The Blake School in Minneapolis, MN comprised our group of students this year for the TWO WHEEL VIEW bike trip to Argentina. (To read more about this organization, go to www.twowheelview.org) Phil Lucero and I were the TWV trip leaders and there were two chaperone leaders from Blake named Jon & Lynn. There were 11 students total, the largest TWV bike trip yet! We had a rough start. The first day we arrived to the airport in MN, we were informed that our flight to Dallas where we were connecting to Argentina was canceled due to tornados in the Texas area. So we all went home eagerly anticipating the next day. We arrived back at the airport to find that our flight had been delayed and we were in danger of missing our connection in Dallas. Alas though we ran fast the plane to Argentina that night did not wait for us. Disappointedly we spoke with an American Airlines rep who informed us we would be put up in the Radisson South because the delay was the airlines fault. So our trip to Argentina started in Dallas, at a mall, in Dallas... yuck! Needless to say when we boarded the plane the following day we were all praying that we would make it to South America and luckily we did. The picture above was taken at Viejo Jack's restaurant in Salta, Argentina the night we arrived.
Thankfully we arrived safe and sound to Salta, albeit two days behind schedule. Luckily our trusted Argentine friend, Santiago met us at the airport. He helped us into taxi's and he took our luggage in the back of his truck to meet us at the campground. Alas, he got into a minor accident on the way which rendered his truck undrivable! We just could not catch a break! Our bad luck had rubbed off on Santiago. We were able to transport our luggage and hire a truck to bring our stored bikes to the usual campground we start at in Salta. Needless to say we were just hoping to shed this bad karma we had been carrying around. Phil and I were hoping to make up a couple of days on the front end of the trip to get us back on track. And we were able to pull it off! This picture is of some local folks dressed in gaucho clothing to honor Gaucho Gil, a kind of Robin Hood of the rural countryside in Argentina. We saw them on our way to Carril the first day of biking.
Thankfully we arrived safe and sound to Salta, albeit two days behind schedule. Luckily our trusted Argentine friend, Santiago met us at the airport. He helped us into taxi's and he took our luggage in the back of his truck to meet us at the campground. Alas, he got into a minor accident on the way which rendered his truck undrivable! We just could not catch a break! Our bad luck had rubbed off on Santiago. We were able to transport our luggage and hire a truck to bring our stored bikes to the usual campground we start at in Salta. Needless to say we were just hoping to shed this bad karma we had been carrying around. Phil and I were hoping to make up a couple of days on the front end of the trip to get us back on track. And we were able to pull it off! This picture is of some local folks dressed in gaucho clothing to honor Gaucho Gil, a kind of Robin Hood of the rural countryside in Argentina. We saw them on our way to Carril the first day of biking.There are no pictures from the 2nd day of biking, we biked from El Carril to Alemania combining two days into one to make up time and get back on track. Luckily we made it and experienced backcountry camping in Alemania a small artesanal town. The students ate everything they could see that night and the night sky allowed great views of the milky way and the southern cross among other constellations. One of our students was able to share his knowledge of the night sky with the group- it was amazing.
The next day we biked through the Quebrada region which is a beautiful canyon with red rocks and plenty of hills. We enjoyed visiting the Garganta del Diablo (throat of the devil) in the picture below as well as the natural Amfiteatro (amphitheater) where there was a local band playing music. The students marveled at the difference in the desert landscape from their own state of Minnesota.
The MENT with Bloodbath at the end :) We had a fun group of students!
We biked up a pass where there was this overlook called Tres Cruces (three crosses) below you can see our line of bikes. Lots of curious tourists asked us where we were from and where we were biking to, some even took pictures with us.
To end that day, we biked into a little tiny town called Santa Barbara. Now last year we backcountry camped at a site called Yesera which has typically been a pretty rough campsite. But Rick McFerrin the founder of TWV had scouted out another site in Santa Barbara for us to stay called El Zorrito.
This is a view of the sun setting on the mountains up the road to El Zorrito.
Once we arrived there to meet Marianna, Maximiliano & their daughter Valentina they informed us that we indeed could camp on their property as well as they would provide us with a meal and a tour/cultural ceremony activity the following morning. This quickly became one of the best nights of the trip, what an amazing surprise! This was our dinner table that night.
The next morning we got up and took a windy tour of the 1 km long labyrinth. Marianna explained to us that her family lives very conservatively in this desert area. They take special measures to conserve water, grow as many types of fruits and vegetables as possible, and make a commitment to protect the mother earth that they live on. They even had a compostable toilet which they used to fertilize the soil. So a little bit of our group will remain there to help fertilize their land ;) El Zorrito was a very beautiful place and we were all very thankful for the opportunity to visit it.
Marianna explaining a sculpture which replicated the natural surroundings. She lead us up a trail to a lookout where we did a short ceremony for Mother Earth (Pachamama).
The views at the top of the trail...
I took a moment to take this picture of my bike (the one on the left). We called it the "Dead Body Bike" because it felt like it was dragging a dead body or something the entire ride. We never quite figured out what was wrong with it, but it will probably not be joining us on another TWV trip.... "So Long Old Red Navaro!"
After battling a nasty headwind, we arrived in Cafayate for a day and a half of rest before the second leg of our journey. We enjoyed the sights of the small town and we were able to do some laundry and have hot showers... a great place to rejuvenate.
Back on the road again, this was taken at Santiago's Farm in Los Mojares. It is a great stop on the trip, but there is a 10 km dirt road-wash-board & sandy-dirt road which is mentally and physically challenging. We arrived in the evening and were treated to sugary snacks and goat stew. We were all quite tired that night.
Here we are enjoying the pre-dinner snacks. In Argentina, they eat "tea" at around 5 or 6 PM and then dinner at around 10 or 11 PM. Luckily they did it a little earlier for us around 9 PM.
The next morning we took a short hike up to some Inca ruins in the town and spoke with a man named Vicente who takes care of the ruins. He was very pleased to meet us and offered that if we ever needed help raising any children, he would gladly take any of our children into his own home and raise them. He was very kind and compassionate, it was a good meeting. Then we got on the road for a big day up to a new campsite called the Fish Farm.
We passed through the small town of Amaicha and headed up 10 km's of the mountain we would complete the following day. At the 10 km mark there was a turn off and a really nasty uphill dirt path for about 1.5 km's. We all worked hard pushing our bikes up that hill. After a long day of uphill riding it wasn't the way we had pictured arriving into our camp. But it turned out to be a fantastic campsite and we soon forgot about the climb!
View on the way up to the Fish Farm Camp Site. A man named Jorge owns it and has built a beautiful campsite with a bathroom and there are trout in some man-made pools. It overlooks the valley and had a very cozy fire pit area.
We enjoyed sharing riddles and games by the fire and ate more goat for dinner in the caretaker's home on the property. It was a little chilly, but a lot of fun. We went to bed early as we knew we had a long day ahead of us going up and over the rest of the mountain.
We headed up and up the next day switchback after switchback we steadily climbed the mountain. By early afternoon we had reached the top.
What an accomplishment - to be able to say we biked in the Andes Mountains over a mountain pass...
View from the top to the other side of the mountain and the town of Tafi del Valle. We donned our cold weather clothes and made the chilly decent on 1/2 paved, 1/2 dirt road with pannier bags bouncing everywhere! We arrived into town around 6 PM and stayed at a hostal that evening. We enjoyed our last meal together on the trail. The next day we were going to be getting to Yerba Buena our final destination.
We woke up the last day of riding, knowing we had a big day ahead of us. We had about 107 km's to get to Yerba Buena which is a suburb of Tucuman, Argentina. The lovely part was the the whole morning was a huge long down hill ride! We wore our cold weather clothes and enjoyed a thrilling ride down into an area that is referred to as the Yungas or Jungle area. This Valley is very wet and has a lot of green vegetation. It is vastly different from the Quebrada Valley we had been in the days before and it is an amazing opportunity to see the diversity that Argentina's landscapes have to offer. We arrived into Yerba Buena at 5 PM to our friends, Martina & Fernando's hostal #92 Calle Lola Mora. We were excited to be done with riding, our butts were sore and tired, but we did not want the trip to end. :)
The last night were were there, there was an Asado (Argentine-style Barbeque) that was put on for us. It started with an appetizer called Choripan (Chorizo sausage on bread in a little sandwich) and finished with lots of meat. It was delicious! There were at least 20 local students from Argentina there to celebrate with our students.
We had fun getting to know the Argentine students and thoroughly enjoyed the food on our last night in Yerba Buena. The next day we took a flight from Tucuman to Buenos Aires where we had a little time to walk around the city before catching our overnight flight back to the States.
We had a great time in Argentina, the bike riding proved challenging as usual, the scenery was amazing and the people were very friendly and helpful. We couldn't ask for a better experience. Though it started out a little rocky, it quickly pulled together into a really fun trip. I want to thank everyone who was a part of making it happen from the TWO WHEEL VIEW and Blake School staff's to the students and families.
The next day we biked through the Quebrada region which is a beautiful canyon with red rocks and plenty of hills. We enjoyed visiting the Garganta del Diablo (throat of the devil) in the picture below as well as the natural Amfiteatro (amphitheater) where there was a local band playing music. The students marveled at the difference in the desert landscape from their own state of Minnesota. 
The MENT with Bloodbath at the end :) We had a fun group of students!
We biked up a pass where there was this overlook called Tres Cruces (three crosses) below you can see our line of bikes. Lots of curious tourists asked us where we were from and where we were biking to, some even took pictures with us.
To end that day, we biked into a little tiny town called Santa Barbara. Now last year we backcountry camped at a site called Yesera which has typically been a pretty rough campsite. But Rick McFerrin the founder of TWV had scouted out another site in Santa Barbara for us to stay called El Zorrito.
This is a view of the sun setting on the mountains up the road to El Zorrito.
Once we arrived there to meet Marianna, Maximiliano & their daughter Valentina they informed us that we indeed could camp on their property as well as they would provide us with a meal and a tour/cultural ceremony activity the following morning. This quickly became one of the best nights of the trip, what an amazing surprise! This was our dinner table that night. 
The next morning we got up and took a windy tour of the 1 km long labyrinth. Marianna explained to us that her family lives very conservatively in this desert area. They take special measures to conserve water, grow as many types of fruits and vegetables as possible, and make a commitment to protect the mother earth that they live on. They even had a compostable toilet which they used to fertilize the soil. So a little bit of our group will remain there to help fertilize their land ;) El Zorrito was a very beautiful place and we were all very thankful for the opportunity to visit it.
Marianna explaining a sculpture which replicated the natural surroundings. She lead us up a trail to a lookout where we did a short ceremony for Mother Earth (Pachamama).
The views at the top of the trail...
I took a moment to take this picture of my bike (the one on the left). We called it the "Dead Body Bike" because it felt like it was dragging a dead body or something the entire ride. We never quite figured out what was wrong with it, but it will probably not be joining us on another TWV trip.... "So Long Old Red Navaro!"
After battling a nasty headwind, we arrived in Cafayate for a day and a half of rest before the second leg of our journey. We enjoyed the sights of the small town and we were able to do some laundry and have hot showers... a great place to rejuvenate.
Back on the road again, this was taken at Santiago's Farm in Los Mojares. It is a great stop on the trip, but there is a 10 km dirt road-wash-board & sandy-dirt road which is mentally and physically challenging. We arrived in the evening and were treated to sugary snacks and goat stew. We were all quite tired that night.
Here we are enjoying the pre-dinner snacks. In Argentina, they eat "tea" at around 5 or 6 PM and then dinner at around 10 or 11 PM. Luckily they did it a little earlier for us around 9 PM. 
The next morning we took a short hike up to some Inca ruins in the town and spoke with a man named Vicente who takes care of the ruins. He was very pleased to meet us and offered that if we ever needed help raising any children, he would gladly take any of our children into his own home and raise them. He was very kind and compassionate, it was a good meeting. Then we got on the road for a big day up to a new campsite called the Fish Farm.
We passed through the small town of Amaicha and headed up 10 km's of the mountain we would complete the following day. At the 10 km mark there was a turn off and a really nasty uphill dirt path for about 1.5 km's. We all worked hard pushing our bikes up that hill. After a long day of uphill riding it wasn't the way we had pictured arriving into our camp. But it turned out to be a fantastic campsite and we soon forgot about the climb!
View on the way up to the Fish Farm Camp Site. A man named Jorge owns it and has built a beautiful campsite with a bathroom and there are trout in some man-made pools. It overlooks the valley and had a very cozy fire pit area.
We enjoyed sharing riddles and games by the fire and ate more goat for dinner in the caretaker's home on the property. It was a little chilly, but a lot of fun. We went to bed early as we knew we had a long day ahead of us going up and over the rest of the mountain.
We headed up and up the next day switchback after switchback we steadily climbed the mountain. By early afternoon we had reached the top.
What an accomplishment - to be able to say we biked in the Andes Mountains over a mountain pass...
View from the top to the other side of the mountain and the town of Tafi del Valle. We donned our cold weather clothes and made the chilly decent on 1/2 paved, 1/2 dirt road with pannier bags bouncing everywhere! We arrived into town around 6 PM and stayed at a hostal that evening. We enjoyed our last meal together on the trail. The next day we were going to be getting to Yerba Buena our final destination. 
We woke up the last day of riding, knowing we had a big day ahead of us. We had about 107 km's to get to Yerba Buena which is a suburb of Tucuman, Argentina. The lovely part was the the whole morning was a huge long down hill ride! We wore our cold weather clothes and enjoyed a thrilling ride down into an area that is referred to as the Yungas or Jungle area. This Valley is very wet and has a lot of green vegetation. It is vastly different from the Quebrada Valley we had been in the days before and it is an amazing opportunity to see the diversity that Argentina's landscapes have to offer. We arrived into Yerba Buena at 5 PM to our friends, Martina & Fernando's hostal #92 Calle Lola Mora. We were excited to be done with riding, our butts were sore and tired, but we did not want the trip to end. :)
The last night were were there, there was an Asado (Argentine-style Barbeque) that was put on for us. It started with an appetizer called Choripan (Chorizo sausage on bread in a little sandwich) and finished with lots of meat. It was delicious! There were at least 20 local students from Argentina there to celebrate with our students.
We had fun getting to know the Argentine students and thoroughly enjoyed the food on our last night in Yerba Buena. The next day we took a flight from Tucuman to Buenos Aires where we had a little time to walk around the city before catching our overnight flight back to the States. 
We had a great time in Argentina, the bike riding proved challenging as usual, the scenery was amazing and the people were very friendly and helpful. We couldn't ask for a better experience. Though it started out a little rocky, it quickly pulled together into a really fun trip. I want to thank everyone who was a part of making it happen from the TWO WHEEL VIEW and Blake School staff's to the students and families.UPDATES:
I am back in Virginia getting re-settled in our new apartment. Tito flew out today for Florida to be a Course Director for a few Outward Bound courses in the Key Largo area. He'll be back to Virginia the 21st of July. We will be in New York/CT area in early August for a wedding and then we both start school mid-August. We hope everyone is doing well and we look forward to catching up with people soon!
Cassie & Tito :)
