Predictable Unpredictability

That was Karinne´s term for the mileages listed on our maps, and on the road signs. All are just off. Sometimes you see a sign that says 30 km to the next town, then a few more km towards that town, there is another that says 31 km. Fortunately our bike computer broke on day 1, so we don´t know anyway, nor are we constantly reminded just how slow we are going.

Slowness is actually good on these wicked gravel roads. They call it ripio, and we´ve covered hundreds of miles of it, and we have almost pure ripio ahead of us for the next couple weeks. I´ve come to understand it- you can´t fight it, you just have to flow with it. This usually entails going much slower than we maybe could, since that minimizes the jarring and skidding. But that is what is needed, so that is what we do.

We haven´t run into as many bike tourers over the last week as we had for a while, I guess we´ve gotten off of the famous Ruta 40, a 5000 km long road stretching from the northwest corner of Argentina all the way south. Much of it is gravel, but spectacular, and a popular riding option.

We will miss Argentina, it has treated us well. The food, the people, the scenery, all have been far better than we could have hoped. It feels like our trip is winding down, and it is, which is someways sad and in some ways good.