Tunyuman to Ruta 40 -

I fell down today...

The ride out of our beautiful campsite was about as pleasant as any bike ride could possibly be. We were further away from the city and therefore traffic, and closer to the mountains. I think it was 40 km through the countryside, yet I wished it was 140km instead of what we later faced.

The idea was to meet up at Pereditas and stock up on food/water if needed. We had plenty of white gas for the camping stoves, and I had enough food, so it was just a matter of picking up water. The oregano festival was going on in Pereditas, so the town was in a carnival-like mood. There was a central area where people gathered to eat, swim, and later listen to music as a concert stage was being prepped. We spent a few hours there resting, though I wanted empanadas, instead I got milenesa, a hamburger, and a delicious cone of banana ice cream. The vendor even gave Aaron and I extra meat since we quickly finished our meal at a table next to theirs. That's one thing I failed to mention thus far about the Argentinian people, their friendliness. I can't tell you how many people honk their horns and wave to us, or stop to ask us questions and just talk. Argentina is a much better cyclist-friendly country than is the United States, and perhaps safer too since cars are used to bikes on the road.

I purchased 6L of bottled water, giving me a total volume of 7L of water for our ride through route 40. If the roads do not get worse, I will be happy. This was the worst decision we could have made, going through route 40 instead of to San Rafael. I WISH it was a gravel road. No, it was a sandy, washboard road with a few pebbles here and there. I struggled, I suffered, I fell, and I cursed the trip. Ridiculous. What did I get myself into? We made it 25km in about 4 hours. Aaron´s back was hurting, Joe had never seen worse despite having ridden through Africa, and Markus was just trucking along keeping my spirits up just above a depressed state. His bike is the one being fixed below, mine is right next to it. I didn't fall there, but that's what it pretty much looked like. The imminent sunset forced us to set up camp, again. I hope this doesn't become a common occurance.

Once the tents were set up, I was able to appreciate the beauty of the area. I was almost able to genuinely enjoy myself. If it only weren't for the fact that we had another 100km to go...