Bike About South America with Stuart and Anita

Photo link - Caraz to Trujillo

Photo link - Trujillo to Chiclayo

'If you are not hungry, you are carrying too much food.
If you are warm, you have too many clothes.
If you are not frightened, you have too much gear.
If you get up your climb, it was too easy anyway.'

In Huaraz, we found this quote whilst browsing through a book in the Cafe Andino. The joint was clearly owned by a climber.  In the café was a  copy of the hard cover book published by Patagonia the clothing company: Essays from the Edge or some such typical title. 

We were thus inspired to take up our next challenge and concoct a new mini Epic.

Recipe for an Andean mini Epic cycling adventure

Ingredients:

Ingredient Preparation:

Recipe – Day 1

Roll down hill from Caraz on the pavement relaxing on the first 20km so as mentally prepare for the challenges ahead.

When the first tunnel appears, advise your partner that you intend to photograph every single one of the tunnels so as to put additional time pressure on your day and test her paitence.

By tunnel three extract feeble head torch and apply to head so as to feel some measure of calm when entering extra long tunnels with the strong likelihood of encountering massive thundering truck monsters.

In about tunnel 5 prepare to meet your maker in this pitch black zone.  When the designated truck arrives and you are in the centre of it, flail your arms wildly in the hope that the truck will slow sufficiently. As it passes, bring bicycles in tight to the wall but keep your body against the rock as a priority. Touch the truck with your nose if you have the bravery of a bull fighter. Attempt to cough out some of the dust suffocating your lungs.

At about tunnel 7 prepare to take a fall while checking to see if your rear wheel actually does have a flat. Scratch you leg and arm firmly on the dirt road so as to generate some attention from your partner. Damage your bike sufficiently here to give a real feel of adrenaline and fear but not so badly that you can't go on.

Change the tyre, repair the "drop out" damage and retune the deraileur in front of partner. If you can do this without your usual swearing and cursing you will bring respect to your family name.

Check out the views. Photograph some waterfalls, the only sign of life in this vertical rock desert. Continue to photograph the tunnels.

Stop to talk to any other errant cyclists going in the opposite direction but if they seem too vague or disinterested then move on and enjoy your own day.

After many many tunnels and about 700m of descending you will successfully arrive at Huallanca. It is a Hidroelectrica town. Consume your lunch, consider one of the numerous hotels for a bed but roll onto Yuramarca after considering getting more mileage out of your day.  

Climb up another 200m to Yuramarca. Check out the one dodgy hospadaje and decline to sleep in that filth and roll on down the hill and across the bridge to camp on someones land if you choose. Despite much commentary about there being no where to camp in the Canyon Del Pato there are indeed many spots. And sometimes water but not often.

Wash, eat, relax, listen to the afternoon rain, sweat in the heat of your tent to avoid letting the bugs in and finally when it is late enough, sleep on your inflatable mattress in your sleep sheet. Don't bother with your -20C sleeping bag. It is now just a very expensive, bulky and heavy pillow - but oh so soft....

Recipe Day 2

Rise, eat, talk to your staring mango giving hosts until your limited Spanish fails (but rest assured no ones Spanish was going to last longer than her intrigue).

Stop after 500m to put on your sunglasses and swear when you realise that object you could feel while rolling up the tent was your sunglasses. Unroll the tent sufficiently to extricate your sunglasses. Reassemble the arms to the face, breathe a sigh of relief that they are undamaged; roll on.

While the Canyon Del Pato officially finishes at Huallanca, there is plenty more canyon geography to see on Day 2 to finalise this delicious dish. Start early though so as to fool yourself into thinking you can get through before the head wind REALLY kicks in.

After 30km of excellent views, many more tunnels, one particularly nice waterfall next to the road you come to El Mirador. A tiny town with two unwelcome dog monsters guarding the northern frontier. Once past them roll down past the church to the crisp white building with a garden out the front and if you're lucky find Nancy inside.

Be kind and you may be so lucky that Nancy will cook for you from her stock holdings on the shelf: pasta, onion, tuna. Nancy is simply lovely. (Ex schoolteacher, three adult sons and retired in tiny El Mirador. Returning from where she started her journey.) Treat her like your favourite teacher from your school days and she might just be the highlight of your day.

But there is still another 25km from El Mirador in order to complete the mini Epic at Chuquicara. It is now time to stir in some gusting, turbulent, dusty head wind - stir it up to 50km/hour (or more?) so that sometimes you inch at 5-6km/hour. Strong enough that it whips the water off the Rio Santa feeling like blue sky rain or tosses you off the bike.

Near the end of the day your dessert may be some motorcycle tourists. 1 of whom has travelled from Nova Scotia to Alaska to the Canyon Del Pato in 11 months. An older fellow from Germany fully decked out. Even a helmet cam mounted. Some serious traveller cash there.

Just as you are about to chuck a hissy fit at the wind after walking the bike as that is faster than pedalling you will see a bridge and despite thinking you have another 10km to ride - you are actually there.

Check into the Grifo(petrol/has station) in Chuquicara. Set up your tent. Amuse yourself by taking photos of the four new fans you have gained. Who would think that an ugly old petrol station could be so easily transformed by the simple beauty of four children absolutely fascinated by your things and constantly asking "Que es esto?" (What is this?).

Take a shower. Eat takeaway from the restaurant next door. Sleep through the night happily dreaming of the sheer walls, crazy cliffs, tumultuous towering waterfalls, the raging rapids, the dirty black coalmines, the overloaded trucks, the cavernous canyon sections, and the torrid terrifying tunnels. In your dreams, proud of yet another successful dish of adventure prepared, eaten, and digested with pleasure.

We never went hungry, we never panicked due to insufficient gear, and we were definitely never cold. Indeed we made it so maybe the challenge wasn't really so great.... ;-)

But it wasn't over at Chuquicara, we still had a dirt road short cut to take. We had read about it in documents and info collected from other cyclists. Just 8km south of Chuquicara there was a private bridge and road that cut out some 100km of riding to get to Trujillo. After due consideration we accepted the challenge. The road was good. We stopped in a town called Tanguche for lunch and made it across to Chao for a nice sleep in Joaquin's hotel. Coincidencly we were pleased to discover that Joaquin knew Nancy from El Mirador. Brilliant.

But Chao isn't named 'Goodbye' for nothing so the next day we made our Goodbyes and bolted to Trujillo.

Trujillo is a great little city. Beautiful old colonial architecture. Well maintained and clearly the locals are proud of their town. The plaza de Armas was one of the nicer ones we have seen in all of South America and the exhibition of cartoons on de-forestation kept us amused for an evening.

But after eating up we were ready to move on to Huanchaco and the beach. Unfortunately what transpired next was a serious challenge to our marriage.

The night before we left I caught Anita in the shower with BoB the trailer. She said that she was just washing him down. I grew dubious but put my suspicions aside. Anita made dinner at the hostal. Fresh vegetable and pesto with pasta. Delicious.

Unfortunately Anita served up some fresh and raw vegetables for a pre dinner snack washed in tap water. As I watched those tiny droplets of water glisten in the artificial lights of the garden of the hostal I thought momentarily that the vegetables might be poisoned by Giardia but the thought passed, my senses dulled by the three beers already consumed and by the thrill of how "normal" life felt just then.

But "normal" life it was not.   By the next morning I was cramping and my belly was bloating up like a road killed Kangaroo in the hot Australian sun. We got ourselves to Huanchaco and there I lay for three days feeling incredibly sorry for myself.  I joked that it was alright as I now knew the signs if Anita ever turned to more serious adulterous acts and poisons. But in reality, it was infuriating to realise that I had no one to blame but myself. And discouraging as I have never been so sick in my life as I have in the last 6 months.  And Giardia can supposedly hang around for 10's of years.  But with fastidious and meticulous attention to my diet and lots of Cold FX, Andrographis Complex and multivitamins I fought the parasite like it was the devil and I the exorcist. We were ready to roll north by the fourth day with me triumphant in confronting my formidable adversary.  

From Huanchaco we stopped into Chan Chan. Another ancient city ruin made from adobe. It must have been very large and even bigger than Machu Picchu in its time but it is Huaca de La Luna south of Trujillo that we feel we probably should not have missed. Uncovered only 10? Years ago with some original friezes and paintings it sounds like a pretty cool ruin to check out.

We rolled onto Puerto Chicama(or Malabrigo) the home of La Ola Largo en la Mundial  (one of THE longest waves in the world). We stayed in the famous "El Hombre" up on the headland facing the left hand break. We didn't realise just how famous in the surfer world this place was until we started talking withsome grommets staying there. The wave can get up to 2km long in the 'peak' season between March and June. The waves we saw weren't nearly that impressive but I rented a board and had a go. I have never ridden such a cool break before. (note that I say ridden, not surfed) Consistent, quick and over sand. The lines were perfect on both mornings.  Constantly rolling in. This seems pretty standard at Chicama but is the sort of thing 'real' surfers would call a sickie for if waves like this were happening in Sydney.

If you are a surfer, you had better consider Peru and Chicama as a holiday destination one day. Chicama the town is not such a great town but it is cheap to stay and the surfing must be amazing come March. I wouldn't mind to return one day with 6000km in my arms instead of in my legs.

After two nights we rolled up to Pacasmayo and stayed at El Duke Kahanamoku. There was even a photo of the Duke's statue in there from Freshwater Beach! Supposedly the Duke had come down to Pacasmayo in the early days spreading the good surfer word. The owner looked like your typical aging long boarder with an expanding beer belly and sun weathered skin. He offered to make us breakfast the next morning but he slept in and only woke as we dragged our kit down the hallway to leave. Don't think he gets up to catch the waves before breakfast anymore.

We had a massive day of 105km to get to Chiclayo. We burned through it with an average of nearly 19km/hour. One of the benefits of heading north on the coast is the tail and tail/cross wind pushing you to Ecuador. It is no wonder that so many opt for the central Andes when heading south. The scenery is boring enough on the coast but to endure it with a head wind would almost certainly create a loathing beyond description. Our day passed pleasantly enough. I listened to the audio book (thanks Duncan!) "For Whom the Bell Tolls"  by Ernest Hemmingway. It makes for rather pleasant riding and as the book is set in Spain it seems somewhat relevant.

In Chiclayo we went to see the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán in the nearby town of Lambayeque. This museum is absolutely a must see if you are anywhere near Chiclayo. We hired an english speaking guide for 10 Soles each and Misti was worth every cent and triple more. In 1987 Dr Walter Alva uncovered a treasure trove of ancient artifacts from about 300AD in the form of a tomb now called "The Lord of Sipan". The stuff they uncovered was simply astonishing and by far the best exhibit we have seen in Peru and possibly the world(note: we haven't seen many such museums displaying such artifacts). Misti reckoned her museum has been ranked #8 in the world in its class. No idea where such a ranking comes from but the place feels world class and it feels like it should be up there with visiting Machu Picchu if you are into ancient things.

Chiclayo is our last major city in Peru. It is a lovely little town of about 600 000 people. A proud and sophisticated place with decent food. We found a shop called Chugur that sells cheese and yogurt products from Cajamarca. OMG, I haven't had a more delicious yogurt drink in my LIFE. And so cheap.

Anita came up with the brilliant idea to head inland from Chiclayo and then go due north into Ecuador through a kind of back way. I think it is a fantastic idea as the remainder of Peru was looking like a very boring slog from here. It is a relatively quiet border crossing from Jaen to San Ignacio to Namballes and the Ecuador border. All pretty straightforward but from the border it is a stiff and nasty climb on dirt roads to about 3000m before descending into the valley of longevity where the people of Vilcabamba are said to live to more than 100 years old.

It is a suggestion that Anita may well regret but now that she has voiced it I am beside myself with excitement to try it out. Dirt roads, rainy season, bugs the size of birds all harken us to adventure.

And besides, our readership feedback seems to be in decline so we need to find ever crazier adventures to keep all of you interested.

We hope to arrive into Vilcabamba before Christmas day which should be quite achievable, but if we don't at least you know it was a challenge worth taking....

Over and Out,

Stuart and Anita xo