Biking in the desert...just another day in San Pedro

After sleeping in until 10 this morning unwittingly, we decided it was time we saw a little more of the desert outside San Pedro, but this time, we would take no tour bus. What better way to explore such sandy territory than by moutain bike? Though it took us a while to find a bike rental place that would take credit cards (all of the TWO atms in town are broken - go figure), we figured it out and were on our way.
We rented bikes about 12, with 6 hours to ride around and discover the area. We set out soon after with water, sunblock and a poorly drawn map to guide us (which Lia promptly lost on some crazy sand dune or something, no biggie). Being the adventures that we are, we decided to take the first off-road path we saw...a sort of road (and I use the word road loosely) through a desert canyon. Eventually, after bouncing our way through the ¨road¨and almost falling off multiple times due to the deep sand, we arrived at an enormous dune where the craziest of the tourists in the area do something called sand boarding...basically going down a steep dune on a snowboard. Why would you want to do this? We don´t know. Especially considering that there are no lifts around here...you must walk your board up the dune each time you go down. Worth it? We think not. So we turned around and went back down the bumpy path to the real road...actually paved, and started on a death-defying (not really) ascent.
Man! What a climb...even Lia was huffing and puffing, seeing as we are 2,700 meters above sea level. We climbed and climbed, gave some faulty directions to passersby, and kept climbing...and were rewarded at the top with a view to end all views. Gorgeous, spiked desert formations and snow capped peaks rose in the distance, and San Pedro looked like a little gathering of some desert flora.
Seeing as we had amost no water left at that point, we headed back to town, bought chocolate, ate chocolate, and then Lorna and Lia head back out for some more desert riding fun. Too bad about 30 minutes in, they saw a moving (not human) thing in the road with lots of smaller things jumping around and whining. What was it? We don´t really know, but you can bet we turned around and pedaled in the other direction as fast as we could (not that fast).
Our butts are numb and our arms are multi-colored, but we have finally done something somewhat athletic and feel better for it (and we survived!)
Tomorrow, on the Argentina...love to all!

Las Tres Profesoras