Saturday January 8, 2011, 80 km (50 miles) – Total so far: 356 km (221 miles)
The night wasn`t very relaxing as there was a lot of noise produced by the wind that moved the ribbed roof. At 6.40am we said goodbye to the indian guy- the only person in the whole village- and continued our way on R52, a paved road that seemed real luxury to us.
It began to climb right away. Traffic was increasing, because this is the road to Chile. So there`s also a lot of heavy trucks transporting goods to and from Chile. The climbs are steep and winding. It took us four hours to get to the top at 4170m called „Abra de Potrerillos“.
After we got ready for the famous „Cuesta de Lipan“ downhill where we rolled at high speed through one of Argentina`s breathtaking landscapes. We thought of staying at Purmamarca but when we arrived we saw an overcrowded village with endless busues arriving and bringing even more people to this small spot.
Just at this weekend there was a Folk festival taking place there. We decided to ride on to „Tilcara“ passing „Maimara“. The situation at „Tilcara“ was better than in „Purmamarca“, but the place was also full of young argentinian backpackers.
We needed two hours until we could find a room. The beautiful hotel was located at the end of the town on the way to „Pucara-Ruins“ and we decided to have a 2 day`s rest here.
