July 11, 2016
Not So Nice Up Here: Humahaca to near Abra Pampa.
There are lots of hostels in town, but this one was a good find, with a cosy dorm and lots of others to chat with in the common room. The people running the place take an interest in providing a comfy home for travelers and don't just look upon it as an earner.
I had a warm night with three thick wool blankets on the bed and I wasn't looking forward to getting out as it remains below freezing out until well after 10am, until the sun has risen high enough to warm things up.
Incidentally, this is the extreme west of Argentina and the country has one time zone, Buenos Aires time, which suits the east of the country. But here it means the sun rises so late in the morning, then in the evening doesn't set until after 7, which is strange for wintertime. Anyway, I just keep my watch set on Santiago time (Chilean).
Today route 9 continues the uphill treadmill. I'm in the lowest gear having difficulty turning it. Leendert, my Dutch cycling friend cycled this road a week ago, told me it climbs to over 3500m, to a place called Tres Cruces. Then drops down a bit before leveling out.
In his words "the landscape is beautiful" a matter of opinion. I see it as more and more intimidatingly barren and hideous the high I go, especially when that icy western wind rises about midday, making holding the bike straight on the road tricky.
I continue up a passage between round hills covered in dry yellowish tuffs fading into brownish hilltops.
Then wonders of wonders I meet a cycle touring couple coming the other way. They are about late twenties and from the north eastern Argentine city Santa Fe, where they started and made their way up via Iguazu waterfalls, through Paraguay, west up through Bolivia, then south to La Quiaca on the Argentine-Bolivian border and are now on their way south to Ushuaia. They tell me I've still another 25km of climbing.
Late afternoon, the road now level and the wind having dropped, I pull into the side and lean the bike against a pile of stony rubble and sit down to lunch on biscuits and salami, while looking over to hills to the east looking like waves on a rough sea; layers of pinkish red, chocolate brown, tan and black. Its eerie with a full moon hanging above. A freezing cold night on the way.
I keep going for another hour when the sun is just above the horizon and I can see clusters of boxes ahead of the next place, Abra Pampa. At this moment I halt when I spot a suitable place to camp on a banked sided dry stream. And although there's a roadside fence, there's a wire gate, which I open and wheel the bike through, then close it and wheel the bike in far enough along the stream to be out of sight of the road.
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Today's ride: 81 km (50 miles)
Total: 11,526 km (7,158 miles)
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