Pismanta - wild camp dry river

24th March, 90 km, total 4580 km.

We loaded 18 litres of "thermal water" and headed towards Iglesia.
We had already decided that, there, we would take the longer but paved road to Calingasta. We had been warned the gravel road to Calingasta was in really bad conditions.
From Iglesia it is a gentle but really long uphill. After some hours of going up we started thinking it would take 4 days to get to Calingasta. Right then a 30 km downhill started. This was pure fun! And it took us all the way to our campsite, just a few meters from the road but behind big, tight bushes. Hadn't it been for the thousands of mosquitos it would have been a fairly nice spot. Of course, no running water, though.

wild camp 3 - Pismanta

wild camp 3 - Pismanta: 22nd March, 111 km, total 4490
rest day in Pismanta: 23rd March

Another beautiful ride!
We woke up from hybernation. Most of our water had turned into ice and the thermometer was showing -8 C degrees.
Now we were pedalling at times AND pushing at times. We did not have any mountain sickness symptoms, but we did get easily winded.
Soon after starting, the road worker came around to check we were doing fine. He said we would not meet again and we thanked him and greeted "Adios".
After 14 slow km, at noon we reached the top.
The way down, first on bad gravel, got faster and faster until we hit 1-2 km of road works. The mud got in the mudguards and brakes and we were forced to clean the mess. I did barely have the time to get back on saddle swearing against bad argentinian roads when we found ourselves on new pavement.
We got fast and reached a Gendarmeria post and after further 40 km the actual Aduana before 6 pm.
Our friend Adrian had told us we could find Termas on our way down, and we did. We decided to afford us 2 nights in the spa hotel in Pismanta! Nice hotwater baths and nice dinner buffet. The waiter could not believe we were so hungry!

One note for Ana&Andre and other cyclists. The ride from La Serena to Paso de Agua Negra is beautiful almost every km, the same would not be the case from Pismanta to Agua Negra, where many more tasteless km of pampas would be found. Much better to take them on a fast downhill!

wild camp 2 - wild camp 3

21 March, 40 km, total 4379 km

This was a very nice ride in the mountains on ok gravel!
In the morning, we got an early start. And cold! down jackets and warm gloves on, but as soon as the sun hit our way it became nice and warm.

Not knowing if the river would be at reach during the day, we took some water from a smaller creek flowing down the mountain side. This is when we first met a chilean roadworker on his pick-up. After chatting some minutes, he said he would keep an eye on us the following two days. Just in case we would need some help getting over the pass. Nice guy!
We were waiting for a headache to show us we were approaching 4000 m over sea level, but, instead, we came to a sign telling us we had already climbed above that level. And we were still feeling totally alright. The training on Bolivia altiplano was still helping us.
We took more water from a creek. This was a good choice as we did not meet any more for the day.
The camp spot was surrounded by stunning mountains. We guessed we were at about 4300 m, were waiting us a cold night and took all our clothes on us. It proved to be the coldest night of the trip and we clutched to each other to hold the warmth.

wild camp 1 - wildcamp 2

20th March, 52 km
About 20 km after our campsite, we came to Aduana, where the pavement finishes and the gravel starts.
The mountains surrounding the valley were bautiful in their colours, from green to yellow and red.
The river was nearby until evening when we, temporarily, climbed higher up. We camped behind a big pile of gravel, just a few meters from the road, and just before La Laguna. No running water and an altitude of about 3100 m.
The night was not too cold and, apart from some dogs crunching some bits of bread left behind from another recent bivac, quiet.

La Serena - Vicuña - wild camp 1

La Serena - Vicuña: 18th March, 63 km
Vicuña - wild camp : 19th March, 64 km

Quite soon after leaving La Serena vineyards started to appear. They would be at our both sides until and well beyond Vicuña.
Vicuña is a nice little town, where we were glad to find our first camping in a long time (Bolivia and Peru, have no campsites and camping in the wild has not been as nice as usual since running water was never to be found).
Leaving Vicuña we cycled on a very gentle uphill almost all day, into a long and narrow valley. The river is almost always at reach.
We camped a few hundred meters from the road, near the river side. At night we had polenta with cheese and tomatoes.