Bolivia ends, Argentina begins...

We had our last complimentary pancake breakfast in the hostal in La Paz, and made our way to the bus terminal. We had planned to skip most of Bolivia’s roads between La Paz and Uyuni to save time, and avoid the painfully long gravel stretch. After 3 hours we arrived in Oruro to board the train for Uyuni. The daylight section of the train ride was great, we passed several small salty lakes, full of pink flamingos, and watched the sun from the train window. We made it to Uyuni at 10.30pm and disembarked to find ourselves in the freezing cold.

We spent a day looking around Uyuni and planning our mission out onto the Salar de Uyuni with Carman and Renate, who arrived there the same day. We had some awesome pizza for dinner, possibly the best so far, especially the spicy llama, mm mmmm.

The ride towards the Salar was bumpy and sandy, but thankfully only 25km. Then, the salt! The salares in Bolivia are the result of a huge dried up salt lake at 3653m altitude, which back in the day apparently covered most of southwest Bolivia. We rode about 30km out onto the Salar, surrounded by bright white. The salt is quite rough in places and forms large pentagon shapes on the surface. There are a few holes in the surface, and water underneath.

Renate, us and Carmen

The beginning of the Salar is a bit of a highway, with jeep after jeep of tourists heading out on the popular 3 day tour. The four of us veered off the main tracks later in the day to find a spot to camp for the night. After setting up camp, we had dinner and red wine while watching the beautiful sunset over the Salar. After the sunsets here, it gets really cold, really quickly. Some other German cycle tourists we met on our way to La Paz had stayed a month earlier on the Salar and recorded -15 degrees during the night. The morning was perhaps the coldest of all, but we managed hot porridge and coffee, while wrapped up in blankets until the sun warmed us up. Our friends then left, heading towards Chile, and we cycled back to Uyuni.

From Uyuni we caught the overnight train to the border town of Villazon. From the train station we set the bikes up and cycled across the border into Argentina in the freezing cold at 8am. After finding breakfast and stocking up on camping supplies we rode to our first camp spot in Argentina on one side of unused train tracks, well hidden from the road. The next day we had to get to a town to watch the All Whites play Paraguay, and found a television just as the game started. The next camp spot is worth a mention, as it was beautiful and sunny when we arrived, well hidden from the road, and in view of the sunset. Although because we were still at a bit over 3500m altitude, it got really cold, and we woke to find frost on our sleeping bags and on the inside on the tent, and a frozen contact lense! That was hopefully the last of that, as from there we made about 1000m descent through changing surroundings and past hundreds of tall cacti, to a town with a camp ground! A day off in Tilcara was relaxing, warm and sunny. A cute wee town, although a bit of a tourist hub and so a bit expensive.

Freezing cold border crossing into Argentina

Campspot next to unused rail tracks


Huge cacti

Lunch break in El Carmen

Breakfast with the dog that guarded our tent at night

We arrived in the first Argentine city, Jujuy, to find no cars on the road and most shops closed. We soon found Argentina had beaten Mexico in the football, and after the game, the streets exploded with partying Argentines. From Jujuy we rode and camped for another couple of days. This ride took us over rolling hills, through beautiful forest and past lakes. There is a lot more green vegetation around, a sign we are definitely off the altiplano and back to a reasonable altitude, although still a bit over 2000m.

Beautiful roads through forest

One of a few lakes

As we rode into Salta, quite a big city of half million people, we passed beautiful big houses on big sections with gardens, trees and grass. This is something we have not seen in Peru or Bolivia. The roads are good, the streets are really clean, there are malls and boutique shops and plenty of restaurants and cafes. The city has several plazas, with well looked after impressive historical buildings, monuments and statues. Today we explored one of he many museums, the main attraction at this one being the mummified children. In 1999, three frozen mummified children, from the Inca period, were found on the summit of a nearby volcano at 6700m. These children were sacrificed to the gods in Inca times surrounded with other sacrificial items including gold llama figurines, as part of religious rituals that took place on the top of significant mountains.

Plaza

We decided to stay in Salta relaxing and exploring until after Argentina played Germany, and have had a nice relaxing time. We watched the football while having our first Argentine barbeque with a bunch of people at the hostal. Unfortunately Argentina lost and the mood in Salta is evident of this. But it is a beautiful place, and would easily be able to spend more time here. But, tomorrow we start our ride towards the wine region of Cafayate…