Riding to Patagonia

[Howie]

Yep   

[1.21GW]

Yeah guys, Ecuador has some amazing roads.  But I'm learning that Peru is another animal.  The reason is obvious when you look at a map: it's 5x the size of Ecuador (or, for you west-coasters: 3x California).  So much space means a big diversity of climates and geography.  I keep stopping to take a picture thinking I’m seeing something special and then around the next bend there is a better view of something even more remarkable.

Unfortunately, I was running late my first full day in Peru due to 4 hrs of PITA at the insurance office (Peru requires you purchase auto insurance), so most of my ride to Chachapoyas was in the dark which is a shame because it’s such a cool road.  These are the few shots I got before the sun set:


















The next day I rode to Celendín via a route much touted by the folks over at ADVrider.  Although it's no longer a pure dirt road, landslides and loose gravel are all over the place and I actually find gravel-on-asphalt to be more dangerous than gravel-on-gravel or gravel-on-dirt.  So lots of trying not to look at the views and focus on the road under me (all of it is single lane, no railing).  The route gives you a good introduction to Peru, starting in the mountains, heading down to follow a river, then back up into the clouds, then down into a desert landscape, then back up into more high mountain terrain.  No close calls with other drivers this round, but I nearly wore out my horn honking ahead of blind corners.  I did pass a couple on a BMW tourer with bags, etc.  I will forever be confounded on how people can do two-up adventure touring.  Big pat on the back to them! 

Here are my pics in chronological order to show the terrain changes:

[1.21GW]

Sorry, but I have a child's sense of humor.   

[1.21GW]

Peru is full of paradoxes.  This was the topic of conversation two days ago with a local mechanic: we were discussing roads in the country and I noted that two blocks away is a billboard with a government ad touting that 5 million soles had been invested in roads and infrastructure in that region.  The sign was on the corner of two streets that looked like they belonged in Mosul or some other war torn village: asphalt ripped up, giant holes, weeds growing throughout, stray dogs picking at garbage, buildings half-built or already crumbling, etc.  The mechanic laughed: "eso es Peru".

When I arrived from Ecuador, after a long day on mostly dirt and rocks going no faster than 30-40kph and spending time doing border crossing stuff, all I wanted was to rest so I settled in a town called San Ignacio about 40 minutes from the border.  The ride there was luckily on asphalt and passed through coffee fields broken up by small villages where locals laid huge tarps of coffee beans out to dry on the sides of the road.  It felt like I was riding along an endless river of pavement with rows of tanning coffee along the banks.

So I get to San Ignacio, find a hotel, shower, eat dinner, and plan my next day's route.  Up and early to hit the road, I seek out a cup of coffee to get energized for the ride.  Can't find one anywhere.  Wikipedia says the town is 120k people, thoigh it felt more like 30-40k.  The point is, this was no small hamlet.  And yet, no morning coffee.  They even had a shop whose sole product for sale was local coffee beans, but no actual coffee to drink.  Places with "cafe" in the title and a clip art cup of coffee in the graphic sold no coffee.  What the hell?  After checking nearly every open business I finally found one but since I spent so much time looking, I didn't have time to sit and sip and thus asked for it to go.  After ten minutes, the lady brings me this:




A doggone sandwich bag of coffee that is about as black as Rachel Dolezal, and too hot to actually hold.  I've seen and drunk bags of water and bags of various juices throughout Latin America---a not uncommon means of holding liquid---but this was the first time I'd gotten coffee in a bag.

So that's Peru: government praises its investment in the areas that lack any sign of investment, and in the heart of a coffee region you can't find a single cup of coffee.

[DarkMonster620]

Did I sent you my friend's # in Peru(Lima)?

[1.21GW]

You probably did but I lost it when I lost my old WhatsApp.  In any case, I skipped Lima this time around.  Spent enough time there last year.

[1.21GW]

I’ve been humbled by a road, but was never yet defeated by one until I tried my luck on the dirt roads between Huamachuco to Pallasca.  The route I chose passed through Google Maps’ gray and unmarked void but looked as safe as any other non-asphalt option, so I set off with expectations of a 4-5 hour day.

It began well: a typical dirt road with minor river crossings, but no real challenges.  Progressively the road worsened even as the views kept getting better.  Eventually, I entered a treadmill of deep puddled ruts and rocky switchbacks that cycled for hours.  In what eventually stretched to eight hours of riding that day, I passed five trucks, zero cars, and not a single other motorcycle.




















My planned turnoff (the direct route) to Pallasca turned into a turn-back, as after 7km of hard riding I became convinced a real incident was possible and no one else was dumb enough to ride that forsaken road but me.  Were I traveling with another rider I would have pushed on and hoped things got better, but such is solo riding.  So I backtracked to the original dirt road and continued the long way around through mountains and valleys, past glacial lagoons and abandoned mining operations and around countless switchbacks reddened by oxide streams and all the while not a soul in sight.








The fun of playing in the dirt wore off as my body wore out, and so eventually I decided to stop and drink some water, pause, and recharge.  There, sitting in the middle of an Andean nowhere, miles from another human being, the ringing of six hours of low-grunt engine noise in my ears slowly dying into the surrounding silence, I watched cloud shadows roll over the forms of the mountains while stuffing handfuls of double-chocolate Oreos into my mouth.  When I looked out across the valley a column of light rose up from a nameless lake.  By the time I got my camera out it had grown into a full arch, perfect in its symmetry and bright against the shadowy backdrop.  I stood as lone witness to that secret wonder, a performance in an empty arena that would have passed through existence unrecorded but that fate had led me to that deserted ridge.  I sat and waited out that miracle, watching it vanish into the thin mountain air from which it was born, its extinction as mystical as its origin.  And then I took a sip of water and I geared up and rode on.








I still had two hours to go before I reached any civilization and now had to deal with the fading light.  After a final stretch on yet another steep mountainside full of livestock and landslides, I turned around the last corner and saw my destination---a mountain hamlet called Pampas---lit up like some holy shrine calling out to weary pilgrims.  I limped in and knocked on doors of locked and lifeless hotels until one took pity on me.  A lukewarm shower never felt so good.  That night I slept like a bear.

[Monsterlover]

Self preservation is never a bad idea.

Also, wow!

[ducpainter]

Self preservation is never a bad idea.

Also, wow!

...and to think just a year ago we taught him how to change a tire.

[Monsterlover]

[1.21GW]

...and to think just a year ago we taught him how to change a tire.

Was that only a year ago?!?!

[Monsterlover]

Was that only a year ago?!?!

In terms you would understand, that's like 3" of beard ago

[DesmoDiva]

Wow!

You better write a book.

Or become a travel writer of National Geographic or Smithsonian

[ducpainter]

Was that only a year ago?!?!

Yup...

As I like to say...

perspective.

[1.21GW]

In terms you would understand, that's like 3" of beard ago

Haha.  I've managed to limit the facial hair to five-o'clock shadows.  But I did discover my first gray chest hair on this trip.  He now has siblings, no doubt fathered by a few close calls with oncoming trucks.