I'm dreaming of the day when I can write an entire post that's super positive about the cycling and logistics, but as soon as we get over one hurdle Peru throws another at us. Today though was pretty awesome, but again super tough.
We woke up feeling super positive and excited about our adventure, ready to tackle any challenges ahead. The first of the challenges was a 20km climb... Our first exposure to the infamous gravel roads and to start off they were fairly well behaved... Bumpy... Yes, harder work than tarmac... Absolutely, but isolated beautiful tracks with only bikes and motor bikes passing us incredibly infrequently. We really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and like true explorers.
Lots of super friendly (and somewhat bemused) folk asked after us, one even stopped his motorbike to chat to us... Cute.
We stopped for lunch before tackling the downhill (lunch being all we could find in the town before we left this morning... stale bread, crisps and some weird stale stuff that vaguely resembled a caramel donut... With a little bit of imagination anyway! Oh and what we've affectionately named "chodanas" tiny stumpy bananas!!). Now normally I'd be raving about the downhill being pay back for the long hard slog up... But imagine cycling steep downhills on a mix of sand (that makes you skid at the slightest shift in weight), fist sized stones (bump bump clunk rattle), gravel (no feeling left in hands now), and pot holes (eeeeek!!) at 20km/h... Nerve wracking stuff and damn shattering... Especially for one's behind!
And then... After about 4 hours... Wahooooo tarmac... We were flying... Felt like we'd been visited by the red bull angel! But of course that wasn't our road for long, we turned off towards the lake onto what we thought was the worst gravel road in Peru... Bump bump bump and another 5km, then wow, what a sight. A beautiful and huge lake wrapped around the mountain valley... And in the distance what looks like a promising settlement. (we've learnt to be cautious of how villages look from a distance, they often deceive... Mud huts with corrugated iron roofs can look pleasant until you're up close... But as we got closer we got more and more excited, street lamps, even some paved roads, then a beautiful square... By now it was gone 2pm and we were so hopeful we might find more substantial lunch... But the square only yielded two infamous 'Inca cola and sweets' shops and so we U turned and headed up towards the road... Only to be greeted by 2 very smiley chaps, asking where we were from, how far we'd cycled, where we were going and if we were hungry... HUNGRY... ARE WE HECK... They told us to go to the lakeside beach (oh my god this place has a lakeside beach!!!) to the restaurant. Of we scadaddled and found a concrete structure in the water, made to look just like a boat... So quaint and cute and FOOD!! Fried trout fresh from the lake and a ton of rice later we were super happy. And the guys had come and joined us (their wives ran it I think) then took out a massive bag of coca leaves and told us we should drink coca tea to help us up the hill... When in Rome!!!
A lot of pictures later (they were a bit fascinated by us) and we were heading to the next town along... Another 20km along the lakeside path that promised to be beautiful and flat. I'm pleased to say it delivered on both fronts. But when Peru gives you something it also takes something else away... This road wasn't just gravel, sand and mud, but it had fashioned itself into "Ripio" a phenomena that Ant had read about but not yet experienced. This is when heavy traffic causes the lose road matter to form a series of ripples, whose frequency is just enough to stop a cyclist in their tracks... Literally saps away any momentum you have (as far as we could work out this is because when front wheel is driving on, back wheel is in a trench, effectively applying the brakes.
So it really was a day of three parts, each bringing a new tougher challenge. (20km slow gravel up, 20km scary down, 20km ripio from hell).
We had planned to push on passed the town Layo and camp another 20km up the mountain to make tomorrow easier, but when we realised it was a cute, if not incredibly sleepy, place with an open hostel (no hot water but a functioning outdoor loo and cold shower) a lovely owner, streetlights and a few concreted roads... We decided to stop.
Emerging from our room, shivering but clean we ventured down the single street that is the town. After only finding Inca cola shops we'd just about resigned ourselves to a supper of canned fruit, yoghurt and beer, when by chance we asked a lady if there was a restaurant... But of course she said... And pointed us towards a very closed looking hatch... Egged on by her we knocked... And low and behold behind the doors was a cafe.
You never have a choice in small town restaurants, you simply say "I'd like to eat" and they bring stuff. Usually a meat soup with barley or pasta and sometimes vegetables (that even Ant's grown to love), followed by some form of protein with rice and either potatoes or yuca. In the central mountains the protein was always fried strips of meat (beef, chicken or even once to Ant's disgust, canned tuna!) with onions (lomo saltado). At some point nearer Cusco it turned into fried chicken (a personal favourite!). By lakes its fried trout.
Now having already had one fried trout portion today we were both a little nervous when we heard the sizzle of pans... And then it came... A massive slab of houlomi style cheese... yeah baby!
So yes, today was tough, but what an accomplishment... A true adventure.
I'm not looking forward to the 20km gravel climb (probably on ripio) that we start tomorrow with to get back on our old tarmacked friend the 3S... So much so I'm trying to convince Ant that a taxi would be a good plan...but he's currently occupied with reading the history of Peru... The latest installment he tells me is the origin of the strange Mohican otherwise bald dogs we've seen around, that have origins 3000 years old and predate the Incas!! ... No taxi for me then!!
So sleep needed as we brace ourselves for an early start and a huge 95km day tomorrow.
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