May 30, 2025
Day 17: Good grades, good gravel, good grub
~4500 ft of vert
Camp at ~12,200 ft
9 hours camp to camp (some good long breaks today in towns :))
Well, we had an interesting night. Before we went to bed, there must have been about 100 sheep near our tent baaah-ing. When the sheep finally left, the night was peaceful again. That is until there was an uncontrolled, on the loose dog who would NOT stop barking. Its bark would fade and we would think it was going away, and then it would come really close. And then it would fade again and then come back. This lasted for probably a couple of hours. We thought it must be rabid because we didn’t know what the heck it would be barking at. The last straw was when it was very close to our tent. At which point Megan yelled “Get away!” and clapped as loud as she could. The dog went silent for a while. We weren’t sure if it got scared and ran away or was very close and about to pounce. To our relief, we heard a final few barks in the distance and that was it. Megan is now a skilled dog scarer. The rest of the night was peaceful until about 5:58am when bright headlights and a large truck were moving towards our tent, which was situated off the side of a side road. We didn’t think this road would get any use, especially during the darkness hours of 6pm-6am. However, five men in a truck came to do some work at the lake right near where we were camped. People here never seem to care that we are camping; they are just curious to know where we are going next. Anyways, it was therefore very hard to use the bathroom in the morning because there were no private spots.
We are continuing our daily regimen of oats (with pb and freeze dried fruit), green juice and probiotics. It was a foggy and cold morning. We kept hoping for the sun to come out as we packed up, but it never did. Eventually we headed out again for our morning climb, which has become another typical part of our regimen—hit the vert early. This was smooth and well-graded gravel and the fog was finally burning off. The mountains around the lake came into view. After the long climb and then some more rollers, with a few medium climbs, we hit our descent into Acobambilla. Many switchbacks and a brake adjustment later, we were in town! This town was super cute and had a lovely and lively little plaza. We had initially thought we might sleep inside in this town but we arrived at 11:15 in the morning which felt a litttttttle too early to stop, with some good weather still left in the day.
Upon arriving to most towns, the first thing we do is find a tienda and buy fruit (oranges and bananas) and a pastry. This is necessary before any decision-making. So, we bought our fruit and pastry and sat on a bench in the plaza to discuss a plan. We decided it would be best to carry on today, and make tomorrow’s climb a little shorter. After we made our decision, we were ready for food round two: we were craving huevos y pan (eggs and bread). The app iOverlander included comments about a hospedeje where the owners would cook people breakfast and dinner. We thought perhaps they could cook us lunch. Through some Spanglish, we successfully asked if they could make us huevos y pan. And they sure did! Salty fried eggs in a soft bread roll - oh it was heavenly. We sat at an old table inside the tienda with benches lined with sheep/alpaca wool, while they cooked in their back kitchen. They were a super sweet older couple who pretend-pouted when we said we were continuing on to the next town. It’s so cool that you can walk into a tienda and politely ask if someone can make you eggs. Our time in Peru has definitely left us wishing we could speak more Spanish so we can better converse with the lovely people here. Despite the language barrier, kindness and connection are still present - and happen most frequently during the tienda interactions, with older adults. We stocked up on snacks and dinner from this tienda before heading out.
Unfortunately, our front tire had lost some air, so we also spent time asking around for a pump. The man who supposedly owned the pump in town was nowhere to be found, so we just used our hand pump. That silly front tire!
While we were sitting in the plaza, a little girl kept coming up behind us and giggling. She was the cutest!
With huevos, pan, fruit, chips, and chocolate in our bellies, we were happy and we were off! 2500 more feet of climbing before the next town. This climb continued to be a good grade and good gravel - such a lucky combo. Erin put in her headphones and we grinded to the top, where we were met with building thunderstorms and soooo many switchbacks down to the next town. We were hoping we could still stay inside, but the options were limited in this town. So, we stocked up on more fruit and some veggies (yay carrots) and more chocolate from the tienda and headed out for another 5 miles until a good camp spot.
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Clouds were all around us, but the sun was also out. It started to sprinkle and then it stopped. We reached our camp spot, thinking we had thread the needle well. Alas, right after we got the food cooking, thunder boomed and rain started to pour. We got everything inside the tent and hoped for the best. The storm was right above us for probably 15 minutes, the thunder and lightning occurring back to back. It was quite good timing - we had the tent set up and our food had just boiled, so it was easy to quickly take shelter. The storm eventually passed (woohoo!). In the tent, we enjoyed a delicious pasta dinner with fresh carrots and red onion and some oregano, followed by our classic chocolate dessert.
Tomorrow we should arrive in the big town of Huancavalica - known as “cake capital.” We don’t know what type of cake, but we’re going to get their biggest one.
Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 506 miles (814 km)
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