PowerCycle

06/07 Left Caraz under sunny skies after taking a couple day break. The presidential election is finally over and other than some parades in all the little towns I passed not too much reaction from it (aside from the stock market taking a beating).

When I rode over the pass from Yanama and arrived at the highway that heads north to Caraz the town there is called Yungay. Talk about a place with a sad history. On May 31st, 1970 an earthquake measuring almost 8.0 on the Richter scale struck. The quake caused the northern wall of Mount Huascarán to crumble and come crashing down the valley toward the town of Yungay at speeds reaching 208 mph. 25,000 people were killed and only 92 survived. There’s a huge memorial at the site of the destroyed town which is about a mile south of the current town. The only things still visible are the wreak of an old bus and the top section of the church.

The road was paved all the way and other than some potholes wasn’t in bad shape. Huaraz is officially the gringo capital of the world! I’ve never seen so many whitey’s walking around and the “season” just started. This is probably the most popular place to come for guided trekking tours of the nearby mountains so there are lot’s of thing to cater to the gringos. There’s a supermarket, multiple pizzerias and a several outdoor stores. Considering only 10% of the buildings in the city survived the 1970 earthquake they’ve done an amazing job building it back up.

I’ll stay tomorrow because I need a new bike seat. The one I have now is killing me and there’s now way I’ll make it to Cusco on it. Staying at Aldo’s Guest House. I got stuck paying for a double room right across from the kitchen so I’m not a big fan. The bed also has a foot board which sucks for anyone over 5 feet tall. The pressure washer shower was hot for about 90 seconds. The internet is blazingly fast which makes up for everything.

GPX track