Day 58

Today was a nice relatively easy day. I only had 45 km and 500 vertical meters to go to Humahuaca. I made it there in about 3 hours. There was little wind today, which made things much easier than yesterday. I started to feel the altitude today for the first time. I am at about 10,000 ft. now and still have another 2,500 ft. To climb. I found Humahuaca to be a little touristy with lots of little stands selling trinkets and stuff. However, the prices are still reasonable. I found a hostel a few blocks from the central square for $8 a night. I then settled in and explored the city a little. Later in the evening I found a coffee shop with wi-fi and hung out there for the rest of the evening surfing the net and listening to pan flute covers of US pop songs. It would have been a nice evening if it had ended there, but unfortunately it did not. I got food poisoning from some empanadas I had for dinner, and I was sick as a dog all night. I barely slept. Good thing I was planning to take the next day off anyway to watch the Argentina soccer match.

Day 57

Today was a crazy day. I climbed 4000 ft. with a strong headwind. At times I was only going 4 mph. This lasted for about 3.5 hours. Then I reached a more gradual climb and maintained that to Tilcara. To top things off, my chain broke on the climb. I tried to repair it but it kept on breaking. I eventually replaced the chain with a spare and the problem was solved. The scenery was great the whole day, lots of colorful rock formations and a stream that went along the valley the whole way. When I arrived in Tilcara and found a nice hostel with Internet and cable tv. I just hung out on a couch the rest of the evening, occationally going out to play with the hostel owner's dog.

Day 56

Today was beautiful, light breeze, no clouds, in the 70's. I made my way further up the valley for about 75 km. It was a really gradual climb, hardly noticable. The one bad thing today was that the road turned into a highway where bikes were not permitted. I went on the highway anyway and just biked in the gravel on the side of the road. This lasted about 25 km. When I arrived in Jujuy I was feeling very good and decided to push on to a small town called Yala about 20 km more. This was a great call. I found a cool hostel filled with young people from Argentina, Colombia, France, Italy, and Belgium. It was comfortable and only about $6 a night. They were painting the building when I arrived, and a girl with red paint put a dot in my forehead like an Indian. There was another biker staying there. He was traveling from Colombia to Ushuaia. We chatted about our trips. The whole hostel ate together family style.

Day 55

I had nice 120 km ride today to J.V. Gonzalez. Since it is Sunday there was very little traffic. This turned out to be very useful as the condition of the road was pretty bad. I biked down the left side of the road most of the time so I could weave through all the pot holes and cracks. I had a great tail wind for the last hour and a half and arrived after a little less than 5 hours of biking. I found a little hotel at the edge of town and headed out to a bar to watch the Argentina world cup game. I have barely drank any alcohol this entire trip, so even a small beer makes me feel like a light weight. I can see the Andes Mountains on the horizon now. Tomorrow I will begin to cross them. After 7 weeks of biking I am ready.

Day 54

My knee still hurt a little this morning when I woke up so I decided to do a half day ride. I made it to Taco Pozo by around 11. The next town with a hotel was another 120 km and I knew I would be in some serious pain if I went for it. Taco Pozo is a nice little town with a few paved roads. It seems to be bicycle central. The people around here are too poor to afford a car so they bike instead. I saw 3 bike shops within a few blocks of my $12 a night hotel. I also found out that they do not have electricity here from 8 am until 2 pm due to fuel shortages. The US was eliminated from the world cup today and people were in the street immediately afterwards cheering for Ghana. I suddenly feel like I am in a hostile place.

Day 53

Today was a long day to Monte Quemado. I went 193 km in a little over 8 hours. It rained today, but not too bad. It started and stopped a few times. There was little traffic on the road and a several times there were no cars in either direction as far as I could see. The road is incredibly straight around here, not even the slightest change for 50 km at a time. I saw a few people on the side of the road today and on a few occations they yelled out "yeeewww!". This is like whistling loudly or yelling "yeehaa!" in the US and is really common around here. For long stretches of road it was like biking down a tunnel. There were 10 ft. high shrubs like a wall in either side of the road. It came right up to the side of the road, no band of grass or anything.

Today was really interesting in the wildlife department. I saw a dead ant eater in the side of the road. Later on I saw a dead cow covered by about 50 vultures. I saw some ferral sheep today as well. They looked so funny, covered from head to toe a thick blanket of burrs tangled in their fur. However the most interesting animals saw today were a couple of wild boars. I had stopped for some water and I looked up the road and saw a large black animal. I biked towards it and eventually realized what it was. It was maybe 400 lbs. and had little tusks. I stopped to take a picture while I was a few hundred feet away. Boars can be dangerous so I tried to be careful. After a picture I biked towards the boar while yelling loudly to try and scare it off, but it didn't work. I quickly bike by it passing within about 20 ft. of it.

After arriving at my destination I got settled in my hotel and then were out for some dinner. I ended up picking up a pizza, and while I waited for it to cook I started to chat it up with some two cute gypses. They lived in a tent at the edge of town they told me. When I asked them what they did for a living, they said that the job of all gypse women was to bring luck. I love that answer! When my food was ready they wished me good luck on my trip.

My right knee is acting up a bit. I took some ibuprofen and that helped. This has happened a few times after my longer days.

Day 52

I slept very poorly last night and only got about 3 hours of sleep. I went to bed at 9 but woke up at midnight and just rolled around in bed for the next 7 hours. After that I didn't feel up for a day of biking, so I decided to stay one for day and try to actually get some rest. I eventually got to sleep and was in bed until 1 in the afternoon. I went for a little walk around the city but there was not too much to see or do here. I will try to make it to monte quemado again tomorrow.

Day 51

I had a bit of a rough day today. I hit a wall, figeratively speaking, at about 3 hours and just felt drained of energy. I don't think I ate enough last night to fully recover from yesterday. There was also a steady headwind today. I decided to call it a day after 85 km in pampa del infierno, which roughly translates as fields of hell. I found a diner and started to feel better after I had a big meal. The lack of scenery makes biking really boring. On both sides of the road there is a band if tall grass behind which is a dense shrub forest. It is like I am practically biking through a tunnel. Tomorrow I will try to make up some distance I missed out on today and try to make it to monte quemado, about 200 km away. All the cities around this part of the country have really scary names. Monte quemado translates as burnt mountain, and to get there I pass through rio muerte, which translates as dead river...wonderful.

Day 50

I got back on the road this morning and had a nice, fast, uneventful ride. I went 186 km. I hit 100 miles after just 6 hours of riding. I even made it to my destination in time for the argentina world cup game today. The city looked abandoned as I road in. Everyone was inside watching the game. I found a hotel near the city center and just relaxed, ate tangerines, and watched the game. Every time Argentina scored I heard yells everywhere, dogs barking, and fireworks. After the game the city just turned into a block party, dancing in the street, fireworks, horns, drums, cheering students. If Argentina ends up winning the world cup this country is going to expload, and I am going to be here to see it...awesome!

Days 48-49

I hung out with my family for the last 2 days. Not a whole lot going on in the city. I went on a few walks but otherwise rested my legs.

Day 47

I made my way to resistencia today. It was a nice and easy day. I biked through corrientes on my way there and got a lot of stares from people. A few other people on bikes asked where I was coming from. I had gone through corrientes dozens of times, but always by bus, never actually stopping to see the city, so I got my chance today. I went over a huge bridge which crosses the rio parana. Fortunately this time there was a small sidewalk wide enough for a bike. I crossed without any problem and stopped in the middle to take a few pictures. I arrived around 11 am and surprised everyone in resistencia. I made my rounds to all my family's homes the rest of the day and had dinner at my coudin's house. I also got to see my five year old goddaughter, Dana. She made a watercolor painting of a butterfly for me.

Day 45: Rest day in Mercedes

Today was a rest day in Mercedes with my family. My uncle and cousin watched the Argentia world cup game with me this morning and then I went on a bunch of errands with my uncle. We stopped at his various businesses around the city and then went out to his ranch to visit with a gaucho that works for him and check on the animals. There were baby lambs everywhere, not more than a few days old. Very cute. Later we stopped by a bike shop to get my spoke repaired and have a general tune up. The guy did a terrific job and cleaned every inch of my bike. I had lunch with my uncle and aunt and then. A few more of my cousins stopped by the house later in the day. I have 4 cousins here and they have 12 children all together, so there were little kids running around all day.

Day 44

Today I arrived in Mercedes after 190 km. There were some ups and downs today. In the morning I saw a dog killed by a truck right in front of my eyes. The dog was chasing after me and just as it crossed the road a truck came by and ran it over. I can still hear that sickening thump. I thought about it all day...horrible. It rained a bit in the morning and sides of the road where I normally ride were in pretty muddy. I tried riding in the middle of the opposite side of the road and going off the road when a car came by. Eventually the conditions improved and I returned to riding like normal. Later I stopped at a fruit stand by the road to pick up a few tangerines. I started to chat with the old man at the stand about my trip, where I had been, where I was going. The next thing I know he put a dozen tangerines in a bag for me and gave them to me for free. I tried to pay but he wouldn't have it. They were some of the best fruit I have ever tasted. He said they had been picked that morning. I ate one or two tangerines every hour for the rest of the day. The rest of the day wasn't too eventful, just making my way. I went through a toll plaza at one point. I normally just bike right through because I don't have a vehicle per se. However this time as I went by I heard someone yelling. I was ready for the police to stop me down the road but nothing happened. I biked until sundown and ended my day on the road about 30 km from Mercedes. The road was pretty empty. I saw 1 car or truck every 5 minutes or so. It was nice and peaceful biking through rolling hills by myself as the sun went down. I gave my uncle a call and he and my cousin came by and took me the rest of the way.

Day 43: Uraguay

Today started out well. It was really foggy so I took out my headlamp, set it to strobe and strapped it to the back of my bike so drivers could see me. I made good time, arriving in Concordia by 10 am. I biked towards the river to cross into uraguay and asked where the bridge was. I found out from a couple of guys waiting at a bus stop that the the closest bridge was 40 km away and the only way across the river in the city was a ferry. As a consolation they offered me some blood sausage they were eating. Only in Argentina do you ask for directions and get offered blood sausage. Unfortunately the ferry left every 2 hours so I was stuck until noon, I asked the boarder guard if he could just renew my visa without crossing over, but he could not. I sat around for an hour waiting for the boat to take me the quarter mile across the river. I honestly could have swam across the river in all the time I waited. The boat took 15 minutes to cross. I went through immigrations and then had another 2 hours to wait for the return ferry. I road my bike around a little and found an empanadas store for lunch. They did not accept argentine currency, so I had to change some money for lunch. The prices were comprable to Argentina. It turns out it was a good thing I changed money because the ticket for the return ferry was only sold in uraguayan currency. I made it back to Argentina by around 3, having spent about 4 hours on my detour to uraguay. I decided to make a try for chajari. I was rested after my trip to uraguay and was holding about 25 kph, but I had 77 km to go. I bit off a little more than I could chew and decided to stop just before the sun came down about 20 km from the chajari. I was fortunate to find s hotel right by the highway. It was s little pricey, relatively speaking, but I had no other options besides my tent. Tomorrow I will try to make it to Mercedes and visit my family there for a few days.

Day 42

Today was an unlucky day. 8 minutes into my ride I broke a spoke. I was not going to waste an hour fixing it so I quickly adjusted my other spokes and kept going. I had a strong head wind the whole day, about 20 mph. I was having flashbacks of the wind in Patagonia. Then it started to rain about 2 hours into the day and continued to sprinkle all day. There was some road work going on as well so I had to go through a few detours. I was exhausted and did not make it to my goal of Concordia. I stopped about 50 km away after 6 hours of hard riding. Tomorrow my goal is to make it to Chajari, about 120 km away. I also need to take a detour and cross into Uraguay and return to Argentina to renew my visa, which only lasts 90 days. I am looking forward to tomorrow, which is supposed to have better conditions.

Day 41

I slept in today until noon after a late night out with new friends. The weather forcasts were wrong and it turned out to be a nice rain free day. It is a little frustrating to miss a nice sunny day to make some more progress, but better dry than sorry. Later in the afternoon I went for a walk.  I was looking for a fruit stand, but as it was Sunday nothing was open.  I just kept walking around and exploring the city.  I eventually came to a waterfront.  I sat down by a pier, hung my feet out over the water and watched some fishermen catch nothing. I saw about a dozen splashes in the water as I sat, so the fish were there. There was one fisherman out in the middle of the river in a canoe.

Day 40

This morning I left Gualeguaychu bound for San Jose. About 1 hour into the ride it started to rain and progressed to a down pour as the day went on. After 3 hours I decided to call it a day early. I was soaked and covered in mud kicked up from my wheels and trucks driving by. I only made it about 70 km, my goal wast to go 100. I found a hotel in Concepcion de Uraguay and was able to catch the second half of Argentina´s first world cup match (we won). The road had a nice wide shoulder most of the way. There was also a portion of newly paved but unopened road next to the highway that I road on for about 10 km. As I went by some construction workers working on the road they all started to cheer. The must have thought I was crazy biking in the middle of down pour.

Later on that night I was chatting with the son of the hotel owner and he invited me to go out with some friends for dinner. I decided go out and have some fun on a Saturday night. We met up with some members of a field hockey team he was a member of and had a 3 hour parilla dinner. It was a nice night. After dinner they invited me to go out for some more drinks and dancing but I was pretty tired so headed back to the hotel. It was 2 am by the time I got back and went to bed. I checked the weather forcast before going to bed and it was for more rain. I did not feel like biking while soaking wet again and I would be biking on about 5 hours of sleep, so I decided to take a day off and relax and avoid the rain.

Day 39

I decided to stay one more day at my cousin´s place and hang out with him. Part of this trip is about visiting family too. We watched the world cup and ate lunch and dinner together. Good times.

Day 38: Back on the road

I got back on the road again today. My aunt took me to the edge of buenos aires and sent me off. It was a nice day and I got in about 145 km. I definately notice the difference after resting for 3 days. I had great endurance, though my hamstrings were a little tight for the first hour or two. I crossed a flood plane and there were little lakes and streams everywhere. I also went across the rio parana. The bridge was enourmos, maybe 5 km long. There was no bike lane and barely a walk way. For about 2 km I tried biking on the walk way, but it was only about 3 feet across. I had trouble keeping my balance threading that needle. The 100 foot drop off to the water below didn't help either. One of my bags hit a guard rail and got caught, breaking the plastic clips which attach it to my bike. This was a very serious problem. I ended up securing my bag to my bike with a bungee cord and walked the rest of the way across the bridge. Once over I spent an hour replacing the broken plastic clips with others I removed from another part of my bag. It worked and I made it to gualeguaychu about 5 hours later. I met up with a cousin of mine who lives in the city and stayed at him place for the night.

Days 35-37

I spent three days in buenos aires resting and visiting my family. It was a nice break from life on the road. I also had a chance to leave some of my gear I didn't need, which lightenned my load a bit. I got stocked up on food in china town, buying about 5 pounds of nuts and dried fruit to eat on the road. After 3 days I was ready to start again, any longer and I might have lost my motivation for the trip.