Final days of cycling

From Salta we planned to ride to the Northern Argentina town of Cafayate, a well known wine region. Once again we were greeted with a cool morning but a clear sky and the day quickly heated up as we left Salta. The first day of riding from Salta was the warmest we had experienced in weeks. After 70km we saw a sign indicating a camp ground next to a lake. We headed town a dirt road for a few km’s and found a great spot on the waterfront to spend the night. The facilities were very basic but the cheap beer and incredible sunset made up for that.

The third and final day of riding to Cafayate was one of the best days in terms of scenery we have had on our trip so far. The road continued to gradually climb but now the rocks around us took on incredible colours and formations. There were many tourists along this route although the traffic was never too busy.

"The Devils Throat"

We had a great tail wind for most of the day until the final 10kms when it changed direction and intensified. As a result we ended up being slammed by a sand storm just before Cafayate. It delayed our arrival but eventually made it to the central Plaza in one piece.

Sand storm

Some friendly French people directed us to the only budget hostal in town that allowed camping out back underneath the grape vines. We had five nights there relaxing and exploring some of the surrounding vineyards. The Germans met up with us again here after surviving the rest of their trip across the Salar de Uyuni and the Atacama desert of Chile.

Camping amongst the vines

Green parrots lining the vineyard

From Cafayate we rode with the Germans for a couple more days to Tafi del Valle. This was another very nice little town still high up in the mountains. On the way we had the last hill of our journey to conquer. After 32km of climbing and 3.5hrs later we coasted the rest of the way down to Tafi del Valle in time to watch the world cup final.

Rest stop on the final climb of our trip

The next day was always planned as a rest day for Ben’s birthday. As luck would have it the weather was absolutely horrible that day, wet and freezing cold. Terrible riding weather but great for sitting next to a fireplace and doing very little. That night we had an interesting birthday dinner at a very popular parrilla (bbq) restaurant. We were served a mountain of various meats including pork, lamb, chicken, liver and intestines!

Intestines and liver

From Tafi del Valle we only had three more days of cycling left on our trip before we planned to stop cycling. Thankfully the bad weather had passed by the morning and we headed off on the bikes again. We started at 2000m and 50km of downhill later we were 1600m lower on the plains of Argentina.

"End of the world"

A highlight of the final few days was a campground we stayed at near at the thermal town of Termas del Hondo. It had a large swimming pool filled with the 40 degree thermal water. Low lights were the headwinds (something we had very little of in the trip so far) on the last day to Santiago del Estero combined with an incredibly busy road with no shoulder to ride on which we had to escape by taking a 20km dirt/sand road that was only marginally ridable.

Terrible side road on our last day

Everyone had mixed emotions finishing on the last day of riding. It was one of the most challenging rides so we were stoked to get to the end although a bit disappointed that the biking was now finished for the trip. Having never been cycle touring prior to this trip we had no idea what to expect. It was definitely an adventure and better than either of us could have imagined. There were times when we wondered what the hell we were doing but so many more times when travelling by bike was unreal.

The rest of our trip will be via bus and train. We caught a bus to Cordoba where our friends Phoebe and Nico from NZ met up with us. We had our last couple of days with Carmen and Renate before saying goodbye as they were finishing their trip and heading back to Germany.

Our plans are very vague but at this stage but we will explore some of Cordoba's surrounding towns with Phoebe and Nico for the next little while. We have one month left in South America and plenty of things to do in that time.