February 29, 2000
Day 130 San Salvador de Jujuy: beautiful ride
We eat cornflakes, load the elevator with all our gear to the bikes stored in the courtyard. Patrick checks with the guy at the front desk about the road to San Salvador and which roads are one way in the direction we are going.
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After about 10km we are out of town and through a suburb of fancier houses to the river and on the narrow winding road to Jujuy. But at least it is paved. We follow the valley gradually gaining 400 meters of altitude over the next 20-30km. We pass fields of tobacco, the leaves being harvested and barns with drying leaves. There is not much traffic.
Eventually the road goes into a pine forest and tropical following a high ridge. Wonderful cycling and renews our spirits. We both comment on how if this had been a road in Chile, we would have gone up and down the hills instead of staying on a ridge.
We get views of the valleys below. The road leads us through beautiful rain forests, dense jungle covers the hillsides. The road is narrow but there is hardly any traffic.
We run into several rivers that are crossing the road. The first is the deepest, about 6inches. Patrick gets his feet wet trying to ride through it. At the next one, Rachel gets her feet wet.
After about 15km of very nice level cycling we pass another saddle and start a long downhill to a couple of lakes.
The last 30kms are mostly flat, we keep going because the sky is clouding up quickly and rain is threatening. We have information about a hostel that allows camping in Jujuy, but when we find it, it doesn't look too impressive. Camping is possible in a small muddy backyard.
We decide to look further. Hotel Chung King is better, a couple of rooms on a covered patio behind a restaurant of the same name. We get there via a long hallway but can ride our bikes to the patio in front of our room.
We explore the town after getting cleaned up. There is another Chinese restaurant here and is open at about 9 tonight. We are hungry now and find some empanadas with beer and go to the buffet later.
Today's ride: 100 km (62 miles)
Total: 4,208 km (2,613 miles)
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