Tom and Dave’s BIG Ride

Good gravel, going to church and the worlds highest paved road!

 
Only a short update of the last few days and what is to come soon! We are trying to make updates shorter, and more regular so they are a little less time consuming to write and read!
 
We had a really good days ride from Ayacucho, espescially as the first 50km was tarmac and mainly downhill. Even when the upaved earth road started it was smoother and faster than we have been used to so we made really good progress. We had made 80km by 2.30 and the town we had intented on staying at. However, with so much of the day left we decided we would push on to another town called La Esmerelda, 35km further. 
 
On arrival at La Esmerelda we were greeted with friendly locals offering us food and drink. We stayed and chatted with them about our trip and then had several photos taking of us with everyone there. We then were escorted to a small internet cafe where they wanted us to save the pictures to the computer. It was very starnge, yet fun having such a huge entourage of kids follwing us through the village, offering to push our bikes ect.  They were even our guide to finding us a hostal to stay at. We were invited to attend a service at their church which was to inlclude music and be quiet lively. We felt we should attend, one as they had been very kind to us and two because this was something we were not likely to experience again.
 
At 8pm we returned to the church and the place began to fill. The people we met earlier seemed very pleased we came back. The service was very diffilcult to follow, with random chants being said stood up at intervals. What really seemed to bring the congregation together was the music. These songs would go on for ten minutes, with a heavy beat and sythasied rythm from a guy playing keyboard. It seemed almost like a prayer to some people as they closed their eyes and sung. However interesting it was I was still pleased when we got out and escaped the music!
 
We finished the last of the unpaved road the next day ending up at a town some 87km away called Izucuchaca. It was a small and fairly pretty town and was a nice place to spend the rest of the afternoon, resting for our big hill to Huancayo the next day!
 
The road to Hauncayo rose steadily up to around 3850m, in that time we had intermitent rain in which we would have to stop and put on our waterproofs. Then in about ten minutes time it would be hot and sunny again! We enjoyed a nice descent the other side and made the 69km to town by early afternoon, in time for late lunch and Dave to get hid rack welded!
 
So this brings me onto the next leg of our trip, down to Lima. We have been researching the route, and it is apparently the highest paved roed in the world at 4818m! Thats nearly as high as Mount Blanc! And potentially the logest paved downhill in the world (140km) as Lima is on the coast. We are not sure if we will ride up and down in one day, or camp at the top so we get one whole day of downhill. Either way we will have the photos and stories after…
 
Until then
 
Aidios,
 
Tom and Dave
 

Hi everybody,

We´ve had a few emails lately saying we should maybe update you all a little more often so here goes…

Since Cusco we´ve only ridden a few hundred Kms but have had loads of fun! In Cusco we hatched a plan along with Paul, Oliver and a Kiwi named Joe to sneak into Machu Picchu for free. this was one of the best experiences of the trip so far! We´d found a website detailing where there was a “secret path” up to the back of the ruins where you could sneak in so we thought it worth a try. Also, Oliver had met a guy who said he´d done the same thing so we knew it was possible.

The adventure started with around 8hrs in buses and Collectivos (kind of taxis) to Santa Teresa where we walked to Hydroelectrica, which is, unsurprisingly, an hydroelectric plant, and has a direct rail link to Aguas Calientes – the town you trek to Machu Picchu from. the route there was lovely with fruit trees lining the road. we tried to get some avocadoes too but unfortunately none were ripe enough to eat. Also along the way we had a go on a rather dodgy-looking cable-bridge linking a house over the river to the road. It was pretty scary being about 50ft above raging rapids suspended only by a cable and a couple of rickety pieces of wood!

Once at Hydroelectrica we walked along the railway line to Aguas calientes where we slept by the river for about 3 hours, in the rain without tents up, before walking up towards the ruins by moonlight so as to avoid being caught. After a lot of searching we found the “secret path” which turned out to  pretty much scale a cliff face! To make things worse it was raining too and the path had slid away in places! En route we also picked up a new addition to the group: a dog who followed us all night until sunrise at the ruins. He was possibly the first dog to illegally enter Machu Picchu! the path climbed steeply over some old inca terraces before we entered the main city and clambered up to get a good view for sunrise. It was amazing to have the whole place to ourselves until about 6am ahen we blended in as best we could with the tourists and started to wander around.

Unfortunately it was still raining and pretty cold so we went to shelter in a hut where Oliver had the clever idea of brewing up some hot drinks… Bad move! Within a few minutes our illegal escapade was over and we were standing at the entrance in a spot of bother with the police having been called! Oops!!! Luckily we were just made to pay the entrance fee and no further action was taken. Phew!!!

So… after our incan adventure we rested for a couple of days and became regular customers at the juice bars in the Mercado San Pedro. this place is great! they sell fruit smoothies for only 60p and that´s enough for two!! Crazy!!  

Monday saw us leave Cusco without Paul and Oliver as Oliver cut his feet dancing on glass and Paul was waiting for Ronan. The road was great, climbing up from 2000m to 4150m and then going back down again round the best switchbacks we´ve ridden to date! Needless to say we rode them at speeds way faster than would be advised! We were hitting most at over 50kph despite them turning 180 degrees! Great fun!!  this stretch was punctuated by Tom having the fright of his life after we camped out before Abancay. In the evening we found a rather conspicuous campsite which turned out to be at some kind of unofficial bus stop, cooked up and went to bed… In the morning Tom gets out of the tent to answer nautre´s call and a couple of minutes later i hear a bemused “I think there´s something in my shoe” from Tom. Tom proceeds to take his shoe off, give it a shake and guess what pops out?! No… its not those grubby socks we leave outside the tent for fear of inhaling noxious gases… It was a TARANTULA!!!!!!! How he didnt realise sooner we´ll never know, but luckily it didn´t bite and all was well. Apparrently, though, just in case you ever have a tarantula in your shoe, it “feels very soft. Like theres some tissue stuffed in it”.

After a day off at Abancay eating and sleeping it was on to the ripio (gravel) for a very slow and very bumpy ride to Ayacucho. The hills were monstrously large with climbs of over 40km reaching over 4000m. It went pretty well though, if not a little slowly and we arrived in Ayacucho yesterday for another well deserved rest day. It also served well to improve our prickly pear peeling technique. After the first time, when we managed to get prickles in our mouths and all over our hands, we used a rag to brush off the prickles before peeling. Although there were still a fair few left in our hands it was definitely worth the hassle for some tasty free fruit

Well that brings us to Ayacucho: a nice colonial town, much the same as the others we´ve visited, with a nice plaza and once again a lovely colonial cathedral Apparently they have 33 churches and cathedrals here – one for every year of Jesus´life. Anyways, churches apart, it´s a nice enough place to have a rest before (hopefully) the last of the gravel roads to Huancayo!

Until then, Adios

Tom and Dave 

http://picasaweb.google.es/tomskipper73

(There’re 2 albums here. should be pretty easy to work out… hopefully!!)

http://picasaweb.google.es/daperkins1311/SouthAmericaSoFar#

Enjoy!!

We had a little bit of bad news just before leaving La Paz. Ronan, our tall Irish riding bud had come off riding the Death road and cut his knee bad, so he was unable to ride the next leg with us. Paul still wished to ride, and accompanied by Oliver we were still a four man gang. The ride out of La Paz was fairly average until we saw Lake Tititaca. This was a massive milestone for us. Dave, Oliver and myself all had read the cycle novel ´Trail to Tititaca´before our trip, and unsurprisingly their journey culminated on reaching the shores of Tititaca. We were about to do one better and carry on riding! 
We managed to get an amazingly filling pasta dish that evening for 50p from a little road stall, this made us very happy after our ride as we didn´t have to get the stoves out at camp!
The next day was full of stunning views of the lake. We crossed the lake between two headlands at its narrowest point, on vessels what looked like not much more than a wooden rafts…and coaches were crossing on them! After climbing a pretty stunning pass to over 4100m which over looked the lake, and then the pituresque border town of Cococabana. The road down was surrounded by lush green fields and vegetation, a stark contrast from most of Bolivia-Peru felt very close now. After a relaxing night in our lovely 1 pound a night hotel room(!) we prepared to leave Bolivia and head into Peru!
It was hard to imagine as we rode though green lush Peru on the bank of the lake that we were still over 3800m high! We rode for around 100km that day at a hard pace fighting some bad head winds (surprise!) until we found a lovely camp spot. We cimbed a little way off the road up a hill to a grassy ledge with a stunning view. All was perfect until about 5 hours later that night…. I woke up in a feverish state with a very bad stomach. as i was outside trying to rid myself of the badness, I heard a tent zip go and Oliver being violently sick. We really weren´t great company for each other, both being as sick and useless as the other!
The next morning we were both dead, not even stomaching the porridge Dave and Paul made us. The best thing for us was to try and hitch to the nearest town, Puno. We let Dave and Paul go and said we would be fine. However as they left we both lost energy, we nearly crawled to the road! Luckily we got a lift in  a pickup truck to Puno within 15 minutes. Once there we found a hostel, just in time as I literally made it up the stairs and collapsed in bed, which is where i stayed for the best part of 2 days! It was clear i was in no fit state to ride with the guys the next day so I arranged to get a bus to Cuzco when better, and the other began the ride.

So, leaving a very sick Tom in Puno, Paul and I headed off towards Cusco for 4 days’ ride into the wind. Luckily the road was relatively good with only  about 50km of bad pavement. Unluckily, the wind was relentless. Not all that strong like in Tierra del Fuego (thank God!!) but strong enough to hinder us a fair bit. Nevertheless we made good progress given the high altitude (around 3900m). On looking at the altitude profiles given by some kind Swiss cyclists we saw that we{d have to cross a 4338m pass on the 2nd day. We were really dreading that!

Day 1 was great, clocking 145km before finding  a little hostel in the town of Ayaviri. There we met a French couple cycling on recumbents from Alaska down to Ushuaia and had a good evening chatting to them over a huge plate of pasta. All alongthe route countless dogs were chasing us, barking as they went. This has become a normal occurrence for us but up until now we{ve nevber really retaliated. On this stretch, however, we fought back, barking at the dogs before they had a chance to bark at us first. It really works for most of them, then the occasiopnal one that retaliates gets threatened with either a boot in the face or water (if we’re feeling a kind!)

The next day saw us ride into yet more headwind, bark at more dogs, then finish up in Sicuani at a hostel for the massive sum of 15 Soles for the both of us. That’s about 3 pounds!! We resed up and prepared for what we thought would be a gruelling climb the next day… Or not! It turned out that the huge pass we’d been dreading was in fact really easy. So easy that we hadto make more effort going down the hill than up! Lucily the descent was interspersed with a few interesting points like stopping in aguas calientes to sit in the thermal baths there (unfortunately we went in the first ones we saw, not realisingthat there was a lovely, clean-looking one just round the corner until afterwards!). Also, we stopped at the top of the pass where Paul became good friends with a Llama. they really do have soft fur. Later on we passed a pre-inca aqueduct which was pretty cool before camping up literally right next to some pre-inca ruins which we wandered around before camping up. It was pretty cool to have the whole place to ourselves andto be camping so close.

The evening was clear and not too cold, so we decided to pitch the tent without the guys… BIG mistake! A few hours into the night we awoke to find ourselves in the cloud of one of the worst lightning storms i{ve ever seen. there was hail too which hit the tent so loud that we could barely hear eachother shouting when we were laying right next to eachother! I went to steady the tent as the wind was practically blowing away but Paul, very wisely, thought that was a bad idea so we just let the storm pass. It was really intense with rainwater flooding past the tent and some even getting in  and the lightning striking around us every few seconds. It also didn’t help that we were camped up in a drainage channel (It was the only flattish ground available) so we got a fair few puddles around the tent.

30km more, luckily in sunshine, saw us arrive in Cusco – a truly beautiful city, and a great change from the smog and dirtiness of La Paz. Here we{d spend a few days relaxing and visit Machu Pichu, but that{s for the next update… Expect that soon.

Anyways, i reckon that{s it for now.  

Hasta luego,

Tom and Dave

Hola,

So, as you may guess from the title we´re now in La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia, and omly a day´s ride from the Peruvian border and the spectacular Lake Titicaca. Time has been flying by for us and since Salta things have been getting better and better. It´s such a shame that Bolivia´s such a small part of our route.

We left Ramon´s to head for San Salvador de Jujuy expecting a rather dull 90km of flat road. After the customary photoshoot outside the Casa de Ciclistas we left into some of the most torrential rain we´ve seen ever! Jose, a spanish cyclist and friend of Ramon, kindly agreed to guide us out of town until the road started climbing. The amount of water was unbelievable! The roads turned to rivers and we were soaked within minutes. Strangely enough, we were absolutely loving this as this was the very first day of proper rain we´d had in 93!!!!

We left Jose at the city limits and began winding our way up gently for a few Kms until we hit the most spectacular forested valley. The road wound through there with some amazing downhill, which we rode way faster than is advisable, and we were both left feeling a little shaky at the end. This road was one of the most beautiful roads we´ve ridden to date. Camped up at Yala, clocking a comfortable but rather wet 115km.

Fom Yala to the Bolivian border the scenery stayed similar for a lot of the way but was awesome nevertheless. We rode up along Ruta 9 (The Quebrada de Humahuaca) until La Quiaca, the town at the Argentine border. It was 3 days´ ride and all the way the landscape was amazing! The hillsides looked as if they had literally been painted. Late in the first day of this stint we were flaggeddown by a car and out came Rafael, another cyclist who had a house in a beautiful little valley in a place named Calete. Rafael invited us to stay at his place for the night which was about 7km off our route down a dirt road. We were a bit apprehensive at first as we went off of the lovely smooth tarmac, but the torture of pushing up through sand and crossing a river was all worth it. We arrived just before dark and were welcomed with mate (an Argentinian kind of herbal tea) and a lovely asado de pollo (barbecued chicken). The asado wasn´t quite Tom´s cup of tea, as you might imagine, so as he was in the shower i went out to harvest some beans from Rafael´s field. Dinner was fantastic and we were really fed well there!! The rest of the evening was spent debating the benefits of recumbent bikes over regular ones, and hearing about how Rafael had developed a pedal powered winch system to cultivate his land in Calete! This guy really was fascinating to talk to! Oh, and there was the small issue of a litle kitten which kept coming in at the most imopportune of moments and trying to climb up onto our heads! 

We ended up staying until late the next afternoon as we were so comfortable and so well looked after at Rafael´s then clocked a rather paltry 40km that evening and camped upout of sight of the road

La Quiaca was the finalplace we´d see in Argentina and it left a great impression on both of us. Throughout the trip we´ve been amazed by the kindness of people like Rafael, Carlos the dustman, Ramon at the Casa de Ciclistas and many others. La Quiaca didn´t disappoint either. WE rolled into town to find a bike shop and came across this old guy in his house working on a bunch of bikes. By this time both of us had rather buckled wheels and some broken spokes. Without hesitation our man took us round the corner and trued all four wheels and replaced the spokes free of charge saying he was happy to do it for two English cyclists! WE were pretty chuffed! We tried to pay him but he was having none of it. What a great guy!

 Crossing the border was an experience in itself. Within a couple of hundred metres  we´d gone from clean, civilised streets to absolute chaos. It was a welcome change. Street sellers were everywhere and it was noticeably cheaper. Excellent. We stayed in a little residencial that night before cracking on to Tupiza where we met up with 4 other cyclists! Both the German/ Swiss couple from the casa de Ciclistas and Paul and Ronan – two Irish guys cycling the same route as us.

Tupiza saw us take an absolutely fantastic tour of the salar de Uyuni and the surrounding area. We drove a 1200km loop through some of the most barren but beautiful places we´ñve seen to date: Deserts that look like they´re from Dali paintings, flamingo-filled lakes, load of llamas and vicuñas and much much more.

From Tupiza we went to Potosi with Ronan and Paul and m et up with Oliver at a nice hostel called the Koala Den. We stayed for a couple of nights and saw the silver mines which once made this city the richest in the world! This place is such a breath of fresh air (not at all literally!!) from the other towns. It hasn´t got that charateristic grid street pattern, and the buildings have so much more character. There´re also a lot of remnants of the spanish colonial influence that gave the city its wealth.  On our day off we visited the mines. I had no idea how bad working conditions could be before seing this! The air was thick with dust and itwas so dangerous climbing down tiny mineshafts with only a weak headtorch for light. Some of the miners here were only 14 years old, too!

The road from Potosi to Oryro was pretty epic. Climbing to 4314m it was the highest we´d been. we´ve now mastered the art of truck surfing up those never-ending hills. It was quite a sight. Some big truck would be crawling up a hill at a snail´s pace then the four of us would part to either side of the road, start to sprint, then all of a sudden veer  in and grab on for  the rest of the ascent. We were like a pack of hungry wolves!! The drivers didn´t seem to mind, though.

The hills ended in Challapata; a quiet and rather dirty town a day´s ride from Oruro wher we´d see Bolivia´s most famous carnival. the road turned flat and the four of us rode hard in a peloton (drafting to reduce wind resistance) for the 122km to the grubbiest city we´ve seen to date! The carnival started the next day but there was already a feeling of anticipation in the air. If we thought Villazon, at the Bolivian border, was packed with street sellers, we were mistaken! This place was rammed, and when the carnival started the next morning it was even busier! It was a truly fantastic experience though and we were out enjoying the dancing and festivities until around 4.30am. Early i the morning we met a few rather inebriated Bolivian girls who got us into the VIP area and that was where we stayed for the final hours of the carnival. that was also wher we were set upon by 3 other girls who decided we should be their boyfriends. Unfortunatly, however, i was the only one that was single so got landed with a rather strange Bolivian girlfriend for the night.

After a heavy night at crarnival, the next day was spènt resting for Tom and feeling VERY ill for me. I´d come down with some bug, again, that meant i could barely get out of bed for 24 hours! Bang went my  ride to La Paz …

Here comes Tom´s part…

With Dave still feeling ill after carnival we decided the best thing would be for him to bus to La Paz and for me to cycle on with Paul and Ronan. The ride itself was the least exciting so far in Bolivia as we crossed the famous altiplano, which turned out not to be as flat as the name would suggest! We had two interesting campsites. The first night was behind the remains of a mud brick house. The second was behind a 24 hour petrol station where we had to endure two barking dogs and the owners bad taste in music all night!!
The thought of civilisation (and a bed and shower) keep us going for La Paz, and the sight as we entered was fantastic. A 600m deep crater literally full of buildings, and as we entered from the top we would descend until we hit the center. There we found the Wild Rover hostel, and a little taste of home!
 
Inside the hostel we were greeted by English speaking staff, guests, English(ish) food, a bar and worse (or best) of all a tab! The Irish guys and me didn´t waste time and proceeded to order two meals! Dave turned up not much later with bags of shopping from the market including his prized hippy trousers (until everyone else started wearing them!). The following few days in La Paz were just good to relax, eat and drink with some good company, again we met Oliver and a few others we had met previously. However, we are just about to leave La Paz, and are looking forward to the road and maybe spending a little less! A few hours and we should approach Lago Tititaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, then in a couple of days we will be crossing over into Peru and our fourth country!
 
Until Then Aidos!
 
Tom and Dave