Peru has quickly become one of our favorite countries. Since we left Huaraz we have enjoyed many more incredible mountain vistas, good ají, met lots of friendly people, and been blown away by some of the best riding we have had on this trip. We have arrived in Cusco, excited to get some new bike parts and enjoy some of the luxuries the tourist city has to offer.
While we have been reveling in the beauty of these incredible places, we have had to put in quite a but of effort to meet our physical needs here in the rainy season. The last week has been especially wet, and as riding up and over 4000 meters has become a regular occurrence, we have had to work hard to stay warm and dry out at night.
There has been so much incredible riding since I last updated my blog, you can see the details of our route on Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/markandnic
We have been in Peru for over a month now. We have not spent this much time in any single country since Mexico, and we still have a few hundred kilometers of riding ahead of us. Even so, we feel like there is so much more to see, and we look forward to coming back in the dry season someday with our mountain bikes.
Some highs and lows from the past two weeks:
Highs
- Getting new tires: New high quality tires ordered weeks before from a bike shop in Huaraz, have us feeling much more confident in the rubber that is meeting the road.
- Seeing the Nevados and Cordillera blanca: While the rain often rolls in clouds to block the views of these giant peaks, we have enjoyed every opportunity to glimpse these huge snowy mountains.
- Big climbs that take us above 4000 meters: we road our bike to the highest elevation we have ever been in our lives (4680 m) and have enjoyed innumerable climbs here in the high mountain roads of the sierras.
- Pitching our tent under a techo (roof) in the rain at the top of one of these climbs: We reached out to the owner of a property which other cyclists had reportedly camped at, and he welcomed us to stay even though he no longer lived there. In the morning the caretaker invited us in for coffee and bread and we enjoyed hearing about his travels all over Central and South America.
- Seeing flamingos: We were admiring another beautiful day of Sierra scenery, I was pointing out all the birds to Mark, but not being particularly discerning. “Those are flamingos!” he responded. We had to stop and take a video.
- The canyons: Like the high peaks, the canyon views have been stunning. A couple days of heavy rain has swollen many of the rivers and made for some crazy rapids, flooding and landslides.
- Good food: We usually cook breakfast and dinner for ourselves. For breakfast, avacado sandwiches which we make with delicious peruano breads. And for dinner, we have been evolving our “one pot meal.” We used to do pasta or ramen with some veggies and sauce as our go to, but now we’re focusing more and more on the veggies. We cram as many market fresh vegetables into the 2L pot as we can, cook, add some sauce, and eat with more bread, then usually eat a sleeve of Oreos and some fruit for dessert. I don’t know if this actually qualifies as “good” food, but it is nutritious and filling. But we have also found some great vegetarian options, including some vegetarian restaurants, good soups, good coffee, churros and some other treats along the way.
- Meeting other bike tourers and travelers: When we left Huaraz, we ran into some folks from the hostel we had stayed at who were hitching their way through Peru. They were having a slow go of it that day, so we ran into them several times; it was fun to be sharing the journey with them. We met an American couple on a shorter bike tour, which is always cool because we have not seen hardly any American travelers since we left Mexico. We have gotten to link up with a French couple who are on the trip from Alaska to Argentina. We are moving at a similar pace southward, although our styles vary a bit, but we have really enjoyed connecting with them, and are now planning a ski trip to France.
Lows
- Getting chased by so many dogs: This has been tough. Everyday we are high alert looking out for dogs. There are lots of strays, but those are not the mean ones. It’s the pets that really get us. There have been several where we have felt very scared of getting bit again. Sometimes we throw rocks, sometimes we spray them with our water bottles, sometimes we yell, sometimes all three, sometimes one of these tactics stop them, sometimes we just have to get off the bike.
- The rain: We had a big week of rain, gray and cloudy everyday and rainy for most of the day. One day it poured on us while we were riding up high above 4000 meters. We got so cold we had to call the day early because we were too tired to ride back up into the high county before resting and warming up again.
- The bike parts run around: We need a new freehub and finding it has proved to be challenging here in Peru. Last time we needed a new freehub we were in Colombia: the South America and international cycling meca. A tiny shop in a tiny town had the exact part we needed, first try. This is not the case with bike parts in Peru. We are hopeful to find it here in the big city (Cusco) though.
More photos and videos on our Google photos album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8sK1ryrupSjneZ9BA
Thanks for reading! -Nic