Cycling from Wild Camp to San Juan in Argentina
This was one of my last days cycling in Argentina, and in this blog post I describe cycling from my wild camp to San Juan in Argentina.
Leaving the wild camp
Blog post written February 5th 2011
Well, I have to say that today turned out to be a pretty shitty one all told. Sleep was not great throughout the night, and in the morning, there were a whole bunch of flies hovering around which just wouldn't leave me alone.
Eventually packed up, I went back over to the shrine area to use some of the water for making coffee (my own water supplies somewhat depleted). At that point the wind picked up and a light drizzle started.
The light rain brought out this little sand frog, no bigger than my thumb nail. You can just make it out in the photo above.
Cycling in strong winds in Argentina
After coffee, the drizzle had stopped, but a massively strong headwind plagued me all day. Spending most of the day in the grinding gear isn't great at all... especially on the downhill sections. The shrubs and bushes in this arid area were all bent double, and clouds of sand blew across the road.
Related: Cloud Captions
I made it to a truck stop at Talacosta (again, think that was the name). A welcome respite from the wind. However, I suggest to other cyclists not to bother buying anything there unlike me, who had to take out a small mortgage for the items I bought.
Back into the wind again, and it continued until I got to an uphill section. It was 15.00 and I was in two minds as to whether I should carry on or not.
Calling it a day at San Juan
In the end I decided to, and so now, it was uphill and into a wind... awesome. On the other side of the ridge, the wind didn't seem as bad, and the following 20 km were not too bad to San Juan.
I managed to find a hotel which was expensive, but as I am near the end of the trip now, I don't care!
Went out for some supplies, and shopped on a "what my body is craving "basis.
Seems I am craving dairy products, nuts sweets and red wine... that's what I call an evening meal!
Read more about cycling from Alaska to Argentina
Dave is a UK travel writer living in Athens since 2015. With 20 years of firsthand travel experience and over 80,000 km of bicycle touring across six continents, he's been blogging at Dave's Travel Pages since 2005. Every guide is based on places he's actually been.
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