PowerCycle

10/13 I’ll give Argentina one thing… it’s consistent. The paved roads are just as bad as the unpaved roads. After the short initial climb out of Salta I starting passing many “No cycling” signs but I was already on the 4 lane divided highway and it wasn’t like I could/would turn around. I kept going and it wasn’t actually that bad. Traffic was steady but there was a rough shoulder to ride on if I needed it. I passed through two toll booths and no one ran out to stop me. The wind was strong and coming out of the SE all morning but when I got to Route 9 it shifted a bit to come out of the south so I had it in my face for the rest of the day.

Route 9 is a bad road to ride on. There are no signs saying bikes aren’t allowed but it’s far more dangerous than the road out of Salta. There’s no shoulder most of the time and truck traffic is heavy (it’s 4 lane undivided). About 20% of the truck drivers are sociopaths and won’t move over so they come within a couple feet of you going about 60mph. Fun stuff.

Before leaving Salta I stopped at a gas station to get my 32oz canister filled up. They wouldn’t do it. The guy didn’t say why either. There was another gas station next door so I went there. They wouldn’t fill it either but the guy said to go to the shed and they’d help. I went over there and they pointed over to the first gas station and said go there. At the junction for Hwy 9 there’s a gas station and the guy filled it up without batting an eye. Pretty typical experience I’m finding. This country reminds me a lot of Ecuador (my expectation for things working as they should is about 50%).

Found the mother of all camp spots. It’s on the bank of the river Juramento, the ground is flat and there’s shade from the overhanging tree branches. It’s a bit noisy because the highway is close but the sound of the river passing by drowns a lot of it out. There’s a very tiny tienda by a medical building along the highway and the lady sells basic things like eggs, bread and snac… OK who cares about that… she has cold beer. She’s also making me a sandwich and empanadas for dinner later (it ended up being amazing… $5 US for 6 empanadas and a 1/2 foot loaded sub sandwich…would have cost at least $15 US in Salta and the empanadas were better than any I ate in the city).

GPX track