I was awakened at 4:30 by a phone call from Angel telling me that we had two very drunk students. I got up and went to talk with them. They didn't seem that drunk but I chewed them out and left.

We had a good breakfast and waited for shoppers to return before heading north up the Valle Calchaquí. It was a very clear day. Somewhere north of San Carlos we stopped for a group photo. We then continued as techeros into Angastaco where we had lunch on the square. The same two drunk students from the night before each bought liters of beer and were soon drinking and playing on the see-saw in front of the school, which was in session. Would they do that in their home towns? I chewed them out again.

A school girl came up to us and did a survey about tourism. I soon met her teacher who asked me to talk to her students about our trip. Instead, I asked if I could talk about the geological history of Angastaco. They seemed to like that and asked a few questions. We stopped in front of another school and talked to an outdoor class from the roof of the Green Machine .

We drove through the magical countryside up to Molinos. We entered the town for a baño stop and ended up picking up two Scottish hitchhikers who rode with us on the roof. The guy worked with Bolfor, with people Todd knew when he was in Boliva--small world. They rode with us as far as Cachi.

From Cachi we continued eastward and then southward over the Cordillera Oriental . More than half of the students were on the roof. The temperature/wind chill dropped steadily as we sped along the paved road, climbing in elevation and watching the sunset. I shot lots of video. The number of techeros decreased to Motley, Jayne, Chelsea, and me. We rode along with Motley and me acting as wind break with the women huddled behind. It was spectacular even though Motley and I were in a state of borderline hypothermia. The view when we reached the Cuesta del Obispo was incredible, looking down into the deep valley. I had never approached it from the north before.

We gave up our techero ride. It took me half an hour to warm up as we descended into the Rio Escoipe Canyon .

We pulled into Salta around 10:00 stopping at El Fagon de Salta, on Entre Ríos for a good dinner. We had the place to ourselves. We then drove out to San Lorenzo and checked into the Hostería Los Ceibos around midnight. I shared a 5 bed cabin with Angel and San Martin.