Distance today = 21.72 km; Total distance = 14,373.64 km; Location = Rodeo del Medio – 32 59.281′ S, 68 41.418′ W; Start time = 1022, Finish time = 1329

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242776793

Just a short day, as I needed to get various logistical jobs done. The weather was perfect for running, and I felt really good, so it was a pity I couldn’t run further than I did.

I ran through the eastern suburbs of Mendoza, finishing in the town of Rodeo del Medio, passing by fields of olive trees and a nearby olive oil factory. I even passed hundreds of high school students, each in their grey trousers, white shirts, and red ties.

After finishing running, we headed off to book a hire car for the Argentinean leg and to buy Argentinean SIM cards for our phones. It’s been quite stressful travelling without phones, so the latter was a must. We had great help from Paola at the airport Hertz office, who also helped us with translation issues when we were sorting out the phones.

Tomorrow I will be having a day away from the road, as we need to drive back to Chile to drop the current hire car back to Santiago, a trip of more than 400 km over the Andes. We then fly back to Mendoza and pick up the new car, which we’ll eventually drop off in Buenos Aires. The reason for all this is because it’s not possible to hire a car in Chile and drop it in Argentina, hence the convoluted arrangements.

Therefore, there will be no blog update tomorrow, but I’ll be back on the road on Wednesday, where I’ll pick up where I left off today. In the meantime, we have another two nights in Mendoza, where the food and wine are superb.

PS The Garmin was inadvertently stopped today, so I have added back in the resulting 740 metres that were missing from the data. In addition, my official position is about 20 km to the east of where the tracker is showing me.