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Three hundred and ninety kilometres of cycling through desert only to have to go back!!

 

The route to San Augustin was as I was told by everyone, uninhabited desert, with the occasional little village ( though between about 40  and 70 miles apart) It was tedious, though relatively speaking fairly flat. That is until I entered Valle de Fertil, where the hills started.

 

This desert is one of the most inhospitable places you could ever hope to be stuck. A look at the dead animals by the roadside, or on the road showed how cruel it can be! Carcases of horses, cows, mules and dogs. At one stage I could see this black thing in the middle of the road which looked like the remains of a truck tyre from a distance. As I got closer up above there were somewhere between 10 and 15 condors above me. It became clear that this was a winged creature, a condor no less! It was the closest I’d got to one, but sadly it was dead. I assumed that it had been killed to trying to lift a dead dog in the road. It is clearly unlucky to drive over it because the two trucks that passed, nearly killed me trying to avoid the bird. The shadows of the condors circling above me was a little unsettling. They are after all vultures, and I wasn’t looking forward to replacing the dog as their afternoon feed. It really was a grisly site and it stank of rotting bodies!

 

I passed some interesting little villages or hamlets on the way to San Augustin Valle de Fertil. At Marayes I became a bit of a legend at the barbeque spot where a number queued up to have their picture taken. I was pleased to have been able to understand enough Spanish to communicate with all who came up to speak. As for Astica, it was a little piece of paradise in the Valle de Fertil, reminding me of some nice little French village in the Dordogne.

 

I arrived in san Augustin Valle de Fertil at around 6.30 at night. Having been without access to internet and phone for three days, I felt that I needed to find an internet cafe first. I cycled around and asked a few people. “No tengo wifi” Eventually I found a tourist office. He explained that there was no wifi in the area, however, I could use one of two internet cafes! He directed me to them. I tried both, and neither had any service! Mmmmm.

 

As I was passing one of the cafes I headed towards the bus station...its a good bet on low hostel prices! Sure enough, there was a guy from “Ecohostel” offering a room and breakfast at 20 pesos ( £3.30).  There I had access to a kitchen, had a private room, though the bed was a little ehhhhmm ......old!. The mattress had these little buttons like one of my Mum’s old three piece suites which made for an uncomfortable sleep (sorry Mum). Nevertheless, one should be thankful for little mercies as  there was a great, albiet shared shower. And for a change there was no need to run around to get wet. Though I needed to cool down with a cold shower, there was no problem with hot water.

 

I went out to a local minimercado to buy some ham. There is only so much tuna, sardines and pasta a man can take! I was now down to my last 230 pesos, so knew I’d have to get a good deal. I managed to get some ham, a packet of mayonnaise and some rather hard “rolls” for ten pesos! A bargain at less than £2. I had to nuk the rolls when I got to the hostel. But they tasted almost as good as my first plate of porridge

 

I settled down to my food, in the open air, on a night where I don’t think I have ever seen so many stars, and never ever so bright. All of, sudden I was jolted out of my quiet slumber by this loud blast of Ave Maria, coming I assumed, from the Plaza, which was only about 50 metres away. I wandered into the plaza to find the culprit being this dainty little church with a monstrous speaker system. It seemed as if it was carrying out a chain of baptisms as mothers and fathers were queuing in the isle with their offspring. October to December 2008 was clearly a busy month for the Mums and Dads in San Augustin, Valle de fertile......the clue’s in the name!! As I stood nosily viewing the proceedings, all of a sudden, we moved from the wedding march to, would you believe? “ Land of Hope and Glory”. This following a display of jingoism the previous night.

 

I wandered back to the hostel and crashed, sleeping soundly after a difficult three days cycling. Now as tomorrow was Sunday, I was not going to be able to change cash and as the money was running out ( and I still had no pin numbers ( BANK>>>>DO YOU HEAR ME????),  things were getting tight. And with no access to internet, and a phone that stopped functioning, it was going to be impossible to speak to anyone.

 

I was able to find a tourist office open, and the guy there spoke good English. I explained my predicament and asked if there was anywhere that I could change a traveller cheque today. “No” he said; and went on to say. You will not be able to change a traveller cheque here at all, but you can use the cash machine. I explained more clearly this time, no I can’t use the cash machine, because MY BANK HAS NOT SENT ME MY NEW PIN NUMBER ...(BANK........DO YOU HEAR?). I said “do you think it might be possible to draw some cash with a card and a passport tomorrow?”. He said “ No, not tomorrow”. The bank is only open on Wednesday’s and Friday’s. Entirely fitting then that this area should lie at the heart of the dinosaur era. I said “What?? or rather “WHAT?” Mucho problema, No dinero”.

 

I decided that in order to avoid another embarrassing moment of having to attempt to breakdance for cash, I would use the limited money I had left to get a bus to la Rioja so that I could change some travellers cheques. The hostel agreed to store my luggage and my bike and trailer, so that I could head off on the bus. I went to the bus station to find out when the buses went to La Rioja. The woman explained it only travels on a Monday Wednesday and Friday and 3 o’clock. Fine, I said. “Do i need to book?” I said. “No ,no nefecito” was the reply.

 

That night, I could see bandstands being set up on one of the roads adjoining the Plaza. I had fortunately, (or not depending on how important it was to get some sleep on a Sunday night), arrived on the annual “Estundiante primavera fiesta”. Apparently there were going to be a lot of top bands. So, after a visit to a deserted restaurant where I “enjoyed” a meat dish of some sort, a Budin de Pan and a glass of wine for the grand sum of £3, I wandered down to the Plaza where large crowds had gathered. On came the band after a soundcheck and that was it until 5 30 in the morning! I’m pleased to say that I went to my bed at 12.00, but the music continued right throughout the night. There was an interesting stand-off between the church and the Fiesta organisers, when at about 10.30  the church started to blast out its normal Sunday night hymns. Given that the church is king around here, I didn’t fancy the chances of the Estudiante fiesta winning out! But to my surprise the church hymns stopped and the latin sounds continued and continued and continued.

 

So next morning I enjoyed a very basic breakfast of hard bread and jam and a cup ot tea. pleased that I didn’t offer all my bananas to the difunta Correa shrine!! I went up to the bus station, convinced that it would be better if I booked a seat for the journey later that day. When I got to the bus station, the lady said, no bus until Wednesday! It was another one of those “WHAT?” moments. I explained that her colleague told me that the bus would be leaving at 3.00 today. She said, yes....03.00 am! Another WHAT? moment! Mucho problema. Nefisita una autobus para dinero. No tengo mucho dinero

 

I went back to the tourist office and explained the problem, hoping that he might have some ideas. It turns out that there was no place in La Rioja to change travellers cheques anyway, so it was probably good fortune that I didn’t go there. He then said, your only hope will be San Juan, a six hour journey back to where I’d come from! I had mixed feelings about this. I reflected that perhaps my offering of a banana, saved me from an embarrassing trip with my last 100 pesos to la Rioja, but at the same time, it felt that, like a magnet, I was being sucked back towards Mendoza.

 

So there we have it. Bike and gear is in Eco hostel, San Augustin  valle de Fertile. I am back in San Juan. The other bit of good news, or bad news ( depending on your world view) is that I’m able to get back on the internet and therefore upload BLOG updates and some pics.