1. Legally In Argentina
Day 157
It is an early wake up call for me today. Actually I didn't need a wake up call as I was up way before that. It is still dark outside. The breakfast starts at six in the morning and I was there 6:01. I took my meal outside, I was sitting on the terrace overlooking still dark city. It was a beautiful setting with bright moon, the ocean, the anchored ships and the beaches below. I stuffed myself silly as it will be a long day today. The packing is all done. I just need to drag my bags downstairs and strap them to my bike. I am on the road at 6:55.
A beautiful morning, clear skies and light traffic. The temperature is around 17° degrees Celsius, just perfect. I quickly climbed the mountain range above the city and settled into the rhythm. The road is actually pretty boring, the morning desert. I had to stop at the toll booth as motorcycle have to pay in Chile unlike most of the countries in South and Central America. But $1.50 is not gonna kill me. The sun is up and the road is very nice. Not too many turns so I dial cruise control to 120 and enjoyed the scenery. There's nothing for 200 km except desert and a lot of open pit mines. In the city of Calama, I turned towards San Pedro. 100 km to go there. It goes by very quickly and I am I'm there at 10:30. This is the last gas station on Chilean side of the border. I had a coffee and a muffin and I talked to few people and after 20 minutes it was time to hit the road again.
This will be the fourth time I will be on this road between San Pedro and Argentina. Beautiful road and not too much traffic. The only problem is the altitude. I will gain 2100 m in 15 minutes. I reached the top at 4800 m and start feeling the altitude pretty soon. I was prepared this time. As soon as I started to feel tipsy, I stopped and took some of my herbal supplements. I chewed the leaves all the way to the border and it was amazing how quickly it reacted this time. I got to the border very quickly, I was there at 1300. I have met six people on bicycles on my way there. I slowed down and asked if they are doing OK or if they need water or anything else. Everybody was good this time, so no need for search and rescue today.
The border crossing is in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town is 150 km at either direction. There are a few administration buildings and that's it. It was fairly busy there as it was the middle of the day. Usually, I try to cross the border the first thing in the morning to avoid any lineups. Even though there were a few tour buses and bunch of cars there, the process went along very quickly. Everything went smoothly and I was out of there within one hour. I couldn't ask for anything more. So I am in Argentina! Country #11 on this trip. Legally, this time. The landscape is exactly the same as in Chile. The whole place feels very empty. The road is nice and kilometres tick on by. The only thing that has changed is the weather. Clear skies of Chile where replace with cloudy skies of Argentina. Beautiful conditions for bike riding, temperature was just below 20° most of the day. I have about 150 km to go to a small town of Susques. I can see the sky getting darker and darker in front of me. The one of the first thing I've seen when I got across the border are the mountains in the distance, covered by fresh snow. I think there is much more snow on those hills than back home right now. But I don't have my skis with me anyway so it doesn't matter. I haven't seen the rain since my first day in Peru. That is five weeks ago! I was hoping to avoid rain, at least for today. No such luck, it started to rain. Seriously? I have 17 km to go. I rode almost 600 km today and I get wet when I am almost at my destination? This is not the first time something like this happened. Judging by the thunder, there are huge thunderstorms around.
I ride those few kilometres to my destination in and out of rain showers. I drove by the small hotel in the middle of nowhere, where I would like to overnight today. I've noticed there is also a gas station which is not on the map or in Garmin database. Good to know. But what I need now is to get money. I don't have any Argentinian cash. Have to drive to the town about further 6 km and get some money from the ATM. Unfortunately the ATM doesn't want to give me a large sum of money so I have to make several withdrawals.
Finances in Argentina are completely nuts at the moment. The inflation for this year has reached 260%. And we were complaining when it was 6 or 7% in Canada. Whatever you buy today it'll cost you twice as much next week. Absolutely crazy. The best return for your back is to change money on the black market on the street. Luckily, I have a lot of practice doing that when I was growing up behind the Iron Curtain. The official rate is around 300 pesos for one US dollar. You can get over 1000 pesos for a dollar on the streets. I knew that in advance and I have some brand new $100 US bills. They won't take any other denomination or even slightly used bank notes.
I ride back to the hotel and check in. There are already about eight other bikes there. This is a very popular place because the famous Ruta 40 starts right here. Stickers from bikers all over the world are plastered all over the hotel. They have free room for me even though I didn't book it in advance. I am in luck. They told me that their Internet is down and I will need to pay cash. I said let's try it and to everybody’s surprise it worked. You have to be careful with cash, you save it for when you absolutely need it. Pay with your credit card whenever you are able to.
My room is basic but has a TV but the bathroom is huge. Only problem is that there is no Internet. I'll have to go old-school and use paper maps. I was thinking that this might be the case and I have downloaded my further route into my GPS in the hotel last night so least I know where I want to go.
Everything in Argentina is cheaper than Chile. The hotel cost $40. I paid for my dinner, which consisted of the main course, mixed salad and a glass of red wine. The total cost was $8 CAD including the tip. I like the prices like that.
I talked to the owner and the operations manager for a bit. And we talked about the economy, and they said they put up prices only for next three days. They said it will change after that. Currency is so unstable, everybody wants to get the US dollars anywhere they can. I was thinking, instead of being the ATM fees, I can change money with these guys. I asked them if they want to exchange money and they were eager to do it. They gave me a good rate of 950 pesos for one US dollar. There is one tiny problem though. The biggest denomination in Argentina is 1000 pesos. The ATM gives you cash in 500 peso bills. So I have a huge pile of cash like I just have concluded a huge drug deal. But I have everything I need, I have money, and I have gas and I have a roof over my head.
It was a great day today. I rode almost 600 km. The bike runs smoothly and the new tires are great. Let's see what tomorrow brings. It is all unknown from here. But looking outside of my window, it is raining cats, dogs and lizards. My planned route for the next three days is all on the dirt roads. It will be interesting to see how far I can get.
After dinner I met two German guys, Ralf and Mikhail who are riding the same direction and the same route as me tomorrow. As the forecast is not too nice we decided to join forces and we will ride together. There's one pass we have to go through which is over 4800 m and the forecast is for snow over there. So standby, this might get really interesting.
There is no Internet over here so I am riding this and I have no idea when I will be able to post it. Next couple days are in the desert without the Internet as well.