More matters about route 7

As the pampas became dryer our travelling on the dirttracs became more difficult. The Argentinians had now begun to warn us about 35 km of unavoidable road ahead. "It's sandy" they said. The thing is the Argentinians had spent a lot of time warning us about many things. the police would warn us furiously about the locals and the locals would join in, warning us furiously about other locals and the police. the only thing they agreed on was to warn us about the dirttracks. "They don't know our way of travelling" we said. "they don't know what we can do!" Arrogantly we headed out into the vastness. But the area is called cuyo in indian. Cuoy means sandy and the Argentinanas knew this track very well. Soon the hard surface gave way to a beachy surface which then gave way to a collection of nice dunes on the road.

So we pushed our bikes all the way up a long hill hoping it would get better on the other side. But it didn't. instead the dunes grew. So we dragged our bikes all the way down the long hill as well. In desperation we tried to ride along the traintrack but al screws threatened to fall out of our bikes. "You should have taken route 7!!!" they rattled in an annoyed mannor. We dragged our bikes up another hill. And so it continued for 35 km. It took us 8 hours, mostly walking in baking heat. Finally Argentina had convinced us to go on route 7, a motorway, for the remaining 300 km to the Andes. With this the fun part of the pampas was over. 

The part of the pampas that we crossed is not popular with tourists. "That must have been hell..." other cyclists have said to us. But it wasn't. The generosity from the people out here has been amazing. We´ve been given chocolate and snacks, the populations of small villages have gathered around us to wish us well and the camspots have been stunning, with wide skys allowing for impressive burning red sunsets at dusk and huge starlit horizons at night. 

We´ve been spoilt with silence and peace. Time to contemplate. Only one night i've sleept badly. I´d forgotten how foul a bad nights sleep can be. In the UK i used to sleep badly often. Worrying about my job and stuff. Being away for so long has given us some perspective and allowd us to see some changes we can make in our lives at home. I for example can never ever allow myself to be that unhappy in a job ever again! But all that should be far away.....  or should have been far away at least.

T