Wandering Wheels: Day 10 – Uspullata to Penitentes ( 67km 1120m)

Left at 7.40am and cycled back into Uspullata. The weather was clear, sunny and cool and we had an easy first 15km on a gently undulating road with little traffic. The views to the surrounding mountains were breathtaking as we cycled along a wide valley with just the sound of birds and insects. The geology and colours of the rock were incredible with black lavas, porphyry and multi-coloured sedimentary in shades from purple, ochre and green to red. Darwin apparently passed this way in 1830 and said, ‘it resembles those pretty sections which geologist make of the inside of the earth’. The road followed a disused railway line with telegraph poles marking it’s route where landslides had covered the tracks or flowers and plants camoflauged it. We were also following an ancient Inca trail with ruins of dwellings visible at the sides of the roads from time to time. The gradient, although not as steep as roads in the dales or lake district, became relentless but the incredible views took your mind off any aches and pains. We passed through a few more tunnels and emerged into a new landscape of roadside flowers and a scrub called ‘jarilla’. After 44km we arrived at a group of buildings beside the road and stopped for some shade and sustinance. Unfortunately, the best we could do was a packet of biscuits and a 2 litre bottle of bright 'neon orange' pop. Despite our thirst it tasted like it looked and we struggled to force it down. However, we reckoned the e-numbers would be as good as dose of caffeine. After 58km we arrived at Punta de Vacas (2325m) and a police check point. We were given a slip of white paper which we would no doubt need to hand to somebody else further up the road. He asked where we were going and where we were from...he thought we were German. When we turned the corner after the checkpoint the wind hit us. We had read that it would be a problem, maybe due to the prevailing wind, temperature in the afternoon and local geomorphology. The result was an incredibly strong and gusty head wind which dried out our eyes, lips and nose. The humidity at this altitude is very low which meant our sweat instantly evaporated into gritty crystals. So when we eventually stopped at Los Penitentes we looked like 2 scorched scarecrows! Enjoyed a huge 3 course lunch in the only restaurant and booked in at the hotel next door that only took dollars which we thankfully had with us. We hoped there would be wi fi to post a blog and send a few messages but, not surprisingly, there was no connection. Hopefully we will find somewhere to say Happy Christmas in the next few days. When we cross into Chile tomorrow we have no planned stopping destinations so who knows where we will be on Christmas Day?