This is part of the ninth section of our around the world trip.
Complete Trip Overview & Map

Coming from  Chile or read our previous visit to Argentina
 

2/11/02 Back to Argentina and a more gentle slope through totally barren crumbly, multicoloured mountains. It is here that a natural arch across the river attracts thousands of tourists. Cold and windy in the snow capped mountains Puente del Inca has a bubbling spring of warm calcified water. Once a stopover with thermal baths the place closed long ago but the water still flows and has calcified the wooden windows and stones together for a quaint eerie feel. People still dip in the warm waters and the calcium still deposits slowly enveloping the structure.

3/11/02 We headed further down the mountain against the flow of Chilean cars returning home from the long weekend. Following the Mendoza River with its white water rafters getting cold in the snow melt. Arriving in Mendoza after some roadside maintenance on the motorcycle in brilliant mountain sunshine. Met up with the Harley-Davidson club and joined them for a ride to lunch and drinks at Hotel Villavicencia, the same as the pure water bottled in the region. To our hotel after an almost perfect day.

4/11/02 Mendoza is a large but beautiful city, a greenery in the surrounding deserts. Its tree lined streets and parks irrigated by snow melt waters channelled through town keep it that way.

5/11/02 Mendoza is also famous for its wines. A visit to two wineries occupied the morning. Bodega la Rural (Rutini) a marvellous old world winery modernized. Its museum provides wine making information and artefacts from original times in the 16th century to the present. The free guided tour, in English, and wine tasting amongst huge oak barrels provided atmosphere. Of course we bought a couple of bottles and managed to drink one over dinner with Enrique and his partner. They had helped us find an emergency tyre in case ours does not last till Peru.

6/11/02 We have left behind the cold arid windy land of the Patagonia and have moved to the hot arid windy land of the North. To San Juan, then east fighting the wind as it rose off the flat lands onto the rugged mountain range we were skirting. Woody scrub, cactus and donkeys about all that lives here with a few hardy natives. Valle Fertil for the night.

7/11/02 Ischigualasto and Talampaya State and National Parks almost join with a highway between but display similarly unusual land formations from multi coloured eroded sediments, bright red cliffs, incredibly vertical cliffs in a river gorge and lone standing spires capped with hard rocks and weathered softer rock beneath giving you the impression of being in a Road Runner and Coyote cartoon. We visited both parks in a hectic day. The motorcycle being allowed in the first as we followed other cars containing the guide. However the second park required a 4x4 and even sharing the costs with two others was expensive but had the most stunning of the scenery. On to Patquia for the night.

8/11/02 The woody shrubbery turned to olive groves, tobacco and finally rain forest the further north we headed. There were police checks at each state crossing and unfortunately we were asked for money at one, and reminders of Africa, scrutinized the paperwork looking for problems to extract money at another. We turned to cross into the mountains just south of Tucuman to stay in the mountains at Tafi del Valle. The narrow road winds up through epiphyte covered rain forest vegetation to open to a mountain valley of fruit trees and cattle grazing.

9/11/02 Quilmes ruins, dating from 1000 years ago, is well preserved showing a settlement of over 5000 people. After decending from last night's accommodation into the dryer valley between two mountain ranges we explored the Quilmes ruins and moved on to Cafayate, another snow melt, irrigation, vineyard town in this dry valley. The further north we head the poorer the people and the more requests for money. All over the world the people living in cool and cold climates seem more industrious and the closer we get to the equator the less industrious. Is it that people who can't or don't want to work migrate to where the climate is kinder to an easier life style?

10/11/02 Onto Quebrada de Cafayate, colourfully eroded mountains with unusual land forms locally named to represent their look or attract tourists. Devil's throat, amphitheatre, the castle or obelisk are a few. Quite a spectacular road winding between formations before returning to the flatlands of Salta, our last city before leaving Argentina.

11/11/02 We had not planned to stay here but ended up meeting Lance Wiggs yesterday heading South on his BMW F650 and again by coincidence Ben Zack on his Yamaha XT 650 heading north. These are out first overland motorcycle encounters this trip. The usual exchange of stories.

12/11/02 Despite Lance heading south, the three bikes along with  a French couple in a car, decided to ride the 300 km to Susques to say farewell to Ben and us who were going to ride together for a while. We took the almost one lane road north to Jujuy on one of those days where you think to yourself "life doesn't get much better than this". It twisted through rain forest before Jujuy then opened to a good two lane as we hit the flatlands. We had decided to take the 4400m pass De Jama to Chile and from the Quebrada town of Purmamarca, with its touristy stalls, and a lunch of llama steaks, we headed up the switch back dirt to 4200m before descending to sleep at 3700m in Susques, our highest altitude sleep. The magnificent barren mountain views disappeared as we descended from the pass to cross a salt lake on good asphalt for the last 70 km to town. A less touristy town thrust into the 21st century by the upgrading of this road, now the main northern artery to Chile. Here we found two other overland motorcyclists, a Japanese and German heading south who had great information and recommendations about the Uyuni area where we were heading. You can ride for months and not see another motorcycle traveller and then the roads seem to concentrate them to the must see areas of the world, like the salars of this region. I had a poor night's sleep at this new altitude with a racing heart and headache and feeling jittery.

13/11/02 It was a further 110 km of dirt road to the border, well graded but with patches of soft dust, making it a total of 200 km of dirt from Juyuy to San Pedro via this route. We passed a couple more salt lakes, took photos of the multi coloured hills and saw llamas and vicuna and isolated stone huts where only the most hardy would live. We exited Argentina for the last time, already missing the great value for money country, and crossed into Chile without problems.
 
 

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