February 25, 2017
to Cachicadan - 2900m: the right stuff
“Let’s just keep going” Rachel says. We have been looking for a ride all day, no traffic passes us and in the town Angasmarca, where the final climb begins, we could find no-one interested in giving us a ride. So just like yesterday, we just keep cycling, hoping for a truck to go our way.
After climbing for what seems forever we are within a hundred meters of our highpoint of 3400 meters and about 15 km from Cachicadan when a truck slowly overtakes us. Patrick asks “shall we get a ride?”, but Rachel declines since we have almost done the hardest part. Or so we think…… Rachel sure has “the right stuff”.
Things are a bit damp in the morning because of condensation and dew, but except for being disturbed by a baying donkey on the hill behind us we have slept very well. We immediately start climbing, about 300 meters to gain to a ridge, then a downhill to a bridge across a river. Then another climb through Eucalyptus trees (some being harvested) to the next ridge. It never seems to end. And, sometimes when the downhill is steep it is just a painful as the uphill.
We like climbing, and the views today are certainly rewarding, but this is just too hard for us. But again, there are no vehicles to give us a ride so we keep going. Had we not cut our 1999-2000 trip short in Cusco, this would have been our route then. We wonder if we would be feeling the same about the difficulty.
We finally reach a larger town, Angasmarca at around lunchtime. There are several mini-vans loaded with passengers ready to take off. No-one seems to be going to Cachicadan, or they just seem uninterested in taking us. Later looking on the map it seems there might be a new road connecting to Chimbote on the coast and this is probably where most traffic is headed. While waiting to see if a ride develops, a few boys on bicycles armed with water balloons ride around and ask us our names. Rachel was splashed when riding through the plaza.
We climb again, from about 2800 meters to 3400 meters. Just before the summit, we pass up our opportunity for a ride. And we pay for it. Just as we reach the high point its starts to rain heavily, a cold steady downpour. We put on our raingear, but with the colder temperatures at this altitude, the wind, rain and a downhill we freeze. Both of us are shivering when we stop to give our fingers a rest from breaking. The packed road also looks slick in places. Cachicandan is waiting though; we have read there are several hostals with natural hot springs. So we push on and get to town soaked, cold and hungry at about 5.
When arriving in Cachicandan do not drop down into the town center. Stay high and you’ll find a cluster of cheaper guesthouses around and above the fancier Municipal Hotel. There are many signs for “Banos Thermales”. There is a good restaurant on the main road just above. The actual town center is down a steep road into the valley.
We check into the newer large Municipal hotel and get a room with a private tub. It is all a bit weird because the room seems to be reserved for tomorrow night, and right now there are a couple of women staying there who are being evicted to a smaller room. We will rest here tomorrow and if we understood the guy right will have to move as well. In the meantime the open closet still has other people’s clothes and possessions. We walk back to the main road and have fried Trucha (trout) with papa fritas (French fries) for dinner while our room is cleaned.
Then we soak. Nice hot water in a large tub and two cold beers make us forget the misery of today.
There is no Wi-Fi in the hotel and our sim card is not working here as with the past three days. Like in the old days pre-internet, there is no contact with the “outside” world and you become immersed into where you are at the moment.
So updating the journal will have to wait a couple more days. Fortunately with our netbook computer we can keep on top of our journal and process our photos so everything is ready to upload once we find Wi-Fi. Tomorrow a restday!
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Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 28,449 km (17,667 miles)
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