On the road again...

It was nice to see my daughter in Jujuy and to see that she is having a great time with good families and friends. However, it's time to get back to the business at hand.
After saying a quick goodbye we left Jujuy on Wednesday morning in a drizzly rain. We planned to take Ruta 9 but we missed the turn-off so stayed on the main drag through Salta and south on Rt. 68 through Cafayate. The scenery along the highway northwest of Cafayate was spectacular with really cool rock formations and lots of colour. Cafayate looked like it would have been a fun place to hang out but it was still a little early in the day to quit so we settled for Santa Maria as a place to quit for the day. When I was getting a room two bikers on BMW's from Penticton, BC stopped to chat. They were just starting their trip and had started in Santiago, Chile. It's always interesting to talk to other motorcycle travelers to get their take on what they've seen.

We stopped to take a picture and these guys wanted some of their own with our bikes. It happens all the time.

 Lots of sightseers at Garganta del Diablo

Local wine sales at the roadside.

Northwest of Cafayate on Ruta 68

Picking a room in Santa Maria.

On Thursday morning we got up to sunny skies and fresh snow on the mountains. We had joined the famous Ruta 40 at Cafayate and planned to follow it all day to Chilecito or beyond. It's great riding but you just never know what your going to get as far as highway conditions. Even some of the primary routes can be washed out or covered in water. This was no exception and there were several good river crossings and spots where there was only a single lane due to washouts. We made good time to Chilecito so continued west to Villa Union for the night. More great riding here but we were lucky to sneak between two large thunder storms. If we had been caught in the rain on this section we would have had no fun. Much of the road bed was composed of this red mud that was nice when it was dry but would be hell in the rain.
Just before Villa Union we were watching what we thought was a rain storm just to the south of us. It turned out we were watching a dust storm developing and it passed just outside of town after we were in our room.

South of Santa Maria

Along Ruta 40 north of Belen

West of Chilecito and Nongasta. It's in a National Park but I can't remember the name of it.

The guy (on the left) had started his cycling trip in Alaska about a year and a half ago. His girl friend joined him in Lima, Peru last September. We met them west of Nonogasta, Argentina

In the park west of Nonogasta

This road was good going today

Clowning around a bit. Gotta have fun sometime.

On Friday we got up to the sound of fairly heavy rain on the roof. We took our time having breakfast then headed out for Mendoza. We got about 35 kilometers south of Villa Union along 40 when we were stopped by a river running across the highway. There were already a number of cars and trucks parked by the roadside and it was still raining. We joined the crowd hoping for the rain to stop and the water to go down. As far as we knew at the time this (Ruta 40) was the best route for us to take. There was a smaller rubber-tired front end loader working at cleaning out some of the other floodways and when he was done he came to help vehicles across the river. At first he led some of the transport trucks across. Then he would cross parallel and upstream of some of the smaller vehicles like four wheel drive pick-ups. Eventually the water got too high and nobody could make it across for a while. The loader operator even offered to carry our bikes across the river. We tried to load mine in but the loader bucket was an awkward size and the risk of damaging the bike was too high for my liking. The loader operator even offered to build us a loading ramp if we could get a truck to carry our bikes across. We waited around for about 5 or 6 hours but no luck. We headed back to town and got our room back. Then we went for drinks and appy's. What else are you supposed to do?

Bummer

The loader operator was a really good guy

More cool rocks on the way back to Villa Union

Not bad for $17 eh?

After our appetizer we went for dinner and then it really started raining. It wasn't looking good for the good guys. We had asked around though and determined there was an alternate route to Mendoza which we ended up taking on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, during the heavy rain in the night the sand had washed away under my double-stand and my bike fell against a wall. Not too bad but the fall broke my right hand mirror. That was a drag.
The road ended up being really good and after a few more hours of rain we had a nice ride into Mendoza. It's a very modern and attractive city with lots of trees and and green space. We also had our first glimpse of the true pampas of Argentina. This is a big place, Argentina.

One of the main streets in downtown Mendoza.

Argentina is a big country.

And also beautiful.

Tonight, Sunday, we're in Malargue and back on Ruta 40. Not sure where we're going tomorrow. That will be dictated by the weather I suppose. Some of these roads are horrendous in heavy rain.
Anyways, that's it for now.
Chau