Day 72 & 73 Lazy (and tired) riders take the easy way

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Distance driven last two days: 426 miles / 686 km

Cumulative distance driven: 13,933 miles / 22,423 km

Last two days’ trip: Cordoba (via San Luis) to Mendoza, Argentina

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We have decided to slow down the pace a bit, until we get to Mendoza. Both Zoe and I still feel a bit mentally and physically tired after too many early mornings, late afternoon and evening rides, and several time zone shift recently. We are therefore covering the distance between Cordoba and Mendoza, which is 680km / 422 miles, in two days. That way we can sleep in, make longer rest and lunch stops, and arrive at our next destination for the day while there is still daylight. Though there are several smaller and rural roads we could take to get from Cordoba to Mendoza, we chose to take the newly built highway. By that we mean a real highway, with dual carriageway, two lanes in each direction and grade-separates junctions with other roads. The last time that Christer drove on such a highway for a longer period of time was between Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona in mid-June. Ever since, and for the last 10,000 miles / 16,000 km, the road has been ascending, descending, curving sharp left of right. Trust me when I say that it felt really good to drive for several hours on a flat, newly paved straight highway.



In Mendoza, we have to plan the two final legs of the remaining trip. The first is from Mendoza to Bariloche, while the second is from Bariloche to Ushuaia at the very southernmost tip of Chile by the Strait of Magellan. In Mendoza we have to get reliable and accurate information about the conditions of the main road that leads over the Libertadores pass which is also the border between Mendoza in Argentina and Santiago in Chile. We have read online, and heard at local gas stations over the past days, that an unusual amount of snow has fallen in the Andes in general, and in this pass in particular over the winter (that is June and July here in the southern hemisphere btw). As a result, the road to Chile has bene closed to traffic pretty regularly. Essentially, this is the main road over the Andes between Argentina and Chile, and one of handful roads that is drivable between the two countries during wintertime along the 5,300km / 3,000miles border that they share. Given the cold weather in Cordoba yesterday, with close to freezing temperatures at very low elevation, chances are pretty high that we will not be able to drive over the pass and into Chile. If that turns out to be the case, we simply will have to continue southbound in Argentina towards our destination.





Update: We just verified that the Libertadores pass that goes between Mendoza in Argentina and Santiago in Chile is closed. It has been closed for over 3 days now, due to unusually heavy snowfall in the past week. The weather report predicts that more snow is expected within the next 24-48 hours. As a consequence, all traffic between Argentina and Chile is currently at a standstill, and it is predicted to remain like that until the middle of the week at least. That means that we are forced to head southbound intro Patagonia from Mendoza, and that we have to scrap our plans to enter Chile altogether. Our new plan is to head to San Carlos de Bariloche in Argentina, about 1,000km / 600 miles south of Mendoza and then reevaluate the situation. We will be riding through fairly rural and remote areas of northern Patagonia in the coming 2-4 days to get to Bariloche, and we are not sure whether we will find an Internet connection to publish our next travel blog. Stay tuned!

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