Purmamarca was a town I was told to see and at only 26km's down the road I decided to hire a mountain bike to make the trip. My guidebook recommended a bike hire place that was a few hundred meters in the wrong direction so I thought nah, there's another one right on the way. Probably made a bit of a blue there. Got 15km's down the road before, yep, got a flat tyre (huge tyres with no tread, it was if they were just asking to get stabbed). Turned around and started the long walk back but decided to get the old hitch hiking thumb into gear (a higher one than the bike at this time) and walah, a ute stopped and gave me a lift back to town. Appreciated! A quick turn around time at the bike shop resulted in a new bike (new meaning different, not brand spanking) which had dodgy front brakes but really good rear ones. No probs I thought (probably made a bit of a blue there...again). An extra 15km's to get back from where I was before wasn't ideal but I eventually made it to the town I wanted to visit, checked the area, had a good meal then as I left the town the rear brakes failed. Made life hard for the trip back especially at the start with the town situated on a mountain that wound its way down ending at a T-Junction a couple of Km's away. Even trying to take it very slow bought the traditional foot brake into action twice (luckily the hiking boots have enough tread). The rest of the way back was on a single road and when a hill came it was just a matter of gaining speed until the next uphill slowed you down again. Not ideal but ultimately successful.
