a self-supported bicycle tour through South America

October 17th - 23rd: Malargue  - Bardas Blancas (67km) - El Zampal (98km) - Ranquil de Norte (32km) - Buta Ranquil (64km) - Newquen (4km) - Roca (46km)

We left Malargue with high spirits and rejuvenated legs after a day of rest, but with extra fleeces to keep us warm for what we expected to be the cold road south.  The hail storm and torrential downpour days still etched vividly in our minds….

The blue sky and crisp air made for a gorgeous start as we once again admired the snow capped ranges that make up the border with Chile.  Yay, we were back on the road and loving the idea of cycle touring.

With our first climb came our old friend the wind.  Oh what joy!  With our friend came the Bolivian roads as well.  Woohoo!  As we descended off the mountain the wind got stronger and stronger and stronger until the sand storms forced us off our bikes as tiny rocks were blown into our bare legs.  Our only salvation was that we were going downhill and we only had a few more kilometers until our lunch stop.  These few kilometers took an eternity, and we could not believe that the wind could be THAT strong.  The whole situation was so disheartening.  Mum, I thought you were supposed to have some words with the Big Fella at church last week?  Tell him that the wind is not obliging,  and even seems to be getting stronger!

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What a sad sad day! The van has now been sold, it only took one day on Autotrader to get shot of it, luckily the first guy who saw the advert on the Internet wanted it. I was amazed as he hadn’t even seen the van in the flesh and yet still made an offer on it. We bartered a bit and eventually settled on a price for which he brought mainly cash and the remainder in a cheque; it was kind of odd counting 15k in 20’s on our coffee table.

Then the saga of the satellite phone and our unsuccessful bidding on eBay for one finally came to a head when one was advertised at a bargain price of $1000USD as a “Buy it now” option. So no sooner had I got used to my cash mountain, I saw 1/2″ of it disappear to Indonesia on another piece of our essential equipment (at least our parents will be happy).

For those who are technically minded the phone we settled on is a Motorola Iridium 9505A and looks like one of our regular cell phones from the 80’s. Weighing somewhere in the heavy weight boxing category it can make telephone calls and even send SMS text messages, unbelievable eh!