UPDATE 10 - 4X4 ADVENTURE - 03 JUL 06

18 Jun – 03 Jul 06

Return to Salta and 4x4 Adventure

18 Jun 06 (Sun). Ah made it back to the sanctuary of civilised society where polite service is a way of life not a reluctant reflex in order to demand tips! We arrived in Santiago this morning after a very good week in Antigua; but to get there and return we had to transit through hostile territory and on hostile carriers! If US national airlines and its airports are the shop window that the worlds travelling public first views the United States and judges it by, it’s a very sorry advertisement. Mick S and I have travelled to the US on many occasions and the shop window is always the same; airline cabin crew indifferent and uninterested; treating passengers as talking freight, to be loaded and unloaded at the least inconvenience to themselves; no eye contact and a manner that that you wouldn’t get from London bus conductor! Fortunately the leg from Santiago was with LAN Chile and the return, although American Airways was with a Chilean crew who had not adopted the brusque manner of the Carrier but maintained that South American courtesy.

A few hours sleep, then a bit of lunch in the hotel bar, which was full of Brazil football supporters watching Brazil beat ????????; a very enthusiastic audience. Lunch was followed by a walk uptown but being a Sunday in a Catholic environment it was a very quiet city; not necessarily a bad thing; is it really necessary for life to be run at 24/7. The only activity to break the silence was the honking of car horns and the waving of Brazilian flags as Brazil’s win was celebrated.

19 Jun 06 (Mon). We returned to Salta today by the return route from a week ago; Santiago to Buenos Aires then to Salta, flying with Aerolineas Argentinas. It was an early start, 0630 pickup from the hotel to go the airport arriving very early for our flight. It was a straightforward days flying in South America; cruise through Chilean Immigrations for a two hour flight to Argentina. Cleared Argentinean Immigrations, which was an extremely friendly affair; it was by far the most friendly border crossing to date. The transfer to Buenos Aires second airport was a far more relaxed proposition this time as we were under no time pressure; having 5 hours before our next flight. BA to Salta was efficiently uneventful; arriving in the early evening to take a taxi back home to our hotel that has been our base for what seems an age!

Supper was taken in one of the many cafes around the main plaza but this one, The Plaza Cafe is worth a mention just for the antics of its waiters. They behave like the two brown Doves at the beach bar in Antigua. They’d spent most days the day prancing around each other trying to out do the other in the competition for the prime pickings. The two waiters would compete by trying to be the last to serve a customer and benefit from the tip. The antics got quite heated at times too.

20 Jun 06 (Tue). Today it was time to assess the physical damage to the bikes! Mick S had already identified a broken rear view mirror, a left side cylinder head protector and a speedo cable on his bike and a cylinder head protector on mine. All parts had been ordered and Jane S brought the parts out to Antigua. The speedo snapped in exactly the same place as mine did, 50mm from the hub; not as a result of an accident, it snapped during the morning of our crashing day. Is this systematic failure or is it just unlucky that we have both had to replace our cables?

Mick S bike was just suffering from a blown spot light bulb and a dent on the left side of his fuel tank and his left side pannier was a bit distorted. My bike needed a spotlight to be straightened and some work on the panniers and pannier frames. My right pannier had some serious damage to its base, which must have happened on my first drop of the day on hard gravel. The base plate was separate from the side wall over a 20 cm section which will need some straightening and welding. The left pannier was not damaged which was a surprise as that was the side that hit the floor hard on the final event; but what it had done was bend the pannier frame.

Assessment complete, time to get down to work; Mick S took the bikes by relay to the gomeria to change all tyres; off came the Continental TKC 80s on went the Metzellers. As usual we were looking for a back street gomeria as they have proved to be the ones capable of dealing with the unusual and at a sensible price of 5 pesos (£1) per tyre; what value. While Mick was out he had both bikes washed as they were caked in sand and mud. His story while out was “He was sitting watching Paraguay v Trinidad and Tobago at the car wash with the second bike in line for the attention of the bucket and sponge, when a German chap rode in on a Honda Africa twin and parked in front of the BMW. He got off strode into the office and started blurting in Spanish something about being urgent and obviously a stereotypical German queue jumping tactic. Unlucky Bosch! Sit and wait like the rest of us. As it happens he was bearable to talk to and spoke perfect English, he had been in Argentina and Chile during 2003/4 and left his bike in Buenos Aires returning this year to spend a year touring the rest of South America. He had already done most of our routes and more. He was sporting a remarkable front wheel that he had split but had got another back street mechanic to strip down weld the aluminium rim refit all the spokes and centre the hub. He had been running on it for the last thousand miles without trouble. No doubt impossible in the UK if not certainly cost prohibitive or not allowed due to safety regulations”.

While Mick S was out and about I set about getting the panniers wash and cleaned along with the rest of the lightweight kit. It seemed an easy task, just gently do the washing up; well it was, until I’d finished, then I knew that I’d over done the exercise on the broken shoulder and I paid for it for the next couple of day. Patients is a virtue; give me mine now!

21 Jun 06 (Wed). Today’s main event, following some lightweight maintenance on the bikes was the Argentina / Holland game. We joined an enthusiastic crowd in the main plaza where every bar and restaurant had its own big TV set up to attract the big audiences. We went to the El Pacifico restaurant, where some 5 TVs had been strategically placed to give everyone a view of the game. The game was not crucial for Argentina as they were already through to the next round, but none the less passions were high and a win is what national pride required! When a game is going their way there is pandemonium, but when its not, there is absolute silence; a strange and different reaction from a Brit crowd who would at least be complaining at the inefficiency of someone to do with the game! It was a draw; but let’s still celibate. After the match every bar and restaurant emptied onto the main square; flags waving, drums banging and the loud crack of fireworks as they revelled again in their teams progression to the next round. It was mainly teenagers sporting the team colours and painted faces. The lads bouncing up and down or running round the square chanting and singing to the beating of the drums and the girls hanging around giggling not sure what they should be doing other than getting excited and hugging each other! This was all over watched by the scores of ever present Salta police, not menacing in any way but present.

22 Jun 06 (Thu). Time to set about getting the panniers and frames straight. Firstly, Touratech do supply a very robust set of panniers and frames. We think that they have provided additional protection to the bikes as a whole which have taken quite a hammering on the falls of that day, soaking up the impacts. Mick S frame did not require any work but mine needed a good tweak and that was done with the assistance of a 2 meter reinforcing bar to provide sufficient leverage to move the frame. Not completely straight but good enough for our needs!

It was a bit of a task just trying to workout how to remove the dead spotlight bulb let alone actually extract it, but once it was done we found a shop that supplied them at a very reasonable price 80p each so we bought 3; just in case! While getting the bulbs, Mick asked the shop assistant if he new where we could get some aluminium welding done; two blocks across and eight down “Bicicleta Cromo” the typical back street mechanic that we wanted. Mick delivered the damaged panniers and left them with him to collect in two days time. Hopefully fully repaired and a perfect fit back on the frame.

23 Jun 06 (Fri). Although being in one place and not riding is a necessary requirement for the purpose of healing, it does nothing for the frustration of not doing the travelling and getting to see the areas that we had been planning to. There is also the problem of cabin fever, it’s setting in; we need to get out. The plan is to hire a 4x4 and drive the route through the Sierra de Calalaste that we were on three weeks ago and carry on to Valle de la Luna (Argentina not Chile) and San Jose. This would mean we could cover the ground that we had planned, but not go to Santiago as we will have to return to Salta. We tried Avis and got a price; then went to Hertz who also gave us their price; it was then time to start the bartering! Out come the Avis brochure which started friendly banter about the rivals and we eventually got a reasonable price for a Nissan Frontier 4x4 for a week, but with only 2000 kms free mileage; we’d do a bit more than that! We’d collect it on Sunday morning then head for the hills to do it all over again; well, not all!

24 Jun 06 (Sat). Mick got Maria from the hotel front desk to phone and check that the panniers were ready and how much they would be? She could not believe that Mick had not confirmed a price first! Another Argentine lady chastising, in good humour! Panniers were ready for collection at a fee of £26. Mick took a bike to collect then so that he could fit them and bring then back. Luciano Cruz, the Bicicleta cromo owner had the panniers sitting on the cluttered work bench and looking remarkably square considering the state that they were left in. The welding was a good job and all the seams were tight and true; the lids had been squared up again and the securing fittings that held the panniers onto the bike frame had been reinforced and fitted with new bolts. A dam good job and another example of what “back street mechanicing” (as Fred Dibna, god bless his soul, used to swear by) can produce.
Luciano Cruz asked where Mick was from and if the motorbike was outside. He was obviously interested and came out to see how and help fit the panniers onto the bike. He said that he was a great friend of Ossi Ardeiles who used to play for and later manage Tottenham Hotspur. He said that they used to be welders together or was it soldiers together! The Spanish for the two are very similar Soldador & soldado but hey does it matter! He asked if he could sit on the bike and promptly tried to throw his short leg over the saddle nearly dropping the heavy machine. A little push and he was upright straining on tip toe to keep his balance while his son and Mick took a couple of pictures.

We’d been given good advice that the Argentina v Mexico game would start at 1500 so we went off to secure a seat at the same restaurant. But local info was an hour out; it was a 1600 kick off. I was not feeling up to it so left Mick to enjoy the match with a couple of litres of Salta Cervesa and soak up the atmosphere of the buoyant crowd that had assembled. When Mick returned to the hotel he regaled the events of the match and audience. “Six minutes into the game and stunned silence as the ball was in the back of the Argentine goal. Mexico had scored! You could have heard a pin drop but for the sigh of a single woman at the back of the room. Gradually as the game progressed life came back into the crowd and they were rewarded 4 minutes later in fact with the equaliser. I had secretly hoped that they would suffer a little longer. But that came later as the second half ebbed away with the score still 0-0 then a cracking goal in the 91st minute and the crowed went crazy! But no, sit down, OFF SIDE and disallowed, ha ha! Extra time followed and right from the start of it you just new that Mexico would struggle and the Argentines would prevail, sure enough a fantastic goal that nearly went through the back of the net clinched the game. Pandemonium ensued; the whole place went crazy and continued its celebrations in the main square late into the night. It was madder than the previous mad night, the usual drums whistles and fireworks. Flag waving crowds of kids and girls up on blokes’ shoulders”

25 Jun 06 (Sun). 4x4 Adventure: Salta to San Antonio; Ruta 51; 200 kms. We collected the 4x4, loaded it up and were ready for the off when we were blocked in by yet another religious parade with load speakers, horse mounted gauchos and various religious statues. Back inside for a coffee and wait for it to clear. We were to have a leisurely drive from Salta to San Antonio, without the river crossing this time aiming to arrive by late afternoon. It was an overcast day with a bit of light drizzle as we started, but as soon as we climbed to 2000 metres we were through the cloud and into bright sunshine and blue skies (the only way we travel!). Instead of going straight to the hotel at San Antonio the artistic director decided that we should visit the viaduct again as he thought the sun would be favourable for a good picture; he was right. To take the pictures we had to try and avoid the tourist ambush set by the local kids who quickly dressed in local costume, well throw a poncho on and caps, banged drums and put their hands out when they heard a vehicle coming. As per usual we managed to get the pictures and escape without parting with a single coin.

As we approach the hotel, 4 bikes rode in, a BMW 1200 GS, Honda Trans Alp, Kawasaki KLR and a Suzuki 800. They were from Buenos Aires and had trucked their bikes to Salta to ride the Sierra del Calalaste. They too had had their fair share of spills; each of them had hit the deck in some way or another and a couple had tipped up on ice; know the feeling. After and exchange of stories and emails they went on their way for a late afternoon ride to Salta. The hotel was in new hands; a friendly bunch of ladies who spoke English and had the heating on. But as the altitude was still the same it was another restless night.

26 Jun 06 (Mon). San Antonio - Antofagasta – Belen, Ruta 43, 600 kms. We were going to drive the route that we intended to ride three weeks earlier! It was a doddle; well for me anyway, I was sitting in the passenger’s seat for the duration! The weather was again superb and was considerably warmer than when we were last here. The tracks were drier and the snow had gone, but the tracks were still slippery from the loose gravel. That and a light back end on the 4x4 made for some interesting cornering as it skipped around behind us! We passed Olacapato, the newly (relatively) almost complete but abandoned station at Laguna Seca, Salar de Pocitos and headed south towards Salar del Hombre Muerto and the impact point! The tracks had been graded in many places which was not all together an improvement, but as we approached one area we saw an animal preparing to cross the track, it was large so due caution was adopted, slow down and be prepared to stop. It did not move as we approach and as we got to it we could see why; the graders had propped a dead donkey; ah humour.
Impact point reach; a bit of counselling offered by Mick just to make sure I was ok at revisiting the site and some pointing of where each bit had hit the ground. From this point it was only 90 kms to the next small town and as we set off we could fully appreciate the advice that we were given in Pocitos 3 week ago about the condition of the track, it was appalling. Had we managed to continue on the bikes that day, we would have been absolutely exhausted by the time we reached Antofagasta de la Sierra. Even with the 4x4 it was no walk in the park; snow drifts across the track, track giving way to mush!
Antofagasta was reach by mid afternoon, which was too early to stop, so refuel collect some lunch and press on. The southern route out of Antofagasta turned from all sand desert to a volcanic rock field with a number of blown volcanoes; very different to what we’d been seeing all day so lunch was a picnic by a lake lined by volcanoes, now that’s different! If the last 90 kms had been hard work it was nothing to what awaited us for the next 300 kms to Belen! We wanted a challenge and we have certainly been biting off more that we can eat from time to time and this was no exception. The term track can only be use in its loosest term for the last bit of the day; we really considered going completely cross country at times as it looked much more manageable. Belen was gratefully reach at 2000hrs and fuel is the first priority, only to find that we have a puncture ( ah Mick’s driving); that can wait until the morning; enough is enough for one day – 12 hours, 600 kms all cross country, great.

27 Jun 06 (Tue). Belen to Villa Union, Ruta 40; 350 kms. Another trip to the gomeria, experts by now, 20 minutes and 5 pesos later we were on our way through more jaw dropping scenery, but the piece de resistance for the day was the drive from Nonogasta to Villa Union. You just think that you’ve seen it all, when you turn a corner and the world changes. This relatively short section of tarmac and gravel, through high and close mountains was awesome; but that isn’t it all! Repeating ourselves has now become an occupational hazard, but writing as we go does not allow us to grade the level of jaw drop from one day to the next and as we continue we wonder if we are becoming desensitised to the view; “that’s awesome isn’t it? Well not really”! It’ll only be when we’ve finish and if we can remember which was which, will we be able to say what was really impressive – no, memory puts a rose tint to all. We made it to Pagancillo for fuel and a late lunch at Restaurant de Diego where the owner gave us the result of the England v Ecuador game, some fine local empanadas (small pasties) and advice about staying in the village for the night and visiting something tomorrow? We thought we’d press on as we were off to San Jose! 60 kms down the road we came across the Parque National Talampaya; it was closing for the day, but apparently was a canyon that must be visited; so says the Parque ranger; which is what the restaurant owner was saying (wish Mick spoke better Spanish!). No accommodation nearby so back 60 kms to Villa Union for the night, but capture another sunset on the way.

28 Jun 06 (Wed). Villa union to Villa Union; Ruta 26; 280 kms. The advice was to be early at Talampaya to get the best pictures before the sun moves to far west. Well early means when the sun is up, which is not until 0830. We arrived at 0900 to an overcast day, not best suited for photos but we went with it anyway. Talampaya is a canyon that boasts to satisfy all the “ologies”, palaeontology, archaeology, geology and anthropology. It is a site worth visiting to see the rock painting, the Condors; who were not playing because it was too cold and of course the canyon its self. We were fortunate to have as part of our group a photographer and his son, who took it upon himself to give free photography lessons to all who would listen! He did offer to and we accepted, to down load all of his photos from the canyon onto our laptop. We were sure that they would be of superior quality to Mick’s as he had a very expensive camera etc, etc; not the case. Mick’s photos were far superior so we deleted nearly all of his. Talampaya done it was off to the Valle de la Luna and San Jose de Jachal, but the road had disappeared completely, diversion signs were in place and you could only get to the next national parque of Ischigualasto. Reluctantly we agreed to take the tour and quite frankly it was not worth the time let alone the few pesos. It was supposed to be Jurassic but it was less spectacular that almost anything we’d seen to date. And we could not progress to San Jose we returned to Villa Union with another sunset to snap.

29 Jun 06 (Thu). Villa Union, Pass San Francisco, Tinogasta, Belen; Ruta 40, 60; 700 kms. On the advice of our photographer mate at Talampaya, who said that the route up to the Chilean border at Pass Sam Francisco was absolutely awesome and must not be missed! More good local advice? It was good but not worth a 500 km detour good. The highlight was the return trip on Ruta 40 from Villa Union to Nonogasta and as we approach Nonogasta the valley was smothered in low cloud but the edge of the cloud was a vertical wall. We did not go all the way to the border, turning around about 200 kms having seen some fine examples of what tectonic plates do to the earth’s surface. For anyone studying geography or geology this is a superb place to visit.

The main event of the return to Belen was the fuel light coming on 70 km short of the next known diesel! Reduce speed and hope that the reserve tank has sufficient to do the job! At Londres just 14kms short of Belen we asked a couple of people if fuel was available, there was a man who pumped fuel from 205 litre drums so we thought we’d better have 5 lts of that, just in case. Arriving at Belen 66 lts was put into the 73 lts tank; so there must have been masses to spare!!

30 Jun 06 (Fri). Belen to Cafayate; Ruta 40, 307; 260 kms. We’d visited Cafayate a month ago and wanted to see some more of it as it was a major wine producing area and looked worthy of some more time. The route took us via Amaicha del Ville where we stopped for lunch and to catch the second half of the Argentina v Germany. The garage was packed so we went to the upstairs restaurant where there was table of elderly ladies enthusiastically supporting Argentina. They were hooting and a hollering when it was going Argentina’s way but absolute silence when it did not. One lady got so excited and confuse about which side was playing which way that she was on her feet cheering and shouting when Germany scored; very deflated when she realised the error! To go to a penalty shootout was nerve racking and watching these ladies was great fun; cheers when they score, but again, absolute silence and deflation when Germany finally clinched the match. They just slowly, quietly got up and left!

Cafayate, is not only a wine producing town, it is a major tourist centre and is very well looked after. The central plaza is surrounded by cafes restaurants and all the tack that any tourist could possibly want, if not need! Coffee in the sun watching the world go by, and the aging hippies that seem to have lost the sense of time; it’s a hell of a life on the road!

01 Jul 06 (Sat). Cafayate to Salta; Ruta 68; 200 kms. The final run back to Salta was up the road that we’d ridden a month ago but this time we stopped at the two main tourist sites The Amphitheatre and the Gargantua Del Diablo, the Devils Throat. Both places are geological faults and with cascading water have created short canyons that are quite impressive; the Amphitheatre in particular. Arriving at Salta we were assured the usual warm welcome from a smiling Maria on the desk, Gaston at the door and Fredrico at the tourist deck; it like home from home; it really is time to be moving on.

This completed our week of 4x4 rallying, some 2700 kms of which over 50% was on tracks (of some sort!) and to more jaw dropping parts of this magnificent country. The 4x4 stayed on its tyres and in one piece and is now clean and ready to be returned in the morning.

02 Jul 06 (Sun). Bit of a shocker; we knew that there was a levy of 1 peso per extra km travelled above the 2000, but what they had not explained was the 23% of additional taxes that would also be added!! In all an extra 1000 pesos (£200), oh well, we did have a good week.

Its now time to test the shoulder; it’s been a month and that’s what the doctor said; “no riding for a month”. With stabilisers on and on a leading rein to make sure I don’t get ahead of myself we went and rode to Jujuy and back; a round trip of 150 miles. Shoulder ached a bit from lack of use and putting it in a position that it’s not be in for a month, but it’ll get used to it. No real problems; it seems strong enough for a bit of exercise.

03 Jul 06 (Mon). We been waiting for a cylinder head protector to arrive from BMW Buenos Aires this week and it arrived this morning. Mick fitted it for me while I catch up on my typing, plus he does not want me doing anything that will risk my shoulder!

Well, now that’s fitted, the panniers are all the right shape and the bikes are ready to go; shame not to crack on; isn’t it? Well that’s what we’re going to do. Today is our final day in Salta and probably Argentina too. Tomorrow we’ll head north to Bolivia.

We seem to have been here so long that we could apply for citizenship? It has been a truly magnificent country to visit; it is cheap (very important), very friendly; it has a diverse culture with contrasts of jaw dropping scenery that never fail to impress, inspire and leave you in awe.

Our enduring memories of the this part of our ride will be; leaning on the wind in Patagonia; the wild life in the Beagle Channel, the Torres, glaciers, the dogs giving chase and the amount of crap they leave. The almost unrestricted riding; the friendship and help given, not only when most needed;

The disappointments are; being two days to early to see the whales at Peninsula Valdes; not getting to see more of Chile and ride the Desierto Atacama and visit Chiles Valle de la Luna, but time waits for no man, nor do the seasons and the Arctic winter draws in and if we are to dip a to in the Artic ocean before it gets too cold to ride, we need to get a move on.

Our intention for the next week. Is to cover some ground in a northerly direction without testing my cross country skills, trying to keep rubber to tarmac at all times!