Northern Argentina with the whole gang. To Mendoza

Breakfast after their last cold night in Argentina. 

Elijah and I left our bikes at a hostel in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, and bussed to Antofagasta to meet up with Toby Mick, another childhood friend. 

Hotel in Antofagasta.

Elijah and Toby in 2015.

We could cycle south through Chile or Argentina. How to decide? I spent hours comparing different routes, pros and cons. Northbound cyclists told legends of thick, $2 steaks in Argentina, so we decided to cross into Argentina as soon as possible. 

We bussed back to SP de Atacama. These upper front seats give you a great view.

Argentina is in an economic crisis right now. Two consequences of this are that the largest commonly encountered bill is worth 1USD, and ATM fees are about 30-50% of the maximum withdrawal. 

Most travelers use Western Union to send themselves money in Argentina, and avoid the ATM fees. Unfortunately, Western Union kiosks are only found in larger towns. 

We were going to pass into Argentina at a small border, and possibly travel for weeks before reaching the first Western Union kiosk. 

So, in SP de Atacama, Chile, we withdrew several hundred USD worth of Chilean Pesos and converted them into Argentine Pesos:

600 USD in ARS.

Leaving San Pedro de Atacama, we had to climb a 2000 meter (6500 foot) hill. Toby had no baseline acclimitization, so we did it in 5 days, and I did one resupply run back to SP de Atacama for more food. 

This 2000 meter hill is a bit of a bottleneck for touring cyclists, and we met quite a few. Including a friend of mine:

Ran into my friend Eddy by accident in the middle of the Atacama desert. 

Volcano in background is on the Chile/Bolivia border. 

Toby doing some art. 

Disadvantage of the upper front bus seats: less crash protection. 

Near the top of this multi-day climb I started feeling sick. It got worse quickly, and I even tried hitchhiking, so Elijah and Toby wouldn't have to wait for me. But nobody picked me up. I couldn't ride at all, and had a violent cough. Elijah and Toby went ahead, and I stayed at the top of the big hill, wondering what to do. Should I go back to SP de Atacama? Should I just wait there? I asked the nearby Chilean immigration office if I could camp next to their building for wind protection that night, and they ended up inviting me in and feeding me! The next morning I felt good enough to ride, and I slowly caught up with Toby and Elijah. 

The next day we crossed into Argentina. 

August 12th, 2024. Day 640. Entering Argentina.

In the USA gas stations are not viewed as a high class establishment. 'Gas station pizza' 'Gas station bathroom'.... Toby was dubious about the gas station hotel in Argentina, but it turned out to be really nice.

Toby finally had a good night of sleep in the gas station hotel. 

In my experience, many Latin American gas stations are some of the nicest, most modern, high-class places around. Owning a car at all is more of a high-class thing here. Not something everyone does. So I think the fancy gas stations kind of make sense. 

Northern Argentina was dry, windy, and empty. I loved it. 

Trying to charge everything. 

Argentina produces some amazing hard. Cheese and cured meat. 

Something I hadn't encountered yet on this trip.

Pastries, too. 

Allegedly, the tap water here is potable. We decided to do a test. One of the three of us would drink unpurified tap water for 24 hours, and if there we no issues, we would all drink it. Toby drew the short straw. Everything was going fine, until Elijah and I noticed he was lagging behind pretty far. We went back to see what the matter was, and Toby had been suffering from very loose stool, scrambling up the hillside to relive himself. So we camped early and all started purifying the water again. 

Thanks Toby. You took one for the team there. 

The sky looked grey from blowing dust. Luckily the fierce wind was in our favor. Between the wind and dust and washboard, I don't think we would have cycled at all if the wind were against us. 

Unfortunately, the sometimes the wind blew dust around at night, too. And that's never favorable. 

Pizza.

Elijah is good at making pizza crusts and wants to make a cobb oven back in Portland. There are lots of brick wood ovens around here, so we tried using one. The pizzas turned out great, except we think the oven lacked insulation. It was very difficult to keep the temperature high enough.

'Only dead fish follow the current'

So as not to be pegged as dead fish, we took an alternate, off-highway route towards San Juan, Argentina. 

It started off great. Super smooth dirt, no washboard, and cool rocks. 

The 2nd day of this detour was sandy with a headwind, and we were running low on food and water. 

108 km to San Juan.

Despite the riding conditions, thirst, and hunger, we really couldn't have been more lucky. Because 30km from San Juan we stumbled upon a group of joyful guachos struggling to finish their feast of meat and cheese and cool beverages:

There was room at the table and plenty of room in our stomachs. Thanks!

One of them was a professional-level guitarist:

This region of Argentina is known for its wine. In Mendoza we went wine tasting.

This big egg-shaped container optimizes how it mixes during fermentation. 

I liked learning about the production process, but it didn't change my opinion that alcohol tastes bad. 

Toby flew back to the US from Mendoza.