Peru has been pretty amazing thus far. Peru has every type of climate-ecosystem that you would want to experience…from deep desert, high mountains, to the Amazon rain forest. You could spend six months just biking around Peru and I think that it still wouldn´t be enough time to see everything this country has to offer.

Soo for our route thus far….Dan and I started in the South of Peru…crossed the border from Arica,Chile to Tacna, Peru…The southern part of Peru is desert…total desert…we thought Las Pampas of Argentina was desert…welll this was more so…not a single bush or tree, sometimes I felt like I was biking through Mars. Red rocks a lot of sand, etc. Well after three days of this, we had enough and hopped on a bus to Lima….

The desert

In Lima we stayed with a great family!!! I actually stayed with them three years ago when I did service work in Peru…The Otarolas were so generous towards us…Lots of food and great conversation. As well as great company for my birthday and Easter! Also I need to mention that we reunited with Zach again…

Yes, Dan and I have had many many times where we have reunited with Zach for one reason or another…hahaha…Dan and I kind of change plans in the blink of an eye because we never really have plans…So Zach! Thanks for being patient with us two space cadets….

After we left Lima, Dan and I headed for the Andes! We had a really big climb ahead of us…Actually a 12,000ft climb (4,000). It took us two full days of constant climbing. We had the help of a truck. We grabbed on the back of slow-moving truck that towed us on our bikes for about 20 kilometers…A site to see, two gringos clinging on to a back of truck….We made a lot of Peruvians laugh that day! We ended up camping at the top of the climb…When your 12,000ft up a lot of things don´t really work…For example your head hurts, its hard to breath, and most importantly your MSR stove doesn´t really like the altitude either…Oh yeah I forgot to mention trees also don´t like high altitudes! So, to cook dinner that night we didn´t have a whole lot of options…I just finished This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald and sorry for all you book fans out there but we burned the book to boil our water…Yup we had a book burning…but we got to fill our bellies with some good food!!! (Thanks Backpacker´s Pantry!)

The following day we woke up with intense headaches from the altitude and slowly made our way to the city Huaraz…On our way to Huaraz we got to ride some beautiful descents after climbing for two days. We also got hit by a hail storm…Hail on a bike hurts…so we hid under a truck…and then went back on our way…

After eating some street food, I woke up with a bit of a stomach ache…but luckily for me we met a great old man in the city Yungay who invited Dan and I back to his house for the night. At his house his wife made me all kind of great tea for my stomach and fed us a great breakfast in the morning…I left feeling a lot better. The amount of nice people you meet on the road….Its just incredible….A hot cup of tea and a warm bed goes a long way in the heart of a bicycle tourist!!! Muchas Gracias…

We then made our way to the coastal city Trujillo..The road to get there is a famous route that follows a beautiful river…Also on the route, you have to go through 37 rock tunnels that look more like cave then a tunnel…It was a pretty surreal experience.

After we stopped in a small town for some lunch where we were greeted by some happy workers celebrating May Day (Labor Day)…We got to drink some beers in the streets with our new friends…Some beers for lunch always makes the rest of the day move a little slow!

Drinking beers with our new friends!

Peru is a great country! Everyday is a new crazy expierence…You never know what it’s going to be like!!! Also just to let everyone know…We ate guinea pig the other day…Until next time.