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Jen - Hi guys. At the last update we were in Mendoza. Mendoza is a really cool city. I liked it much better than buenos aries, maybe because its smaller and more relaxed, maybe because its built with large squares to be earthquake proof, or maybe its just the wine!!
On the first day there we just had abit of a chill out session, wandering around the city we checked out some art galleries and the 5 main squares all with a different theme. Plaza espana is the best with lots of spanish style tiled fountains and murals and walkways. The others were nice but less impressive, and one could have been named tramp square as it seemed to be the main hang ouy area. Mind you, in the warm mid morning sun there are worse places to be a tramp!!
A great free attraction turned out to be a display in a bank window of all places; they had an extensive collection of stuffed animals of the country including a puma and an armadillo! We also checked out a serpent house. Not sure i wanted to see gory pictures of someones leg dropping off after an argentinian snake
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wine tasting...jenny in her elementbite.....
You cant go to mendoza without goin on a tour of the local wineries which are numerous. Most people get a bus out of the city then hire a bike to tour round but hey, we had bikes already so just set off in roughly right direction and arrived there eventually after some directions from one of the seemingly ever friendly and helpful argentinos. This particular woman rushed out of her shop to draw us a map...
At the first winery, a very smart placed called tempus alba, they had a beautiful terrace where you could sample all the seperate wines, syrah, temperanillo, cabernet sauvignon, malbec and merlot and also their own blend. We were well into this little lesson in wine tasting when two irish girls from the hostel turned up, and guess what, quickly persuaded us to order another glass. At some other wineries down tree lined avenues we had lunch and sampled yet more wines before buying a bottle. (which ian would never have agreed to had he known he would be lugging it up and down a few passes!!)
Couldnt help feeling a bit smug as whizzed by queue for bus back
to city on our bikes.....
From Mendoza se were heading towards the main pass over to chile which starts a village called Upsallata. However, there are two ways to get there. One up the main road. Two over a 3000m pass on a gravel road. Yep, ian chose 2nd option!!
The first leg of the journey was a 30mile uphill ride on tarmac to Villavicencio. Villavicencio is where a famous brand of argentinian mineral water comes from ; its all over the place. It took us quite a while to comlete this ride, first on the flat out of town then uphill over a sdloping plane which was mysteriously difficult despite a tailwind?! We thought there might be a small village at Villavicencio but it turned out to just be a rangers hut, a restaurant, and a posh thermal spa hotel thats only been shut for 30 years!! Its a bit spooky, its all boarded up but the grounds are open to look around.
Unsure where we were going to stay we had a beer at the restaurant and the rather brusque lady there offered us a free camping spot it a little sheltered area at the
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outside Independencia Hostel, Mendozo..recommended side of the restaurant. I also bought some provisions for the next day; two HUGE sandwiches. I think she added the camping fee into th price of the sandwiches! The resaurant closed up at 8 pm. It was a good job the camping spot was sheltered as we had our first experience of the very strong warm wind they call the Zonda that night....
Just past the restaurant the road turns to gravel track, or ripio, which seems to describe any thing not tarmaced, and would continue this way for 34 miles over the pass to upsallata. The first part was steep and slow but rewarding as it provinded spectacular views from hairpain turns of the valley and road below. I also got my first sighting of a guanaco (llama type things) here.
It seems to be a theme here that the passes all have a high plateau with lots of ups and downs before the actual summit. This bit was not so rewarding courtesy of the Zonda. At points i had to stop to avoid being blow over, and the last 2 miles along vaguely uphill terain to the summit was painfil 5mph grind into the wind.
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reastaurant at Villavicencio...its about all thats here!! Hence 34 miles takes at least all day.....
The descent to upsallata had expansive views across stripey rock hills but my eyes were crossing with tiredness at this point! I insisted the camp site at least have hot showers or i was going to a hotel. They did. Damn.
It actually wasnt bad and we whiled away the evening at the tibetan themed cafe.(they filmed 7 years in Tibet around here)
Well, the next day we were all packed up, provisions bought, ready to attack the big pass over to chile. Called in at the Gendamerie where they told us it was shut. And likely to be for the next few days. Oh. While we sat on th steps discussing a change of plans a VW van drew up and a swiss couple, Jos and Beatrice introduced themselves. They were touring round south america for a year in the van theyd had shipped over. They were also gutted the pass was shut and were gonna go up anyway as far as poss to see the Puerta del Inca, a natural stone bridge over a gorge. Anyway I pestered them enough so they felt obliged to offer us
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the pass (365 day pass) from villavicencio to Uspallata...v v v v impressive alift up there!!
Tent re pitched, ideas of getting over there on the bike shelved, we got to the puerte del inca which was 2 foot deep in snow, but worth seeing, and it really drove home the idea that it would be grim on the bikes even if the pass was open. Passed a nice evening again in the tibetan cafe several beers and our new swiss friends. Also bumped into a brazilian couple touring in a 4WD with a wierd/cool roof tent. They had never seen snow before so had a ball up at Puerto del Inca.
So, there seemed no option but to just head north in argentina. from Upsallata it meant a 100mile (we thought) track to the next town of Barreal. Plan was to do 50 miles, rough camp, and complete the ride nexy day. A late start and an incredibly harsh head wind saw us completed only 15 miles by 2pm. From there we made better progress but it wad hard work on the shale track. At 5pm we had completed 40 miles and saw a sign that said it was 30 miles to barreal. We should have been looking for a
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everyone who comes to south america takes pictures of these...heres ours! a guanaco... possible camping spot at this stage but there was not a bit of shelter around. Ground was rocky everywhere, you could feel the remoteness up here. 4 cars passed us all day, one the Swiss couple and the other the Brasillians. Cloud covered the high Andes immediately to our left but you could feel their presence. close enough to touch.
Ian
We had about 700m to descend and assumed the track would get better and the wind must die down sometime so we decided to blast for Barreal and if all goes to plan get there just after dark. All plans are made to fail and it was worse road, worse headwind and not much downhill. A fair epic ensued as we crawled along at 8ph, getting blown all over the place and struggling to find the best line on the track. Ended up in the dark with 14 mile left..in the dark it was worse as we couldnt even see the best line and just rode through all sorts of rough, with jenny coming off twice in soft gravel. It was purgatory for an hour and a bit and then suddenly, as our brains were prepared for
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3100m sur nivel de mer..cold...tired..aconagua in the background somewhere... at least another hour of grimness, smooth tarmac and our expected descent. Seemed surreal in Barreal with people about and shops and hotels!! Stopped in a really cool hostel, were were the only ones there and got the deluxe double room. I think the owner understood our fatigued state and said dont rush in the morning, stay as long as you want We tucked into the wine from Medoza..cant believed i carried it all this way!! It was a drink it now jenny or it goes in the bin!!
Next day was beautiful, a wonderful valley down to Callingasta, inspirational views accross to the mountains, and back to Mercaderia (6800m). On our right the Precordillera was weather into crazy shapes and colours. Wind less so I really enjoyed the 26 mile rest day!! Accomodation was a bit bizarre though. We asked at the Hospedajio, woman babbled a bit in the Argie Dialect i dont understand...showed us a room (nice with Cable tV!!)..then said we cant have it...errm ...que....she said she didnt have a room...errm why show us then?? she made a phone call to her mate who took us in. Still livable room, but ´basic´ i think is fair
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the road to Chile...chilly to describe it...behind a garage..ahh well the 3.60 cost would merit an eat out...erm maybe now...nothing open in the town at all...que que que...original woman had a cafe so we went in there...they appeared to be having a family meal ..but asked us in and e got a beer..asked about food and they said yes. Opening time must have been 9..a few more pèople some in and we ate..late...a few restaurants were open as we left..they eat seriously late here...in the UK you panic to get to places before 9 as food stopes serving...not here...they wont cook UNTIL 9!!
We opted to do the 60 mile down to San Juan on Tarmac and then take 2 days to Iglesia on tarmac instead of 2 days (100 miles) of tracks directly north. Meandered down the beautiful route 12. Deep valley, river running along side, great views back to the crystal clear mountains, snow capped. Wild horsed on river banks, tailwind--yes tailwind...this was bliss...
if i´ve learnt one thing is dont assume anything in this place. We passed a sign that said 140 km to San Juan...eh that cant be right, we have done 50k already and looking for a lunch
stop, the road was starting to climb away from the river aswell, but on the map it headed straight down in..back tracked a couple of KM to a police man...he told us the original rd is impassable (even on bikes) so now the road goes over a 26km pass to Talacasto and back south to SJ. Frecking freck...we cant do another 85 miles today...and we cant rought camp as not enough water...El Policia told us there was a shop at Talacasto 80km away, 26 km up hill then down down down all the way there..ok we could do that and then rough camp, fire off SJ and cycle to Iglesia the next day 50 or so miles the second day of our original route...suppose this saves a day but missed out San Juan.
Wow...this pass was tough, the wind funnelled down a gulley into our face and we could hardly ride..getting serious worried about water just to get to Talacasto...3 and a bit hours later we topped the pass...dunno how high...maybe 2300m?? descended to the junction with the Iglesia rd and then turned the wrong way to the shop at Talacasta 14 miles away down the canyon of the
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Jos and Beatrice...they shipped the VW from Europe...!! Donkey!! Maybe there is a hotel there?or a campsite?
I nearly laughed when we got to Talacasto and it was a ghost town...derelict...no roofs on houses..train line block up...nothing...just desert, a few scrubs, a shrine to the Difunta Correa (saint of truck drivers!)
ermm...frig...
This place wants wiping from anymaps as there seriously is nothing there at all...signposts to it from miles away, and distance countdowns...apparently it got abandoned after an earthquake knocked most of it down.
an hour of light left...2 and half hours ride to SJuan down the Ruta 40..its a familiar story...dark riding!!
locked on at 20mph, slight downhill and good wind behind...tried a cheeky hitchikers thumb at a passing Pickup truck...they thumbed us back (most cars and trucks pip and wave anyway!!) ..need to be more forceful so the next likely looking car gave it a full on wave down and hitchhikers thumb ...They are stopping!! bingo...lift into SJ..cool....that is a neat trick. Pick ups are perfect for putting bikes in.
Spent a day chilling to the max around San Juan, not an amazing amount to do...ate as much as i could in an all you can eat vege cafe...it was lot...bought
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this for 70 miles....imagine its dark for 15 of them..so bleak and óut there´ in (lots lots lots lots of water) for the 2 day ride back up RN40 to Talacasta and over 2900m pass to Iglesia Village.
Lunched at Talacasta...so much more welcoming when you have food and water and it isnt going dark..still wants wiping from the map though...waste of ink...
Headed back up the donkey canyon...some guy stopped for a chat , this happens a fair amount...some of the people i can understand, some i just have no idea as they make no compensation for their speed of speach...i assume the first question is always, "where are you from" followed by "where are you going"..then i sort of blag it with hand gestures. Anyway this guy i could follw...sort of wish i hadnt done though as he kept going on about how dangerous it was to camp...really cold...really really cold he said...yeah no problem...mucho warmo clothingo....ahh he said but there are Pumas here..and proceeded to tell a story involving his wife seeiing some...marvelous..just marlevous..Jenny turned up just in time to hear the Puma stuff...great..she was worried enough about pitching in the wild but now she kept going on about pumas...i tried to convince her (and myself ) how they wouldnt come
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cool Hostel at Barreal near us, or there wasnt any around here or...lets think about something else eh..
Rough pitched in a bloody ace rough camp and collected enough wood to burn all night...was amazing out there...so remote, nothing...a few cars and lorries....stars so clear....quiet, so so quiet, you could hear pumas a mile off..damn not meant to be thinking about them...right lets get this fire made up...haha...spent hours burning stuff. Carlos would be proud...
After a Pumaless night, Next day finished off the climb and headed to Iglesia valley and treated ourselves to a bit of a spa at Pismata...wow...it was hot spring water...with baths going up in temperature from 39 - 45 degrees in degree increments...like how hot dare you go..quite a contrast to previous night as indeed it was mucho Frigo
food disapointing...
wow...amazing ride the next day down to San Jose de Jachal, past the Dique Vieto (windy resevoir)..it was really windy...then down a canyon clinging closely to the hill side with the river blue and rapid far below.
We are now on the hallowed ruta 40 north for the forseable future..ruta 40 is 4000km long from Patagonia to the North of Argentina. it gets
really really remote in places, sometimes barely driveable. Good stuff!!
ciao for now...
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scary pumas
Jenny don't worry about the pumas just set your dog zapper on them! or if you see one say your a friend of Gandalfs.your blogg is so vivid we are living the experience ourselves.