22.0 Not much...

Some days there's not much happening. It's not something we can arrange. And then there are other days...

So the other day we left the one llama town of Susques heading for the Argentinian/Chilean Border at the Paso de Jama which was about 130km away. And at an elevation of 4,200m. We were still chewing on our coca leaves. Plan was to spend the last of our Argentinian pesos on petrol at a petrol station just before the border. The logistics of getting petrol to the petrol station 250km off the main road baffled us. But they had run out of petrol anyway, just diesel left.

Next stop was the Immigration and Customs post where we filled in all the forms etc with our right cheeks puffed out, hamster like. Not too much of an issue as the officials were displaying the same facial disfigurement. You have to sign papers and have luggage and vehicles inspected to enter Chile. No meat, fresh fruit or vegetables or plants. Of course we signed our lives away knowing full well that we had hidden the stash at the bottom of the shoe bag such that any sniffer dogs would be put off by the smell of shoes. But there were no sniffer dogs and the official didn't ask to open the shoe bag. So now add smuggling to possession of illegal substances. We just chew on drugs that smell of old shoes now.

Then there were more salt flats. Not the really big ones but more very salty water with salt round the edges where the water had evaporated.

And volcanoes.

And llamas.

And vicunas and flamingos.

And some quite amazing scenery but it got quite chilly again in Chile at just over 4,800m altitude. The descent into San Pedro de Atacama, where we are staying for New Year, was amazing with lorries in first gear in case things got out of hand. It would have been great for the cyclists; but then again, they would have had to get up there in the first place in order to be able to come down.

So we are now staying in the driest place in the world, the Atacama desert. San Pedro itself has some rain but there are areas of the Atacama that have no rain whatsoever. As we have mentioned before, Chile is expensive so our modest hostel accommodation doesn't come with a swimming pool this time. We just have to remember the views.

21.0 High?

We are now in our last few days of Argentina - we have been here almost two months. We need to head North from Salta and then cross over into Chile. We are taking it easy - there is no middle option due to roads or accommodation, it's either some easy days and some potentially hard days - or some very hard days and we don't feel up to the very hard ones if we have a choice.

It was raining in Salta as we prepared to leave so we kitted up appropriately,  which meant that the rain immediately stopped and the temperature hit 30°C .Typical. We had to stop and repack our gear. We had a short 200km ride to Tilcara on what turned out to be lovely scenic roads - some of them only 4m wide, so lorries and buses were not allowed to use the road. You also had to stop at sharp bends as there was only enough room for one vehicle at a time. This really suited Paul and we had a nice leisurely ride. Then the road opened out and we had more multicoloured mountains as we arrived into Tilcara. We hadn't expected much of the day, but in the end it turned out very well. 

Tilcara itself turned out to be a very nice little town too. And it certainly came alive in the evening. We treated ourselves to some Andean nouvelle cuisine which turned out to be quite something. Francoise couldn't face the llama dishes, so we went vegetarian.

The following day was also not a big ride. We had broken the journey into two because it involved us riding to an altitude of 4,800m. Breaking into two then meant that we would also be staying midway at 3,900m. The staff at the Andean nouvelle cuisine restaurant were both lovely and very Andean and as often seems to happen with us, we got chatting with our still very poor Spanish. Where are you from? Where are you going? How old are you? The wine is from just down the road etc. And when it got to the 'Where are you going to bit', altitude sickness entered the conversation as did the local way of dealing with it.

So in the morning we asked at the hotel where we could buy Coca leaves. We then went to the local market in Tilcara and bought our stash. Maximillian at the hotel then gave us a lesson on what to do. And we are sucking on them now, well at least Paul is. We will only be at high altitude for a couple of days, so it's unlikely we will become addicted but here we are in our mid 60's in possession of illegal substances. We will probably have to ditch the stash before entering Chile as taking in all fruits, plants and meat is banned, let alone leaves that are the basis for drugs.

Not only high altitude but also rather a large number of hairpin bends. The roads are, however, wide enough for Paul to safely wobble round. We avoided any embarrassment. We are finding ways of dealing with the right turns, but it is still quite stressful in towns and cities. 

Once we got up to altitude we then came across the Argentinian salt flats, Salinas Grandes. Probably not as famous as the Bolivian ones but still very impressive. We pulled over onto the parking area thinking it was gravel. The bike almost tippled over as we put it on the side stand as we were on quite loose salt. We found something a little more compacted.

We are really in a one llama town for the night. We had booked somewhere but the owner didn't turn up and we couldn't understand his Spanish on WhatsApp - something to do with either not being safe or he couldn't be bothered? Luckily the other place in town had a bed for the night. Nonetheless it was the sort of place that didn't seem to welcome customers. We got inside just before thunderstorms started - exceedingly loud and reverberating around the mountains, which was pretty scary but there was only the odd drop of rain. Completely out of proportion with the son et lumiere show. We don't understand where these remote, high altitude, dry places get their water from. It will be a question we ask. As we head West now we are going to the driest place in the planet...

20.0 A different sort of Christmas

Our plans have evolved and will continue to do so. The first change happened some time ago when, due to the bike not wanting to play when we arrived in Uruguay, we did not arrive in Buenos Aires in time to use the airplane tickets we had booked to visit Iguazu Falls. 'Never mind', we said at the time, but we probably did mind.

There happened to be an Aerolineas Argentinas outlet in San Carlos de Bariloche when we were there and we worked out that we could get to Iguazu on an internal flight from Salta before we leave Argentina; Salta was on the most recent edition of our plan at the time. So we bought tickets which immediately gave us some fixed dates. Hence the push to get to Salta. We were going to spend Christmas at Iguazu Falls - and have a rest from the bike, and the bike from us.

Salta seems more affluent than some of the other Argentinian towns and cities we have visited. Generally this is the case for most of the northern Argentinian towns and cities, excepting Ushuaia which will always be an exception due to the tax free status of Tierra del Fuego. Salta has pavements. It is relatively clean. There are fewer street dogs. Vehicles are recognisably newer (less rust holes). Most of the towns do have nice squares or parks. They even manage the odd Christmas decoration or crib. But we didn't find much in Salta despite it having two Basilicas. In fact there is not much sign of Christmas at all. 

Salta to Iguazu was a big change  - not in Christmas parafinalia, but in weather. We were now in a very luxuriant rain forest and it rains regularly. And the humidity was quite striking. We stayed in a hotel that was built on the site of, and based on, a Jesuit Mision. A bit 'tomb-raider-ish'. It was our Xmas present to ourselves. But not many signs of Christmas.

On our first full day there, we were introduced to Walter who taxied us about everywhere. The first day was the Argentinian side of the waterfalls. Not all of it was open as two sections of the walkways had been washed away at the end of October - when we had originally planned to go. At that time the flow of water was 16 times more than usual. Anyway there was a walk through the jungle to get to the falls and everything was pretty spectacular as can be seen. The falls were as big and impressive as they were made out to be. Shame we couldn't have the blue sky for the photos. However, possibly because it was Christmas, there weren't too many people about. It certainly wasn't crowded. 

On our second day we went to the Brazilian side. Paraguay which was on the other side of the river to our hotel misses out on the falls but shares a hydroelectric plant with Brazil. Our visit was actually on Christmas Day. There was no sign whatsoever of it being Christmas. Not that the Coaties, monkeys and other associated wildlife cared.

There was also nothing festive about the meal in the restaurant in the evening - it was the same menu as the other two days. No Christmas songs playing in the background. No crackers or paper hats. At least we had a swim in the swimming pool - before the next thunder storm rolled in.

We have now flown back to Salta and getting ready to set off in the morning with a couple of potentially difficult days coming up.

19.0 A badge of distinction and other stuff

Motorcyclists like badges. Both real ones and virtual ones - just look at the jackets they wear. In 2014 we crossed the USA from Los Angeles to New York. A lot of bikers do part of this trip on the 'legendary' Route 66 which runs from Chicago to Santa Monica. It is almost a badge of honour to be able to say that you have ridden Route 66. At the time it was our plan to do so too, but in the opposite direction. However, Jim, an American fellow biker we met whilst riding through China, said that it was really boring and he then plotted us an alternative route which turned out to be great.

Ruta 3 in Argentina has a similar but lesser status. We rode the totality of it from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia and apart from the last 120km or so, we classified it as the most boring road we have ever ridden. The alternative top to bottom road in Argentina is Ruta 40. One of the surprising things about both the 3 and the 40 is that they are both quite quiet. We haven't seen any trains either. - so is there no North South traffic? Because there isn't much traffic, there are not many coffee stops either...

Amongst bikers the Ruta 40 badge is worth even more than the Route 66 one. This is all down to three sections of the road which have remained as a gravel road despite the authorities having allocated the necessary funds to pave them. Apparently on more than one occasion. Your badge becomes even more worthy if you can say that you stood up on the bike footpegs for these sections or that you have battle wounds from being hit by a Guanaco or similar. We avoided these three sections altogether. Some people we have met have said that one of our avoidance schemes was actually harder than the Ruta 40 section we were avoiding, but we will never be able to compare.

Nonetheless some of Ruta 40 has been very scenic and we are not finished on it yet, but an awful lot of it has been downright boring. If the only alternative is the equally boring Ruta 3 it's a bit tough on South American bikers. But the badges still count. At least Paul has his virtual Paso de Libertadores badge from the other day.

Argentina had a lot of Italian immigration and the Roman influence on the roads is apparent. Straight as a die for tens of km on end and if the only scenery is scrubland, well hence our 'boring' epitaph.

But the scenic bits are indeed, scenic. And the sheer grandeur of the plains between mountain ranges are quite something. Also the quietness when you stop nowhere, in particular to take a photo of a cactus. 

One can also see for a very long way indeed. When it's hot and there is a heat haze the road has a mirage effect. And you also can see the weather from a long way away but, despite the very ominous clouds some days, we have so far avoided rain. 

We don't reaĺly know what to expect when we set off in a morning - weather or scenery wise. So far most things have been good surprises.

We occasionally stop at the side of the road when there is a decent gravel verge to pull over onto. We had always said that travelling in the opposite direction to what most people do, would  mean that we would cross people. It hadn't really happened. And then... a bike turned round whilst we were looking at cacti: an English guy who had recognised our UK number plate. Soon after what we thought was a couple of Columbians on their Triumph Tiger, until we saw that they had a Jack Russel sat between them.

The following day it was a Brazilian couple on a newer version of our Electraglide, followed by a guy from Hawaii who we met up with for dinner in the evening.

We are often thankful for Petrol Stations in Argentina. UK ones have something to learn. Yes, there is petrol and we need petrol, but most of them also have cafes. The cafes are heated or chilled as need be. The coffee is good. They have Argentinian croissants or hot empanadas and the toilet facilities are usually immaculate. And they take cards which was a godsend when we had no cash. The other night we ate at one as nothing else seemed to be open and we amused ourselves wondering whether the vehicles filling up would pass an MoT control in the UK. Yes you have the old Ford and Chevrolet pickups but Renault 12s and Peugeot 504s are still going strong here too. Most mopeds seem to carry more than two people (no helmets of course) and front and rear lights are clearly an option most people don't buy into. Same with the old cars. 

Talking of petrol, it doubled in price here on Monday on the new President's first day. It's still cheap for us, but we wonder what would have happened in the UK if Rishi had done the same?  The official exchange rate changed too. Instead of 375 pesos to the US$ it's now 800. This will have put all the money changers out of business if we understand the implications correctly. What we can't fathom out is how it is going to impact us and the hotels we have booked for Christmas? Annual inflation on household necessities is currently at 171% and rent annual inflation at 300% if we understood the banner headlines on the TV at the petrol station. There are long queues outside ATMs as people are restricted in how much they can withdraw. Whereas supermarkets do have goods priced, other shops don't as everything changes daily. 

We still see bicycles. Not many but every single one of them has our deep admiration. We can't imagine them riding 200kms in a day and sometimes 200kms will be too short a distance. Although they don't need petrol they still need fuel. They need to carry the necessary food and water to cover for there being no petrol station stops. In Patagonia it would have been impossible to put up a tent in those winds, let alone hold it down if you did manage it. And it's not as though there were any trees or bushes to hide behind. And then the mountain passes and hills and the boring monotony of the straight roads. Another breed.

One last bit of cultural trivia - dogs. A large proportion of dogs here in Argentina are street dogs. They are clearly fed by someone and there is not a large amount of dog mess about. They have a certain road sense as they cross the road between oncoming cars and otherwise lie around in the shade or sun as it pleases them. We haven't come across one yet that has been aggressive. It was something we were quite concerned about and maybe we will have been right to have been concerned as we move farther North into other countries, but for the time being a dog's life seems to be a pretty good one here.

We are now in Salta which is at the very Northern end of Argentina and we will be leaving Argentina after Christmas.  The plan is that we spend a few more days in (expensive) Chile and then cross into Peru. Uruguay, Argentina and Chile have not been that different to Europe in a lot of respects. We will see about Peru in a couple of weeks.