Woke late and set off at 10.00! Cycled down the road, decided to take a short cut through the park, got lost and had a puncture! Fixed it on the grassy verge of a large house and set off again in the right direction. As the map was at 1:2,000,000 scale we had to rely on road signs and a compass.However, the road signs were none existant and we ended up on the Pan American Highway, passing big signs prohibiting bicycles. There was no way off for quite a while and when we did escape we rode on a rough gravel track next to the Highway. Lots of people stopped to offer help with directions even though we didn’t ask…everyone is incredibly kind and keen to help. They actually stopped their cars and queued up to offer their particular version of the route!! We realised we needed to return to the main highway and despite our fears we were passed by other cyclists and a police car. After 30 hot kilometers we paused for a drink from our bottles and spotted, directly opposite, a lovely looking roadside café that sold the famous ’empanadas’ we had yet to try. We heaved our bikes across the thick gravel and into a green garden with 2 outdoor ovens and a covered patio areas where empty tables awaited us. We had 8 little empanadas (a tastier version of our pasties about 1/3 size) and a beautiful salad. The food so far has been excellent. Spent 1 ½ hours eating a drinking water and set off fully refreshed. About 5 minutes later we were stopped by a man on a motorbike who overtook us then waited on the verge for us to reach him. He asked if we were going to Cacheuta, (which we were) and mentioned something about the next town after. When weconfirmed we were going to Cachueta he seemed happy and let us go. We climbed steeply through barren m ountains (on a quiet back road) which turned out to be extremely quiet. Eventually, after 50 ever steepening kilometers, we arrived at our destination ready to collapse and pitch our tent. We also arrived at a road block with a policeman! When we enquired he told us the route ahead had been blocked by a landslide and we would have to cycle back 27km to the junction we passed before the restaurant!!!!
We turned straight around and cycled back down the hill for 10 km. We were feeling pretty tired and, not wanting to exhaust ourselves on the first day, pulled up at some Cabanas (little self catering cabins) and paid $200.00 for a lovely little thatched hut which slept 6!
Leaving the campsite fully loaded. The washing up area.
Empanada stop
