06/28 Had a nice, easy climb up to 12,845 feet before the road dropped down to follow a beautiful river valley. This was probably one of the nicer valleys I’ve ridden in thanks to a fast moving, ice blue river, a good amount of trees and an area where heated thermal springs cascaded over the rocks leaving behind a multi-colored mineral deposits. Looked a bit like Yellowstone.
The road was paved and had a good-sized safety lane to ride in when it wasn’t covered in broken glass. Peru is rather notorious for its bad drivers but let me tell you… it’s well-deserved. These people crash into everything. The guard rails at the turns are the worst spots. They seem to be magnets for cars because there’s always broken reflector/windshield glass scattered around. The strange thing is, and this is true for all of Peru, I never see skid marks. I almost wonder if brakes are options on the cars here. Just after the pass a truck carrying logs was laying on its side from taking a turn too fast. This Hwy 3 has a lot of roadside memorials next to it–probably more than any other road I’ve been on in South America.
Staying in the quaint little village of Izcuchaca. There’s a bridge here that was supposedly build by the Inca which is kind of neat. On the way into town I had a patron Saint of Bicycles moment. A guy waved me over to him and his wife. She was holding a tiny baby and the guy just wanted me to hold the baby’s hand for a minute. Well I did and then rode across the river into the town (not on the Inca bridge–it’s closed). Found a hostel for S15 next to the train tracks.
Entries (RSS)