El Carmen - San Salvador de Jujuy - Lozano (RN9)

Since it became apparent during yesterday's endless search for a restaurant for dinner that we would be better off taking care of breakfast ourselves, we deside to go to a bakery and have breakfast in our room. Then we continue on the N9 northbound.

To our left we can already see the mountains of Argentinas Andes waiting for us. We planned today's stage to be only 50 km / 31 mi long, a little shorter than what we would do on sea level, because we want to do the climb slowly, doing only a few meters elevation gain per day. El Carmen is located at an altutude of 1200 m / 3940 ft altitude, todays destination Lozano at 1500 m / 4920 ft seems to be an appropriate fit.    

The national road N9 leads from El Carmen first to San Salvador de Jujuy, with the busy N66 joining the N9 east of San Salvador. To avoid the local traffic, we leave the N9 in Los Alisos and heading west. With this detour we reach San Salvador de Jujuy at the western end of the city and save ourselves from driving through the town. This route passes under the Canal Derivador de Aqua Dique La Cienaga. The canal runs over an aqueduct and carries water from the Rio Grande into the Dique la Cienaga dam near El Carmen. Water is scarce here, and only in winter (December to February) does any precipitation occur.      

The detour guides us into the valley of the Rio Los Alisos river uphill until we get to the concrete dam. Strangely, this dam is not shown on Google Maps either. The dam is recommended as a travel destination on the Internet because the mountains are supposed to reflect so beautifully in the water that it is a must see. When we stand on the dam wall, the dammed water is muddy and brown, so there is no reflection at all.      

Behind the dam we climb to an altitude of almost 1500 m / 4920 ft, then we roll downhill on good asphalt all te way to San Salvador de Jujuy. Here we have our first encounter with the Argentinian wind: we have been warned that it can be extremly windy in northwest Argentina, but no matter how ofter you get a warning in advance: you are nonetheless surprised when it happens. On site I did classify the wind as very strong, but looking back I don't think it's worth mentioning. On the Altiplano the term wind will be redefined totally.     

In San Salvador de Jujuy we take a coffee break at a coffee shop called Makan. Here we catch up on our breakfast and order fried eggs on toast and a large portion of scrambled eggs. The coffee tastes great, the owners are very nice. We don't want to leave that place. 

As we continue north we follow the N9 indirectly. We use roads to the left or to the right of the national road to avoid the heavy traffic. Bicycles are prohibited there, what ever that means. The N9 is constructed with two lanes in each direction and cycling is only partially fun. There are small roads parallel to the N9 that lead in the same direction and are almost unused. In Villa Jardin de Reyes, one of these side streets leads over an old truss bridge. Compared to the concrete bridge on the N9, the elegance of this masterpiece of engineering stands out. 

At some point we decide to enter the N9. North of San Salvador de Jujuy, city traffic decreases significantly, but heavy long-distance traffic to neighboring Bolivia and towards Salina Grande remains. In this section, the N9 has only one lane in each direction and the traffic is bearable, so it´s time to find out what it means to cross the sign stating that cacling is prohibited here an we blend in with the locals and cycle on the main road. When in Rome do as the Romans do.