Little Miracles-Day 10 of my solo bike ride across South America

75 miles of my own road

I stood in the Ferra bike shop in Villaguay, doing my best to pantomime biking chit-chat to the owner. He had a bright smile, and like his shop he was clean, cool and inviting. (Don’t worry Twain) Outside, on the streets, chaos reined. A motorcycle rally was taking place and the streets were filled with hundreds of reving engines and leather jackets. The town was celebrating the event with drum circles, belly dancing-in thongs of course, and multitudes of horn blasts. It was a bit much for me and I think the bike shop owner could tell.

When I finally couldn’t find an excuse to linger more and went to step back out into the street, he told me the road I was taking tomorrow was not safe and to seek another way. I groaned. He seemed unphased.

When I got back to the hotel, I texted my husband and told him that I was uneasy. I don’t often admit this on this blog, because plenty of people who read this will be too nervous for me. But, I do get uneasy. Un. Easy. This is hard. Argentina is big and hot and NOBODY speaks English….and I don’t speak Spanish. It is loud and exhausting. I wasn’t looking for easy though, so I guess this is what I get. Twain tries to console me, but it is only me here, so it only helps so much.


I wake at 5:30 and hurry out of my hotel to catch the cool while I can. I pedal out of town to the highway-anticipating a 74 mile day, of traffic and intense sun with no towns to break up the ride. I am a bit whelmed thinking about it and I am doing my best to give myself a good pep talk. Just as I reach the intersection, I see that they are building a new highway beside the old narrow one. It is not open yet, but it is paved. I turn on it-happy to take a little break from the traffic and I find that the new, unused, perfectly-paved highway, goes the length of my entire journey. 74 MILES OF A PRIVATE, SMOOTH, TRAFFIC FREE ROAD! Up over the hot, dry, shimmering hills, past wheat fields, arroyos, palm trees and corn I race-racing against the sun. On and on all the way here. To where I sit at close to my campsite in Vaile, having a Coke in a cool tienda. Best Coke ever.
This is going to be really hard and I will happily accept every gift that comes my way.

Heaven
Hot and dry and hot
These are everywhere
My new friend and belly dancers
Motorcycle rally

16 thoughts on “Little Miracles-Day 10 of my solo bike ride across South America”

  2. Leah, I am rooting for you! I don’t know if you remember me from Outward Bound, but a friend sent me your blog and I’m vicariously enjoying your adventures and your wonderful writing so much! I’m so inspired-thanks for sharing it with us!

  6. Someone is watching over you as I said before. I try to have your optimism. It seems to serve you well.

  7. So the 74-mile private road was the unsafe one? That’s fantastic. What a glorious ride you’re taking us on with you.

  8. Dear Bikemum,
    I gave you a plug in the current Casco Bay Bicycle Club newsletter:

    Pining away waiting for spring? Then how about vicariously riding with Bikemum (A.K.A. Leah of S. Portland’s Light House Bikes) as she pedals 1,350 miles from Uruguay and down the Chilean coast. As of this writing, she’s on day 10 and she posts daily. You could cheer her on and/or help her out with suggestions as she runs into exhaustion, breakdowns, etc.

    Go Bikemum!

  10. Phew, I’m so happy you caught a break! You are AMAZING!!!!! May you have many more delicious beverages and experiences! Love, Barbara

  13. Congrats on the private road!

    I’m assuming you have SpanishDict. It is a great translating app that even works offline.

  14. I have started loving your pages.. what you are doing is amazing! The pictures are great, gives us a glimpse of your trip. You are very brave and we are with you- thinking of you and wishing your trip the very best 🙂

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