Monday, June 10, 2013

Day one in the Pre-Cordillera (Andes’ foothills)

The first surprise was how late it was light in the morning. We knew this would be a challenging day to complete before the sun went down. Only 70 miles, but a net gain of 6,000 ft and 7,000 ft of climbing. The hotel in Tucuman was very accommodating and we had no trouble re-assembling the bikes the night before and we gave our suitcases (from Goodwill) to Carlos, the concierge. We were under way a few minutes after 8 AM. The traffic was a little heavy but not bad. The head guy at the hotel suggested a better route than we were planning and we took his advice. A lot of Tucuman reminds you of Nogales or Agua Prieta in Mexico. The air was very dirty with smoke and dust. Visibility was about a mile. We could barely see the hills we were about to climb in to. After an initial stretch of bumpy highway it turned in to a nice divided highway with a good shoulder. About 40 miles in the valley by miles of sugar cane. The air slowly got better. Finally we hit the foothills and started up. Gently at first, then a steady grind. At the lower elevations it was jungle. Up and up we climbed. Eventually we started to see some deciduous trees and then it turned to grassland. Just beautiful scenery. It leveled out a bit at the end by a reservoir or we would have finished in the dark. Found a very nice hotel for about $60, took a nice long shower and am drinking a 1 L beer at the moment ☺ 67 miles for the day, 7,000 ft of climbing. We’re pooped. Patricia’s additions: I agree it was a really hard first day, there are not many services along the way and we almost finished our reserve food we brought from the US, a guy driving an SUV stopped and gave Steve 4 big “mandarinas”, adding to Steve’s load, which I consumed in one of the many stops to recharge energy along the way. By mile 55 I was feeling pretty weak… Steve even asked if I wanted to hitch a ride, but I really wanted to finish the route I had done so many times by car in the 80s on the bike, so I got my earphones out and started listening to music, and we made it. The initial view of the high valley was amazing and felt it was all worth the crazy effort.

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