Today was a great day of riding. We were up and out relatively early (around 8:30) under glorious blue skies, which bode well for the day ahead. We spent the first hour ‘lollygagging’, as my father was fond of saying, and only found ourselves 15km’s down the road. Partly we were enjoying the sun and partly the bucolic landscape. After concluding the first hour of the morning with a brief breakfast (hard boiled eggs and bread with cheese and honey), Claudio took the lead and we picked up the pace. Within 40 minutes we’d covered twice the distance of the first hour and at just over an hour, we found ourselves cresting a 13,600 foot pass. By this time the skies were not so clear, but other than a light sprinkle, no rain.
The road we were on was particularly challenging. Technically, it was a paved road, but it was littered with potholes and entire sections had deteriorated to dirt. Frankly, this is one of the worst type of roads to ride. With the potholes randomly scattered it is very difficult to find a line and the loose dirt and rocks scattered on the sections of pavement that do exist makes for very slippery conditions in the turns. Fortunately, it didn’t rain, which would have made matters worse and we re-doubled our focus to make it through as quickly and as safely as we could.
By noon we arrived in the the town/city of Coracora (90KM’s from our start) and found a great little restaurant, where we were both served fried trout. We were back on the road shortly after 1:00 and from that point on enjoyed much, much better road conditions. We were still on pavement, but this time we were on a solidly paved one lane road that was in great condition. For the next 3 hours, the road conditions held and riding was really outstanding. For the most part we stayed at around 10,000 feet that by turns carried us through a high plateau, along the contour of the mountains to a large lake and then around an 18,000 foot peak (‘Sara Sara’ ) before making the final descent to 7,000 feet and the town of Pausa, where we spent the night. Along the way, as is so often the case, Claudio engaged a local in an extended conversation along the side of the road… this time a ‘camposino’ named Perci, (To learn more, read Claudio’s passage for today).
It felt good to be back in the Andes. We were once again surrounded by the spectacle of mountains so tall and steep that they take your breath away, literally and figuratively. As we circled around the 18,000 foot “Sara Sara” peak, following the twists and turns of the road that was cut into the countour of the mountainside at 10,000 feet, we couldn’t help but stop repeatedly to take in the view. Below us, 3,000 feet down we could see, and hear the faint roar of, the Rio Mirmoco river and opposite us no more than a kilometer or so across, we were facing the equally steep slopes of the mountains on the opposite side of the valley. In a nutshell, the Andes.
NOTE: Having arrived in Pausa, we had one final hurdle to overcome before our day of riding was complete. Watch the video below and you’ll see what I mean. The backstory is that directly in front of the hotel we found in the center of town was a road/sewer repair construction site. In order to get into the garage adjacent to the hotel, we had to make our way through the site. With that I’ll let you watch the video of Claudio.
From Claudio
Perci
He stood on a large rock on the side of the gravel road overlooking a gentle valley parceled out by intricate stone walls mapping the landscape with purpose. I wanted to know why the land was divided by so many walls adjacent to each other, with a beehive pattern. I stopped next to him, shut off the engine, removed gloves and helmet and greeted him. A bright smile hit me. Several of his teeth were crowned with gold, worn out by time, yet that smile. We exchanged names with a handshake and looked at each other for an instant. He must have been in his thirties, a proper campesino, short, strong, healthy, transparent, meeting my eyes square. “Each peasant has a lot which he has to fence up with stone walls to mark his territory, keep animals inside, and then plow, sow, tend and harvest. That one over there -he pointed- is mine.” Right across the road, behind my back, there was a woman sitting on the road with her feet on a water canal. “We grow okra, potatoes, quinoa, corn, yes, we keep what we need and the rest we bring to market.” The woman said something I didn’t catch. He smiled. I looked at her and was given a long slow nod. “Meat comes from our cows, pigs, sheep and llamas. No, we don’t have chickens, they come from Lima.” The woman spoke again, “what did she say?” I asked. “She said I am lying, that we don’t eat llama, but she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know, we eat everything.”
Reminder: click/tap on image to view enlarged version
Peruvian Adventure 
Great post. Especially loved today’s photos and video. I trust you navigated the garage entry with some help;-). It’s such a treat to get some insight into the locals you encounter, both in photos and in the descriptions of your conversations with them, Keep up the great work!
LikeLike
Thank you, my dear. By the time it was my turn, it got a little easier. The encounters we have with locals are all to Claudio’s credit. He has an extraordinary ability to reach out and engage with folks.
LikeLike
These day 18 photos so far collectively are my favorite – people, animals, rocks so beautiful and those open smiles of the people you spoke with Claudio…. I can picture you taking off gloves to greet
LikeLike
Appreciate the comment on Day 18… that was a great day. I’m glad the pictures conveyed a sense of it to you. Very fortunate to be traveling with Claudio. He is extraordinary at engaging with folks as we travel along.
LikeLike