See our Strava here: https://www.strava.com/athletes/markandnic
See our photos here:https://photos.app.goo.gl/8sK1ryrupSjneZ9BA
I did not take much time to blog as we rode through the rest of Bolivia and into Northern Argentina. We were coving lots of kilometers, enjoying the fast riding in the remainder of the altiplano and here in the desert of northern Argentina.
Our time in Argentina has offered many luxuries: good camping, some incredible vegetarian restaurants, wine, and espresso. The proliferation of Argentinian beef is certainly impressive (although of course not much a treat for us, though the cheese is much better here). Not only is it on almost every menu, but we were surprised to learn that almost all of the grocery store cookies are made with beef fat: we have been steering clear. The cuisine, like the accent, is heavily influenced by the widespread Italian heritage here. There are lots of pasta and pizzas, but our favorite local food is cheese filled “tortillas” which are a grilled, buttery flat bread stuffed with cheese.
When we dropped into lower elevations, we were somewhat taken aback by the heat after so long in Peru and Bolivia. We have quickly readjusted our habits to the hotter climate, drinking more water and hydration mixes and trying to start riding a little earlier to catch the cool morning hours.
Thankfully, however, we are finally out of the tropics, so the heat is a little more tolerable. It is less humid and the hot days yield to cooler fall nights. This has made for great camping weather. And we have been happy to wild camp as well as enjoy the abundance of established campgrounds here in Argentina.
Being another degree of latitude south did not protect us from the mosquitoes, and we were very disappointed to contract dengue a few days ago. Argentina is undergoing its worst outbreak ever right now; and the Catamarca province, where we spent several days getting bitten by mosquitoes, has one of the highest rates of infection.
At first, we didn’t think much of it when I woke up achy and exhausted after another long day on the bike. We took it easy and got some other chores done, and eventually rode a few kilometers to another campground. I woke up feeling just as bad the next day, already tired of the persistent headache. Mark was started to feel poor too, but we decided to ride to the next town. After a bit of a rough start, we were feeling okay on the bike and we still managed to ride 100 km.
We decided to get a hotel, where we ended up settling in for four nights dealing with headaches, body aches, eye pain, gastrointestinal distress and general fatigue. Simple tasks were exhausting, but with both of us sick we had no choice but to do our best.
For Mark, the worst symptom was the migraine like headaches, which would come in sharp bolts of pain every five seconds or so. We spent two night nearly sleepless, rolling around with headaches and fevers.
To make the situation more stressful, we are almost out of cash with only about $10 left, and were unable to pick up our western union transfer at the office here in San Jose de Jachal. We decided to try the atm, but after hours of waiting in atm lines (I had to leave Mark alone halfway through waiting because I threw up) we discovered that our debit card did not work at either of the atms in town. Mark then wandered around town for another hour to try and change the little bit of US cash we had with us. After getting turned down everywhere in town, the owner of the hotel we were staying at kindly offered to change the bills for us. This gave us enough cash to pay for two more nights at the hotel and have a little bit to get us to the next big city.
Finally, we started feeling a little bit better and were happy to have an appetite for breakfast. Our diet had mostly been juice, instant mashed potatoes, ice cream, and cereal for the days prior, so some prepared food sounded quite nice. We enjoyed our breakfast, but after a few minutes of it settling in, it was running out of us. Mark pooped his pants: just a little. And while he was in the bathroom cleaning up I had to run outside and throw up in the street. Back to bed.
After a really restful nights sleep we were finally feeling better. We weren’t quite ready to ride, but didn’t want to spend any more of our limited cash on a hotel, so we packed up the bike and spent the day loitering in town before heading to a local campground. We have been holding down food better and doing our best to stay hydrated, and we look forward to being able to ride again today.
Thanks for reading.
-Nic