Salta - Paso Sico - San Pedro de Atacama

Salta – San Antonio de los Cobres

Plan was to collect our bikes at 08:30 and head for Paso de Sico. However the work had not been completed on BMW so wait is the only option. We eventually set sail at 11 revising the plan to go as far San Antonio de los Cobres, the last place we can get fuel.

The route, once away from city, runs through arable farm land then tracks a wide shingle river-bed, and narrow-gauge railway line, for some distance before climbing into the hills. The climb tops out at 4079m before dropping down to los Carlos, an Andean hill town. Altitude 3779 masl! Yep we have inadvertently decided to stop in the second highest urban area of Argentina. The railway also runs through Los Cobres and on into Chile.

                                need to watch the local traffic

Los Cobres was a little higher than we would like for an overnight stop, but apart from feeling light-headed, while walking around town, alls well. To reduce altitude would mean riding back towards Salta. The Tourist Information Office directed us to a fine hostel at the Western Edge of Town.The town itself supports 5000 people within the local area and apart from a few new buildings the majority of the town is adobe brick or block construction. New dwellings seem to be the preserve of army and Govt. officials.

28 Nov

We have come to San Antonio de Los Cobres to use it as a kick-off point to cross Paso Sico and back into Chile. The alternative would be to head north and take a tarsealed route to San Pedro de Atacama, but where is the adventure in that? I had heard the gravel road on the Argentine side of the pass was very sandy.

Leaving Los Cobres you are almost immediately in a steep climb up switch-backs to just on 4000masl. The road from there to the pass and on to San Pedro is the most memorable I have ever completed. Spectacular scenery and altitude combine to make a heady experience. The road to the pass is gravel with massive, bone-rattling corrugations, interspersed with sand pockets so the speeds were way down, but as there were photo opportunities everywhere you look, who is going to travel fast through here? After 150 k the Argentine Border post came into view, situated off to the side of Salar del Rincon.

At first I could not tell if anyone was there. The place appeared to be closed up but after I discovered the if you push the door hard enough to shift there patent door latch (a very large boulder) you were in. Processed, in 20 minutes, and under way to the Chliean Border post. That had to be the roughest section of road yet. Anything over 20k and you could not focus!

On arrival, I was stunned to see a Japanese gentleman sitting contemplating the scenery. Next to him was a foldaway push bike with 20 inch wheels towing a small trailer with 8 inch wheels. Now the curious thing about the Chilean Border post is they have Ag official and others that record you passport and intentions but the Customs and Immigration actions are carried out in San Pedro de Atacama, some 200k inside Chile. The gentleman had not realized he needed to sort customs and immigration requirements before leaving San Pedro, spent 3 days pedaling to the border post without the appropriate stamp in his passport, and had been waiting 3 days for a car to come past so he could return for the stamp.

Some people may know him. He cycled around NZ in 2007 using the same rig.

We encountered larger pockets of deep sand before the road hardened into a reasonable surface and a graded section. After one sand section I had stopped for photos. A roading company ute stopped to let me know the rider behind me had crashed in the sand. He soon appeared on the horizon, still covered in sand. No real damage done.

The rest of the ride was just magic. I got well ahead of Ron to pick a lunch spot and put the billy on. I did and Ron appeared, went past and kept going?? Well I had tea and soup in the most stunning lunch spot ever next to Salar ---------.

    Best lunch spot ever.  LAGUNA TUYAITO

Then on to San Pedro de Atacama for 2 nights.