Saturday 1 January 2011

Into the green

There is a substantial change in the landscape to the south of Mendoza. The countryside here is green and there are farms with crops instead of the brown dusty lands to the north. There are clouds in the sky and the stark definition of the mountains in the arid north is no longer seen. The mountains take on a misty appearance of the form that I associate with Scotland and other areas in Europe which have moisture in the air around them.

I had a tough day on the 22nd Dec. The temperature was 40C and I chose a 140km route. By the time I got to the hotel in the evening I was feeling like puking. As I was checking in, I left reception and just made it outside to throw up in front of the door. The next day I didn´t keep anything down, even water. The day after, Christmas eve, the lady at the hotel came up to see how I was doing and I was dizzy as hell. She offered to get her son to drive me down to the hospital to see if they could stop me throwing up and get some water into me. On the way to the hospital the son took a call to say that the hospital was very busy. He said that he would take me to his friend who was a doctor. When we got there it turned out that his friend was a healer, not a doctor. He got me to hold a purple ribbon to my stomach and did some chanting. Then finished by telling me that I had an upset stomach and that I should get some water and food into me. REALLY?! He must be a candidate for the Nobel prize for Voodoo this guy! I left his house, my driver kindly gave him a tip, I did not. I said something along the line of ´take me to the bloody hospital!´as politely as I could manage, which thankfully he did.

Three drip bags full of salty water and a shot of something to stop me puking and I was back on the road to recovery and out the door by lunchtime. In the hospital I remembered that I hadn´t extended my travel insurance after extending my holiday and it had expired on the day before! Luckily those nice Argentinians didn´t even ask for it and the local NHS did it all for free and wished me a merry Chistmas. Nice.

I spent Christmas by the pool at the hotel in the near 40C heat, which eased the pain of being away from home just a little.

The days since have been some long ones on the bike. Well over 100km most days when the roads are decent. The temperature is dropping as I go south and it´s now comfortably in the high 20´s rather than high 30´s which is perfect cycling weather. I´ve had two days of cycling through thunderstorms and the weather is just warm enough to make getting a little wet not uncomfortable.

The snow on the mountains here is getting more substantial. There are ski equipment drying rooms in the hotels. It feels like the border between the hot arid north and the cold blustry south.

The glitz of San Rafael

Green trees and plenty grassland indicate a new landscape to the south

Two puncures in one day. There are lots of tiny pin sized thorns that cause slow punctures. My back tyre is almost bald, so I guess that doesn´t help. I´ll fit a new tyre in Bariloche I think, which will lighten my load as I´ve been carrying a spare. A kind local stopped and insisted on giving me a new inner tube despite me patching the hole. Lots of problems around here he said and mucho rapido with a new tube...very kind chap.

The storm clouds gathered and the rain just kept on falling.

A british looking sky and a European sno capped mountain

Sunset outside Malargue

This scorpion took shelter under my tent during a night of a heavy downpour.

Horses having a drink on the edge of Patagonia

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