Photos from Seth
From sea level we had to climb again up to 3000 metres through Canyon Del Pato and 36 tunnels. The only sour note came when Roland decided to take a trip across the Canyon in an unmarked manual cable basket; giving Belinda a few more gray hairs (yes, she already has some)! The entire time Roland was in that basket, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face and fortunately Belinda didn't watch her husband fall dramatically to his death. BOYS!
This has been some of our favourite cycling to date and it was further enhanced by the company of Seth and Parker, two brothers also cycling from Alaska to Argentina but stop every once and a while to do some fishing. However, maybe the company went to our heads and we started losing stuff i.e. Roland's toque, Belina's arm warmer's, one of our bike headlights and our change purse. Dude, that's a knarly run of bad luck. Of course, we are entirely blaming this on the two brothers!
Roland spent as much time on the bike as off the bike swapping tires back and forth as the road continuously changed from dirt/gravel to pavement. Parker suggested he could have a change of career and work in a Nascar pitstop. He also found the perfect solution to fix a massive tear in the side wall of a tire with a piece of a soccer ball. However, the ride wasn't so smooth once back on pavement again! In the end we got through with no punctures and although the wider tires we purchased secondhand in Trujillo have seen better days, it got us through the tough dirt and gravel sections without too much slipping and sliding about.
Interesting point:
- The indigenous woman wear cartoon-like hats that seem to be a cross between a cowboy hat and hats worn by leprechauns.
- We splashed out and stayed a night in Caraz for $7 for the both of us. There was an election parade in full force with singing, dancing, honking, whistling, music and people wearing interesting clown/jester costumes.