Training Day

First Al Fresco poo (by Al). The cycle ride to El Mollar started out flat for 30km, then we began to climb. it got hotter and hotter and we kept having to stop to cool down. Even every 2km. I noticed I was trembling. At about 40km (25km to go) we couldn't really manage any more climbing, so we turned around to head back. We were stopping at every kilometre by now.

The downhills were amazing but of course followed by 30km on the flat and by now blazing hot road. There was no shade, so we suffered quite a bit on that last stretch. I badly burned my hands and this training ride reminded us how dangerous heat and hills can be. We were dowsing ourselves with water and still were too hot.

Other incidents included a shewee misadventure and an old boy talking at me in untelligble Spanish for the best part of 20 minutes and concluding with his telling me how good my Spanish is. All I'd said was "si, si" throughout.
How glad we were to get back to the hotel for a shower and a lie down.

Los Ladrones

Last night, we returned to our tent after dinner and the noisy Argentinians came over to tell us some kids had been through our tent and they'd chased them away. One was a Falklands veteran, which made for an awkward moment. Both were pretty drunk, shook our hands and kissed our cheeks umpteen times, wanted to invite us over for wine but we made our excuses. The 'ladrones' didn't take anything, so we reckon the story had been a ruse to come over.

In the morning we set off for Famailla. The road was flat, cyclable and it felt good to be on the bikes again.
We didn't feel like hanging about Tucuman campsite so it was a useful trip - back in the saddle for training AND away from Tucumán.

We found quite a nice hotel to stay. From here we plan to head into the mountains to El Mollar to have a look. We have a jiffy tummy though. We may turn around and come back to Famailla . It's a handy stop between a biggish town and some mountain roads for training rides.
We ate at a restaurant and it was Jamon Y Queso, which is all you ever get when you eat out. It was all that was available yesterday and that meal was so rich it took hours to digest.

Famailla town square

Tucumán

A 17 hour bus journey to Tucumán. The coach journey was comfortable enough, with generously padded seats, but it was rather refrigerated. Of course, I was next to the draughty window that would not open or close.
The campsite is in a massive park and there is no set price for the camping. We haven't been here long enough to know what to pay. We handed over AR$50, which is about £9.

Only after we paid did we see the baños were the worst we've seen. The sinks are full of writhing black beetles, Indiana Jones style. Praying mantis sit on surfaces all over, particularly on the seats and flush handles of the loos. These toilets were uncleaned, and one was full (I mean FULL) of wet poo.

The bikes got a bit of a bashing on the coach but nothing too serious.

Our eating has been rather terrible lately. We tend to skip lunch, regret it by about 5pm but dinner is not available for another 3 hours. We eat crap to keep us going and then are too full for a proper dinner and just go to bed. We went to find dinner to avoid repeating that pattern tonight.

Back at Retiro station

We caught the bus at 5.30 am and there was loads of room for the bikes. Last night we'd had a terrific thunderstorm through the night, frequent lightning and ground-shaking thunder. We're not getting much sleep in Argentina.
At Retiro station (back here again?!) Al sorted out tickets to Tucuman. I bought a diccionario to help with my poor Spanish and we waited at the station for 10 hours. We amused ourselves with ice creams -the chocolate on it is, we suspect, actually wax.

At 18.45 we got on the bus to Tucuman

Tranquility Meadows

We went to the bus terminal on the edge of town and here I realised just how limited my Spanish really is. I was only getting the gist of what was said. After a long "no entiendo" discussion, the lady in the office got the Google Translator up on her pc and we communicated through this. It worked better and we managed to understand each other. They were trying to tell us we'd never get our bikes onto a bus here heading North to Tucuman, as it'd be full of other people's luggage from Buenos Aires. It would be better to return to Buenos Aires where we'd have more choice of carrier and lots of space for the bikes.

Taxi ideas were nixed when it was obvious the vehicles on offer would be too small. We'll need to take the bikes apart and hope they don't get too damaged.

Al and I discussed this. They offered us a sip of their mate -  a metal mug full of tea leaves, hot water added and re-added and drunk through a metal straw.

Eventually we decided to take her advice and take the CHevallier coach to BUenos Aires. They had been incredibly generous with their time to try to help us.  We booked two seats on the 5.30 bush to Buenos Aires. We'll spend another night at Tranquility Meadows campsite. It has ferocious mosquitoes, sexually frustrated dogs barking and yelping all night after a bitch in season, mooing cows stuck in a flood, agricultural lorries rumbling past all night.

studying the guia de acampante for campsites, marking these on the map

Baradero

We left at 6am and took the 41 to Baradero. The road was as narrow as R8 but the traffic was much lighter.
We got to Baradero after crossing the Ruta 9. We could see it did have a large shoulder, but we couldn't be sure it'd last. We've checked at a WiFi spot and it stops being an 'autopista' on the way to Cordoba. Not great. Cordoba is a big place, so traffic would continue to be a problem. We'll see about catching a bus from here.
 The campsite is another basic one. We have lots of ferocious mosquitoes - millions of them - hanging out on the shower walls. There is no hot water, so I had a cold shower and fed a few dozen mosquitoes.
The numbers are high because the river nearby has flooded. Cows are stranded in the flood waters.

Yellow?

We took a day off to recover from a sore neck, sore knee and sore bum. Also, we want to spend more time planning a route using that WiFi spot.

We've noticed that Argentinians are pretty stoney faced people. You give them a smile and get nothing back. Shopkeepers aren't in any hurry to sell anything, either.

The rain  (new word: lluvia) has cleared and it's back to being bloody hot all the time and we have to be vigilant for sunburn. We're also getting used to taking on lots of water. The town has cunningly put in place three identical parks, ensuring  we get even more lost in their one-way system. The fiends!

We had some cold drinks at a cafe and when theyr arrived, the waiter asked: yellow?
We were mystified. What does he mean, yellow? yellow? why yellow? He repeated the question: yellow? yellow?. It was guest at the next table who explained: hielo = ICE.