Bike travel, commuting and more

Panamericana

Argentina VII: Las Abritas to Cafayate

Tres Cruces

View from Tres Cruces

We finally reached the Ruta 40!

The next day we continued cycling in the Quebrada, stopping at amazing highlights like the Garganta del Diablo, a huge and dark side gorge to the main one, where our bikes caused quite a stir among the many tourists.

Devil's throat
Playing in Devil’s throat

Later one the next stop was the Anfiteatro, a round-like dent in the mountain walls that apparently has such a good accoustics that many musicians have recorded video clips and concerts here.

Amphitheater
The Amphiteather

Because of so many stops and the fact the road kept going up and down, we made another short day, stopping in Santa Barbara.

Family birthday postcard
Our family postcard for my sister’s birthday. Guess how old she is…

I would not call it a village but just a conglomeration of a few houses with a school, that luckily for us had open wifi so we built the tent next to it.

Camping in Santa Barbara
Our camping spot by dinner time

The next day we had yet more highlights, like La Yesera, an area with colorful strata, or The Obelisk, a rock with such a form. But first we had to pack our campsite.

Dirty Thomas
Thomas covered himself in dirt in the time we took to pack the tent

The last kilometers to Cafayate were slow going as we had a bit of a headwind, and the expected light downhill was more like flat or even slightly up.

Nice mountain to start the day
Nice landscape to start the day

To reward ourselves we had a great grill lunch. Afterwards we went to a nice café for dessert. We parked the bikes outside and thanks to that we met Juan, a Chilean cyclists that saw our bikes outside and came in to check.

La Yesera
Posing in La Yesera
La Yesera
You could be walking here for hours

We found a decent and affordable place to spent the night and we met many other travelers, through whom we discovered how many other finance their trips. Most travel on old vans, refurbished as motorhomes, and sell handmade crafts, or bake their own cakes to sell in the main square. Cyclists either play music, make jewelry or sell their own pictures as postcards to pay for their expenses. We felt nearly bad that we don’t do anything like that and we live on previous savings! Cafayate is specially friendly to travellers as it allows them to sell in the main square without permit or taxes.

Main Square in Cafayate
Main Square in Cafayate

We took the chance to have a couple rest days, fix some more broken spokes in the trailer, and buy clothes for the kids as they keep growing and breaking things. Now we have finally joined the legendary Ruta 40, which we will be following for quite a while.

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3 Comments

  1. Maria

    La postal me encanto! Gracias capullis! Nos vemos prontito!

  2. Katherine

    Ese Thomas, escojen los mejores momentos para dar rienda suelta a su imagination 😨 pero ni modo, toca sacudir y seguir😊

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