A motorbike-tour of South America: Ruta40 from Salta to Mendoza

Ruta9 and the famous Ruta40 have showcased amazing nature and natural sights! Only occasionally has the road condition been less then average. When I departed from Salta, I realized I had very little margin to make it over the Andes to Santiago in time for my flight. But I was determined, and the well known and travelled road should not pose little if any obstacles on my way...or that´s what I thought.

I found the road in good condition, the cities I visited small, easily oriented, and the people I met very welcoming and helpful. I ate lunch at restaurants, breakfast and dinner outside my tent. I found it easy to find sheltered and hidden places beside the road, to put up a tent for the night and continue early the following morning. I was stoked to spend some time out in nature to fully enjoy sunsets and sunrises, and no city stress.

But, at one point on the journey, the paved road turned to gravel due to construction. That would not have been an issue, but unfortunately it was not uncommon that nails and other sharp obstacles were not picked up, hence causing punctures. - I have thought many times about getting a puncture, and maybe this was not the worst timing. Although being stuck in the midday sun heat, no shadow, fairly dehydrated, with no previous experience, it was bound to take some time. Also, I thought about all the people passing by without offering to help, until an old man stopped to offer his assistance.

He told me this does happens on more than just rare occasions, "bad luck though!" But, it just so happen to be that he lived not even a 200 m away. After a few hours, some failed attempts to repair the punctured tube, we managed to seal the hole and pump enough air in to allow me to locate the closest repair shop. The old man left me with the lesson: "Never leave a motorcyclist stranded!" - I wont!

I did find a repair shop shortly afterwards and for a mere US$ 20 I was back on the road again
!

But, nothing really counts after just one time. The following day, I was about to put up the camp when I noticed there was a thorn stuck in my back tire. Odd I thought to myself, and before I knew better I was investigating how far in it was stuck and I heard the dreaded "shhhhhhhhhhh" - Now being very far from any town (30km) I very soon came to realize that I had but one option, I had to run for it.

So back on the road, I raced the last few min of air that I had left in the back tire to find help. Just 8km away, I found a village of four families that were amazingly helpful and caring. Thanks to their support, I managed to get the bike to a repair shop, get the tube replaced, the old one patched up before too late that day. After spending the night in a camping area (alone), I was back on the road the following morning (now with no margin of error).

But I was told that the rest of the way down to Mendoza was paved, and in good condition. I made excellent progress, and could put some of my stress and worries at rest.