Overcoming Mountains in Peru

After a few days of resting and writing in Huaraz, it finally came time to start the Peru Great Divide (PGD). As I have mentioned many times, this route was one that I saw years ago when I was on my first tour across the USA, and I have dreamed of riding here since then.

I have mixed opinions about following routes. Sometimes it is nice but generally, I do not enjoy following one for too long. I prefer the excitement of the unknown, choosing my route in the morning with little knowledge or expectations. Some routes are just too good to ignore, though.

And to keep to my word, I diverted from the PGD after only 40km. However, in this case, I was taking a popular alternative route that reconnects with the PGD in a few days.

I was heading towards Pastoruri Glacier, a very touristy and popular spot for locals and foreigners. Thankfully I started this road late in the afternoon and had the road to myself.

It had been another long break from riding, nearly two weeks. I was glad to find that the pain from weak muscles in my knee which was giving me a lot of problems before, has seemed to go away.

I was still biking rather slowly, as it was a day all uphill, up to 4500m (14500ft). At this altitude, I have gotten pretty used to walking my bike a lot. It feels good on my body to mix up my muscles a bit, and a lot of times walking is much easier than riding.

I made it to the entrance of Huscaran National Park, where there were a few buildings with a single park ranger working there. We talked for a bit and he said he had been working here for nearly 18 years and he spends three weeks out here a time, and only one week at home in between. This seems to be his real home.

I was originally planning to camp a bit further up, but here was a perfect spot as it had nice bathrooms and fresh water. So I asked the ranger if I could camp here and he showed me a few good places and said I could camp wherever I pleased. I found a nice spot by a massive Puya Raymondi, a rare plant native to the high Andes.

During the final hours of sunlight, I sat and observed the light of the day change colors around me as the sun dropped behind the horizon. After, I quickly made some dinner so I could escape the cold and snuggled in my sleeping bag in my tent. I was noticing the nights were slowly getting colder and colder, dipping past 0°C. It was becoming tougher to sleep and I was starting to worry my 5-year-old 0°C would suffice for the upcoming months, as it would only be getting colder. For now, I could do nothing but wear all the clothes I could.

I refused to leave the comfort of my sleeping bag until the sun was shining brightly through my tent, bringing wonderful warmth along with it. A beautiful morning was awaiting me as I crawled out of my tent.

A few kilometers up the road, hundreds more Puya Raymondi greeted me. I was fascinated with these plants, they seemed like something from an alien planet. It is hard to tell the size in the photos, but these grow up to 15m (50ft) tall and live past 100 years. They bloom only once a century, releasing upwards of 12 million seeds, but in these conditions, it is extremely challenging to successfully germinate and grow. They are aptly known as The Queen of the Andes.

I passed a small child walking to the entrance with an adorable baby sheep. He was heading there to allow tourists to take photos with the sheep to help support his family, who lived on a farm down the road. I have regretted not taking many photos of people in my travels as I’m shy and feel rude taking photos of people, but I couldn’t help asking this child to take some photos as I thought it was too beautiful to pass up. He did an amazing job and I got some wonderful photos. I gave him my last mint cookies as a thank you.

While yesterday I had the road to myself, all morning countless busses passed me, hauling loads of tourists to the glacier.

A few slow hours into the climb to the glacier, I did some quick math and realized I had almost no chance of making it to the closest town by dark at the pace I was going. I really wanted to make it there, as it was that or camping at an even higher and colder altitude than the night before. I decided to hitch a ride the next 6km with some tourists to the glacier which would save me about an hour.

It was a lovely family that picked me up and took me to the parking lot for the glacier. We talked and took some photos once they dropped me off before I continued riding. They were surprised I came up here but was not doing the hike to the glacier, but it was a zoo of people, hundreds and hundreds of them up here and I preferred to ride away from it all.

Now that I was past the glacier, there was nobody else out here. I wouldn’t see any cars for the next few hours until I was back on the main road. The views were spectacular as I rode around lush green grasslands that climbed up to dark black peaks covered with bright glaciers.

No matter how remote and alone I think I am, there will always be hundreds of Alpacas nearby. I prefer their company a lot more than they enjoy mine, as I’m still unsuccessful in getting close to one.

The first climb this morning to the glacier, I was feeling really slow and weak. I don’t know what changed but now, a few hours later, I was starting to get into my groove and I was feeling really strong. I took a break at 4677m (15300ft), before climbing the final few hundred meters to the top.

Before I realized it, it was snowing. I could tell by looking around it was only a few passing clouds and it wouldn’t last long. This was the first time on this trip I was getting snowed on. I had expected it to be rather unpleasant and cold, but I was loving it. It was cold, but only if I stopped for too long. So I kept going.

Soon I was hearing loud rumbles of thunder all around me. At first, it didn’t worry me much as there was no rain or lighting, but then I caught a flash of lightning out of the corner of my eye seemingly only a kilometer or two away. Since I was riding the only metal thing around, I was eager to finish this climb and descend away from the clouds and weather quickly.

I made it to the pass that was at 4850m (15900ft), a new high for me on the bicycle. I felt fantastic, but not wanting to stay around in the thundering clouds for long, I started the descent.

The descent turned from gravel to dreamy pavement, a true joy after a long and slow day climbing rough gravel. From here, it was only about an hour to the first town where I was looking forward to a hot shower and a warm bed.

I rolled into town exhausted as the sun was setting, feeling a little bit better now about choosing to hitch a ride earlier in the morning. Had I not, I would still be far behind. It was a great and proper long day on the bike, but I was more than happy to be done and to relax.

I woke up still feeling exhausted from the day before, so I opted for a short two-hour ride to the next town to stay there before starting a big climb.

The next day I started the ride to Baños, a town where I would be leaving my bike for a few days while I did some hiking. The riding was through some rather plain but wonderfully tranquil farmlands. It was another day of typical Peruvian Andain riding, spending nearly 4-5 hours slowly climbing up to a 4500+m pass, and then a 1-2 hours wrist-breaking bumpy descent back down.

Hiking Huayuash

The town of Baños was located very close to Huayuash National Park, which is home to what I have been told is some of the best hiking in South America. Most people do an 8-day loop around the Cordillera, but I opted to do a quick two-nighter with the main goal of seeing a section known as Tres Lagunas.

I didn’t have much of a plan. I didn’t know how exactly I was going to get there or how I was going to get back, or even where exactly I was planning to camp. I had a lot of ideas and options, but I would have to wait and see which would be best.

The first thing I needed to do, was find a ride from Baños to Queropalca, a tiny community where there is a trail into the park. The day before, I asked around town and learned there was usually a collectivo around 9am. In the morning, I went back and sat and waited for an hour while the people told me today that the collectivo was actually at 7am and there might be another. I was asking every collectivo that came by if they were going that way and wasn’t having any luck until a tourist collectivo came to town and the driver told me that yes, they were going where I needed to go, but that it was a private bus and I couldn’t go. I went and sat back down to wait when I saw the two tourists from the private bus go grab some breakfast. I thought they looked like nice people and I thought maybe I could ask them to ride with them.

I walked up and introduced myself to them. It was a father and daughter from Australia, Norm and Samantha. They were really nice and kindly accepted my request to ride along with them. We chatted the whole ride up, as Norm was hoping to retire soon and wanted to travel South America on a bicycle as well. They were hiking for five days but their first two days were very similar to mine.

We arrived at the start of the trail and I headed off ahead of them, as they had to wait for their donkeys to arrive. Part of their trip included three donkeys to carry all their equipment and food, which I was a bit jealous of as I loaded my heavy backpack on my back. We were planning to camp at the same laguna, so I would see them later that evening.

It was a very easy hike to the laguna, mostly following dirt roads through a valley of farms with the breathtaking Cordillera right in front, coming into view as I slowly got closer.

I arrived at the laguna pretty early in the day and considered continuing. I sat down for a few moments to appreciate this fantastic view. I decided this view was too good to leave and had to camp here.

It wasn’t long until Norm and Sam arrived with their donkeys. These donkeys were carrying nearly 30kg each but moved with impressive speed and agility. We chatted a bit before we all retired to nap and relax.

I rested until I couldn’t fight the cravings in my stomach and longer and started cooking my dinner by my tent. Norm came up and kindly invited me to come join them in their large cooking tent. It was a really nice evening talking with them and eating together. They are both big travelers as well, so we shared stories of our travels. Norm was born in Chile, but his parents immigrated to Australia when he was very young. He comes to Chile to visit family frequently and uses that opportunity to do some hiking around South America. Sam was a teacher but she has been living and working in England for 5 years. She loves it because she has a lot of time off and can travel all over Europe easily. Shortly after dinner, the cold became too much for us all so we retired to our tents for warmth and rest.

I was up around 5:30am in hopes of catching a nice sunset, and as I unzipped my tent and looked out I couldn’t help but mouth puta madre as the view stunned me. I saw Norm was also up enjoying the view and we hiked up to a nearby viewpoint to watch the sunlight slowly appear on the tips of the mountains and work its way down the valley and eventually to us.

Even though we were all hiking in the same direction, towards Tres Lagunas, I took off ahead of them on my own. I enjoyed their company, but I didn’t want to intrude on their trip too much. The past few days had been cloudy, but we were blessed with a clear sky with no clouds in sight.

Every 30 minutes or so, the views of the Cordillera changed and revealed new waterfalls and new glaciated peaks. The sun was heating the glaciers quickly and a few avalanches were going off, resulting in thundering sounds echoing all over the area. I was eating a snack, watching some of the small avalanches when I heard a deafening cracking sound and caught the largest avalanche I had ever seen. It’s truly astonishing watching such a large amount of snow fall down a mountainside, it seems to fall in slow motion.

I was still hiking alone when I saw this, but it was such a spectacular event that I had to look for Norm and Sam to share the shock and awe with. They weren’t too far behind me and as soon as Norm saw me, he yelled “Did ya see that, mate?!?”. I yelled back and it felt so much better to share that excitement with someone. From then on, we continued hiking and talking together.

The hiking at the beginning was steady and easy, but it started to get steeper and steeper as we were heading the the viewpoint. Slowly working our way up, we made it to the Tres Lagunas viewpoint, which became one of my favorite alpine views. Sadly my camera lens isn’t wide enough to properly capture all of the peaks and all three lakes, but what it can capture is still incredible.

We weren’t done at the viewpoint, though. Norm and I wanted to keep climbing higher and higher, in the hopes of getting an even better view. We continued climbing up to the pass on the main trail at 4800m, but we there was no view of the Lagunas from here. Looking around, we thought we could hike around off the main trail toward some cliffs to get a better view.

We ended up scrambling up a nearby summit and realized it was not possible to go all the way around as we wanted, but thankfully the view from the summit was pretty nice.

We had all left our camp and gear back at the laguna, allowing us to hike with minimal weight today. After the summit, we descended back to camp for the evening. It was similar to the day before, we all rested when we got back until it was dinner and we cooked and chatted before going to bed.

After another stunning sunrise, it was time for me to pack up and head back to Baños. I said goodbye to my new Australian friends and Norm told me to come say hi if I ever make it to Australia. I love traveling alone, but I really enjoy these moments of making friends to share experiences with.

I hiked back down to Queropalca with the hopes of finding a ride back to Baños. In the town, people told me the only collectivo was at 7am, but there was a bus of teachers leaving around noon I might be able to ride with. I went to the edge of town on the main road to wait for a car that I could ask for a ride. It didn’t take too long of sitting till I had nearly 10 locals hanging out with me trying to help me find a ride. There was practically no traffic at all out here so it took a while, but finally, a truck drove by and I waved him down to ask for a ride. He said he could take me, but he had to stop a few times to buy some livestock.

I gladly rode along with him and we made a few stops to load some cattle and donkeys into his truck. I helped them out, much to the amusement of the guys. It wasn’t easy, the animals did not want to get into the truck so we had to pull, push, and lift them to get them in there.

They dropped me off back in Baños where I went back to the hotel where my bike was to rest before continuing tomorrow.

Las Lagunas

From Baños, I was heading to a section I was looking forward to greatly after seeing it on my map. It was a section that had countless lakes surrounded by tall mountain peaks. I always enjoy seeing an area on my map and then seeing it in person, as it is never at all what I expect and always so much more.

It was today when noticed a pretty bad problem forming with my bike. My bottom bracket was starting to develop some play in it, which usually means one of the bearings is broken. It is a problem that will continue to get worse quickly and I would soon be unable to pedal. I would need to visit a proper bike shop soon to get it replaced, but there were not any on the route for weeks. I would wait till I arrived in the next town to make a decision.

I came around a pass to the first view of the section with all the lakes. It was hard to believe that I would be following this road straight ahead into these mountains, it looked like there was no way out.

It was getting late and I was looking for a place to camp near some water, but I was having a hard time. All the land out here was private farm land and a lot of the lakes seemed very hard to access. I came across a spot that had a trail down to a river and thought it looked like the perfect spot, it just was very clearly someone’s land but I could see them and decided to go ask for permission.

I walked up and met Miguel. I explained my situation and he was more than happy to allow me to camp there. We talked a little bit and then I went back to the river to set up camp, thinking that was all. Shortly later, Miguel walked back down and we talked a lot more and he invited me up for dinner with him and his wife Elvira. He had to wrangle up his cattle for the evening but he would call me up after.

I went up for dinner and it was a lovely night with them. Elvira made a typical dinner of rice, eggs, and plantains, she even gave me an extra serving knowing how hungry I was. We talked for hours, learning about each other’s lives. They both were from towns nearby and primarily collected milk from cows to make cheese. They also have herds of sheep and chickens as well. Miguel invited me to come back up in the morning to learn and help with milking the cows and then for breakfast before I left. I wished them a good night and headed back to my tent, for another chilly night.

In the morning, I met Miguel and we started guiding the cows towards the pen where the baby cows are stored. Coco, the sheep, was following me around like a puppy. Coco is one of their sheep that they keep more like a pet. Last night, I was able to feed her and now she likes me a lot.

I would let a momma cow in one at a time for Miguel and Elvira to then milk. Miguel showed me how to milk a cow and I did it for a bit, but I was much slower than them. They milked around 20 cows and resulted in around 40 liters of milk, and with that milk, they could usually make 2kg of cheese per day. I wanted to see them make cheese, and Miguel invited me to stay another day to, but I was feeling more keen to keep biking.

It’s moments like this that make bike travel so amazing. These situations come up all the time on a bicycle, where you are stuck somewhere and need to ask for help or for somewhere safe to sleep. Almost always my requests are answered with more kindness than I could ever imagine. Before leaving, Elvira offered me one of their blocks of cheese. I almost didn’t want to accept it as I know how much work goes into making it and they rely on the cheese to survive. They insisted I take it, and when I tried a bite of it, I was much more enthusiastic to take it. It was delicious. It would be a challenge to eat it all in the next few days, but I was down for the challenge.

I knew I had a long climb ahead of me. Nearly 1100m in under 30km, up to another 4800m pass. After the wonderful morning I had though, I was feeling strong and ready.

It helped that around every corner was another laguna with another tremendous view.

Slowly though, I was running out of energy. There wasn’t anything different about today’s ride than the past days, but something in me made today much harder. I was unable to keep myself on the bike pedaling and had to hike most of the way up. Physically, I didn’t feel that bad, it was my mentality that was holding me back. The entire time I was pushing my bike uphill, I could only think about wanting to do something else and be somewhere else. I was thinking back a lot to my motorcycle trip with Paula, and how much better it was to travel on a motorcycle with a beautiful and wonderful girl. What was I doing out here, alone and miserable?

I couldn’t keep these thoughts out of my head and fought with myself all the way to the top. Slowly pushing my bike meter by meter in the cold wind. After nearly 5 hours, I made it to the top. Happy not to be there, only happy to not have to push my bike any further uphill.

The views from the top were spectacular as always, but I didn’t stay around longer than to take a photo or two, as I was already looking forward to being at the bottom.

It was a long and bumpy descent. One of the very few times where I’m looking at my elevation counting down how much longer I have to go. Right before Oyon, the town I was heading towards, there was one last small 150m climb. I was unreasonably upset by this as I was more than mentally exhausted and wanted to descend all the way to town. I pushed my bike up the final hill and into town feeling defeated and ashamed. Defeated because I couldn’t control my mentality and it made the day much harder. I have been traveling like this for long enough to know the importance of mental strength. With mental strength, anything is possible and without it, everything is impossible. How you look at the challenges ahead of you is extremely important to how successful you will be. I was ashamed because the day was so tough that the last thing I wanted to do was get back on the bike.

Arriving in Oyon was just what I needed to brighten my mood. I arrived at a lively and vibrant town, surrounded by mountains with a touch of alpenglow. I found a hotel to drop my bike off at and hit the streets, eager to see where the music was coming from.

I followed the music to the center where there were hundreds of people dressed up and dancing while a full band played in the background. I walked around and observed the festivity, quietly appreciating the beauty that are Latino towns. They are always so full of life. People are out in the streets, talking, laughing, and dancing. There are street vendors everywhere, selling all types of food and drinks. There is a sense of community that I even feel a part of, even though I just arrived. The best thing is everything is walkable. A stark difference to a typical town in the USA, where everyone is inside and you see more cars than you do people.

I spent a few days here enjoying some while I planned what to do about my bottom bracket. It needed to be replaced right away, so it seemed the best option was to take a bus to Lima where I could get it fixed, and then bus back nearby and continue on the PGD.

I planned to only stay in Lima for two nights, just to take care of my bike and some other things and then get out quickly. The morning came when I was supposed to leave, but the thought of getting back on the bike was the last thing I wanted to do. I only wanted to stay in bed all day, leaving only to eat delicious food. I wanted to drown myself in comfort and normality, the complete opposite of what a bike trip is supposed to be. The two days turned into a week, each day succumbing to the urge to stay and do nothing.

I was starting to feel scared. Scared that maybe I was changing and didn’t want to finish the trip on a bicycle. That maybe I couldn’t push through the challenges and difficulties for the rewards. Was that really what I wanted, or was I just caving into my weakness and giving up?

Finally, I realized that that is not what I want. I want to keep biking, traveling, exploring, and learning more about the world and myself. It has been hard recently because I haven’t felt in the rhythm of bike travel in so long. I used to go over a week biking and camping every day, and now I hardly bike more than three days in a row and camp once or twice a week. All I need to do is get back in the rhythm, and that is what I plan to do.

I had spent so much time doing nothing, that I realized I was running out of days in Peru and only had about a month left. It seemed the best option, instead of going back for the PGD, was to go a bit further and spend the last month riding through the Altiplano towards Bolivia. So I bussed to Albancay from Lima, which is where I am now. Part of me feels a bit of regret that I only got to experience a small section of the PGD, a route I was looking forward to for years, but from here I’m only focused on the road ahead.

Thank you all for reading along. This blog was a bit tough to write, as I share a lot of feelings that can be hard to talk about. In a way for me, it is easier to write about them here because it feels like a personal diary, even though it is on the internet for everyone to read. I assure you everything is fine, as well. This is just the reality of long-term bike travel, it is full of high highs and low lows. Sometimes the mountains you have to climb are the physical mountains in front of you, but sometimes the mountains are you.