Northwestern Argentina is comfort; Northwestern Argentina is luxury; it is camping on proper campsites with a barbecue and all the amenities; it is paying five Euros for a full kilo of prime steak; it is fresh veggies, good wine, beautiful pastries, and delicious ice-cream; it is cheese and bread that does not go stale and fall apart after a day; it is dramatic sceneries and endless vineyards; it is Buena Vida, and after a while without all these little things that normally make life worth living, we had begun to miss them.

Saskia met us in Salta after she had flown from Amsterdam to Paris, to Santiago de Chile, to Buenos Aires, and finally to Salta. The following morning she bought a bicycle and was ready to go!

Getting out of Salta we follow the short but very scenic Ruta 68 towards Cafayate; also known as the Ruta del Vino…

We cycle through several fertile valleys, including the Lerma Valley, the Calchaquí Valley, and the…

spectacular Quebrada de las Conchas (‘Gorge of the Shells‘) which due to its multicolored rock formations is truly impressive.

The Conchas River flows through this gorge, eroding the surrounding landscape into wildly different shapes.

Such as the Garganta del Diablo (‘the Devil’s Throat‘) which has been sculpted by wind, water, and erosion over the course of millions of years and is a great place to toy around with echoes.

But the most impressive must have been this natural amphitheater; which has excellent acoustics.

Approaching the town of Cafayate we drop down into yet more vineyards.

There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot going on in this sleepy town; it is famous because of its wine production but the formidable heat of the day prevents any strenuous activity. Basically people just lounge around in the shade…

Now on the Ruta 40 and having exchanged the province of Salta for Catamarca, it gets hot during the day; really hot…

There is a shortage of surface water in this arid or semi-arid region; most of the water comes instead from wells deep underground or from thaw flowing down from the high peaks of the Andes.

Agua Si, Oro No! (‘Water Yes, Gold No!‘). We began to see a lot of tags such as this one throughout the arid provinces of Catamarca, La Rioja, and San Juan. We later learnt that there has been fierce protesting in recent years against the proposed open-pit mining for gold and other precious metals; out of fear for contamination of what little water resources are available.

Saskia seems to feel very comfortable on the many gravel sections of the Ruta 40. Back home she works with the Rabobank UCI ProTour Cycling Team so she’s probably picked up a trick or two from those guys.

The route takes us through towns such as Santa Maria, Los Nasciementos, and Belén; camping out alongside the road, in a public park, or behind some buildings, and battling headwinds most of the time…

also spending a lot of time patching punctured tubes.

With one beautiful sunset after another…

we continue again bright and early the following morning.

Meanwhile fixing more punctures…

battling more headwinds, and going up over more hills; with the Cuesta de Miranda (2.020 meters) between Chilecito and Villa Union being the most challenging.

Almost in Ushuaia. That is if you would ride in a straight line on the Ruta 40; we won’t be doing that and will cut across into Chile soon.

Agua es Vida, Barrick contamina (‘Water is Life, Barrick Contaminates‘). Riding through spacious San Juan we see more evidence of the people’s protests against open-pit mining; in this area as well as in neighboring Chile several large-scale mining projects are being developed which are tainted by rumors of corruption involving foreign multinationals and local politicians.

From San Juan it is a two-day ride through yet another arid valley towards Mendoza; the largest wine producing area in Latin America and the place where we say goodbye again to Saskia.