A Quick End to Peru

A Strong Start

Leaving Albancay, I was ready and excited to begin pushing myself physically again. I wanted to see just how many days in a row I could keep biking, I wanted to look at my map each night in my tent and see my path inch further and further south.

The route started with an extremely pleasant paved road as I followed a river valley up and up. I had started at around 2500m and would be climbing back up to 5000m where I would stay for the foreseeable future. The first day back was amazing. I felt mentally and physically strong as I kept pushing further and higher. I wanted to keep riding further, but it was getting late and the road was about to leave the river, so I decided to stop and set up camp after a good 70km and 1200m of climbing.

The following day started great, but I started running out of energy as it was nonstop climbing and I was still getting back my strength. I pushed hard all morning and afternoon and arrived at a small mountain town Antabamba, where I was swarmed by seemingly every kid in town who had just gotten out of school. They were all curious about me and my travels. It was cute at first, but after answering the same few questions for the 10th time, I politely excused myself to get a massive lunch.

After eating, I decided to stop and get a hotel in the town. While I was originally wanting to ride as hard and long as I could and camp every night, I decided it was more important to maintain bicycling every day. Plus, I forgot I just really enjoy staying in small towns when I can.

I start every morning I can with a nice warm glass of quinoa. I’ve been told a few times what it is mixed with, but can’t seem to remember. It’s a thick and sweet liquid that tastes amazing and gives great energy to start the day.

Leaving Antabamba, I said goodbye to the pavement as I continued climbing, a little bit slower now, up towards 4000m.

The scenery and riding were splendid as I slowly worked my way up and around the mountains. I stopped in a small town to get some snacks and sugary drinks to keep me riding. While eating and resting, I was kindly invited to share some food with a mother and her daughter who had just made a big pot of stew from local potatoes. We shared a nice conversation and after convincing them that I would be okay camping at such high and cold altitudes, I continued.

It was around 3pm when I arrived at the start of the very intimidating 800m nonstop climb. I was originally thinking of camping here at the river, but I still had lots of energy left and I wanted to get as much done today to make tomorrow a little easier.

About an hour of slowly climbing later, I noticed the clouds were getting very dark and ominous. Bad weather was coming and it was coming quickly. I started looking for a protected campsite, but I had already climbed too high and was past any trees or other natural protection.

As I passed a small farm, an old lady yelled up to me asking about where I was going and where I was planning to sleep. I answered I was looking as it seemed the weather was worsening, and she quickly told me that she had a place for me to sleep and to follow her.

She showed me to a little casita with a bed that I could sleep on for the night. I was very thankful for that as the rain started to come down hard and it would rain hard all night. I got my sleeping bag and everything set up on my bed, and when I laid down I realized what I thought was only alpaca fur, was actually an alpaca carcass and my head was right next to the neck and head of the alpaca. I quickly rotated to the other side.

The old lady came over and invited me over for some tea and dinner, which I gladly accepted as I never refuse food. As good as my Spanish has gotten, I had an extraordinarily difficult time talking with her. I assume Spanish was her second language as most people out here speak an indigenous language. I could maybe understand about 1/10th of what she was saying and I tried my hardest to have some form of a conversation.

After eating, I was quite surprised that she asked me to pay for the food, and quite a bit more than a meal in a town as well. I was pretty upset by this, as I think it is rather rude to invite someone to eat and offer them food only to then charge after the food is gone. Had she asked upfront, I wouldn’t have minded and maybe even accepted. Annoyed and exhausted from trying to have a conversation, I excused myself to sleep.

I slept quite poorly and spent most of the night wishing I had just slept in my tent. I was far too large for the bed and was being poked by many things that I probably would rather not know what they were. In the morning, the lady offered me breakfast, but I had learned my lesson and wanted to get going quickly. I didn’t want to give her any cash for the dinner, so instead gave her a gift of some gloves I didn’t need.

I climbed the remaining 500m under the cool morning air relatively quickly and was feeling good, leaving the rather uncomfortable previous evening behind me. At the top, I was greeted by a crowd of alpacas and llamas. I will be seeing much more of these than people for the next week. Now that I had spent the past few days slowly climbing up to 4500m, I would now stay around this altutude and only have small climbs and decents.

While I started the day very strong, I soon ran out of energy. There is a big difference in what my body is capable of once I get over 4500m (15000ft), especially since I haven’t been this high for nearly two weeks. That paired with my no sleep from the night before led me to spend most of the afternoon resting in the sun.

I had one last 200m hill I wanted to climb so I could camp by a lake on the other side. I have climbed 200m on better days in as little as 20 minutes before, but this one took me nearly 3 hours. I was walking but couldn’t even manage to walk more than a few steps in a row until I needed to rest. I have dealt with acclimatizing and exhaustion too many times to count, so I continued when I could as I listened to my audiobook.

I made it to the top, exhausted but satisfied that I always keep going forward, no matter how slow. I descended to a lake, set up camp, and passed out. A few hours later, my stomach woke me up. Recently I’ve been loving making a simple pasta with a bag of tomato sauce and some fresh onion and garlic. I used to love rice and lentils, but rice takes a long time to cook at this altitude. I happily ate my pasta while I watched Lord of The Rings on my phone in my tent, and then dozed off to sleep.

It was now starting to get very cold at night, as low as -10° C (14°F). My tent was covered in a layer of ice and my water was frozen. I was now very happy I got a much better and warmer sleeping bag when I was in Lima as I slept so cozy. As soon as the sun comes up, it warms up quickly. I pack up and hit the road, well-rested and well-fed.

Now I was in some beautiful and remote scenery. There is nothing out here except for a few small mines and farms. It seemed that good rest and food were all my body needed as I pedaled strongly all day without any issues.

At one point, a mining truck drove by and stopped in front of me. The driver and I talked for a bit and he asked where I was going. I said the name of a town ahead and he said he was going that way and offered to drive me there. I was loving this route and declined his offer, which seemed to confuse him. He only understood that town was my destination but didn’t understand that for me, the destination wasn’t anything important to me at all. It only acts to serve as a direction in which I bike. As soon as I get to one destination, I look for another. To me, the fun lies in between the destinations. He drove away and he would be the only car or person I would see that entire day until I reached my destination.

There exists no flat land out here. You are inching your way up hill, or cautiously braking your way downhill.

I think I must have seen thousands of alpacas out here. Amazingly, they thrive in such a harsh environment that not many other animals seem to survive in. My only dream is to get close and pet a wild alpaca, but that dream is constantly shot down as they run away before I can even get close. Surrounded by alpacas, yet so far away.

I’ve learned in the past few days that the weather starts to turn around 3pm. The mornings are sunny, cloudless, and beautiful, but the afternoons are cold, cloudy, and wet. I’m near a small town and hurry as fast as I can to get there.

The small town of Huacullo has maybe 20-30 residents with practically everyone working with alpacas. I stop in the only tienda to warm up and have a nice sugary drink. I wish I could resist these sugary drinks more, but I’m not exaggerating when I say nothing tastes better or makes me feel better after a long day of biking as a bottle of Coke.

I was originally planning to keep going to the next town an hour or two away, but as I saw snow start to fall outside, I asked the shop owner about renting a room with no regrets.

Maldito Perro

Wanting to take a rest day, but also wanting to ride every day in a row I could, I decided to only ride the two hours to the next town and then rest for the afternoon. I was starting to feel pretty proud again. I was riding hard, pushing myself, and disconnecting out here.

In the next town, I unfortunately arrived during their church service which all 15 residents were at. So it would be a few hours until I could get into the hospedaje and rest. I walked around and noticed a few big dogs who would growl and bark at me. I’m rarely scared of dogs as I understand why they bark and protect their land, and when I get the chance I like to calm them and earn their trust. I sat down and slowly got closer and closer to this big protective beast and soon he was snuggled up with me as I pet him.

Finally, church ended and I was able to lie down and rest a bit. After resting, I walked over to the only restaurant in town when one of my worst nightmares happened. I walked past some of the dogs and one of them got up and attacked my leg, biting down hard on my calf. I yell out in pain and try to pull my leg out of his mouth, which thankfully he let go of quickly. A kind old lady hears and comes out and helps me clean and bandage the wound. He scratched me pretty good with his teeth, but thankfully it wasn’t very deep. I was in a lot of pain, but it could have been a lot worse. The lady also informed me that the dogs here were vaccinated for rabies, which took a huge weight off my shoulders.

I hobbled over to the restaurant, a bit worried now if I’d be able to bike. My calf and shin were in a lot of pain and it was tough to put any weight on or flex. At the restaurant, I ate alpaca meat for the first time. I was a bit sad to eat such a cute and funny animal, but I also love trying everything. I’ll be honest, it was extremely delicious. It reminded me a bit of bison or elk.

While at the restaurant, a motorcycle traveler comes in asking for info about the town. He gets a bed in the hospedaje and then comes and joins me for dinner. His name is Samuel and he is from Spain and riding his motorcycle around the world while making YouTube videos. We had a nice time sharing stories and info about the route, as we are going in opposite directions and can help each other with what is ahead.

The next morning, I awake and sadly find my leg is in rough shape. I can’t bike and probably won’t be able to for at least a few days. Where I am is also not a great place to recover as I’m in practically the middle of nowhere with nothing to do. I realize the best decision is to try and hitch a ride to the nearby city of Arequipa, where I can rest much more comfortably.

There are no busses or public transport way out here, but thankfully there are plenty of trucks that carry goods through here. I wait only about an hour until I find someone going in the direction I need to go who can take me.

It was only about 160km to where we were going, but it was a brutal and long drive. We were in a big truck on a very rough road and it took 8 hours. I had it easy, though. I just sat in the passenger seat while my friend drove and he had been driving since 4am.

Weeks have passed since then and I have forgotten my friend’s name, but he was great company for the long drive. He lives in Puno and makes this massive 3 day drive once a week to sell goods to these remote towns. He sips a massive 2-liter bottle of wine frequently to give him energy as he drives with impressive speed and precision around this rugged and remote road. For a brief moment, I feel a sense of fear that my driver is drinking, but I let it pass and enjoy the ride.

We arrive late to a town where our paths split. I treat him to dinner and then we say our goodbyes. Somehow 8hrs in a car like that is infinitely worse than 8hrs on a bike. I get a cheap hotel for the night and in the morning I hop on a bus for Arequipa.

Goodbye Peru

Arequipa was a town I was looking forward to a lot. It would be a great place to let my leg heal and spend a few days relaxing before continuing the final week’s ride to Bolivia.

Arequipa immediately amazed me with its beauty, culture, and especially the food. The city is very European, with endless streets of cobblestone and colonial architecture. The food scene here is diverse and delicious, with lots of Italian restaurants (my favorite).

The city is surrounded by 6000m+ volcanoes visible from almost everywhere in the city. What was only supposed to be a few days of recovery here turned into nearly two weeks, as my good friends Hugo and Elisa also arrived and we spent some time catching up and eating. Also while here, I revisited an old addiction of mine, PC Gaming. I found a nice gaming cafe where I could rent a computer and I would spend hours and hours playing games and talking to some old friends I haven’t talked to in a while.

After more than enough eating, gaming, and resting, I was ready to start the ride to Bolivia. Before I left, though, I went to get a yellow fever vaccine as there was a chance I would need it for my visa to Bolivia. The visa process for US citizens to enter Bolivia is notoriously strict. For almost every other country the process is free and easy, but due to bad relations between Bolivia and the USA, we have to submit lots of documentation and pay a hefty fee of $160. One of those documents is a yellow fever vaccine.

Thankfully getting the vaccine from a hospital in Arequipa was free and easy, but unluckily the next day I woke up very sick with an infection forming in my throat and mouth. It got worse and worse each day and was one of the most painful throat infections I’ve ever had. Every breath, every swallow, and every movement in my mouth causes sharp and nearly nonstop pain. The only relief came from sucking on throat lozenges all day every day. I went to a farmacia and got some antibiotics and other meds. I was spending all day in bed and eating nothing but soup, as anything else caused immense pain.

I was unable to walk around without pain so biking was definitely out of the question. My days left in Peru were slowly coming to an end. I had been in Arequipa a week longer than I wanted and I needed to keep moving, so I took a bus to Puno, a city on Lake Titicaca near Bolivia. I hoped that I would be feeling better and could finish the last two-day ride to the border before my visa ran out. After nearly four days of antibiotics, I still wasn’t improving. I went to a proper medical clinic to try and get more help and got an injection of penicillin, hoping this would finally cure me of this disease.

After two more days and still no improvements, I only had one day left in Peru and would have to bus across the border, something I really didn’t want to do. I was in a pretty bad mood as I had been sick for a week now with no end in sight. My final section of Peru, a country I had loved, had been far from what I expected as I hardly was able to bike it as I was bit by a dog and then horribly sick. I was sad and sick and I felt a lot of shame and disappointment. Before I could even process the end of Peru, I was in Bolivia.

Closing

I can spoil it for you all that I am finally getting better, albeit very slowly. I am in the capital of La Paz where I’m very much looking forward to these next few weeks as I cross south through the Salar de Uyuni and through some of the most remote riding I’ve done yet towards Argentina.

Thank you all for following me along and supporting me through my travels. I know I’ve maybe been a bit negative recently as I’ve started to feel disappointment in myself as I’ve realized I have skipped a bit too much of South America to feel proud. I got too used to skipping sections that were too hard or not as pretty. My friends and family tell me I should feel proud of how much I’ve done, but it’s much easier to see what I haven’t done instead. Now, all I want to do is bike the entire way to Ushuaia, through all the hard and difficult parts.