San Jose de Jachal to Belen - March 6

The road to Huaco was through another mountain pass of tight turns, with many one lane sections shared by two-way traffic, but the best was yet to come.

One lane tunnels and two way traffic!

Lunch was homemade empanadas and cerveza at a kiosco in Puerto Alegre.  Outside of the village, Ruta 40 becomes the most sinuous collection of dirt and gravel turns as it passes over the Sierra de Sanogasta.  The scenery is incredible as the earth, rock and road are all an intense red colour and the vegetation is bright green.

The ride from Chilecito north was through desert pampa and incredibly hot - our riding temperature was hovering around 40 degrees C, but as we continued north the landscape began to change dramatically again on the approach to Belen where we stopped for the night.

Ruta 40 north towards Belen.