pedalpanam

14500 from Matt Kelly on Vimeo.

15000 from Matt Kelly on Vimeo.

15500 from Matt Kelly on Vimeo.

The videos above were taken near Cafayate, Jachal and Malargüe, respectively.  I’ve still got a week of riding through the desert, then I look forward to being in the wetter, cooler region of Argentina.  The miles are flying by even though some days it really doesn’t seem like it.  I’ll cross into what is considered Patagonia sometime this week.

I’ve run into several Argentine touring cyclists lately.  It seems that aside from the US, more than any other country on this trip, Argentina has the most cyclists travelling within their own country, and especially right now, which is when most people have vacation time.  Heading south is Juan Alberto “Superman” (possibly got this nickname by, among other feats, having completed 49 marathons), who just started a year long trip around Argentina on his 49th birthday.   Emiliano from Mar de Plata is also heading along the same route for the next few weeks.  We rode together a couple of days ago, and though our speeds and schedules differ, I’ll look forward to running in to them again as we all head south.

After four days straight and about 260 miles from Mendoza, I took a day off in Malargüe, a tidy little city with a big tourism industry.  Nearby is a ski resort, but it is the summer here, so all the ski rental stores are shuttered.  The city has a brand new planetarium, last night there was a documentary and then a tutorial on finding different constellations, which is helpful as I don’t know much about the southern stars (or the northern ones for that matter).  So if I get lost and am cycling at night, I can now find the Southern Cross.