Salta to Frias, 335 miles
Traversing South America is like going back in time. Ecuador felt like 1980, about 25 years behind the US. Peru felt more like 50 years behind… and Bolivia is still in the 1800s. Many of the roads are dirt, horse and buggy are common transportation, not many places have running water, and most of the population is illiterate and incapable of simple arithmetic. When you cross the border into Argentina, its not just another border crossing and time zone change, its like time-warp 100 years right back into the twenty first century. Things work. People own cars. Bathrooms are like you imagine, with toilet paper, soap, running water, etc (we’ve had our fair share of “squatters”, eg two footprints and a hole, and “scoop your own water’s”, where there is a toilet, but no plumbing so you have to scoop water with a bucket from a barrel and manually flush the toilet.)
I really am getting a good feeling about the place just from the vehicles. There are tons of modern cars, sure, but for me the joy is in the old American cars still on the road, Italian Fiat 500s, 60’s Peugots, mopeds, home made two-stroke café racers… great vehicle-watching.
The Saturday before Christmas in Salta is just like at home—Chaos. People are everywhere shopping and scurrying about, traffic, madness, etc. It took us about 30minutes to find our way out of town on the road we wanted heading south. Once on the road, it was fantastic. I could have gone 120mph, the roads were perfect and engineered for speed (the posted speed limit is 75mph). Amie limits me to 80mph however, so I had my wrist locked there for about the next 6 hours. We flew by the scenery and down out of the mountains. As we went down, the temperature went up. By 3pm it was over 100.
The heat was getting to Amie so we stopped at a gas station not for gas, but for AC. Gas stations in Argentina are just like home, mini grocery stores with café’s, snacks, and AC. This one in particular also had the owner’s family lounging about (there house probably wasn’t as cool) kids screaming, mom’s scolding, adults debating, a mentally handicapped sibling trying to help us with the door, a guy bearing a reseblence to che guevera with no shirt asking me how fast the bike goes and if I have change for $2 bill… a real circus.
The route we were on was indeed great road, but bland scenery. Lots and lots of grass. Not many towns either. Amie didn’t want to make it a record mileage day so Cordoba was out. I liked the idea of three nights in one place—we could use the break—but another 200miles was unrealistic. The only town with a dot one notch larger than the smallest on the map was 35 miles away, we were betting on it having a hotel. We pulled in and it looked pretty bleak. Dusty, a gas station, a argentina flag, and the road on the otherside leading further south. I was worried as its literally 200 more miles until the next town any larger than a spec.
We pulled into the gas station and asked the attendant if this town has a hotel. Even if it does I was thinking, we would probably have to pitch the tent because it will more than likely be filthy, and Amie wouldn’t think of sleeping outside of her “Safe zone.” He responed with “what are you looking for, cheap, medium, or nice?” A good sign! Believe it or not, just down the road, we turned onto a dirt stretch and stumbled into a 4 star hotel. Hot water, AC, bike parking, breakfast included, $22. YES PLEASE. Its one of the nicest hotels we’ve stayed at on the whole trip. Thanks Santa!
I really am getting a good feeling about the place just from the vehicles. There are tons of modern cars, sure, but for me the joy is in the old American cars still on the road, Italian Fiat 500s, 60’s Peugots, mopeds, home made two-stroke café racers… great vehicle-watching.
The Saturday before Christmas in Salta is just like at home—Chaos. People are everywhere shopping and scurrying about, traffic, madness, etc. It took us about 30minutes to find our way out of town on the road we wanted heading south. Once on the road, it was fantastic. I could have gone 120mph, the roads were perfect and engineered for speed (the posted speed limit is 75mph). Amie limits me to 80mph however, so I had my wrist locked there for about the next 6 hours. We flew by the scenery and down out of the mountains. As we went down, the temperature went up. By 3pm it was over 100.
The heat was getting to Amie so we stopped at a gas station not for gas, but for AC. Gas stations in Argentina are just like home, mini grocery stores with café’s, snacks, and AC. This one in particular also had the owner’s family lounging about (there house probably wasn’t as cool) kids screaming, mom’s scolding, adults debating, a mentally handicapped sibling trying to help us with the door, a guy bearing a reseblence to che guevera with no shirt asking me how fast the bike goes and if I have change for $2 bill… a real circus.
The route we were on was indeed great road, but bland scenery. Lots and lots of grass. Not many towns either. Amie didn’t want to make it a record mileage day so Cordoba was out. I liked the idea of three nights in one place—we could use the break—but another 200miles was unrealistic. The only town with a dot one notch larger than the smallest on the map was 35 miles away, we were betting on it having a hotel. We pulled in and it looked pretty bleak. Dusty, a gas station, a argentina flag, and the road on the otherside leading further south. I was worried as its literally 200 more miles until the next town any larger than a spec.
We pulled into the gas station and asked the attendant if this town has a hotel. Even if it does I was thinking, we would probably have to pitch the tent because it will more than likely be filthy, and Amie wouldn’t think of sleeping outside of her “Safe zone.” He responed with “what are you looking for, cheap, medium, or nice?” A good sign! Believe it or not, just down the road, we turned onto a dirt stretch and stumbled into a 4 star hotel. Hot water, AC, bike parking, breakfast included, $22. YES PLEASE. Its one of the nicest hotels we’ve stayed at on the whole trip. Thanks Santa!
Little shop
Crazy Christmas shoppers
Mad Christmas dash
Cafe?
Beautiful buildings
Salta Plaza
posted by Pedro and Maria at 6:39 AM
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