Eating and biking our way through the Americas .... and beyond!

Peru: Part 2 – Cajamarca to Huaraz

Cycling along the river road next to the River Tablachaca - the mountains were really that pink and gorgeous!

This section of our trip marked the start of my (Jo) love affair with dirt roads, or more correctly, a love for where they would take us! It certainly wasn’t “love at first sight”, and I went to bed on our first day of dirt feeling somewhat depressed by my lack of skills on the rough, rocky roads. But, gradually and without realizing it, I have grown to love these quiet backways – the “roads less travelled”. Although my skill level on this type of terrain needs improvement, I now look forward to the dirt roads. Thankfully, there are many dirt roads for us to travel from here until Ushuaia.

Here is an overview of our travels from Cajamarca to Huaraz. It is detailed for our own records, so feel free to skip ahead to the photos!

 Monday 14th September: Cajamarca to Agua Calientes

 

After saying goodbye to our Swiss buddies, Andy and Luzia, and the lovely family from our Hostal in Cajamarca, we got back on the road. The streets of Cajamarca were full of trucks and motor taxis, but the traffic was respectful and we didn’t have any trouble making our way out of town.

Although the road was generally paved on this day, there were stretches where it was in a bad state of disrepair. I found myself thinking that a good dirt road would be easier than the pothole infested roads that we were trying to cycle on!

We stopped for lunch outside a church in a tiny town around the halfway mark and were surprised to see a sign for a campsite (in the backyard of a community house). We can’t remember the last time we saw a sign for camping! We didn’t stop there as we were planning to push onto Agua Calientes, but it could be the perfect resting place for another cyclist (it was exactly 43kms from Cajamarca).

We had a coke stop in San Marco, which was a delightful little town. Some of the local boys came to stare at us and say a few words in English. :)

There was a lot of construction on the climb out of San Marco and I ended up pushing my bike over a couple of rough sections. At the top of the climb we were greeted with a brand spanking new road! It was all downhill from here to Agua Calientes, with wonderful mountain views – yeah!

Agua Calientes is famous for its hot springs. I had been looking forward to soaking in the hot water, but when we saw that the “hot springs” is really just a swimming pool with hot water, we decided to give it a miss. We got a room at Hostal Agua Calientes for 30 soles (bargained down from 40 soles). I visited all of the hostal options in town and it seemed to be the best of a bad bunch. The room was big (we could wheel our bikes in fully loaded!), but it was dirty, full of mosquitos and smelled of rotten eggs. The smell came from our bathroom, where you had the option to fill a dirty bathtub with water from the hot springs…and as the water was constantly flowing (leaking faucet), the wonderful sulfuric smell permeated the room. We had seen a hospedaje at the little town on top of the mountain before we descended into Agua Calientes – we wished we had stayed there instead. Dinner was a dreary affair at one of the dirty local restaurants (most were closed, so we didn’t have much choice). We wouldn’t have been surprised if we woke up ill the next morning! If you have a choice, we recommend to avoid Agua Calientes!

KMs travelled: 88km
Elevation gain: 1168m
Elevation loss: 1893m
Highlight: The descent into Agua Calientes
Lowlight: Agua Calientes

 Tuesday 15th September: Agua Caliente to Sausacocha

We both slept poorly (I was awake at 2am trying to kill mosquitoes!), which wasn’t ideal as we had lots of climbing to do. In hindsight, we really should have set up our tent in the room, as there was plenty of space and we would have slept better. Oh well.

We attempted to roll out of Agua Calientes around 8am, but it took us a good half hour to make our way clear of the town, as every second house seemed to have about 5 dogs and they came rushing out at us when we tried to cycle past. Without doubt, it was the worst town for dogs that we have encountered to date. David got so mad that he started throwing rocks at the dogs. Needless to say, my nerves were quite frazzled by the time we left Agua Calientes.

A note on the dog situation here in Peru, in case you think I’m just being a bit of a wimp about the dogs!

The “house” dogs in Peru are crazy. Interestingly, we don’t have any problems from the street dogs; I suppose because they don’t have a home to guard and they are dependent on passersby for food. But, when we enter towns or pass people’s houses, the dogs which look placid and nice, will generally spring up and chase us, barking at the top of their lungs. They don’t only chase cyclists; they also chase motor bikes, motor taxis and cars! The locals carry sling shots to fire stones at them when necessary and we have been advised by the locals to do the same.

When I started this trip in Alaska, the main concern for me (apart from the bears, of course) was the dogs, as we had such a terrible experience with the stray, rabid dogs in Bali. But, after 13 months on the road, I’m pretty good with the dogs now. I nearly always stop when a dog comes running out at us and this generally makes the dog stop. Blowing my hurricane whistle really helps, as does yelling at the dog to go away, picking up a rock or using my dog dazer. No doubt, my new found confidence with the dogs is helping too. :)  Of course, I also have David, who whirls into action when I’m threatened, throwing stones, yelling and generally making it clear that he’s the “pack leader”!

Although, I am managing quite well with the dogs here in Peru, they are a real nuisance and something really should be done about them. It’s also not just me that has a problem with the dogs here; almost every cyclist that we have met acknowledges the problem. Only one has said that the dogs don’t bother him (but, then he went on to say that his panniers have been bitten twice and he himself was bitten once, although it was minor!). The dogs in Peru are a real risk to cyclists and two other cyclists that we have met on this trip have been bitten by dogs. One poor girl was bitten 3 times(!) and the other girl was bitten once and then spent 2 months recovering from all of the medication that she had to take for rabies. In the end, she found it so stressful cycling in Peru with the dogs that she decided to skip the country altogether and cycle in Chile instead, where the dogs are (hopefully) better.

The owners of the dogs tell you not to worry – that their dog is good and doesn’t bite. But, when its baring its teeth at you, well, there’s always a first time. I have started to tell some of these owners, politely in Spanish, that although that may be the case, it’s not good for them to let their dogs run out at cyclists, as it’s dangerous for us. Most times, the owners agree and end up throwing stones at their dogs!

To our relief, the dogs really weren’t a problem on this stretch of our journey through Peru (other than in Agua Calientes near Cajamarca).

I’m not really sure what the solution is to this problem and I don’t understand why the dogs are so much more aggressive here in Peru than in other countries, when the Peruvian people are so lovely. David thinks there should be a tax on dogs here, as most households seem to have about 5 dogs and that would make the owners more responsible and accountable for their dogs.  In the absence of a good quality fence, I think it would be best for all (including the dog), to keep them on a leash, so they don’t get run over or chase cyclists!

The cycling started out relatively flatish for the first 20kms, and then was pretty much up, up, up! There was the odd downhill, here or there, but the climbing was pretty steady and unrelenting. My energy levels were at rock bottom after the terrible sleep. It required a herculean effort to make it up all of the hills on that day (I may or may not have been a little whingy on this day – sorry David! :) )

Around lunchtime, we cycled warily into the biggish town of Cajabamba, expecting to be attacked by packs of dogs. But, nothing happened. We looked at each other in surprise saying “What’s wrong with this picture”? Where are all the dogs? Why are the streets so clean? There were rubbish bins everywhere and we didn’t see any street dogs. It was a surreal experience for Peru. We liked Cajabamba immensely – it was wonderful! After taking a quick picture at the town square, we found a nice, clean restaurant with wifi for lunch. While we ate, we watched the owner of the restaurant negotiating with a farmer to buy 6 cute, fluffy and very much alive, little guinea pigs … I guess cuy was on the menu that day!

We would have liked to stay longer in Cajabamba, but after lunch we got back on our bikes and continued up the hill. We were making good progress until we came to a big traffic jam. We cycled past the parked cars and discovered that a new bridge was being installed. One of the locals said the bridge would be operational in a couple of hours – not ideal. But, then David spied a little path that pedestrians were using to get over the river in the absence of the bridge. We removed some of our panniers and decided to give it a try. With the help of some local muscle, we got our bikes and panniers safely across the river.

Cycling from this point onwards was great, as there was hardly any traffic because of the bridge. The locals in this area seemed to specialize in making roof tiles. We also saw a lot of mud bricks drying in the sun.

David planned for us to cycle to Huamachuco on this day, but when I saw the beautiful Sausacocha Lagoon, I knew there must be a hospedaje of sorts in the vicinity of the lake and I wasn’t going to cycle any further! As it turned out, we found a fantastic, CLEAN, hotel (Hotel Puerto Lago), with a room overlooking the lake for 30 soles (bargained down from 40 soles). The manager and his kids were so nice and carried all of our panniers up to our room! Apparently our Belgium cycling friend Antonie also stayed there as well.

We had fried trucha (trout) for dinner (yum!) and then I collapsed exhausted into bed! :)

KMs travelled: 77km
Elevation gain: 1760m
Elevation loss: 568m
Highlight: The lovely town of Cajabamba
Lowlight: Dogs in Agua Calientes

 

Wednesday 16th September: Sausacocha – rest day

Although we had only cycled for 2 days, I was feeling wrecked when I woke up on this day, so we decided to have a rest day beside the lake. It was a wonderful place to spend a lazy day. We slept in, went out for breakfast and read books beside the lake – it was the perfect “rest” day! (Note: no wifi in Sausacocha.)

 

Thursday 17th September: Sausacocha to our mountain top campsite on the road to Tamboras

Leaving Sausacocha early, we headed up an unexpectedly STEEP hill to the lovely town of Huamachuco, where we stocked up on bread for 3 days and 20L of water (a very wise move considering what was to come!). Fully loaded with water, we headed up another steep hill out of town (punctuated with more speed bumps than I have ever seen!) and cycled the relatively flat 9kms to the town of Yamobamba, where we planned to say goodbye to the bitumen and take the dirt road to Angasmarca. The dirt road wasn’t signposted, but we turned onto it after confirming with the locals that it was the road to Angasmarca.  We were immediately surrounded by sheep, so we stopped to remove some of the air from our tyres.

David is a mountain biker and has no trouble on the dirt; but for me, cycling off road is a new-ish experience. I have dabbled a little with mountain biking in Melbourne, but after falling off one too many times, my mountain bike and I parted ways. So, suffice to say, this first real “off road” day (at altitude) was pretty hard on me and I spent a lot of time (more time than was really necessary) pushing, especially, as I am still very wary of anything that looks remotely like sand, after my fall in Mexico where I broke my ribs.

Around 11am we passed a group of friendly locals who were drinking some homemade maize liquor. They insistently waved us over, shared some of their homebrew with us and wouldn’t let us continue on our way until we accepted a takeaway bottle for the road! They were so welcoming and friendly; we cycled away feeling warmed by their generous hospitality – both literally and figuratively! 

Following the directions of previous cycle tourers, we turned left after 7kms at the first Y junction and then left again at another Y junction in 6kms. But, for whatever reason, although we were sure that we had followed the instructions correctly, we found ourselves climbing steeply up the road to Tamboras (confirmed by a friendly shepherdess), rather than the road to Angasmarca. We didn’t have the heart to turn around after all our efforts to get there, so we continued on towards some lakes where we hoped to camp that night.

We had to cross a river and went past another house and were invited to stop for some beers, but it was starting to rain and we wanted to find a campsite, so we continued on. The views were incredible and there was hardly any traffic.

We only managed to cycle about 20kms on the dirt that day. The ascents were incredibly hard, and I was huffing and puffing with the thin air. By the time we called it a day, we had climbed to 4100m. We found what looked to be a little used track and pushed our bikes on top of a hill, out of sight from any passing cars and set up our tent. I absolutely LOVED this campsite, from which I could see 3 beautiful blue lakes and the rugged mountains behind. We had a yummy dinner of polenta and tuna and then curled up in our sleeping bags! 

KMs travelled: 43km
Elevation gain: 1226m
Elevation loss: 275m
Highlight: The friendly locals, the mountain vistas and our wonderful campsite
Lowlight: My off-road skills

Friday 18th September: Mountain top campsite on the road to Tamboras for acclimatization day

We had planned to press on to Angasmarca and had just finished packing up our sleeping bags, when it started to rain HEAVILY. We thought we could wait an hour and then set off, but it rained heavily off and on all day long. After struggling somewhat on some of the ascents the day before, I looked at this forced rest day at our camp on the hill at 4100m, as an “acclimatization day”. Although we were keen to keep moving, the acclimatization really seemed to help on the ride to Angasmarca.  

Saturday 19th September: Mountain top camp to “dead end” campsite

I had been feeling somewhat demoralized by my lack of off road skills, so I was determined to do better on this day. And I did. Attitude is everything!

Unfortunately, despite my improved performance, it was a VERY unsatisfactory day, as we got lost! We cycled about 6kms along the road to Tamboras and then we saw what appeared to be a great dirt road that would lead us back to the road to Angasmarca. It wasn’t on our GPS, but we decided to risk it. To get to this dirt road we went a little bit off-road to reach it. In doing so, we passed near to a farm house and were chased a short distance by the farm dogs – what joy!

Eventually we made it to the “good” dirt road/track. We were in high spirits anticipating that we would arrive in Angasmarca that night. But the “good” dirt road/track really wasn’t so good. The path was a little overgrown and we soon came across two landslides. But there seemed to be a workaround used by motorbikes and not wanting to give up too easily, we managed to maneuver our way over them. We kept following the dirt track and saw some small herds of Vicuñas (wild South American camelids – members of the camel family). On the opposite mountain to our right we saw clouds of smoke – we assumed the local farmers must be back burning and we weren’t too concerned.

At the end of the valley we came to a big gate, but there was no fence, so we continued on. The track started to fork at this point – one path went up over the hill and led to a farm and the other went right downhill to the river, where it joined up with a road on the mountain to our right. Our GPS and maps.me indicated that the road to Angasmarca was only 500m ahead of us, but we couldn’t work out how to get to it. We could see trucks driving along a road on top of the mountain across from us, but although we both went exploring through the fields looking for the road, we couldn’t find a way up to it. Eventually, we decided to follow the main track to the right downhill to the river, in the hope that it would lead us to the road on the other mountain. All of the tracks were impassable for a car.

The track led us down to the river, which we crossed, easily enough. We then had to push our bikes, one at a time, up a steep hill to the new track. This track was also subject to landslides. We managed to get over the first one, but eventually we found ourselves at a huge landslide and there was no way that we could safely get over it. There were other tracks above and below the track that we were on. We tried 3 other paths in the hope that one of them would lead us safely over the landslide, but eventually we admitted defeat. We decided that the best course of action was to re-cross the river and head up to the farm, which we were now fairly certain must have access to the road to Angasmarca. We turned around and as we heading back towards the river, we saw that the track that we had been following that morning on the opposite mountain was now on fire!

So, completely frustrated, we decided to call it a day and attempt to climb back up the opposite mountain to the farm the following morning. As we were fairly sure that the rocky track that we were on was completely unused, we set up our tent on a sandy part of the road, out of sight from the farm. We didn’t want to set our tent up in a grassy field with all of the surrounding back burning and we hoped that the rocky road would afford some protection from any fires that might come our way. We had a yummy pasta dinner and prayed for rain!

KMs travelled: 18km
Elevation gain: 200m
Elevation loss: 201m
Highlight: The first 6kms on the road to Tamboras and seeing our first Vicuñas!
Lowlight: Everything else about this day

 

Sunday 20th September: “Dead end” campsite to Angasmarca

We were back on the “dead end” track to the first landslide by 7.30am and then across the river and back up the hill by 9am. Thankfully, the fires had gone out overnight!

When we got back to the fork (where we had taken the path to the right the day before), we noticed another road to the left that went higher up the mountain. We decided to follow this road. It led us through a field to a big gate (we assume to the farm house) and to the left of the gate, across the field, we found the road to Angasmarca! The only problem was that we were fenced in! We pushed our bikes down the hill through the field and starting looking for a hole in the fence. At this point the farmer rode up on his horse. We happily waved to him, explaining that we were lost and trying to get to Angasmarca. He wasn’t too pleased to find two lost “gringos” in his field, but for a “tip” (we gave him 5 soles and a bar of chocolate), he led us to a “gate” in the fence and pointed us in the direction of Angasmarca. We thanked him and tried to shake his hand, but he just wanted us to leave. So we did!

I was SO relieved to be back on the right road! The dirt road to Angasmarca goes past a gold mine, so it was in very good condition. There were a few steepish climbs, but it was predominately downhill.

After our experience getting lost, we kept checking our directions with the locals. Eventually, we found ourselves at the mine and we had a nice chat with one of the guards. The road from the mine down to Angasmarca was very rough and rocky, but we were so happy to have made it to the town.

Angasmarca was one of the friendliest places that we have visited – we were like local celebrities. As soon as we arrived we stopped for lunch at one of the restaurants on the town square. We were immediately invited to have a beer with some of the (slightly drunk) locals and also got chatting with the friendly waitress. After lunch, we found a room at the local hotel, did some much-needed washing and then went in search of more camping provisions.

Angasmarca, like most small towns in Peru, did not have a supermarket as such, but rather lots of little grocery stores and a market. To spread the money around, we bought food and water from lots of little grocery stores and bread from some local ladies with baskets in the town square. As we walked around town, we were trailed by a group of young boys who were eager to show us around.

That night we went for dinner at another local restaurant. The food was pretty average, but the company was fantastic! Shortly after we sat down, two brothers came in (one of whom was a recreational cyclist living in Mallorca), who were keen to talk to us. We ended up sharing a table together and they very kindly shouted us dinner! How incredibly nice! :)

KMs travelled: 26km
Elevation gain: 450m
Elevation loss: 1600m
Highlight: Finding the road to Angasmarca and everything that followed, especially dinner! 
Lowlight: The grumpy farmer ….

Monday 21st September: Angasmarca to campsite on the River Tablachaca 

After a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs in Angasmarca (we felt we deserved a treat), we headed off towards Mollepata. We had been led to believe that the road to Mollepata would, at least in part, be paved. But, it wasn’t. Although, there was a new dirt road through the valley, so leaving Angasmarca we didn’t have to climb back up the mountain that we descended the day before. This saved us 6km and 400m of steep climbing.

After an undulating 8kms, we faced a challenging 10km climb on a very dusty and sandy dirt road. I managed to cycle most of it; the corners were the worst – deep and sandy – and I had to push on a few. When we finally made it to the top, David announced that it was “officially our hardest climb on the trip”. I couldn’t agree more.

We passed the town of Mollebamba, which looked like a ghost town, and stopped for a juice and a chat with the nice shopkeeper. Then it was onto Mollepata where we planned to have lunch. To our great surprise, from upper Mollepata the descent down to the river was paved. We stopped in Mollepata for lunch, but the cook from the only restaurant in town apparently didn’t want to cook for us (she was more interested in gossiping with her friends), so lunch was a feast of bread and Nutella.

The descent from Mollepata was incredible – something truly special. The road snaked down the mountain in a maze of twists and turns – wow! In the distance, we could see the equally crazy paved uphill to Pallasca. As we continued to descend, we realized that a couple of white dots near the top of the switchbacks up to Pallasca were cars, which must have driven off the road – so sad. It was a timely reminder to us to be very careful on our descent.

The descent ended at the River Tablacha. Rather than climb up to Pallasca, we planned to follow a river track beside the river, which would involve 2 river crossings. After confirming with some local road workers that the water level wasn’t too high for such crossings, we crossed the bridge over the river and turned right onto the river track past some thermal springs. It wasn’t at all what we had been expecting and was more a challenging road than a track, with incredible river scenery.

The river road became rougher as we went along and following it was a real adventure. We went through puddles, sand, mud and tunnels, around boulders, over rocks and piles of slate, until a pesky landslide ended our run. I can’t say that I cycled it all, but I gave it a good shot and it was pretty fun! 

The landslide is easy to find – the road has some big wooden poles (a makeshift gate) blocking the entry. David scouted ahead and found a path which is used by pedestrians and donkeys and was pretty sure that if we were careful, we could make it past the landslide, but at this point we met a local couple leading 2 donkeys, who said we should go down to the river from here. The next day we saw that after the first landslide the whole mountain was gone – so it was good that we went down to the river.

We had been expecting the first of the river crossings in another 2-3kms, so we assumed that we would have to push our bikes along the riverbed until we reached the river crossing. We followed an easy path down to river. The river must be very wide and deep in the rainy season, but at this time of year, the riverbed was largely exposed and there were only 3 small streams to cross, no deeper than mid-calf.

It was about 5.30pm by the time we reached the riverbed and we needed to find somewhere to camp for the night. From the river road, we had seen a house on the opposite side of the bank, so we were keen to make our way further downstream before we set up our camp for the night. It was crazily difficult to push our bikes along the riverbed. It was very rocky and our wheels got stuck in the mud. When we finally reached the end of the valley, we realized we couldn’t go any further downstream. It was about 6.30pm by this time and very dark. We couldn’t find a sheltered place to camp, so we were forced to camp on the riverbed out in the open.

As we were setting up our tent in the dark, David saw lights above us. The lights were coming closer and soon we were joined by 6 men, including the owner of house on the other side of the bank. It was a little scary at first, but they seemed friendly enough. The owner of the house told us that the road that we needed to take was directly above us! Since the landslide, it seemed that the first river crossing was now here, not in 2-3kms, so we had been correct to descend to the river, rather than try to make our way over the landslide. The men said “good night” and left as quickly as they had arrived. We finished setting up camp and made dinner, relieved that our efforts pushing our bikes across the riverbed had not been wasted!

KMs travelled: 56km
Elevation gain: 875m
Elevation loss: 1930m
Highlight: So many!! The descent from Mollepata and our journey along the river road
Lowlight: Unfriendly restaurant owner in Mollepata and pushing our bikes across the riverbed

Tuesday 22nd September: Campsite on the River Tablachaca to Campsite beside the River Santa (13.5km from Estacion Chuquicara)

Wow – this day was fantastic!

We woke up early around 6am and broke camp. We weren’t sure how to access the road above us, but as we were having breakfast (cold porridge :( ) a man with 3 donkeys, started walking along the river bed towards our camp. Just before he reached us, he headed up the steep embankment and started walking along the road above us. Perfect! Now, we knew how to access the road and the access point was only a few meters from our camp!

We were just finishing packing our panniers, when 5 of the men that we met the night before, including the owner of the nearby house, started walking along the road above us (there must be another access point from the house). Seeing that we were almost ready to leave, 3 of the men made their way down the steep embankment, waded through the river and offered to help us carry our bags and bikes up to the road above! How incredibly thoughtful and kind. At this point, we still hadn’t seen the access route, but when we did we were even more grateful for their assistance, as the pathway up to the road was super steep. By ourselves, it would have taken us at least 30min to ferry all of our panniers and bikes from the camp to the road and it would have been hard work for David to get the bikes up. But, with 3 of the men carrying our panniers and 1 man standing at the top to help us up, we were on the road and ready to roll in 10min. I wasn’t sure if the men would ask for a tip, but all they wanted was a few photos with us!

The men were gold prospectors and were at the river to pan for gold, along with at least 50 others! All morning we noticed little shacks along the river and men looking to make their fortune. We hope our 4 helpers strike it rich!

After the photo shoot, we said good-bye to our new friends and made our way to the 2nd river crossing.

The road was a newly made rough dirt road for the miners. Actually, there were 2 more river crossings. The 1st was relatively easy, although we had to push our bikes through deep black mud, at one point. David had insisted that I put my old bike shoes on that we got fixed in Celedin, as it would give me better grip than flip flops. But, the resoling job clearly was no match for the river and my new soles started to separate from my shoes!!

The 2nd river crossing was quite exciting and I nearly fell in!! The water came up to our thighs and the current was VERY strong in one section. There were lots of big rocks in the water too, which made it even more difficult. We must have created quite the spectacle, as our progress across the river was watched by about 10 locals, including our new gold prospecting friends!

After the 2nd river crossing, we came to a little community of 10 or so shacks, one of which had a little shop attached. We were in desperate need of some water, and weren’t too keen to drink the river water (even if sterilized, because of all the mining in the area), as we had both recently been visited by the diarrhea fairy.  Unfortunately, the lady didn’t have bottled water, but she did have soft drinks. We stocked up on soft drink, even though we prefer to drink predominantly water while cycling. We also bought some extra chocolate biscuits to support the shop. The lady was lovely and we had a good chat. She asked us if we had any pain medication, as she suffered from a bad back. We have received such kindness in Peru, so we didn’t hesitate to give her some of our pain killers. :)

After the 2nd river crossing the quality of the dirt road improved immensely, as it was used by the miners’ cars and motorbikes. The scenery was even more dramatic than the day before. The mountains were full of colour – pink, purple and green. It reminded me of the Artists Palette at Death Valley in the United States. It was stunning and there wasn’t a single car driving on the road.

At the 10km mark, the river road met with the road from Pallasca. We had been expecting another 30kms of dirt from this point to Estacion Quiroz, but we were pleasantly surprised to find it paved. We had both enjoyed the dirt section, but after getting lost on our way to Angasmarca, we were keen to make up some time and we are much faster on tarmac than on dirt. There was a tiny community at this point, where it may be possible to buy water and food, but we didn’t stop.

The road undulated from here, but was predominantly downhill along the river through the valley for the next 50kms or so. The scenery continued to be dramatic, but the traffic increased, although it was still very light. Unfortunately, our fabulous downhill was hampered by a persistent and incredibly strong headwind. At times we were doing only 9km per hour on the downhill, as the wind was so strong!

We passed the little town of Sacaycacha and stopped to buy some water. The lady only had small bottles, but David was completely out of water by this time and beggars can’t be choosers! We paid 10 soles for 5 small bottles. The lady had a huge box of passionfruit. We wanted to buy a couple, as we adore passionfruit, but the lady gave them to us for free!

It was a day for fruit. Shortly after receiving the free passionfruit, a car stopped to talk to David. They gave him a banana to help with his potassium intake!!

Lunch was a cheap affair – bread rolls and Nutella, with pears and mandarins. We are trying to be a bit healthier!

We made it to the town of Estacion Chuquicara by 2pm. It was a friendly little place and all of the locals wanted to find out where we were from and where we were going. We stocked up our water, had a Gatorade and a beer (for hydration purposes!) and shared a meal of lamb – yum. It was the first time that we have had lamb since leaving Australia! We met a lovely man (Jesus) while having our second lunch – these days we don’t seem to be able to go anywhere without ending up having conversations with the locals. It is fantastic and great for my Spanish.

The town was at 450m elevation and it was extremely hot. Thankfully, the headwind had made the temperatures more bearable for us.

Leaving Estacion Chuquicara, we said good-bye to the tarmac and started bumping our way along the rough dirt road beside the River Santa, which leads to the Canon del Pato. Thankfully, our headwind turned into a killer tailwind. We made excellent progress on the dirt thanks to Mother Nature’s assistance and were very happy that we had endured the headwind while on the tarmac, as it would have been terribly difficult on dirt (the tailwind must have been at least 35 knots).

The scenery was similar to that beside the River Tablachaca, however this dirt road was in much better condition and was more like a washboard highway. Although it was easier to cycle on, as the trucks and buses whizzed past creating huge clouds of dust, I missed the quiet and more difficult dirt road of the morning.

Around 5pm we spied a group of trees next to the river, which looked perfect for a stealth campsite. We enjoyed a yummy vegetarian pasta and called it a day!

KMs travelled: 79km
Elevation gain: 397m
Elevation loss: 1603m
Highlight: The assistance from the gold prospectors, the second river crossing and the morning ride beside the River Tablachaca
Lowlight: The morning headwind and the traffic on the dirt road beside the River Santa 

 

Wednesday 23rd September: Campsite beside the River Santa (13.5km from Estacion Chuquicara) to Campsite by the River Santa (7kms after Yuracmarca)

This was a day of dirt! After breaking our camp early, we cycled towards Yuracmarca. We passed through numerous dark tunnels, under overhanging rocks and beside some beautiful river scenery. At one point, we came across a waterfall. It was extremely hot in the valley and not having had a proper shower for days, we both jumped under it – it was too inviting to miss!

We met some other tourists on this day. First a group of retired Canadians who were living in Ecuador; and then a cool Brazilian couple and their son who are travelling in their RV up to Alaska. The Brazilians told us about their wonderful visit to Laguna Paron – thankfully we decided to hike up to it as well, as it was simply magic!

We had a late lunch in the town of Yuracmarca, served by a wonderful dad and daughter team. The climb up to this town seemed never-ending to me and I was exhausted by the time I arrived and somewhat harassed by the local dogs. Although there is a hospedaje in town, we found the place to be very dreary and depressing and would recommend continuing onto the next town of Huallanca or camping as we did.

Apparently there was an official “Canon del Pato” campsite 7km from Yuracmarca on the bank of the River Santa. It was listed on both maps.me and also in our Garmin. However, when we arrived, we discovered that it doesn’t exist anymore (if it ever did). Nevertheless, we decided to wild camp there, even though it took us a good half hour to ferry our gear down a rocky path, with lots of cacti, to the river bank. We found a lovely sandy spot by the river and I washed our clothes in the river like a local!

 

KMs travelled: 49km
Elevation gain: 921m
Elevation loss: 302m
Highlight: Shower beneath the waterfall and our campsite by the river
Lowlight: Cycling up to and through Yuracmarca

Thursday 24th September: Campsite by the River Santa (7kms after Yuracmarca) to Caraz

After making our way back up to the road from our campsite, it was only another 7kms on dirt to the town of Huallanca and the start of the much anticipated, Canon del Pato (Duck Canyon). From Huallanca to Caraz the road was paved, which was probably a good thing, given all the tunnels that we passed through on the Canyon del Pato.

Huallanca is a nice little town, with a couple of hospedajes. We filled up our water bottles and then made our way past the hydroelectric plant and up the switchbacks to the start of the Canon del Pato – high above the River Santa.

The highway running through the Canon del Pato is an amazing feat of engineering. The highway passes through 35 one-lane tunnels through the Cordillera Negra. Although the Canyon del Pato is cool, I must admit that we were a little disappointed with it after the dramatic river scenery that we had enjoyed beside the River Tablachaca. We hadn’t expected a hydroelectric plant, with all the attendant machinery and the excitement of cycling through so many tunnels wears off after a while!

Thankfully there was minimal traffic when we made our way through the canyon and the drivers were very patient and courteous. The trucks are meant to beep their horns when they are entering one of the tunnels to alert driver at the other end, but it is not uncommon to see one vehicle reversing out of a tunnel to let another pass. On one occasion we were half way through a tunnel when a truck was starting to enter it from the other side. I blew my hurricane whistle and the truck backed up for us! Another time, David, who was in front, stopped a truck to let me exit the tunnel safely. :)

Emerging from one tunnel, we met 2 other cyclists – an Australian/Scottish couple who had hired bikes in Caraz to cycle the Canon del Pato one way – downhill. We, of course, were going in the opposite direction – uphill with luggage all the way.  

After we passed through the Canon del Pato, we enjoyed river scenery for the remainder of the ride to Caraz. Just before Caraz there was a big hill. I must have been looking a bit exhausted, because a kind local said “You can do it!” It was all the encouragement that I needed.

After the final uphill it was undulating into the lovely town of Caraz.  After a bit of shopping around, we found a cheap private room for 30 soles at Hostal Caraz, which became our base for exploring the nearby Cordillera Blancas.

KMs travelled: 45km
Elevation gain: 1101m
Elevation loss: 104m
Highlight: Cycling the famous Canon del Pato
Lowlight: Not being able to find a coke stop between Canon del Pato and Caraz

 

Sunday 4th October: Caraz to Huaraz

This was a somewhat average day on the bike. I missed the tranquility of the dirt roads – something that neither David nor I ever thought I would say! Between Caraz and Huaraz the road is paved; there are lots of little towns and lots of traffic, especially colectivos. We seemed to be forever in urban zones and the scenery was not particularly picturesque, although we could see the lovely mountains at times.

Around lunchtime, we ran into a friendly Italian cyclist, Ruggero (from Ruggero on Tour), who we stopped and chatted with for over an hour! He was a wealth of information having cycled up from Ushuaia and since talking to him we have now decided to cycle from Bolivia down the Argentinian side to Mendoza, after stopping in at San Pedro de Atacama in Chile.

After saying good-bye to Ruggero, I was in desperate need of some lunch! We cycled on a little further until we came to the rustic La Choza Restaurant. The menu had 5 items listed. Cuy (guinea pig), Chicharon (Pork), Chocho (a kind of vegetarian bean salad – like ceviche without the fish), beer and soft drinks. We ordered the whole menu and enjoyed our lunch immensely when it finally arrived – we didn’t receive our food for over an hour even though we were the only guests!

We arrived in Huaraz around 5pm. The locals were surprisingly supportive – one guy applauded us and said “Bravo” and another called me a “Tough Woman”! We were surprised by the number of street dogs, but apart from one dog, we didn’t have any trouble. We found a nice, clean hostal close to the centre of town called Inti Wasi.

Huaraz has some wonderful “Gringo” restaurants. We had been looking forward to an alpaca burger at Creperie Patrick, but it was closed, so we enjoyed some currywurst and bratwurst sausages at the Swiss Pub, El Tio Enrique. After an overload of pasta on our hike and chicken and chips in Caraz, it was simply wonderful! 

KMs travelled: 70km 

Elevation gain: 1162m
Elevation loss: 356m
Highlight: Lunch, dinner and meeting Ruggero
Lowlight: The traffic between Caraz and Huaraz

In the following days, we enjoyed an alpaca burger at Creperie Patrick (Yum) and the BEST pizza that we have had in the whole of Central and South America at Luigi’s Pizza (the owner worked for many years in Australia and is very proud to only use the best ingredients. He even wants to go to the world pizza championships!!) We also went to Chilli Heaven and enjoyed some really yummy Indian and Thai curry. We are ready for pasta and chicken and chips again now! :)