From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

We were warmly welcomed by Ramon and his family in Salta for three days. Thanks so much to them for their hospitality. We’re not the first people to stay in their home: since 2004, they’ve had dozens cyclists from all around the world.

I have a new headset on my bike, and Sara’s problem still isn’t fixed. Her back wheel makes noise, and the bike repairman took it all apart and couldn’t find anything amiss. So we push on...

Since arriving in Argentina we’ve seen a lot of French cars – even more than in France! More than half the cars are French, mostly Renault, from all different years: there are a lot of R12, and also R9 and R11. There are the most recent models too, including the 4x4s. There are Peugeots too, mostly 504 and 307.  

When we’re on the road, we’ve been getting lots of encouragement from drivers and their passengers, which is nice and always motivating.

Just like we wrote about, there are a lot of things not allowed in Argentina: many more restrictions than in the some of the other countries we’ve been though. We’ve also found properties fenced with barbwire all along the road and the idea of private property. It makes camping a lot more difficult!

We were able to camp though, two days ago in the beautiful Quebrada of Cafayate. A cold front has swept through Argentina recently, and so we were pretty chilly. When we woke up, the surrounding mountains were covered in snow! A cold wind pushed us up the slow climb of the Quebrada. The cloudy weather unfortunately meant that we didn’t get to fully appreciate the landscape, and we missed the sunlight illuminating the unusual multi-coloured rock formations. Coming around a bend, we all the sudden came out of the clouds and found ourselves in the sun which warmed us as it lit up the landscape.

Yesterday as we arrived in Cafayate, we ran into Caroline and Stéphane, two French cyclists who are traveling north. We had a wonderful evening with them, comparing stories and swapping information.

Cafayate is the second most important wine region in Argentina, after Mendoza. We took the afternoon and visited some cellars and tried the excellent local Syrah and Malbec of the “vinos tintos,” and also the white grape Torrontes.

Question:

Do you know how Argentineans drink their wine?

To your keyboards!

Sébastien