CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
221 km from San Salvador de Jujuy to Abra Pampa, about 3 h 07 of riding. The stops in between: Purmamarca, Tilcara and Humahuaca. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 26 km this is Paso de Jama, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Jujuy, as everyone calls it, sits in a green bowl about 1,200 metres up in the far north-west of Argentina, where the wet forests of the eastern slope meet the dry high country behind. The city was founded in 1593, on the third attempt, after earlier settlements were wiped out or abandoned, and it still has the look of a provincial capital that has had to work for its place. About three hundred thousand people live here, with the river Xibi Xibi running through the middle of town and the hills of the Yungas closing in on three sides. It is the usual start for the long climb into the Andes.
Read the complete San Salvador de Jujuy write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
San Salvador de Jujuy is where the day begins. Next is Purmamarca.
Purmamarca is the village most people photograph first in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, and the reason is the hill behind it. The Cerro de los Siete Colores rises straight from the edge of the settlement in bands of pink, rust, ochre, green and grey, and the colours change hourly: pale and chalky at noon, deep and almost wet-looking when the low sun rakes across them in the late afternoon. It is a small adobe village, about two thousand three hundred metres up in Jujuy province, in the far north-west of Argentina.
Read the complete Purmamarca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Purmamarca comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tilcara.
Tilcara sits at about 2,400 metres in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, the long, colourful gorge in Jujuy province that was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The town is a small place of low adobe houses and cobbled streets, with a plaza, a church with a white bell tower and a scattering of craft shops and cafes, and it is surrounded by hills striped in red, ochre, pink and green. The air is dry and sharp, the sun is strong, and the sky is a deep, dark blue at midday.
Read the complete Tilcara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Tilcara. Next is Humahuaca.
Humahuaca sits at almost three thousand metres in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a long, dry, colourful valley in the far north of Argentina that UNESCO has listed as a World Heritage landscape. The valley runs for about a hundred and fifty kilometres, with the river Grande flowing between walls of red, ochre, green and violet rock, and cardón cacti standing like candelabra on the hillsides. The road through it, the Ruta 9, follows an ancient trade route used by the Incas, and before them by many peoples who carried llama caravans between the Andes and the lowlands.
Read the complete Humahuaca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Humahuaca, late in the day. Next is Abra Pampa.
Abra Pampa is a high, wind-scoured town on the Puna of Jujuy, at around thirty-five hundred metres, and it marks the point where the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a long, colourful valley, finally opens onto the bare plateau. The land here is flat and brown, with low hills in the distance, and the sky seems very close. Houses of adobe stand in neat rows, and the main street holds a plaza, a church and a few shops. It is a working place, with a market, a bus terminal and a hospital, rather than a tourist stop, and that gives it a certain honest charm.
Read the complete Abra Pampa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Abra Pampa. That is the ride.
San Salvador de Jujuy → Purmamarca is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Purmamarca → Tilcara is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tilcara → Humahuaca is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Humahuaca → Abra Pampa is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.