Jan. 21, 2011: 
Rufino, SF, Argentina
One hundred and seventy-four kilometres!
Even with the stupid roads, and the stupid trucks, and the stupid mountain bike and the stupid heat.
Admittedly, it was somewhat borne of necessity. There just aren't really any towns between Junín and Rufino that are big enough to have a hotel. Even when I was planning on biking the whole way, this stretch was going to be the longest single day, for precisely that reason. I remember warily eying this stretch on Google Earth before leaving Calgary, checking out all the towns on Wikipedia in an attempt to discern just how big they were. And... no. So I really had no choice but to buckle down, slather on sunscreen like nobody's business, eschew the midday siesta (I now have an armful of blisters to show for my trouble), and just go like mad.
It was also v. much a case of fortune favouring the foolish. One of my concerns about going from East to West had been that the prevailing winds might, as would be the case in Canada, be against me. Sure enough, they have been. But today, for whatever reason, on the one day that I needed to make good time, they died down and allowed me to do my best.
- I am in the lowlands (actually below sea level at some points), and the highway crosses many lakes.
- There were many hundreds of different kinds of birds in the marshes around the lakes. I was too concerned about making time to stop and take too many photos. But these bright flamingos were especially striking.
- With the exception of the lakes, the highway out of Junín was pretty flat and featureless for the most part. This photo contains as much shade as I saw for most of the day. See above re: sunburn.
- Just outside Vedia. As in many countries, highway roundabouts provide an excellent occasion for public art.
- Just crossed my first province! Goodbye to Buenos Aires, and hola to Santa Fe!
I do (as I write this the following day) seem to have survived without incident. But yeah: not doing that again.
The one upside to biking through the dark was the nighttime scenery I would not have otherwise seen. I stopped for a quick break at one point, saw the southern cross (I've been in the southern hemisphere before, but too long ago and/or in areas that were too urban to remember seeing it) and a harvest moon rising above the lake. Along with hundreds and hundreds of fireflies in the reeds and marshes along the highway. I never realized before how bright those suckers were! Of course, the number of photos of any of this that came out at all: zero.
Tonight's wine: xxx. Too worried about making time. Dinner was empanadas and a bottle of Ser from a highway-side gas station.| Comments: | ||||||||||||
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