I feel much better today. I wasn't able to eat anything yesterday so today has been set aside for refuelling so we can get on the move again tomorrow. We're just not making much progress on this part of the trip. Both Al and I can't wait to get out of Argentina. It's frustrating and I've been ill three days now. It must have been the chicken at the buffet on Monday.
We're also a bit concerned about our multifuel stove. Al thinks there might be a probelm with the pump. We can't afford to have that break, as we'll probably be wild camping along the Ruta 52. It's a climb and only Susques for a place to get food.
The Argentinian couple camped next to us left today. He played the trunpet, so went up in my estimation immediately. They gave us a demo CD of their band (Cumbia Choriza). The cover has a cartoon of the band members drawn as sausages. We have no means of playing it so we'll send it home.
As part of Operation Feed Me we stopped at a Parilla place and unbeknownst to us had ordered 2 bowls of chips, some bread and a mixed grill for two. Now, it might not be the wisest thing to eat greasy, barbecued food when recovering, but in Argentina, there really isn't very much choice.
This mixed grill would feed about 4 people with ribs, steak, sausages, intestines, kidneys, something weird that we thinks he said were uterus.It was sort of spongey and very peculiar.
All this was far too much for us so she halved it but still we couldn't manage it.
Ever since lunch, Al has been feeling unwell too, now. It's been sat in his stomach, going nowhere. Perhaps it's all that salt and fat in it. We watched the cook pick up salt by the handful and throw it over the food. I hope Al's not falling ill. We need to get out of Salta!
dist 47.24km
ride time 3:38:07
average 12.9kph
max 27.5kph
starting alti 1186
trip alti 102
max alti 1295
Showing posts with label Disasters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disasters. Show all posts
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sick in Salta
I got up and staggered to the loo block. Vomit and diarrhoea, I just wasn't sure which one first. This was every bit as bad as the case in France in Falaise.
I prefer a bit of privacy when I'm this ill and at that hour those loos are deserted, so I went a few more times.
During the day, I felt absolutely awful. I don't think I've ever felt worse. Even drinking water was hard to manage.I could barely move and I suspect I had barely a mineral salt left in me. Not being able to drink even water made me decide to take the immodium and a couple of sachets of rehydration mix.
Some hours later (and 3 more immodium and 4 sachets of dioralyte later) I began to feel bearable again. Not well but I could move. The short walk to the loo block was almost unbearable, but since the alternative is to poo right here, I did it. I could only move extremely slowly, I was so weak.
Over time, I eventually managed to have enough water to pee (excellent) so it being urgent I faced the squat loo. That was a mistake as I made a mess on the floor for facing the wrong way. Then I discovered the flush wasn't working but fortunately I'd been taking in a water bottle for clean ups (so much better than loo paper, which we didn't have anyway) so I managed to get the loo back into a usable condition.
Also, fortunately the afternoon has been cloudy, windy and overall much cooler than morning and previous days. I've been running a temperature, but not suffered from overheating in the sun today.
I prefer a bit of privacy when I'm this ill and at that hour those loos are deserted, so I went a few more times.
During the day, I felt absolutely awful. I don't think I've ever felt worse. Even drinking water was hard to manage.I could barely move and I suspect I had barely a mineral salt left in me. Not being able to drink even water made me decide to take the immodium and a couple of sachets of rehydration mix.
Some hours later (and 3 more immodium and 4 sachets of dioralyte later) I began to feel bearable again. Not well but I could move. The short walk to the loo block was almost unbearable, but since the alternative is to poo right here, I did it. I could only move extremely slowly, I was so weak.
Over time, I eventually managed to have enough water to pee (excellent) so it being urgent I faced the squat loo. That was a mistake as I made a mess on the floor for facing the wrong way. Then I discovered the flush wasn't working but fortunately I'd been taking in a water bottle for clean ups (so much better than loo paper, which we didn't have anyway) so I managed to get the loo back into a usable condition.
Also, fortunately the afternoon has been cloudy, windy and overall much cooler than morning and previous days. I've been running a temperature, but not suffered from overheating in the sun today.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
La Merced - The Flood
A proper QUIET night's sleep and in a proper bed.
The cyle ride to La Merced was okay but the last hour or two was painful. I got too hot and we went through a lot of water. When we got to La Merced we saw a rather posh looking campsite. The guy on the gate was a surly bastard and said there was no camping - despite standing right by a sign with horario de camping written on it.
He said there was no camping in La Merced (our map said otherwise) and that the next place was Salta. We were so tired so I said: "pero es lejos" (but it's far) and he shrugged and said Si. He was obviously trained at the same customer service college as the people in Cafayate, where they just ignore you so you'll go away. He went to ignoring us so we left.
La Merced turned out to be a dump with unkempt streets. An ugly place. Our map claimed La Merced has municipal camping, and these are often at the edge of town, so we headed there.
We came across a tourist information signpost by a park with an enormous 20ft Jesus statue in one corner.
There was a set of three small buildings by it and an old man sat by one. We went to talk to him and he said we could camp in the field for 30 pesos. He pointed to a spot and insisted we put our tent there. We did and cooked up.
He kept fussing over us, checking whether we were okay and kept asking about our tent in the rain. We know how crappy Argentinians' tents are, so we assured him our tent was 'muy impermeable' and showed him the sewn in bathtub base. Our tent was very waterproof and assured him we were fine.
we had a cold shower from the basic shower room. It was a swivel garden tap on the wall with a hole in the tiles where the water poured from. Basic but effective.
We went to bed just as a thunderstorm neared. It was another spectacle wth strobe-lightning, thunder all around us and it was getting nearer. It was so close, I was very glad of the 20foot Jesus statue - that would cop any lightning, not us. The wind picked up and gave our tent a really thorough shaking. We hadn't fully pegged out the tent, so Al went out (in his pants) to peg out all the guy lines. It was such a downpour so he got soaked, as did his sleeping bag liner which had got tucked into his pants. I decided to put on my merino wool pyjamas so he could have my liner.
It's just as well I did that. As Al dried himself, I noticed the floor of the tent was like a waterbed. My full length thermarest and it was afloat!
Although the base of the tent has a hydrostatic of head of 10,000m, our body weight pushing down onto the base of tent would mean water gets through eventually. We decided to pack away our sleeping bags into their waterproof bags and I sealed the netbook's waterproof bag I sealed a bit better.
We lay there, hoping the flooding would subside and drain. However, my thermarest was getting nearer the ceiling of the tent and I could not push down on the floor of the tent and find solid ground, so we decided to carefully abandon tent, trying not to let water flood over the threshold.
When we stepped out of the tent, we got quite a shock - the water was halfway up our shins. Al's headtorch stopped working, so I was the only one with any light. The storm had knocked out power locally, so even the huts were dark. The old boy lived in one of these huts, which are built on higher ground with a concrete base, so we quickly moved our stuff onto this bit of dry ground, and the water was still rising.
it was now almost to my knees and the bikes' hubs were submerged. Water was higher than the doors of the tent and to stop th tent being washed away, we opened both doors to allow the water to flow freely through it.
We now had to wake the old chap, who we'd assured of our waterproofness of tent. He unlocked one of the huts and we slept on the floor.
Miraculously, our stuff stayed dry. My panniers I had closed up and they had kept the water out very well. All our clothes, raincoats, sleeping bags, first aid box had all remained dry. It's just as well we acted when we did. That base of our tent bought us time to get all the stuff out.
The biggests disaster was our document wallet (e-ticket, travellers cheques, driving licences and vaccination certificates) got wet, so we dried them out the next day.
So, Argentinians have kept us awake every night, so the one night we're camped along, the wether steps in.
dist 76.42km
ride time 4:52:00
average 15.6kph
max 38.5kph max
starting alti 1275
trip alti 509
max alti 1328
The cyle ride to La Merced was okay but the last hour or two was painful. I got too hot and we went through a lot of water. When we got to La Merced we saw a rather posh looking campsite. The guy on the gate was a surly bastard and said there was no camping - despite standing right by a sign with horario de camping written on it.
He said there was no camping in La Merced (our map said otherwise) and that the next place was Salta. We were so tired so I said: "pero es lejos" (but it's far) and he shrugged and said Si. He was obviously trained at the same customer service college as the people in Cafayate, where they just ignore you so you'll go away. He went to ignoring us so we left.
La Merced turned out to be a dump with unkempt streets. An ugly place. Our map claimed La Merced has municipal camping, and these are often at the edge of town, so we headed there.
We came across a tourist information signpost by a park with an enormous 20ft Jesus statue in one corner.
There was a set of three small buildings by it and an old man sat by one. We went to talk to him and he said we could camp in the field for 30 pesos. He pointed to a spot and insisted we put our tent there. We did and cooked up.
He kept fussing over us, checking whether we were okay and kept asking about our tent in the rain. We know how crappy Argentinians' tents are, so we assured him our tent was 'muy impermeable' and showed him the sewn in bathtub base. Our tent was very waterproof and assured him we were fine.
we had a cold shower from the basic shower room. It was a swivel garden tap on the wall with a hole in the tiles where the water poured from. Basic but effective.
We went to bed just as a thunderstorm neared. It was another spectacle wth strobe-lightning, thunder all around us and it was getting nearer. It was so close, I was very glad of the 20foot Jesus statue - that would cop any lightning, not us. The wind picked up and gave our tent a really thorough shaking. We hadn't fully pegged out the tent, so Al went out (in his pants) to peg out all the guy lines. It was such a downpour so he got soaked, as did his sleeping bag liner which had got tucked into his pants. I decided to put on my merino wool pyjamas so he could have my liner.
It's just as well I did that. As Al dried himself, I noticed the floor of the tent was like a waterbed. My full length thermarest and it was afloat!
Although the base of the tent has a hydrostatic of head of 10,000m, our body weight pushing down onto the base of tent would mean water gets through eventually. We decided to pack away our sleeping bags into their waterproof bags and I sealed the netbook's waterproof bag I sealed a bit better.
We lay there, hoping the flooding would subside and drain. However, my thermarest was getting nearer the ceiling of the tent and I could not push down on the floor of the tent and find solid ground, so we decided to carefully abandon tent, trying not to let water flood over the threshold.
When we stepped out of the tent, we got quite a shock - the water was halfway up our shins. Al's headtorch stopped working, so I was the only one with any light. The storm had knocked out power locally, so even the huts were dark. The old boy lived in one of these huts, which are built on higher ground with a concrete base, so we quickly moved our stuff onto this bit of dry ground, and the water was still rising.
it was now almost to my knees and the bikes' hubs were submerged. Water was higher than the doors of the tent and to stop th tent being washed away, we opened both doors to allow the water to flow freely through it.
We now had to wake the old chap, who we'd assured of our waterproofness of tent. He unlocked one of the huts and we slept on the floor.
Miraculously, our stuff stayed dry. My panniers I had closed up and they had kept the water out very well. All our clothes, raincoats, sleeping bags, first aid box had all remained dry. It's just as well we acted when we did. That base of our tent bought us time to get all the stuff out.
The biggests disaster was our document wallet (e-ticket, travellers cheques, driving licences and vaccination certificates) got wet, so we dried them out the next day.
So, Argentinians have kept us awake every night, so the one night we're camped along, the wether steps in.
dist 76.42km
ride time 4:52:00
average 15.6kph
max 38.5kph max
starting alti 1275
trip alti 509
max alti 1328
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