Cycling The Globe

Distance: 69.72 km
Ride time: 4:03:52
Average: 17.18 km/h
Total: 26817 km

Cycling into a major city is always something special. The last days on the road your mind has been focused on reaching this milestone, as well as trying to figure out what the place might be like. Today I hoped to reach Salta.

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise in the field where I had put up my tent last night. Since yesterday the landscape had been significantly greener and more lush than I have seen for a while. The last place I saw such a landscape with lakes surrounded by green hills and fields was in Chile.

The weather was cloudy and it looked like it could start to rain. I didn’t mind though. I had had plenty of sunshine the last months while cycling through some very dry parts of the country. This lush place was something new and exotic.

Reaching the outskirts of Salta was indeed a milestone. I’m now in the far north of Argentina, only a few days of cycling from the border with Bolivia. Even though it has taken much much longer to cycle through Argentina and Chile than I had planned, I don’t feel I’m in a hurry to leave. On the contrary I’m somewhat sad that I’m running out of Argentinian soil.

I was spending almost an hour cycling through some uninspiring suburbs, only to finally arrive at the beautiful Plaza 9 de Julio on the old city center. From there my hostel was only a short walk away.