We watched a lady walk past on the road pushing a 3 wheel
bicycle. But apart from that everything was quiet.
Cold water and
orange juice instead of tea! We continued on the loop Ruta 86. This
road was narrower but had just been graded so had a good surface. The
views were spectacular. Finished or circuit back close to Santa
Catalina then headed south on ruta 65. An orange dirt road. A semi
with a front end loader
went by as we turned the corner.
Joined up with Ruta
40 the longest National highway in the world some 4500km?? We have
tried hard to stay off Ruta 40 as being the main road there are too
many trucks buses and cars. But here ruta 40 is unpaved and mostly
unused.
We were on ruta 40 for 133km and the only traffic was one man pushing his
wheelbarrow full of sticks back to his village. At one stage this
national highway drove for 11km up a river bed in a fantastic canyon.
We stopped often to take photos and marvel at the cliff faces. I
wonder how many days/weeks it is unusable throughout the year?
Where did the road go?? 
Dakar 2017
We passed by Mina
Pirquitas whose township is the highest all year round town ship in Argentina at 4100m. Just after here we missed our turn and back
tracked 5 km. How did we miss a turn onto an orange road well it was
little more than a track beside a river bed, a bit washed out but
there was one set of tracks so off we went.
A rough unkempt
road. At a small washout the tire tracks turned back, we just walked
through!
We got stuck in a washout and with a bit of shoveling and rocks got out. Then on to another challenge. A 3 foot deep 3 foot wide washout or a steep river crossing? After a trial crow barring at the washout we decided on the river crossing.
A few rocks
strategically placed and the high spot shoveled off the far edge and
we were committed.. The left hand step dug in so backwards a bit and
more shoveling. Got her front feet out and the back kept slipping
some more rocks and almost out. Amazing what she can do in two wheel
drive!!
Engaged hubs and out
she walked!!
No more major challenges just little ones. We continued to climb to an altitude of 4400m and camped on side of road. Just habit I guess as there in no chance a vehicle will pass.
I cooked an omelet in the bread maker for dinner.
I had a slight
headache. Most of the day was
spent just over 4000m
187km