We get up willing to hitchhike or take a bus. Our goal is to join our Warmshowers hosts near Cafayate, more than 500 kilometers away. Nonogasta is a small town. So we ride 15km to Chilecito, which is a bigger city. We
inquire about bus schedules and routes: it's impossible to go to the North, we have to go through the regional capital, La Rioja. We opt for the hitchhiking because we think it should be faster as well. We start hitchhiking on the road 40 around 13:00. Soon after, a small family takes us, and we go 25 kilometers further to a junction. A lot of cars go on the other road, and little on ours. It's very warm. We decide after two hours to turn around, we return to Chilecito by bicycle. We take a beer, and we celebrate our 4500 kilometers, passed few hours ago.
With the bus of 8pm to La Rioja, we'll be able to take a second bus at 2am. Little problem, when we arrive around midnight, the bus company doesn't want to sell us tickets because of the bikes. We talk with another company that assures us that this isn't a problem for them, we take our tickets for the next morning. We are going to the fire station. They allow us to sleep in the air-conditioned room (it's very hot in La Rioja, about 30°C at midnight!).
In the morning, we try to take the promised bus, but this time it's the driver who doesn't want to. On the other hand, the bus is full and there is no space to put the bikes in the trunk. We are told that another company has less stops and more space in the trunk of their buses. The bus is at 16:30. Indeed, the bus is half empty, and we can embark with our bikes. We arrive at 22:00 in Monteros. We can sleep in the municipal stadium. As it's late, the guards even open the visitors' locker rooms, and we can just spread our mattresses on the floor and take a good shower.
