Typical village scene close to Cajamarca, campesinas wearing wide brimmed hats herding their animals.
Women selling produce on market day in Cajabamba
Highland herding
Folded rock, gum trees and herding campesinas between Cajabamba and Huamachuco
An old campesino accidentally dropped his bag with coca leaves a little way down the road and Anna has just returned them to the rightful owner, much to his suspicion. Did he think she'd need them on the bike?
Gold and silver mines leave ugly scars on the mountains. All the money and gold is shipped outside Peru.
Riding through the storm...at one stage the thunder came only 3 secs after the lightning, lucky we found refuge in a small house with some roadworkers.
From 3100 to sealevel in one day. This was the muddy start to the day at Agallpampa.
Muddy pass at Agallpampa
At the Casa de Ciclistas in Trujillo, the bikes get some attention after the beating in northern Peru.
Lucho now has 7 'libros de oro', we spend some hours reading stories of many other cyclists that have passed through since 1985. Here are Dick and Els Verschuur, inspirational to our trip.
Chan Chan, the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas, built from adobe by the Chimu around 1300 AD. The city is partly recreated, like the designs in this photo.
Huanchaco, a beach town near Trujillo, with 'caballitos de tortora' or traditional reed boats in the foreground.
Daniel y Carla and their 'renolenta' (slow renault), travelling from Cordoba, Argentina to Mexico.
Lucho aka Rohloff specialist...., trimming our wheels.
With Lucho in front of the Casa de ciclistas.
Peruvian naked dog at the Huaca del sol, near Trujillo
Lucho accompanies us all the way to Viru, pushing Anna up the hills into the desert winds. He has a spot in our hearts.
Back on dirt, from 15 km south of Chao towards the mountains.
Desert camp 1 (quebrada el silencio), perched between rock and cactus, we decide not to set up the tent and just sleep under the stars. How are the odds, it starts raining and we have to set up the tent at 3 am!
Breakfast in the desert.
Desert camp at quebrada el silencio.
Tunnels are carved out the rock.
We ride along the Rio Santa untill Huaraz. It seems weird to ride next to so much water, yet almost nothing grows here.
Cool rock formations
Waterfall shower after a hot and dusty day.
Desert camp 2 (10 km before Yuramarca), Ali enjoys a cup of coffee amongst cactus
on the way to Huallanca
And here it is. We eat this meal for lunch and dinner almost daily, as it is the typical vegetarian dish of Latin America. Beans (if we're lucky), fried egg, rice and yucca.
Huallanca has it's yearly anniversary festival, so both hotels are fully booked. We are allowed to camp on the roof terrace and find these two playmates, Blanco and Telford, for the afternoon and night. The brown one has an ear malformation and his ear actually stands up like that all the time. Sooooo cute.
Cañon del Pato, 37 tunnels carved out of the rock in 10 km.
Waterfall in the desert.
Cañon del Pato
Ali riding into a tunnel
Dave´s niteflux lights, are a treat today
This campesina near Caraz asked us to stop and gave us a bowl full of these fruits. The people are super friendly in this region. We would love to take more photos, but that is a sensitive subject in these parts. We exchanged a (hardcopy) photo of us for taking this one. She couldn't believe it 'un recuerdito de mis gringitos, oh mis gringitos, que bonitos' (a little reminder from my little foreigners, oh my foreigners, how beautiful'. and so on.
A Puya Raymondii, the biggest bromeliad, at Punta Winchus. This plant flowers once every 40 to 100 years and dies afterwards. This one has flowered in november 2009, it's flowerspike now carries millions of seeds, only a few may become new Puyas.
Santa Cruz hike, camp one at llamacorral
Anna on donkeyback at llamacorral. Lots of donkeys to carry trekkers gear, are freed during the night.
Ali at laguna chica , or Ichiccocha
Nevado Artesonraju (6025m)
Anna and Yannick, our Belgian friend and hiking companion at laguna grande
lupines and white peaks
donkey checking out Ali cooking breakfast.
Close to the Punta union pass heavily loaded donkeys scramble up the rocks with Laguna Taullicocha in the background.
Highest point on the trek
must be the altitude
Glaciers appear through the cloud
Scary road down from Vaqueria. Huascaran, on the right, is the highest mountain of Peru (6768m).
Werner and Maria, Warmshowers hosts in Recuay, give us a warm welcome to their home.
