As I mentioned in my previous post, I didn’t spend as much time in Argentina as I wanted to due to the cash situation. I did spend a couple days exploring the canyons around Humahuaca. It’s a dry deserty area with lots of colorful rock formations, very different from the rest of Argentina. I rode up into the mountains to see a canyon with a mountain they call the “14 colors.” It was pretty amazing and very colorful, although I’m not sure I see 14 colors.

At the top of the mountain I realized I had gotten another flat tire, my third one of the trip. I spent a while asking if anyone had an air pump, and no one did. One family though kindly shared their snacks without me while I waited to see if anyone showed up with a pump. Finally, another motorcycle traveler came up with some tire slime and an air compressor. We filled my tire with slime and pumped it up as best we could and I headed down the mountain. I made it most of the way down but had to ride the last ways very slowly on a flat tire. I got it fixed in town at the only tire shop open on Sunday and was on my way to Chile the next day.

Going to Chile from Argentina requires crossing the Andes mountains, a fact I knew but was wholly unprepared for the reality of. The road winds up and over a mountain pass at 16,000 feet. That might be a fine crossing in the summer, but was brutally cold in late fall/early winter. The higher you get, the more barren and desolate it becomes until there’s nothing but gray rock. It got colder and colder and eventually there was snow on the ground and even piled up on the road in some places. I later learned that this pass is often closed in the winter due to snow. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so cold in my life despite being bundled up with 3 jackets. I didn’t stop to take any pictures because I was afraid if I stopped I’d never get going again. I did take this picture earlier in the day of the road up the mountains.

The mountain crossing was a truly terrible experience, and I’ve never felt so much relief and when I started descending down the other side into Chile and it warmed up significantly. Also, all throughout the Andes highlands you see wild herds of llamas and alpacas everywhere, which always lightens the mood.