Cordillera Blanca - The High Andes

The Cordillera Blanca - the high Andes has 24 peaks over 6,000 Meters

Sorry I have been out of touch for a while friends...have cycled up from Huaraz into the Cordillera Blanca Andes. We have been doing lots of uphill cycling and hit 4,950 M last Monday which is well higher than I have been before and especially on the bike...

We have been bush camping and sometimes staying in small villages for the last week or so. We camped out at 4,200 Meters on Sunday night and the temperature dropped from a pleasant 32C to -14C after dark! Everything froze solid -even bottles of coke... Thanks Damo for the Northface Snow Shoe sleeping bag which kept me alive.

There is lots to report over the last 2 weeks and hopefully a few nice photos too.

Camped here (above) and only met one Tarantula but he was shy like myself and got away before I could get him to pose!

Ewald, our mechanic forgets to take his bike off the roof-rack again!

Surf Mecca - Huancayo

We dropped down to the coastal town of Huancayo about a week ago. Its a surfers paradise and myself Mick, Bene and Andre (one of our Dutch friends) managed to catch a few waves.

Attempting to demonstrate "the pop" after a few too many Pisco Sours in the local in Huancayo ... and the following day catching a few waves with Mick Bene and Andre.

We also attended a party at the ´´Casa del Cyclistas´in Trujillo which is a famous outpost for (mainly lone) bikers on the South America trip. Lucio, the proprietor and Perus best cyclista hosted us at a party to celebrate his 1,000 th guest. We all became friends and Lucio donned his gear the following day and cycled with us to Huaraz over the next 4 days.

Lucio and Didier (DJ) lying down pose outside the Casa de Cyclistas in Trujillo

Carreras de los Gringos

We stayed a night in the small market town of Caraz for a night and decided to liven the place up a bit. The local form of transport is a 3 wheeled 125cc motorcycle taxi that can hold 2 passengers behind the driver - a bit like the tuc tucs in Thailand. So I organised ´Carreras de los Gringos´a 3 lap race around the main plaza in town. We found 3 likely young lads who would be up for a race and lined up at the traffic lights on the Plaza de Lármes, Caraz. The locals didnt know what was happening but soon turned out in large numbers with the roars of the 125 cc engines and screeching of brakes. We tore around the plaza with the Gringos hanging out on the corners to keep the outside wheel on the ground. It was great craic until the cops turned up to interupt the fun and the drivers had to bolt for side streets to avoid losing their licences. We managed to talk our way out of spending the night in the local slammer by buying the cops a few beers and explaining to them that its an old Irish tradition to race donkeys around the square when you visit a new town. We hope to repeat the race in other towns and get a bit of a league going!!

Camping has been a mixed experience... The first campsite was a little copse of trees beside the paddy fields but it was a very bad choice. There were lots and lots of sand flies and mosis. I escaped reasonably unscathed with about 50 bites. Some of the guys were so badly bitten that their legs swelled up and they got very sick for a few days and couldn´t cycle. The next campsite was on the banks of the Rio Santa high up in the Andes where the air is so thin that a Mosi cannot even take off let alone carry a payload of haemoglobin so that was much nicer. We swam in the river (washed) and saw some great shooting stars.

The serious climbing then started with 2 days of over 5 hours climbing before lunch. This took us up over a 4,900 Meter pass. Our reward was a 70k off-road downhill on Wednesday afternoon (I kid you not. We had to take breaks to get the feeling back in our hands. On an unfortunate note, Andre had a bad tumble and wrecked his right forearm and muscle... he accepted the 17 stitches with his usual good humour but he will be off the bike for a couple of days...

Len Spratt (my Canadian roommate) celebrates making it over yet another 4,000 M pass

We are off at dawn in the morning to climb 2,400 Meters back up into the peaks. We are already at 2,100 here in Huanaco. I have mounted a camera on the front of the bike so with a bit of luck, I will be able to upload a downhill video at the weekend.

On the road, you know this is where I like to be...

Ciao for now, Sean