Monteros

It was cool and wet when I awoke. The inside of the tent and rain fly was damp from the humidity and I packed it wet and I got on the road. There were many kilometers of farmland and pasture and then the small towns began along Ruta 38, one after the other.

There was the strong smell of dead dogs decomposing on the roadside and the towns were poor, the road dusty with couples and families of sometimes four people squeezed together on small motorbikes riding past me. It was not a very inspiring stretch of riding but it was flat and fast and there was no wind.

My plan had been to get off onto Ruta 307 and to begin the climb up into the mountains and to camp off the roadside there, but I saw dark clouds up in the mountains. It looked to be raining very hard up there and I thought the storms might blow down into the valley. I wanted to get the tent up and before the storms came. Outside the pueblo of Monteros, where you can access Ruta 307, there was a campground and I pulled in and pitched the tent.

I rode into town and bought supplies at the supermercado and cooked up a plate of pasta back at the camp. The mosquitoes were very bad and I paid a high price for making pasta but it was good with fresh tomatoes, tuna and onion. The woman who ran the campsite told me the climbing tomorrow would be a great challenge and that it was very beautiful. I was looking forward to the mountains and the colder weather after days of riding in the hot, humid valleys.