11/20 Back in the Land of the Lost again. Huge volcanoes dot the skyline, the earth is barren and giant lizards roam the land. OK, no lizards but the rest is true.
From Malargue to Bardas Blancas the road went from paved to unpaved to paved again. The unpaved section started where they were working on the road about 8 miles out of Malargue and ended half way down from the pass. Except for some bad washboard sections it wasn’t too bad. The climb was easy enough and the views were pretty decent. There’s a great place to grab lunch/water at the halfway point. The wind was light until I started heading south-west and then it hit straight on pretty hard. Camped at a place at the junction for route 224 for 5 pesos. Plenty of shade and they have water. No bathrooms but there are lot’s of bushes. 
There’s a hosteria with camping at the top of the hill but they were sleeping so I went elsewhere (siesta = snooze you lose). I heard they charge a lot more too. Stats: 46 miles and 2142 feet climbing.
The road from Bardas Blancas was paved for 37 miles and then the surface changed to loose gravel and/or washboard. For the next 24 miles I bounced around on the seat until I found a place to pitch the tent. A little road leading down to the Rio Grande just before the bridge at El Zampal looked promising but it was way too windy. There’s nothing at El Zampal except for a house off in the distance. Sadly it was all up hill after the bridge and a strong headwind wore me out. I did have lot’s of people in cars cheering for me which was nice. An ambulance even pulled up and did a thumbs up to see if I was still alive. I spotted a lone tree in a dry riverbed next to the road and made camp there. This was probably the quietest place I’ve camped in a long time. I could almost hear the giant ants trudging by my tent as they carried bits of leaves to their 4 foot high mound nearby. Stats: 61 miles and 2254 feet climbing.
The area around where the pavement ended went through one of the biggest lava fields I’ve ever seen. I think the entire valley floor was covered. Beautiful area. After that it was desert again with no trees and lot’s of sand. Had a 4:30am wake up call thanks to a rooster that did its thing literally every 7-10 seconds (I counted). After a while I think its throat got tired and it sounded like it was yelling “Orlando!”. I should have recorded it. It made me laugh but I still wanted to have it for breakfast.
After my night with the giant ants it was 7 more miles of climbing until I finally hit some pavement at KM2777. The climbing didn’t really stop for another 7 miles after that and then it was down a bit of a descent to the village of Ranquil Norte. Unfortunately it’s Sunday which means everything was closed but I found a water tap outside the tourist office. The hot lunch I’d been looking forward to was not to be had. More climbing out of the valley and then mostly downhill to the Rio Barrancas.
After a couple mile climb I found a hotel in the tiny town of Barrancas for 50 pesos ($12 US), a new record low in Argentina. It’s the big one with a restaurant and camping in the middle of town. No wifi which I found out after I’d paid for 2 nights. She said they did but by “here” maybe she thought I was asking if it was in town. There’s an ATM at the plaza.
Brutal winds today but mostly from the side. The times with headwind were tough. Awesome volcanoes off in the distance. The big one is coming up, 13,000 foot stratovolcano Tromen. Stats: 34 miles and 2374 feet of climbing.
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