Quilino to Recreo

Today I did another long trip – 120km from Quilino to Recreo. I left quite early, to avoid the heat during the day. I had breakfast at 6:20am in the hotel, talking to other guests. It was quite cloudy, and I was a bit worried about rain or thunderstorms. But in the end I left, and initially I had the wind from behind – and a strong wind. And so I got to Luico V Mansilla – a small village on the way, at about 50km from Quilino – after less than two hours. I passed the Salinas Grandes – a quite big salt desert and an impressive view from the street.

In Mansilla I did a short break to drink a lemonade, and some water, and soon I was on the road again. I wasn't as fast any more, but still was cycling at a good speed, and soon after I left the Cordoba province and entered the province of Catamarca. There was less vegetation now, and it was hotter. The road was now passing between the Salinas Grandes and the Salinas de Ambargasta, really through a salt desert.

I stopped again when I got to a scale for HGVs, and talked to the two police officers there. They told me that there would be a small village in about 10km, and also that other cyclists passed through a little earlier. So I continued, and a little before the village I saw the other cyclists, who were having their siesta in the shade of a tree. I talked a little to one of them (the rest was sleeping), and then went on to the village to buy some lemonade. Unfortunately, they kiosk didn't have small bottles of lemonade, and so I just got some water to refill my bottles. From the village to Recreo it was only another 20km, and fortunately it was cloudy again, which helped me a lot because it was less hot.

Now I was significantly slower, and the last 20km were hard. But I arrived to Recreo at more or less 12:30pm – I did the 120km in a little less than six hours. I immediately went to a parilla and ate some salad and drank to lemonades. I think at that point I was lacking some sugar. Later I went to the centre of the town and found the tourist information, where they gave me a list of hotels in Recreo. I first went to a cheap one, but they were refurbishing a bit, and so I went to another one, and now I am resting and writing.