Argentine Cycletour

After a 3 hour useless slog through the border, I got laid up sick in La Quiaca.  As a result I watched way too much Glee and some superhero TV in spanish (X-men, Spider Man etc) while waiting for my lungs to work well enough to get on the bike and roll through the Altiplano.  We took the downtime opportunity to get some additional prep work done for the ride.  The bikes were still layered in salt from the ride across the Salar de Uyuni, which needed to be expelled to keep the corrosion down.  Fortunately we found a local car washing fellow with a pressure washer who terminated the salt with extreme prejudice - and didnt charge us for this service.

In anticipation of the heat, I decided to kill Ernest Hemmingway and go for minimal hair maintenance.  Here I am getting the hair chopped at the barber, and some before and after pics.

Once we started rolling I started coughing hard enough to projectile vomit my marmalade, toast and coffee - we went back for some cough drops to keep the lung hacking at bay.   Once we finally got rolling on the road we were treated to a nice immediate climb for the first 10 miles before having a long downhill pedalfest against some ugly winds.   The ride was entirely long, flat, boring, meditative, with the occasional burst of inspiration coming from some oncoming traffic honking and waving support.

Route KML: 

LaQuiaca_AbraPampa.kml

Elevation Profile: