Argentine Cycletour

April 14

The ride this day was filled with the final few kilometers of the canyon, and followed a long stretch of downhill riding into Chilecito, a town of about pop. 30,000 in the middle of vast dry desert plains.

 

Ryan woke up not feeling well, so we took our time taking off.   He contracted a cold from one of the toddlers that as coughing the entire time we were all riding in a small van.  No bueno.

 

Once we took off, the ride was great.  While we rode out of the canyon we spotted a gigantic tarantula.

 

Then we hit an 800 meter drop in elevation that sent us cruising at speeds over 30 kph.  The last 15 km were on a great bike path running parallel with the highway.  At the end of this bike path sat a basketball court and playground, with absolutely no one around using it. We also saw tons of road bikers on Route 40 in spandex and wondered if there was a competition happening that day.

 

Once in Chilecito, it was a bit hard to settle.  We rode in during siesta, which makes it difficult to find anything to eat.  We also had a hard to find a place to stay.  The hostel was rundown and the owner was a pretty standoffish.  Finally we landed at Hotel Route 40, which has been a really comfortable place at a decent price.