Distance: 67.52 km
Ride time: 5:07:28
Average: 13.21 km/h
Total: 26150 km
After the nice evening with the backpackers at the hostel in Chilecito I was a bit more tired than usual as I cycled out of town in the morning.
The day started with a short 5 km descend, but the rest of the day the road would keep climbing. Not too steep, but enough to keep the speed down. At first I thought the climb would be 30 km long. Then afterwards I thought perhaps 40 km. Into the 50’s the road was still climbing, and I had to remind myself that sooner or later the road would have to descend again. I would still much prefer cycling uphill compared to cycling into a strong head wind, but it helps when you know how long the climb is.
I passed a couple of very charming villages with the typical square with the church, town hall and a small park in the middle that every single Argentinian town has. At the bakery they didn’t have change when I tried to pay with a 100 peso bill. The relaxed response from the owner was “just come back and pay later”. I enjoyed my bread and sweets at the square having a nice chat with the locals. Some towns just have a nice feeling to them – the people in this one seemed super friendly.
After 55 kilometers I finally reached the pass and the road started to descend again. At this stage it was already getting dark, so I rolled 10 km down the hill and found a nice place to put up the tent for the night.
I had hoped to make 100 km of progress today as I have planned to meet up with Petter in Fiambala tomorrow. With the long climb I wasn’t able to make the 100 km today, but with an early start tomorrow morning it might still be possible to reach it.
