Woke up this morning to some really devastating news but I suppose expected, Paul had decided to pull the pin on the trip and go to be with his father who was dying of cancer in England. Paul had been in constant communication with his family in Australia over the condition of his father and was in two minds as to whether to leave or not as it was not sure as to how long before his time was due. This morning Paul decided he would call his father and ask him if he wished to see him. The answer made up Pauls mind! His intention was to head over the pass into Chile and on to Valparaiso where he could get Martina and Enzo at Villa Kunterbundt to ship the bike back to Australia. Free of this encumbrance he could then fly to England.
As for me, I had to put on a persona that it was the best decision and would carry on regardless. At the time I thought the best thing to do would be to pack my gear and head off as soon as possible leaving Paul to manage his problems and not have me there to remind him of the journey we had begun together. It was not an easy decision for him to make and he had been mulling it over for quite a few days. I retrieved the spares etc. I had put together before the trip, tyre patches, glue and my MSR stove that Paul had been carrying to distribute the weight between us. How I managed to fit it into my panniers I am not quite sure but in it went. What I left behind to make room will make itself clear further down the track!
Without much to do we shook hands and wished each other luck and I headed off. I was a little concerned over what I was about to embark on yet excited over the prospect of attempting the remainder of the trip on my own. I had decided to head off to San Jose de Jackal following a route that would take me directly north through Barreal then east and north once again. The route involved about forty to fifty kilometres of rippio but it was supposed to be reasonable. It was a beautiful day, the scenery fantastic with the Andes accompanying me on my left and there was absolutely no wind. I hit the rippio and kept my speed up around sixty to seventy kilometres an hour standing up for the most of it. The corrugations were constant for the entire section with sections of very loose gravel presenting themselves regularly. I was glad when it ended stopping for a drink and a banana before continuing. I stopped for a drink at Barreal and to text Paul to send my spare keys to Salta, then headed in to Calingasta where I was to start heading east. As usual the signs were non-existant so I stopped to ask for directions. Whether I was misunderstood or the other way around I am not sure but I ended up going north as the advice indicated this.
The asphalt ran out and it didn’t look inviting! I stopped at the end of the asphalt and asked a man and his wife if this was the road to San Jose de Jackal and they were sure it was. I then asked if many cars travelled this way and they shook their heads, it was ninety kilometres of rippio they said. I thought about it for a moment and decided it can’t be any worse than what Paul and I had previously encountered, shrugged my shoulders, thanked the couple and set off. The road was Ok for about ten kilometres then it began to narrow not taking on the image of a main route as indicated on the map. The road then started to become soft gravel entering many dips created by water run offs from the close surrounding hills. The dips were filled with loose sand and the going was getting quite tough with the fully loaded bike. The temperature was rising so I stopped to remove the layers of clothing I had put on in the morning anticipating a cool day. I thought to myself is it wise to go on, I had four litres of water, is this enough if something goes wrong and no body comes for a day or two, then a few more scenarios began to enter my head! Never the less I continued on for another five kilometres or so only to find the road didn’t improve but worsened, or was this my imagination. I came to the conclusion it wasn’t a great idea to continue, on my own I should stick to well used roads in case of major problems.
I headed back to Calingasta all the while noticing the wind was beginning to pick up. As I entered the outskirts of Barreal the wind was horrific picking up dust out in the plain below the mountains and hurling it towards the town and of course me. I was thinking this is great, my freshly cleaned air filter will be clogged shortly. A few moments later and the steering on the bike began to act strangely, became really tight, it was then I realised I had another flat tyre, this time in the front! I was lucky I was moving slowly and pulled over. I sat there for a few minutes in complete despair, how many punctures can a person get and now in this driving, dusty, hot wind. I felt as if my trip was collapsing, I had started the day full of optimism and then slowly things had started to go wrong. I pulled myself out of my misery and started the process of repairing the tyre.
I took the bags off and set them up to try and block the wind whilst working on the tyre, luckily I had stopped in front of some bushes which also aided in this. I put the tarp down, got all the tools and compressor out as well as a couple of rags, one to tie over the speedo assembly and one to put the axle in to prevent sand and dust collecting in the grease and creating damage further down the track. I set to work getting the wheel off without any problem ensuring dust didn’t get into the aforementioned sections. Next came the tyre, no bead to break as this had been done as I pulled up by the action of the rim itself, I did notice some cracking in the tyre wall close to the rim and hoped this would be OK, no time to worry about that. The side of the tyre came off easily and I had the tube changed over with a new one quite quickly, there was no way I was patching anything in this wind. Luckily I had brought the powder to place on the new tube to allow it to slip around in the tyre and of course the liquid detergent to help seat the bead. I put air into the tyre and hoped the dreaded bead would seat, one section just didn’t seem to want to come out so I just kept putting air in hoping for the best. After awhile I gave it a few belts with my hand and bang it popped, one side only. I did the same on the remaining side and I finally witnessed the seating of the bead. I quickly got the wheel back on and all the gear back in and on the bike. Everything was absolutely covered in dust, the bike, my gear and me! The wind had subsided and the dust basically stopped by the time I was ready to go, typical I thought! El Zonda, the wind in the north can blow for days or just an hour or two. The temperature had cooled as well and I could see very dark clouds gathering over those once friendly mountains that had accompanied me this morning.
I rode to the service station for a drink and filled the bike with fuel. I asked the attendant if that was it for the wind today, he didn’t think so! I decided to head back to Uspallata and see if Paul was still there, the plan would be to then head back to Mendoza and along main roads or go into Chile and follow the coast up to Colombia. I rode out of town with a reasonable amount of haste as it was getting late and it looked like rain, at least the dust had stopped even though it was still windy. I had one hundred and ten kilometres to ride, fifty or so of dirt again, it would probably take a couple of hours so I would hit town around seven. I rode way to fast, especially on the dirt sitting on around eighty to ninety, if I came off it wouldn't be pretty. The problem is panic had set in, I was really tired and the events of the day were taking their toll. All I could focus on was getting to Uspallata before it rained and hopefully seeing a friendly face. The rain hit me just before reaching town but only enough to be annoying but just put the icing on the cake, I had had enough!
I went to where Paul and I had stayed hoping he would still be there, no such luck. I went to the service station for a coffee and something to eat as all I had eaten for the day was the banana, which probably hadn’t helped things. I sent Paul an email to discover his whereabouts and let him know I was at the station as I knew he wouldn’t be far from Wifi. Five minutes later he walked in and wondered what I was doing back. I was really distressed by this time and almost broke down and the fact was quite evident on my face. I relayed the day's events to Paul and told him I was thinking that it was probably a good idea for me to call it a day as doing this alone may not be such a great idea. I would head over to Chile with him and send the bike home and myself. Paul was astonished to say the least and it wasn’t going to happen just yet as the pass was snowed in and could be shut for at least five days.
Paul had found cheaper accommodation and we headed there as his room had spare beds. No problem, parked the bike, booked in, showered and off to dinner we went. We talked about the situation and after much discussion came up with the scenario that we would continue on the journey together and if his father became worse Paul would fly to England for a week then return to continue. I would wait wherever we were with the bikes till his return. We both had to be flexible and perhaps we wouldn’t meet our objectives but that was part of it.
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