Our little hotel did not have breakfast so we headed to the main square and went to a recommended bakery. Jugo, eggs, pan de yucca, donut like thing and an empanada.
Coming out of town we had a climb to the actual top of the hill. That explained why the climb yesterday came up short; we didn't finish it. Aranzazu was near but not at the top.
We had a long downhill and the scenery got better every kilometer. Some places we hit washed out areas. There was a lot of heavy braking
After crossing the river we started climbing again. It was a 6km, 350m climb at 5.7% . It was work but doable.
Salamina is crazy at the entrance and exit. It's complete mayhem. Trucks, pedestrians, motos, businesses hanging out well into the street and lots of cars. This all funneling into streets just slightly wider than a car. All of this is also on a steep grade.
Salamina is a cute town once you get into it. I tried to get brake pads but the bike shop on the square didn't have them. My brakes are wearing very fast on the downhills. Salamina has some artesian shops and we got cappuccino. Next up lunch and we followed some advice from yesterday and went to a place that didn't really serve lunches. More of a cafe. Next spot was on the square and had gormet in the name so it wasn't very crowded. It was pretty good and I at least liked my lunch.
Back on the road out of town we got lost. This was on time I should have trusted the route but it felt so wrong. We ended up doing an extra lap of the into town insanity.
Once on the correct road it was another long descent. There were the odd washed out sections and several places where half the width of the road was somewhere down the hillside. At the bottom crossing the river it was hot. That made the start of the climb harder. Bob and I were riding and since the traffic was so light we could ride side by side.
The veiws were spectacular and we could see the road across the valley. It was only one kilometer away but 8km by the road. As we climbed we got a spectacular view of Salamina.
Shortly after that the road went from very good pavement with the odd washed out sections to gravel. It was packed gravel it was very rough with lots of loose stones. I stopped regularly and Bob went on.
He waited at one of the few roadside shops and we had a juice. A cat lay out sleeping in the sun while dogs played all around it. This section could not get any worse. It started to rain. Not at all hard and it kept the powdery dirt down. Lots of thunder in the distance.
The road was a killer. It was about 8km of steep loose rock. I had been up the section before but I think I deleted the painful memory. I just don't remember it being this long. Brutal, yes, but just not so much of it.
When it finally ended at the top the road turned to beautiful pavement. All downhill from here. Too bad the road was a little wet and my brakes were screeching.
At the bottom I saw Bob at a gas station getting his bike washed. I joined. Both bikes were filthy and the power wash helped a lot
We then headed to the hotel where Alpha and Mike had already checked in. Cleaning up was exhausting. I was so tired. We didn't see many decent dinner options and ended up at a rice bowl place. With a big belly full of food I just wanted to be in my hotel room. I was done.
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