Hey all!!
So, this time I left you in San Pedro de Atacama. A little, beautiful, but touristy town in the middle of the driest place on earth: the Atacama desert.
Using the app Ioverlander (a crowd sourced app for anyone travelling independently, such as with their own car, van, motorcycle, or bicycle) I found a hostel where they had a little garden where I could set up the tent. I was a supercute place, with a bunch of hammocks, a kitchen and yeaaayy wifi. Now I could finally let my dear boyfriend know I was still alive 😉 And.. there was a shower (I did not have one in a week), and wine and chilenean empanadas. So you can imagine life was pretty great!
The hostel was very small with just three rooms, which meant that we socialized a lot. And right away I got invited by two american girls to join them for a little road trip the day after. So after a good nights sleep, I joined them. Actually, I had no idea where we were going, but any roadtrip is always nice. So, it turned out they were going to some lagoons at 4200 meters high, so right away back in the altitude for me! They were going to Bolivia the day after and wanted to do some acclimatisation. The lagoons were absolutely stunning, and it was really here I noticed how used I had gotten to the altitude already. Everyone else was gasping for air, where I was just walking around fine! After some more stops in tiny little villages (and a lot of desert in between) we returned to San Pedro. Here I just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon in the hammock and read some books.
And this is basically what the days after also looked like. Drinking some wine, walking around a bit and chatting with other travellers. Time to be a bit social, which I had definitely missed while being out there by myself in Bolivia. I also started thinking about my next plan. I knew I wanted to get into Argentina, it also made more sense as I had my flight back to Cali from Paraguay. However, I also knew I would have to cycle back up the same pass as I had come down some days earlier. And as just this part would already take me two days, of again, nothing, taking all my food and water with me and quite frankly, the first part up was mainly desert and nothing else, I just felt less inspired. So my plan B was to find a bus and ask them if they could leave me at the Argentine border. Now, busses there are enough. But none of the bus drivers wanted to take my bicycle. Once again, travelling by bike is great, as long as you´re actually cycling. Anything else is just quite annoying. Also, I am so used to Colombia being such a bicycle country in which there are bikes everywhere and everyone is flexible and used to bikes. Here in the southern part of the continent it´s definitely not so bicycle oriented yet, and I was noticing it. So then I made a plan C, which was hitchhiking my way up the next day, even though it was a Sunday. I was going to try it 🙂
But first I had to fix my tires and get some spare ones. It was here when I also saw a little Volkswagen Van parked outside the campsite, intrigued as I am I started chatting with the owner, a French guy, and as always, independent travellers connect! Together with a french Canadian staying in the hostel we shared some more wines and empanadas. So, basically, San Pedro de Atacama is ridiculously expensive. First of all, Chile is one of the more expensive countries of Latin America. And then imagine a little town surrounded my desert in which nothing grows, so everything has to be brought in. And thirdly, it´s quite a touristy little town, so prices go up a lot by that as well. However, I had quickly found out that there was one store, where a bottle of Chilean wine could be bought for 2 dollars (the same price as a bottle of water, for your reference). So that was just great!
So, there I went on Sunday morning. All packed and ready to catch a ride. In the end I stood by the road for 6 hours, but no one could take both me and the bike 🙁 Since this was the road that would lead to both Bolivia and Argentina, there was a car from the Chilean Customs that would pick out different cars for inspection. In theory it meant they just kinda stood there the whole day as well, so they were very, very happy with some random company of a Spanish speaking Dutch cyclist. So I can tell you that I know everything about the Chilean Customs system now 😉 At some point I saw some trucks pulled over, so I cycled over to them and asking if they were going to Argentina by any chance. They told me yes, but they had to wait until the day after. They were leaving at 5am, and I was more than welcome to join! Ok, so it would be a day later than I had planned, but at least I had a ride!!!!
So, I cycled back to the same campsite and put my bike there. The french van guy told me I was more than welcome to sleep for one night in the van, so I didn´t have to put up my tent again, which I thankfully accepted. Also, he was planning on checking out some salt flats (yes, more of them) and little swimming holes in the afternoon, whether I wanted to come? Of course I did! So there we went on our ways with Fluffy the van 😉 We first found a naturally hot pool, but, since this is Chile, they put an entrance price of 15 euros to it!! Which we though was ridiculous. So we went in search in natural swimming holes, and we found one!!!! Granted, the water was freezing so only my feet enjoyed the water, but still 🙂 We also found the salt flats, and though nothing can ever compare with those in Uyuni, they were nice enough.
So, the next day I had set my alarm for 4am, and in the complete dark I cycled the 3kms to where the trucks were parked. Thomas had asked me the day before whether I thought it was a good idea (funny how he had asked me that, whereas he cycled in all kinds of situations for 6 years, I guess he is more protective when it comes to me 😉 😉 ) but I had told me they were very nice and my intuition said it was completely fine! And indeed, there they were waiting for me. My bike got put in the truck, and there we went. Since it was steeply up, the 100kms to the border would take us about five hours 😉 But that was ok. I do think the driver was slightly disappointed for he kept on talking, and talking and talking, and he must have been happy to finally have some company. But I felt so incredibly tired that somewhere halfway his stories I fell asleep and woke up 2 hours later. Sorry Señor the driver!! He woke me up 5 kilometers before the Argentine border, since officially he is not allowed to take any passengers, especially not with bikes.
So I cycled the last 5 kilometers to the border, back at 4600 meters altitude. However, this was such an efficient border crossing, I was loving it! Both Chile and Argentina in the same building, and within 15 minutes all was ready! And then it was time to continue cycling in Argentina! The country where it all began back in 2009 when I was an university exchange student in Buenos Aires. I was kinda excited to be back in Argentina, although this excitement didn´t last too long. It was still a 120 kilometers to the first tiny little town. And though I was really trying to make it, the tough winds and my the tiredness made it quite rough. I also noticed my motivation to cycle once again on those windy and very lonely altiplanos, with just desert around was quite low. So I pushed myself for 90 kilometers, knowing that I would not be able to do the last 30 kilometers anymore. When exactly at that point a pick up truck with construction workers passed. I held them up and asked whether they could take me to the next little village. I had been ´cheating´ already so I figured I could also cheat those past 30 kilometers 😉 And I was so happy I did it, sometimes it´s ok to listen to your body! So they dropped me in this tiny, tiny little ghost town called Susques. Here I met two Colombian motor cyclists though and a little room in some kind of random guesthouse where I was the only one staying there. There was wifi, in town, on the little sidewalk in front of the Municipality 😉 it hardly worked though, and completely stopped working after 8pm. But at least I could see the route for the next day. I had read it would be a bit more interesting this time so I was looking forward to that.
So there I went the next day, first it was quite some steep passes up again, but then all of a sudden I turned a corner and was surprised by mountains full of massive cactus, minimum 4 or 5 meters tall it made for a really cool sight.
Much happier now with some variations to the landscape I continued. At a very tiny little town I even crossed a little comedor, where I happily ate the daily menu! No spaghetti or oats for lunch this time, great!! 😉
A little while later I passed the salt flats I had also been to when I was travelling in northern Argentina with my sister back in 2009. And these were not flooded! So finally I could take my pictures on a salt flat 🙂
From here on I continued going up and up again. And here I was having yet another dilemma. It was 3pm by now, and still 60 kilometers left to the town of Purmamarca, despite the fact that I had already cycled 60 kilometers that day. Once again, there was nothing in between, but a 15 kilometer climb up from 3000 to 4100 meters. I knew that once again I would not be able to make it, but I was thinking to just start the climb and camp somewhere along the way. As I started the climb I noticed it´s literally hairpin curves up carved into the rocks, and that, unless I was planning on camping right on the road, there would be nowhere to pitch the tent. Nor on the way up, nor on the 40 kilometers down. It is here that another pick up stopped and they told me that they had seen me leaving from Susques that morning. They told me that I had cycled so much today that I definitely would have to be very tired right now, and that they were more than happy to give me a lift to Purmamarca. I did not want to lift all the way, but ok.. I accepted a lift up the climb 😉 Cheating, once again. 15 kilometers later they left me on top of the pass and there I went… from 4100 meters down to 2400 meters over a distance of 40 kilometers. It was absolutely great!!!! The curves were insane and more than once I saw crosses next to the road of people who had lost control of their cars. Because it was getting late, there was hardly any traffic any more, which I thought was a good thing. And here I rolled into Purmamarca! A beautiful little town surrounded by the ´7 color hill´. Also here I had been back in 2009. Though cycling my way into town also had its charm!
Once again, using the IOverlander app I found a cheap little hostel with some other motorcyclists. And after a nice menu del dia and a shower I went to bed quite early. I knew the next day would involve more going down, as Salta was only at 1300 meters.
The next day I ate my breakfast and was so ready to go down to more vegetation and above all, warmer temperatures! 10 kilometers out of Salta I met an Argentine uncle/nephew couple and we were having a nice chat! They had been cycling for a month already and not even left Argentina! It´s just such a massive country! But they were excited to move into Bolivia soon.
After this I continued going down, and I started hearing birds, and crickets, and water, and it was nice and warm, and there were green trees and I was just soooooo happpy!! And finally I had oxygen to sing out loud with the songs on my phone and it was just great! I had planned on staying in Jujuy, but I arrived already there when it was 2pm. So I decided to continue and find a campsite (yes, in Argentina there are established campsites!). Various cyclists I had met had recommended me to not take the highway from Jujuy to Salta, but an alternative road called the Ruta Nacional 9. It was 10 kilometers longer, and definitely more up and down, but everyone said it was an absolutely beautiful road so who am I to decide otherwise. Though the campsite was fairly at the beginning of this route, it was indeed already beautiful. Very, very small, but with people cycling and rollerskating around it felt like a holiday destination.
I found the campsite, and they actually let me stay there for free 🙂 So it was like wildcamping, but with a shower 😉 Those are the wild campsites I like! For a while it seemed like it was going to rain, but in the end the storm passed and I slept deliciously on the soft underground of grass (how much I had missed seeing simple things like grass).
The next morning I got up early, despite the fact there was only 70 kilometers left to Salta. But I wasn´t sure how hilly it would be. I have to say, it was an absolutely amazing ride! I was enjoying it só much! Little hills up and down, lots of forest, lakes, and the sporadic car or motorcycle enjoying this scenic route as well. I had read in a blog that a van couple had called it ´driving on a bicycle lane´, and given the fact that two cars could barely pass and there were about 200 hundred (without exaggerating) very closed curves, none of the other traffic could go much faster than 30 km/h. So the very few cars where of no bother at all either. I finally ended up in a little town La Caldera and had some lunch in a little comedor there. Now it was really just 20 kilometers rolling into Salta. The end of my cycling trip, and what an end!!
I will leave you here, stay tuned to read more about Salta and the final country on this trip: Paraguay!
