Friday 16th. We set off from Upsallta to reach the town of Callingasta. It was a two day ride of about 160km. The start of the route was great on a perfect asphalt road that would shame most UK or Italian councils.

It rose gently passing by small communities. Both of us had the feeling the area was a bit like New Mexico, where those wishing to lead an alternative lifestyle settle. We saw some colourfully painted houses as well as a geodesic construct. We also saw our first shrine to Difunta Correa. A woman, who is said to have died in the desert of thirst. She was found with her baby still alive and feeding at her breast. It is not known if she really existed but many Argentinians believe she is able to create miracles and donate bottles of water and other things in the hope of a change in their circumstances.

After 23 km the asphalt gave way to unmaintained ‘ripido’, luckily the climbing eased off at around the 25km mark. We had to try to stay at the side of the road where the surface was at its smoothest. The rest of the road was washboard which made for some uncomfortable cycling. At first the wind was behind us but it slowly turned until we were being battered by an icy wind. There was nothing to stop it racing down from the ridgeline of the Andes Mountains that ran parallel to our route. It was endurance time again. Although the road never went up steeply we found it hard to make progress. Added to this was the uninteresting landscape – pampas for as far as you could see – flat land full of spikey bushes. Eventually after 60+ km of riding we hit the asphalt again and cruised downhill for a bit.
At around 80km we saw some hillocks and decided they would be the best place to camp to try to get out of the wind. It was a bit like camping in a wind tunnel, the only consolation was our site was an old river bed composed of fine silt so the tent pegs went in quickly and easily. Unfortunately this fine silt even got blown into the tent and covered everything. The rest of the ground was stony and definitely uncomfortable sleeping. This was the first time we had used our new tent in anger. A three man light weight tent that Rob had bought in end of season sales. It fitted us and our gear comfortably and with Rob’s home improvements was well able to cope with the wind.


The next day at breakfast we were treated to a sunrise over the Andes. Now cycling comfortably on the asphalt and carrying less food and water we passed an observatory. Apparently the skies in the area are some of the clearest in the world. I can believe it – there is nothing there only pampas! We passed a couple from the Basque country going in the opposite direction and eventually hit the town of Borreal for lunch – empandas and coke. Sometimes a body needs sugar! As we were leaving we were questioned by a group of youths interested in what we were doing. They also asked our ages – not the first time someone has asked us in the last few days. Cycling in the desert must age you.
The rest of the ride to Calingasta was a gentle up and down on asphalt for a couple of hours with some interesting rock formations to look at including Cerro Las Americas.

We rolled into Calingasta at about 4pm to find a festa in full swing in the main square. It was for mother’s day. Although the actual day was on the Sunday. The festa continued well into the early hours and was audible throughout the valley. We eventually found the municipal campsite, which offered electricity and hot showers for the princely sum of 2.50 Euros for one night for a tent! A children’s birthday party was taking place, which added to the general noise from the festa.

The next morning as we hoped to enjoy peace and quiet and birdsong, some youths turned up in their car with mountain bikes and a sound systems on the road adjacent to the campsite. They set up their loudspeakers, while other youths turned up with their bikes. They all then cruised the hillocks nearby listening to some electro-rock. We retreated to the main town square where free wi-fi was offered. We had decided to take another day off, partially to recuperate but also to consider the next stage of our journey. Most of the blogs we had read had continued north on bad ripidio facing howling wind. The alternative was a steepish climb on asphalt. Both options involved carrying food and water for a couple of days. As novice tourers we opted for the latter more predictable option the climb on the aphalt.