May 28, 2025
Day 15: We take a boat
5400 ft of vert
Camping at 14,600 feet
What a glorious morning we had waking up in a nice hotel (our room even had a balcony!). Erin has been master chef on this trip, typically cooking breakfast and dinner. Like all mornings, we enjoyed the simple pleasures of instant coffee, oatmeal, and green juice. We had the special treat of bananas and oranges to add to the mix. Finding fruit on route isn’t always easy!
The mornings feel sacred in a way - the day is untouched, you don’t have to bike quiteeee yet, you can soak in yesterday’s accomplishments, and you can dream of the adventures to come. The mornings are also calm and peaceful - both outside, weather-wise, and inside of us. We aren’t tired and frustrated yet. We get to wake up and be regular humans before jumping on the bike for the day.
We got on the bike around 8am and had a small amount of climbing before a long descent through the valley. We had read on the app iOverlander that a bridge was out and another bikepacker needed to take a boat across the river four days ago. We were not sure what to expect. It would be weird for the bridge to be out - that would mean nobody could access the town we were in, which was a tourist destination. A woman at the hotel told us that there was a pedestrian bridge, so we thought we might be able to take that. Sure enough, after some downhill, we arrived at the scene. The bridge was indeed out, and it was a lake that fed into a roaring river. There was a pedestrian bridge, but one had to ascend a rope ladder to get there. To be clear, our tandem can do a lot, but our tandem cannot ascend a rope ladder. There were many workers at the site, and they kept pointing us to the rowboat. We were hesitant because the previous bikepacker had mentioned it took two hours to cross and that he had to pay 50 soles (~$16). We also had no idea if and how our tandem would fit on the rowboat.
But it did! With some help from men speaking firmly in Spanish, we were able to position the tandem across the bow of the boat. The crossing itself was small, but it was at the mouth of rapids and there were tall reeds sticking out of the water, interfering the man’s ability to row the boat away from the rapids. He was rowing rowing rowing but we were inching along. Megan was grabbing the reeds from underneath the oars so we could keep moving. We thought there was a good chance we’d get swept into the rapids. But sure enough, after plowing through reeds, we made it safely to the other side of the river. The journey was not done yet: with help from more Peruvian men, we hauled our bicycle across rocks and construction materials to finally reach the road. Whew! In total, it took 30 minutes and cost 20 soles - not bad!
With that wild experience behind us, we continued our descent to a small village called Llapay, arriving around 10:30am. We loaded up on fruit (we each ate two bananas and two mandarins) and pumped up our front tire with a grande inflador (big bike pump)! Erin was using the mini hand pump, and a guy walked up and said he had a larger one that we could use. The people here continue to show great kindness and lend a hand, even when not asked.
Then we climbed! And guess what?! The best surprise of the day: 2000 vertical feet of PAVEMENT. Hallelujah! Neither of us said anything when the road appeared to be paved because we didn’t want to jinx it and have the pavement end. The pavement took us all the way to the town of Laraos, where we loaded up on lunch and meals for the next few days from a tienda. We even got pineapple cake and delicious free chocolates! Although maybe the pineapple cake was too much gluten for Erin - her tummy was a little unhappy the rest of the climb.
After lunch in Laraos, we returned to our old friend: steep gravel climbs. It was a challenging, rocky, and sustained climb. We even followed a stray (?) dog for awhile that didn’t seem bothered by us.
We climbed and climbed until we reached Lake Pomacocha - where we’d camp for the night. Near the lake, we ran into a fellow bikepacker! He was from Japan and was going just a wee bit further than us: from Alaska to Argentina! People out here are wild - and very inspiring!
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We found ourselves a beautiful camp spot protected from the wind. We had pasta with quinoa - a delicious combination we thought! We enjoyed our double dessert of cookies and chocolate and settled in for the evening.
Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 425 miles (684 km)
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