Leg 4: Chilecito to San Juan

We'd heard a lot about the next section and we had seriously considered catching a bus because it crosses the Andes precordillera at a height of 2200m via quite a steep, winding, unpaved road. People did however describe it as absolutely beautiful and worth seeing by bike so we decided to cycle it, with the expectation that we would have to camp in the mountains overnight. The day didn't start well, with the longest climb yet; 35km of uphill with not even a single dip or flat section ... just climbing. This sounds rubbish and is horrendous in practice. Coincidentally this was also the hottest day yet and we saw that the temperature had reached 39 degrees at 10 in the morning. By 2pm it was at least in the mid 40's. Pardon my French, but the term 'pissing sweat' is best for describing the sensation of watching water literally pouring out of your forearms and face. It was whilst we were tired and heat-dizzy that we saw a tarantula-like spider on the road. About 6 inches accross, black, furry like a mouse, and recently cycled-over (don't mess with cyclists!). We asked the lady in the next house if she knew about them and she simply said 'Si. Son peligroso' (yes, they're dangerous). We didn't say anything and there was an awkward silence so she expanded by giving the advice not to upset them and we should be fine. We don't know spider etiquette so we considered ourselves to be 'not fine'.
The route turned out to be absolutely spectacular with lots of winding turns, looking down sheer rock walls into a deep river valley below. We reached the top by 2pm and, after a chat with a local paying his respects to one of the road-side shrines, we set off downhill for a long long descent through miniature 'Grand Canyon-esque' red rock formations, cactus forests, and hot hillsides dotted with ponies. 35km later, at the bottom, we managed to find the energy for another 40km accross the desert to reach the next town of Villa Union. We had intended to organise a trip to the national parks of Ischigualasto and Talampaya from here but the townsfolk wouldn't budge from their extortionate prices to get us there. We even tried haggling in Spanish (comical) but they really would rather have no work than lower the price. Dinosaur footprints will have to wait until we get to Patagonia. We had dinner with a couple of Italian motorcycle tourers that had passed us earlier and they told us all about their trip. Catherine wishes she had a motorbike. I still wish I had the hover-board from Back to The Future 2.
That night we stayed in a Cabaña just outside town and watched a thunderhead roll in before it exploded into an amazing lightning show, striking the fields all around.

The following morning saw a long stretch of featureless desert ahead; about 130km with just 1 town quite early on. We were 85km in to the day, making good progress (but wondering why we were passing so many dead horses), when a campervan pulled up and a Swiss family asked if we'd like a lift out of the desert to a small town in the mountains called Iglesias. We decided that it didn't seem like cheating because they were going to drop us off about the same distance away from our goal ... just higher up in the mountains where we could take a break from the heat. Their van, bought in Santiago and modified over the course of 18 months on the road, managed to fit us and the bikes with no real problem so one minute we were sweating away in the desert, and the next we were in an air-conditioned bubble watching the roadside km markers fly by. The best bit however was when Dario (3) threw up on Catherine in the back of the van and we all had to stop whilst they cleaned her down. Seeing sick makes me feel queasy so I just walked away a bit and admired the wonderful view.

We left early in the morning to make the most of the cooler mountain temperatures, as we had another mountain pass to cross, this time about 3000m high. Again, it took all morning to climb to the top so we began the descent in the afternoon and Catheirne noted on the bike computer that she had covered 24km without pedalling - an amazing feeling. After 115km we had to stop for the night at Talocasta. On our map of Argentina, Talocasta is marked with a symbol representing small towns, but it turned out to be a kiosk. The man in the kiosk seemed chuffed when we named him the mayor of Talocasta. There was a spooky desert ghost town nearby with a series of roofless, windowless buildings, so we camped there for the shade (still no trees). Contrary to everything I thought I knew about the desert, the temperature here doesn't drop below the high 20's at night, so we had a sleepless sweaty night, looking forward to being much further south where the temperature actually changes when the sun goes down.
San Juan was only about 60km from Talocasta so we arrived quite early the next day. The route in was not much fun because it's a major city surrounded by dual carriageways, but there was a nice big downhill on leaving the desert. I sped down ahead of Catherine and took a rest at the bottom by a tree, when a bird fell to the ground by my feet. When Catherine arrived I was eating a biscuit holding a bird.

Day 10: Chilecito to Villa Union - 110km
Day 11: Villa Union to Iglesia - 80km (before pick-up)
Day 12: Iglesia to Talocasta - 115km
Day 13 Talocasta to San Juan - 61km