After nearly 18 months of cycling from Alaska, I finally reached Argentina. This blog post is from the first day's ride from La Quiaca to a wild camping spot near a mountain.
First full day cycling in Argentina
Blog post written December 15th 2010 as part of my bike tour from Alaska to Argentina.
A breakfast of a couple of sweet things and a cup of coffee, and I was off. The countryside consisted of sun bleached grass and no trees. Here, llamas were the main herd animal, although there were also some sheep.
It wasn't as far as I thought to reach Salta, my next major stopping point. It would still be a few day's cycling though.
The road was in good condition, and some benevolent force, as though making up for the nonsense at the border the day before, gifted me with a tailwind. Lunch of noodles, and a coffee by the roadside.
Finding a Wild Camping spot in Argentina
After lunch, things changed a little, and an uphill section began. Reaching Abra Pampa which itself was at 3400 metres, I had another 300 metres to climb to reach my peak of the day at over 3700 metres.
Along the way, I met Eric who had hired a bike from a nearby city to cycle 5 days to the border. I was quite jealous of his one small day pack strapped onto his rear bicycle rack! When I get around to cycling through Asia, that’s the way to go I think!
Anyhow, just past the peak, I called it a day, and set up my wild camp just off from the road on the right hand side. I got a small fire going so that I could cook up my pasta, and spent the remainder of the sunlight reading.
Read more about cycling from Alaska to Argentina