Mudslides, mountains and missing roads!
Hello!
We are still a bit shocked about the news ( Mocoa devastation ) from Mocoa in Colombia! We were there only 4 weeks ago and are a bit discombobulated by this turn of events especially as we were camped down by the river ourselves.
The situation here in Peru has also been quite discomfiting and seeing the daily news reports of flooding, mudslides, destruction and death puts our safe, tame, easy European existence into stark perspective.
We are now in Caraz in the Cordillera Blanca after a fairly epic journey from Cajamarca.
The town of Cajamarca was a pleasant surprise and so nice we ended up staying three days. Full of locals wandering around in their odd hats, zillions of shops selling cheese – Cajamarca is a major cheese producing region ( we saw milk churns awaiting collection everywhere ) although Peruvian cheese isn’t exactly ( a personal opinion. Some people think it’s excellent ) anything to write or blog home about; a bit rubbery and squeaks when chewed; you could probably make good squash balls with it. – a great guinea-pig themed bar, pretty colonial streets and a very tranquil hostel with a lovely garden and all at the near perfect altitude of 2700m – although it did rain a bit. Actually, quite a lot of rain but, this is Peru in the rainy season!
Cajamarca is also where Atahualpa, King of Quito, conqueror of the Incas and his 80,000 strong army, met his untimely and pivotal death at the hands of Fransisco Pizarro with his 169 conquistadors and 69 horses.
Due to time constraints and trying to deal with the rain/mudslide issues, we took a bus from Cajamarca to Cajabamba where we spent the night. Met a couple of other cycle-tourists here and spent a nice evening drinking beer and talking biking. It’s always nice to talk to other cycling lunatics…. 🙂
From Cajabamba we cycled to Huamachuco where we paid a visit to the ruined fortress of Markahuamachuco, one of the most significant archaeological sites in northern Peru yet almost unknown as a place to visit. Sitting at 3600m on a mesa 5 kilometers long and 500 meters wide, with a commanding view of the surroundings, it was probably even more impressive than Kuelap to visit.
After Huamachuco, we took another couple of buses ( saving 2 or 3 days of cycling ) to the hamlet of Angasmarca where we hoped to get a bus to Pallasca ( saving a couple more days of our remaining 2 weeks ) and then cycle from there to Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca via the Canon del Pato.
However, we discovered in Angasmarca, that no transport appeared to be heading to Pallasca so we decided to cycle. Several blogs said that the scenery was spectacular and the significant climbs were paved and not too steep. The official government website showing current rain-related road closures, had previously reported that the road was closed but no longer did and the people we spoke to only mentioned partial blockages. Some of the above was true, some of it really wasn’t!
By the time we made it back to the undamaged road we were wet, cold, exhausted and still 7km away from Pallasca with 500m of climbing to do. Fortunately, some electrical engineers were happy to give us a lift in their truck.
Pallasca sits at 3600m and was cold, damp and pretty miserable. The 2-star hotel was closed so we had to plump for a very basic room in a £4 a night hospedaje.
The following morning we made porridge on our stove in the room and left our non-luxurious accommodation.
There are two roads out of Pallasca. One is a 130km up and down mountainous road that may or not be paved. The other, a tarmac surfaced 80km, 2400m descent through a canyon. We were told that the latter had a few issues and was closed to vehicles but that we should be ok to get through with the bikes. Decision made!
Things continued to deteriorate! The following photos simply don’t capture how big the swathe of destruction was. We had to unload the bikes and literally haul and drag them across 500m of unstable rock, mud, boulders and torrents of water with the whole precarious mountainside looming above us; then go back for the panniers and do it again! Really fucking scary! Well, we did come here for an adventure!
After we’d survived the crossing of Mordor, we were back on a mostly paved road although long sections were buried under mud and some bits partially blocked. The scenery as ever, continued to impress with it’s scale and grandeur.
Eventually we reached the bottom of our 80km “easy downhill” road and the “town” of Chuquicara sitting at the bottom of the Canon del Pato. Chuquicara is a hot, dusty dump at a lowly 500m of altitude. The only accommodation was a really scungy restaurant/hospedaje ( other cyclists describe bedsheets that hadn’t been changed in months! 🙁 ). After eating a much needed but decidedly dodgy meal, we decided to give it a miss and despite our filthy, exhausted state, cycled on a further 20km and camped next to a sort of restaurant at the side of the road.
The following morning we set off up the hot canyon. After 20km and 300m of climbing we decided to get a lift. Michelle wasn’t feeling well, we were both very tired from the previous two days exertions and the canyon wasn’t living up to expectations. Other people/cyclists had said the canyon was spectacular to ride with 37 tunnels to negotiate and vast, towering walls of rock to slither through. We thought the previous days descent was pretty similar and didn’t regret making the rest of the journey to Caraz by bus.
We now have a few days here in the Cordillera Blanca before getting a bus to Lima and our flight home. We don’t know if we’ll do any more cycling now but we’ll see. Michelle appears to have acquired a stomach bug from the scummy restaurant in Chuquicara and currently isn’t very perky but we hope to try and do a couple of day walks or cycles to see some of the spectacular mountain scenery that makes this area one of the biggest attractions in Peru.
With any luck ( or not, depending on your perspective ) you might get another blog update before we leave Lima. If not, thanks for reading and see some of you in London! xxx