Abra Pampa

June 9, 2025

Breakfast at the hostal was a simple affair. Our host rambled on throuhout our short meal about the political and economic mess in Bolivia. A word that came up often was triste, meaning sad.

We were at the border by eight thirty. Formalities were quick and without incident. The longest hold up was the Argentinian customs official assigned to search our panniers who wanted to chat with us about our bicycle travels in South America. Once he was done it was almost eight o'clock because Argentina is an hour ahead of Bolivia.

I had exchanged our last few Bolivianos for Argentinian Pesos before crossing the border so we stopped at a small tienda to pick up some snacks for the road knowing that our meagre breakfast wouldn't see us through the day. Despite small size it was packed with an amazing variety of produce compared to what we had become accustomed to in Bolivia. To top it all I ended paying with plastic and not cash, something that hasn't happened since Peru.

Lots of llamas grazing on the sparse vegetation throughout the ride.

There wasn't much to see but it was a reasonably pleasant ride with a good surface with light and mostly considerate traffic.

Despite the uninspiring landscape we enjoyed some good raptor sightings today. Here's one of a number of Variable Hawks we saw.

We arrived in Abra Pampa just before four o'clock. There was no one to assist us at the first accomodation option we stopped at. We waited for about half an hour, using their internet to look for other options, but eventually gave up. Similarly there was no sign of life at the next hostal at which we stopped. The third option was a rather rundown hotel but by now we were tired and were prepared to accept almost anything with a hot shower. Thankfully the shower at the Residencial Cesarito was wonderfully hot, compensating for its other shortcomings.

Tomorrow we have planned a shorter day although it will be uphill the whole way to Tres Cruces.

Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 1,161 km (721 miles)

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