We left very early In the morning from San Jose to Virasorros. The ride was short – 45km. Because we left so early, we were able to beat the heat. It was also a milestone of sorts, we passed through the entire province of Missiones and entered Corrientes.

We got settled in the municipal gym where they had real beds and showers. Not hotel real, but real enough. As the day wore on, the heat kept going up and up. Around 1600hrs, the clouds rolled in and dumped – in true tropical rain storm fashion with lots of lightning and thunder.

We hung out for another hour and then ventured a couple of blocks to the supermarket, a pizza shop and an ice cream shop. There goes another kg of ice cream.

All in all it was a good day. The ride and rain storm afterwards were the highlights.

Day 13: Virasorro to Santo Tomé 69km (plus another 10km around town)

We didn’t sleep well last night so got ready at five. We were worried about the rain forecast from last night – four days of tropical rain storm. We didn’t want to get stuck in Virasorro for four days – so we got out early. It ended up being the nicest ride. It was about 24°C, low overcast and a slight breeze. We finished the distance in just over three hours. We were in town by 10:30.

We went into town to look for a place to stay. The gym was closed as were the three hotels we checked. We decided to go get something to eat instead. Had a decent meal albeit too much.

We then headed down to the river with the idea to cool off. As we reached the river – I was in the lead, there were a group of men drinking. I just rode past and went to look at the river. Next thing I know is that Guille road right up to them and joked about “no dollars here, the central bank has them all…”. Afterwards, he tells me they pegged me… ME!!! as a gringo with $$ and while their intentions were not known, it might have gone the wrong way.

So the river, it’s the Uruguay River forming the border between Argentina and Brazil. About 140m wide at this point with Brazil on the other side. It was pretty and all with fisherman in their launches going up and down the river, but as a closer look was taken, it was quite dirty. Lots of broken glass and plastic in the river. I opted not to go in and hung back with the bikes. Rocko and Guille on the other hand went right in.

We then headed back to the Ruta and look for a hotel – we found one and were told they would be there in 10 minutes. As we waited, a car pulled up and a family piled out. They had seen us on Facebook and on the Ruta earlier that morning and wanted to give Rocko some food and take a picture.

A few minutes later and we got a nice refreshing cool shower and are just hanging out.

It was a good day today.