. The next day we wanted to pick ... read more
Parc national de Talampaya: en pleine fournaise !
Published: September 8th 2011South America » Argentina » La Rioja » Talampaya National Park
September 7th 2011
(avec le panorama cette fois!) Nous voilà quittant enfin la ville de Salta, où nous nous plaisions bien, pour aborder une partie du voyage un peu … « inconnue ». Nous ne savons, en effet, pas très bien à quoi nous attendre. Avant de rejoindre une autre grande ville d’Argentine, nous faisons quelques jours d’arrêts un peu plus au sud dans la province de « La Rioja ». Cette province ne présente aucun attrait particulier, sauf celui d’être dans une zone centrale d’Argentine très chaude et très sèche, pour les amateurs. Ici le climat est semi-aride, le soleil tape très fort et la peau se craquelle déjà rien qu’en étant quelques heures dans le coin. Ici on vit du vin, du bétail, du cuir et du coton. Nous décidons de venir braver la chaleur uniquement pour ... read more
BMW Meltdown More Border Hassles
Published: April 11th 2011South America » Argentina » La Rioja » La Rioja
April 10th 2011
Arequipa to La Rioja..... We were all set to go after a day off in Arequipa for some more shopping and a bit of moto and body maintenance, when Wim hit his starter button on his BMW 800 GS, nothing happened ??. It seemed that the battery was dead as a dodo, so out came the jumper leads, but still nothing happened. After a bit of searching around, we found that the lead to his GPS was in meltdown mode, so out with a pair of pliers to solve that problem, next we disconnected then reconnected the battery to reset the computer, as it had shut down everything during the GPS melt down, so a press of the starter and all systems were go… We needed a reasonably early start, as this is a big day ... read more
April 11th 2010
From Chile back to Argentina The past few days we have made a run down the coast of Chile, with stop over’s at Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta and Copiapo. These are 500km plus days, all on sealed roads, cutting through the Atacama Desert staying awake and focused being the biggest problem. We regrouped at the ’Hand in the Desert’ and at the monument defining the Tropic of Capricorn and quick stop at the La Portarda, just before entering Antofagasta. The ride from Copiapo to Tinogasta, in Argentina over the San Francisco Pass, is not only our biggest day, but also one of the most spectacular. We have a border crossing and we lose an hour when we enter Argentina, also there is no ‘official’ gasoline for 520klm, but sometimes we can get extra fuel from the border ... read more
May 22nd 2009
Hi All! I hope this post finds you enjoying your Friday! We are currently in La Riocha waiting for a bus. I've had a chance to write a few posts and instead of filling your inbox with many messages, this will be the only one. Be sure to scroll down to see the other posts. More pictures will come when I find an internet cafe that lets me upload them. Buenos Dias! ... read more
April 29th 2009
After meeting my Significant Other in Buenos Aires, we set out to find a small itinerary that could offer all of Argentina in a nutshell. Since we both like wandering around in nature, trekking possibilities were very much a must, as was not seeing the same thing twice (well, for me). Since La Rioja seemed to hold a lot of promises - new, surrounded by national parks and presumably hot - we bought tickets there, and soon we were on the Most Luxurious Bus Ever. There was a full meal - be it non vegetarian so we couldn't really enjoy it - , wine, a waiter bringing coffee and even whisky. During a probably bad film (i don't remember it), we fondled each other under the blankets (buses have blankets and pillows), and soon we were ... read more
April 11th 2009
What a great couple of days we have had, well most of us anyway, apart From David Broken Bones, Moto and Body... as he picked up a virus of some sort a few days ago and it layed him pretty low, so much so that we took him to a Doctor in Copiopo and he recieved some good drugs, but not in time for him to recover to ride the San Francisco Pass, and he made the right decission to ride in the truck, where he sulked for a couple of days.. Meanwhile we were out there making the long run down the Northern Coast of Chile and the Atacama Desert. It was cool close to the coast, but the temperatures sure rose as we headed inland, they were long days in the saddle. Leaving Copiopo, ... read more
March 28th 2009
So, back to the bus station and on to our next destination. During the journey, we saw loads of empty water bottles left at the side of the road. Apparently there is a shrine between San Juan and La Rioja to a lady, now a saint who died of thirst following her husband. When locals found her, her baby (feeding from her breast) was still alive, so people leave empty bottles. So there you go. We arrived in La Rioja at about 9pm, having not been able to make a reservation. So with lots of hand signals and a few words in spanish we managed to get the name of a hostel from the "tourist information" at the station. Yes it deserves speech marks as this is a very loose term! So a taxi ride in ... read more
March 21st 2009
In la Rioja si mir de vo uesem Guide am Busbahnhof abgholt worde und si zersch mau is Hotel. Im Bus isch es naemlech raecht warm worde und in La Rioja saeuber isch es ou oepe 40 Grad gsi. Drum si mir de froh gsi , dass mir zersch mau unter d'Duschi hei choenne. Und denn hei mir ues uf d'Mission "wie trickse ich die Argentinischen Banken aus" gmacht. Es isch naemlech so, dass me in Argentinie als Auslaender nume der Gaegewaert vo 200 USD pro Tag cha abhaebe. Da uesi Tour aber chli meh gchoschtet het und mir in Bar hei muesse zahle, si mer a ne Platz gange, wo mehrei Banke si gsi und hei gliichzitig bi zwene Banke (mir hei uf ds gliiche Konto zwe Charte) je 200 USD abghobe. Das het de ... read more
March 16th 2009
Well here we are dirty and dusty from our last few days ride from Chile over the Paso del Negra Pass into Argentina. What a great ride that is. It gave everyone a tast of the altitide, some handled it better than others. We all made it to San Jose de Jackel well before dark this time. I have tried to up load a couple of videos so we will see how that goes. Hopefully we will get one also from Geraldine. Gerardo has sent in a blog in Spanish, those at home best get their little books out, or do as I do and ask my computer to translate it... Hola, esta es la versión en idioma español de esta nueva aventura, ahora en el año 2009, en que nuevamente con mi amigo y compañero ... read more
