PowerCycle

06/22 Finally managed to leave Huariaca this morning. My stomach has been bothering me a bit and since the hostel was decent enough, minus the stupid dogs barking all night and the neighbors shooting fireworks off at random times starting at 5am and finishing at midnight, I stayed.

Rode a bit further than I would have liked today and it cost me at least one place I wanted to see. Everything was fine up until I got to the junction for Cerro de Pasco. There was a sign but it didn’t say how far it was to the city and the road was heading back north. Not wanting to take what I thought would be a 6 mile one-way trek to see a big hole in the ground I skipped it.

Next junction a few miles further on was for a dirt road that goes to a village called Huayllay. Close by is a park that has one of the highest rock forests in the world. The problem was that it was still pretty far, I was tired and it was getting late (and cold). There was a little village at the junction but I asked a bunch of people and there wasn’t a place to stay. The surrounding land is also very flat and very barren so camping would have been tricky.

Carhuamayo was another 10 miles but it was on a beautiful paved road with a wide shoulder. Amazingly enough there’s a hotel here even better than the one in Huariaca. Same price but the room is much bigger, the shower is insanely hot and the wifi signal is stronger. The floors are even carpeted which is good because it is bloody cold here (50F in my room!). The town is quite big and they have some great bakeries along the main drag. The hotel is on the west side of the road–it’s the one with a very tall neon “Hotel” sign.

Nothing too exciting on the road today except the landscape is so different from what I was seeing just a few days ago. It is extremely barren, no trees and hardly even any bushes. Had a bunch of stupid dogs chase me and one managed to bite my back left pannier. No punctures fortunately. God I hate dogs so much.

GPX track