Day 21 / 22 - Chulacanos to hospital - DISASTER

Distance Cycled:16km
Total Cycled to date: 818km

It was all going so well...aaagghhh!!
Up at sunrise and we are now pros at managing the tent business. Then to a shack where we were offered eggs inglesa - they came out fried - and finally some clarity on the bus situation, from the shack keeper in that there aren't any along this road!! Instead we negotiated a taxi ride with bikes on the roof along to Olmos, we missed out on a very easy but boring cycle and caught up some time. We then grabbed a quick lunch and the woman doling out the soup pinched a berocca and squealed when we put it in water for her and it fizzed - she thought it was some magic potion, well we think it is too ;) Just wish it could have helped me a couple of hours later....
With hills (Andes foothills) looming, the scenery got more interesting and we were pedalling along nicely until a freak gust of wind blew Wills stupid straw hat off right into my face as I was nicely drafting behind him. Brakes were slammed, bikes crashed and poor Amanda bounced onto the tarmac. I say bounced because somehow I landed only on my left hand with my full weight, plus bike, plus panniers and left hand didn't like it, so I was on my feet in a second with hardly a scratch on me. Ouch!! Will rushed over in horror and got everything to the roadside - we were so lucky the road was remote and nothing else hit us. But remote meant a long wait for passing aide and I kinda went into shock at the sight of my hand which Dr Will diagnosed as dislocated fingers which could be fixed quickly. Eventually a combi (taxi van) agreed to take us 10km to the nearest town - while I was dying in the back, the radiator overheated and we had to stop every 10 mins for the driver to pour water on it. The doctor at Motupe hospital was very nice and wrapped my hand up in cardboard - the best available splint and sent us off in an ambulance (another combi van with a red cross on it) to Chiclayo just a couple of hours away where there was a rumour of an xray machine. Looking back the whole set up was hilarious, they put our bikes in the back next to a trolley bed with a heavily pregnant lady moaning on it and her husband nestled between the handlebars whilst me & Will rode up front, bracing for every bump in the road which was pretty much constantly. We dropped the lady off at one hospital and the driver took us gringos to a private clinic via the best hotel there to check-in the bikes.
At the clinic I was injected with painkiller in each arm and xrayed to establish a couple of broken fingers. A traumatologist appeared from nowhere, like Mr Ben, and said I had to stay in hospital, not eat or drink and have an operation at 6am. Well that was the gist of my understanding and poor Will had to manage a mountain of admin over the next few days without speaking a word of spanish - instead he thought speaking in bad french would help...unfortunately not ;)
Anyway, we managed to stay in a room together with 2 hospital beds whilst our bikes enjoyed 4 star luxury up the road. Morning came after a sleepless night and I was walked upstairs to a hideous room with a brutal and unfunny man in it who turned out to be the anaesthetist. Then the surgeon arrived of the same ilk and oh it was all so horrible I can't go into the details but eventually I had local anaesthetic and a shot of tranquiliser to calm me and then I remember being left in a corridor for a while after it was all over.
I had to stay in another day whilst they drip fed me medicine and Will smuggled in edible food whilst I got used to having a new pin in my finger and a semi cast, which going forwards will be known as The Claw :(

Ax

Day 20 - Tombo Grande to Chulucanas - Offroad adventure

Distance Cycled: 63km

Total Cycled to date: 802km

After the day before's easy riding today was a bit of an off road adventure. As the other way would take us through the most dangerous city in Peru where apparently we were guaranteed to have our bikes stolen, and be raped and murdered, we decided this was the better option. In the end it turned out to be one of our best days!

The road was dust and gravel but flat (hence couldn't be bothered to upload profile graph) and took us through rural farmland and small villages where we were the star attraction for the day. In one village in particular where we stopped at a small shop for water, freshly made cake, a sponge to clean the bike and earings? we attracted a crowd of about 10 men who wanted to know all about our bikes and what we were up to. A couple of guys even brought over their bikes to compare! Although our bikes are full of some awesome gadgets and technology, for some reason they all seemed particularly interested in our mud guards. They dont have these on their bikes and they were determined to find out where they could get some. As my Spanish has still not improved above "Olah, que t'al" Amanda held audience for about 20mins answering all of their questions, very entertaining!

After some fun river crossings, many "hey gringo"s and lots of playing chicken (with real chickens), we were actually quite disappointed when the road turned to tarmac again after about 30km.

We rode into Chulucanas, our planned final destination, at about 2pm, ahead of schedule. After lunch we cycled around town trying to find money but none of the banks had any cash (we were later to discover that this is quite a common occurence in Peru). The town was not particulary inviting so we decided to carry on to the main highway to see if we could catch a bus to the next town. (We had planned to bus some of the plains of northern peru as there's not much of interest). We reached the main highway but no sign of any buses. Following the instructions of a guy on the roadside, we cycled another 15km along the highway to a place where alledgedly we could catch a bus. Again, no buses!! By this time, it was starting to get dark so we had no option but to drag the bikes off the road and find a suitable camping spot. Luckily, a little wooded grove down a goat track provided the perfect spot so we crashed and were asleep by 8pm after another delicious meal of bread and tinned tuna.

Day 19 - Macara to Tombo Grande - The big one!

Distance Cycled: 89km
Total Cycled to date: 739km

Up early with intrepidation about crossing the border but there was no issue whatsoever with Wills weird looking temporary passport and no-one asked for a bribe or offered us drugs - very disappointing though I did enjoy free-wheeling across the bridge in No Mans Land.

Once in Peru it was immediately different, the sun shone, people were very smiley and the road was amazing; great tarmac over rolling hills that just stretched on and on and on. We have never gone so far or so fast and by lunch had already done what we would normally do in a day. Maybe it was down to the yummy cake we got when we tried to change money in a local store - was very funny seeing Will negotiate the rate with the lady behind the counter using xe.com on the iphone - she wasn't having any of it!

For lunch we got beckoned over to a great roadside cafe where we were waited on like royalty, they even washed our hands fr us in a bowl of water and questionned us non-stop. We had plenty of our own questions and got a local policeman to recommend a good hotel in the next town - he radioed his colleague for info - great public service ;)

Fuelled by avocado, chicken and rice (some things don't change) we pedalled on and ended up achieving our biggest km distance of 90km. As a reward we ignored the policeman as we came across this burgeoning little holiday resort with 4 cabins built to date in a big field - swimmimg pool to follow. So completely by chance we had a countryside abode complete with hammock and a mini farmyard on our doorstep. Great steak for dinner washed down with a bottle of peruvian red....No I had no idea they made wine here either and I can only recommend if you like sweet sherry!

Me gusta mucho Peru,

Ax

Day 18 - Catacocha to Macara - Last day in Ecuador!

Distance Cycled: 72km

Total Cycled to date: 650km

So after 18 days and 650km we have managed to get from Quito to the border with Peru on schedule! Ok, we have cheated a bit but the distances involved and the timescales have meant we haven't been able to cycle everything we wanted to. The terrain, roads and hills have been tough tough tough, I admit it, tougher than I expected! There have been many tears and lots of "im not going any further"s from both of us but we've got there. In total, we have cycled 75% of the distance from Quito to the border which I think is a good effort.

So today's cycle took us right down to nearly sea level. You can feel the difference on your lungs, feels like u've got a booster behind you. But what you make on altitude you lose on temperature. The valley fllow was pretty damn hot and we got through a lot of liquid.After about 60km we reached what we expected to be our lunch stop. Unfortunately, the town on the map consisted of about 3 houses and one little corner shop. So after a lovely nutritious lunch of tuna, crisps and ice cream we didnt feel like much cycling in the afternoon and we had a big hill ahead of us. A little lift in the back of a pick-up helped us up the hill and we rolled down into Macara by sunset.

A big day despite the little cheat and we were happy to find a nice enough hotel with a friendly manager. We wandered into town for dinner and true to Ecuador form, there was only chicken and rice....

Luckily, this was THE BEST chicken and rice of the trip so far!

Day 17 - Vilcabamba to Catacocha -

Distance Cycled: 36km
Total Cycled to date: 578km

Because of the detour to Vilcabamba, we were justified in taking a pick-up back to Loja to get us back on track. I was so enjoying the ride and a bit of dance music that didn't realise until we got there that we'd left our bike helmets behind on the table...aghhh. But the taxi driver assured us that the next town was famous for biking and we could get new ones. So we cycled carefully down a gorgeous road - in and out the clouds - until we got to Catamayo. There we fuelled up at the panedaria on juices & pastries but unfortunately after trailing round to half a dozen shops selling the odd bike, we turned up zero on the casco bicicletta, though could have bought many a motorbike helmet.

So no choice but to carry on and we set off across a gorgeous valley suddenly filled with holiday resorts and water parks - this is clearly where ecuadorians come for their holidays and it was certainly the weather for it - we were frying in factor 30!

Then we hit a hill and Will hit a wall (metaphorically with a dodgy tummy), we carried on slowly and eventually made it to our lunch destination only by 3:30pm. It was very limited but they scraped us together some rice & chicken ...for a change ;) but there was nowhere to stay and nowhere to camp so we had no choice but to take the next bus out of there. We travelled for an hour or so over some very high mountains as the rain set in and boy were we grateful to be on the inside - despite a very dodgy film showing extreme domestic violence.

We finally emerged into a foggy dusk in a hilltown called Catacocha, which was loaded with atmosphere. It felt like bonfire night and they were indeed letting off fireworks for no obvious reason and we rode around and around chatting to hat sellers, manicurists and random street people trying to find a hotel. We eventually ended up wuth a room opposite the church in the main square where classic ecuadorian music was being pumped out of speakers all over town - this clearly happens for a few hours every day - weird sort of brainwashing.

Dinner was a feast of crisp sandwiches and croissants and we fell asleep humming dodgy mariachi music,

Ax

Day 16 - Rest Day in Vilcabamba - Oiled us & Oiled the bikes!

Oh what a lovely lazy day and true to form we didn't step outside the hostel until dark. We spent the day eating, drinking and lazing around the great courtyard, aptly called Jardin Escondido. I was so desperate for a massage, they called in a local lady who brought her dog with her that sat under the massage table for 90 mins whilst I had the best almond oil massage ever and smelt like marzipan the rest of the day, It was so good I sent Will in for the same treatment. Late in the afernoon it started to rain and triggered thoughts that we should wash our bikes and give them a bit of an overhaul - so Will tutored me in the art of oiling and greasing.

Finally we ventured outside for a spot of dinner in the main square, washed down with a nice glass of red. What a great day,

Ax

Day 15 - Santiago to Vilcabamba - The valley of longevity

Distance Cycled: 77km
Total Cycled to date: 544km


After a surprisingly good nights sleep we couldnt get out of our cosy sleeping bags. When I say cosy I mean HOT. In fear of Amanda being cold and moaning I'd bought arctic proof sleeping bags that are good for temperatures down to -15 degrees. At +15 degrees these were roasting and I spent the whole night in my sheet sleeping bag. I damn well hope its colder later on!


First up, a short uphill climb of 400m (that used to be a big climb, we must be getting slightly fitter!) through some gorgeous forest. On the way up we met a lady called Dorothee from Germany coming the other way. Dorothee had cycled across Europe, Asia, Australia, NZ and up through S America over 2 years, inspirational stuff! Was embarrassed how clean and new looking all our gear was in comparison to hers.


A big downhill with beautfiful views took us all the way to Loja, a smallish city which was meant to be our end point for the day. After lunch of gorgeous empanadas and humitas it was still 3pm so we decidied to press on to Vilcabamba, a bit of a detour but with a rest day up ahead, this was supposed to be a cool place to chill our for a day (known as the valley of longevity as people never die here!)


We had been informed that it was downhill all the way to Vilcabamba but this wasn't strictly true. It was a 300m climb out of the valley but we didn't know this and it looked like the hill went on forever! After being tempted by the bus, luckily we stuck at it as the downhill afterwards was fantastic dropping from 2400m to 1500m along a beatiful valley. The valley of longevity appeared at the bottom like some kind of illusion, with clouds all around it was the only spot in the sun and it felt like we were in the south of France. Beautiful houses, vineyards, and lovely roads with a big rainbow over the whole valley. Unfortunately, the rainbow means rain and it started to chuck it down. It was 5:30pm and only 10k to go so we thought we'd be fine. Unfortunately we were totally aware that the 'road god' decided to put a big hill in the way. So in the rain and the dark, after cycling 75kms we had to push the bike up the hill in the pitch black and try to cycle down the other side safely. Luckily at the bottom there was a hostel with a courtyard garden and fantastic mexican food, and a rest day ahead, phew!

Day 14 - Saraguro to Santiago (Camping) - Animal farm and christening the tent

Distance Cycled: 34km

Total Cycled to date: 467km

Sunday is the best day to be in Saraguro. We were having brekkie in our hilltop hostel when we suddenly saw all these indians trooping along various animals up the road. We were easily distracted from cycling and instead set off on foot to follow them and ended up in a field teeming with cows, pigs, sheep, goats and horses all neatly tied up to pegs in the ground whilst there owners tried to sell them off. I fell in love with a little piggy but he was $50 and more importantly too much weight for the bike. It was such a family day out with ice cream for the kids and beer at the top of the field to aid the serious negotiations. We were absolutely fascinated by it all and just wandered around and about but trying to avoid the bulls as Will was wearing his red top (again)!

Eventually we got back to our own business of cycling knowing there was a big hill to climb out of Saraguro. Conveniently halfway up was a shop selling local produce from the region, so we filled up on yoghurt and cheeses and even a handwoven bracelet for me! Then it was nice downhills through more indian villages with a roadside stop for ecuadorian coq au vin for lunch.

As we were late leaving in the morning we knew we would never make our destination by nightfall, so we prepared ourselves to christen the tent. We came across a tiny little village called Santiago with 1 shop where we asked the lady for a place to camp. She misunderstood and said there were no campsites in Ecuador so I tried to explain we had our own tent...very kindly she offered us her land down by the river with her cows on one side and a field of corn on the other. Minus any instructions (apparently the paper was too heavy) Will and his helper did manage to get the tent up without any drama - well we only had to take it down once and turn it around the right way for our heads! The tent is amazing, it fits us and our bikes and bags in and was amazingly comfy with these self-inflating mattress thingies. Plus we had a delicious tea of tinned tuna, bread and yummy mozarella from Saraguro - who needs 5 star hotels?!

Ax

Day 13 - Cuenca to Saraguro - The man and his big yellow van

Distance Cycled: 37km

Total Distance Cycled to date: 433km

All rested from our day off, we pedalled out of the lovely Cuenca - a great beautiful run for the first 20kms powered by some great humitas (corn stuffed banana leaves) before hitting the biggest hill ever! 1000m straight up. After climbing the first 500m walking half of it we couldn't resist the allur of a big yellow van that came out of the clouds below us. What a machine. A 1950's Ford truck converted lovingly into a big yellow bus for children by a half ecuadorian half Texan man called Lewis. Amanda sat in the back with the Surlys and I sat in the cab chatting to the old man. We only meant to go a few kms to get up the worst of the hill and catch up a bit as we were a day behind schedule but I was enjoying the conversation so much we ended up getting a lift all the way to where he was going, an Indian town called Saraguro. Surreal experience sitting in a cab listening to an ecuadorian man talk about how he missed the Dallas Cowboys, Country and Western music, and apple pie. Oh, and how much he loved his yellow truck!

So after an hour of yabbering and a quick stop to let Amanda into the cab when we realised that she might be freezing to death, we arrived in Saraguro, a town full of indigenous Indians that had travelled up from Bolivia hundreds of years ago. They all wore little black shorts, a black cape, black wellys and a black hat, and had long black ponytails. Very funny looking! Quote from Lewis "the most beautiful man in Saraguro is still the ugliest in the rest of the world!". Lewis had a speaker in the back of his van which played 1920s traditional music at full volume whilst he drove in circles around the town with everyone giving incredulous looks, he loved that van!

He then took us to a lovely restaurant on the hill where we had the best meal for a while. Potatoes, green beans and some lovely trout. Lewis tried his hardest to get us some Cuy (Guinea Pig), and after many "no we don't have any"s they eventually managed to find some from somewhere. Thinking we were safe because they didnt have any, there was much bravado and encouragement, and so when it came out I had no choice but to tuck in! Amanda was a wuss ;) Tastes a little like chicken but actually tastier, will definitely try again.

Day 12 - Cuenca - Rest Day

Our first proper rest day and that we did - not making it out the hostel until 5pm! It was also a day for laundry (I can't describe Wills socks), catching up on wifi and eating leftover pizza for lunch.

Out and about in the city we discovered beautiful squares, grand churches, funky bars along the river and a panama hat-making shop, as apparently this is their home, not Panama. I had one made for me with a pink band but they didn't do any large enough for the Southwell head :(

A very nice day all round and the Surly's more than earned a day off.

Ax

Day 11 - Ingapirca to Cuenca - That last 10ks!

Distance Cycled: 71km
Total Cycled to date: 396km

In order to meet our grueling schedule we had another 71kms to cycle today.

After a quick visit to the Ingapirca Inca ruins (what a waste of time that was!), we had a climb to a pass of over 3500m on a rubble track. This took over 3 hrs and we pushed the bikes all the way, not fun. Then a long decent down to 2400m with a stop half way for some fried pig. But again the killer was the last 10kms which were HARD. Lots of traffic, rain, very dark and legs just would not go any further after the big climb in the morning. If we could finish each day 10kms earlier we would be fine but the last stretch is always painful! Note to self: Its more important to enjoy it than to complete the target kms! Agreement with Amanda to take it a bit easier ;)

Note on the dogs. There are a lot of dogs on route and they seem to dislike bicycles. This makes for a great game of who has the largest balls. Amanda's original strategy was to stop and scream whenever a dog started barking. She soon realised that not only did stopping enable the dogs to catch her but the show of fear just encouraged them even more. For me, its a case of who's scarier. Amanda often comes round the corner to find me locked eye to eye with a dog, growling and bearing teeth (both of us that is). If that doesn't work you have to shout a lot, wave your arms and pretend to throw stones at them. Its a real case of man-o-man, great fun! I haven't lost yet, apparently I'm more scary than the dogs...

PS beard is long...

Day 10 - Chunchi to Ingapirca - The lost Incas

Distance Cycled: 49km

Total Cycled to date: 325km

Today was up, up and more up as you can see from the groovy garmin graph on the right. Very hard work considering I am carrying ~100kg with every pedal and Will about 150kg. So please forgive us when exhausted at 40km and rather behind schedule for the day, a lovely man in a pick-up pulled over and insisted on driving us to the next town. Will sat in the back clutching onto the bikes and I was in the cabin trying out my best spanish - conversation ranged from Why weren't my legs cold, to the state of Ecuadorian infrastructure and marriage demographics of London (GCSE didn't prepare me for this)! But thankyou Juan - our Wednesday Angel.

Dropped off in Tombe, we had a mere 10kms to get to our destination of Ingapirca, home to supposedly the best Inca ruins in Ecaudor. My, my was that last 10kms a killer! Against the clock of darkness, we were up and down rubble roads, dreading the wiggly arrow sign indicating a very bendy descent to cross a river valley followed by a steep climb - unfortunately there were many and sunset hit before the town did. Worse still on arrival, we realised our hostal was out of town...just 2 km...the standard answer in Ecuador whenever we asked Es lejos de aqui?

The hostel quite rightly ripped us off on arrival as they could see we had no choice but they did serve a very nice dinner in front of a log fire.

Ax