Oooo it is hot.

Jan 4 – Uspallata to San Juan

The anticipation of viewing the Dakar Rally has been growing for a few days and we are finally only one sleep away. It is like Christmas for big kids.

There are a couple of route options and of course we choose the dirt road, well it was supposed to be paved part of the way but turned out to be alot shorter than reported. This is fine, we like dirt roads better anyway, less traffic and more fun. The route is north on Rte #149 then we planned to take a cut across, rte 153, that would eliminate an 80km loop of pavement, much to our surprise the cut across says that the road is closed. It looks traveled on and we figure that we should at least see how far in we can get and what exactly is blocking the road.

This turns out to be a very spectacular ride across a bit of desert and then into a canyon. We pass a few spots that could have been classified as road closures in the past but now have a few tracks across them. Mostly washouts and  rock slides that had  been partially cleared allowing local traffic to use the area.

Once out of the canyon we were once again in vineyards, large vineyards that covered the valley floor and part of the valley walls. At this point the road is also back to normal standards and we can make a little better time the rest of the way until we intersect with Rte 40 and on into San Juan. We passed through a limestone mining area that had everything coated with white powder, and I mean everything from cars and houses to the trees and highway.

It has also gotten extremely hot, so we pull of the highway under one of the shade trees for a break and a little snack, just a short break from the 38C heat is all that is needed to refresh our energy levels for the last bit of travel into San Juan. Due to the Dakar being in town we had planned ahead and actually made reservations so it was just a matter of navigating to the hotel instead of the usual Easter egg hunt for a nice place.

Easy Rider, Argentina style.