Thu 15th Sep: Belen to San Blas

September 15, 2016

My campsite, the scrubby woodland strip between the road and the river, would've been idylic if it weren't for it's proximity to town. Evidently it's used pretty often by young people, drinking, or whatever they get up to. That means it's littered with discarded plastic drink bottles, beer cans, and all manner of detritous, making the place look filthy.

My tent is pitched in a sandpit a good way from the nearest pile of wine bottles, so fair enough it's clean in this actual spot, but I just wish I didn't have to look at other people's rubbish.

I want to put in a good day today. Something in the order of a hundred and twenty kilometres. That should mean I will be able to reach Chilecito, 219 kilometres away, Friday afternoon.

In any case I've to stop at a supermercado in Belem. I need more than just the usual food for the day. I need alcohol-stove fuel. Toothpaste. The cheapest tube of Colgate is 29 pesos. A litre and a half bottle of coke is 35 pesos, off the shelf. Not cold, where it costs much more, especially at petrol stations and small crossroad shops in the middle of nowhere, where it can be 50 pesos.

At the check-out the over all bill is 273 pesos, or fourteen pounds. That'sfor the very basics. Cornflakes and some fruit, bread and cheese for lunch, and spagetti for two days dinner. The cost of everything here has almost doubled since I arrived last October.

The scenery isn't great today. I'm on a long dead straight road stretching off to a level horizon, perhaps twenty kilometres away. All the way is a gradual rise uphill. It's dead flat to the left, with a range of hills to my right. The heat is creating a haze. Not far ahead the clear blue sky is fast covering over with dark grey cloud. The rain is not far off, and soon I get a few spots. But the rain passes leaving a hazy afternoon in it's wake.

I pass over the horizon where the road descends to a cross with route 60. A staggered cross where I turn left, cycle about five kilometres and turn right onto route 40 south. Whereupon the way on is 23 kilometres continuous urban, one village ending where another begins, until route 40 splits off to the west. The urban area having ended, I push the bike off along the first dry stream I come to, and pitch the tent.

Well, only a hundred metres from the road, though well hidden by tall thorns that cover the desert all around, this dry stream bed is a wonderful wild campsite. Oh, it's good that I stopped and bought a carton of wine, costing 38 pesos. Another thing that has gone up in price.

I'm hoping to make an early start tomorrow, and cover the hundred kilometres to Chilecito by early afternoon.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0