8. Colca Canyon
Day 133
I am up early today. I expect a long day. It is easy to get out of the town. It is fresh and the sun is up. Not a cloud in the sky. My destination today is way inland and very high in the mountains. And it looks like ⅔ are off-road. I want to see Colca Canyon which is along the route. So lets go.
The first part is a very nice road. I set the cruise control to 100 km/h and I am enjoying the scenery. And right away I notice what I first thought was clouds. No clouds, it is a snow covered mountains! It looks like a painting, just hanging above surrounding countryside. I stop many times to take pictures, absolutely amazing.
I reach town where I need to get off the highway and continue on a dirt road. I have plenty of fuel to get me to my destination but I fill up anyway. You never know. I filled up my water bladder as well, there are no services ahead of me for 200km. Just a high mountain road.
It is a blue sky kinda day. It takes few miles to shake the cow webs riding on dirt and realize that bike should be moving underneath you. The road is sandy, rocky, pot holes you name it. I get out of the town and after few miles, I am alone. Nobody on this road and I am heading up. The valleys are initially wide but are getting progressively narrow as the road goes uphill. Lots of washboard section on the road, I mostly stand up in my pegs so I can see better ahead of me. The road is now so bad I am going 20 km/h in the 1st gear. The 2nd gear, if I can select it feels like I am speeding. Back to 1st soon anyway. There is nobody here, no people, no cars or truck, no houses. I am taking it easy, there is no rush, I have the whole day. The scenery is getting better and better. I am stopping all the time to take pictures. There is a Kodak moment everywhere. The road keeps climbing hard. Every time I think I am getting to the top, there are more hills ahead. There is no vegetating here, only shrubs. No river, it is a high altitude desert here. I am absolutely loving it. No crazy Peruvian drivers, spectacular scenery and challenging dirt road. I reach a plateau at altitude of 4,000m. But the road still continues to climb. From time to time you can sneak a view of not too distant volcanos some of them are very active, judging by a plum of smoke coming out of them. And there are still those snow covered peaks. It is a very hard riding in a sense that you must concentrate on riding but you want to take a look at what’s around you. So I stop often. The route today is a slow progress because of that. But I have nothing better to do. Wind is blowing and it feels that you are high in the mountains. The sky turned indigo blue and it is hard to describe how beautiful scenery there is all around me. And I see some wildlife as well. This time there is a small herd of vicuñas. They are very cute and they look like lamas or alpacas. I still don’t know the difference beside the color. Need to study.
I’ve been above 4,000m for awhile now and I am on the lookout for any signs of hypoxia. It is specially dangerous as you don’t have time to get used to the altitude. You zip up there in few hours and let your body to deal with it. Sure enough, I start to feel a bit dizzy and light headed. Classic syndrome. I have some modern medicine meds with me to deal with his but I try the local remedy first. I procured some local “herbal supplements” which people at these places use. Basically, when in Rome … And it seems to be working. Great.
Finally I reach the the top at around 4,300m and start the descent. The valley bellow and surrounding mountains are unreal. Again, I am trying to concentrate hard on riding. The road is challenging and my head is playing tricks on me. But all is good for now. After what is seems to be forever, I reach a paved road.
This road goes through Colca Canyon. It is believed to be the deepest canyon in world. And looking down to the bottom it looks like The Grand Canyon in the US is just a small ditch compare to this. The canyon is very narrow and it is 2,000m down to the bottom. There are mountains on the other side of the canyon and small villages seemingly hanging on the side of them. You can see the roads leading to them, OMG. I would want to travel on those roads. I am having hard time to drive and to look around and take pictures. It is out of this world. And again, there is no traffic anywhere. I love it. There are suppose to be condors nesting there as well. I try to look for them. And I find 3 of them! But by the time I stop, get my camera out they are all gone. But at least I saw some of them. I follow the valley all the way to the end and there is a small town Chivay. I have no reservation but there is no problem to find a hotel. They are all cheap here, mostly around $20/night. I am far away from North America. Literarily and figuratively.
I park my bike in the courtyard and dump all my stuff in my room. For once, I don’t have a room at the penthouse level but on the ground floor. Nice. I realized that besides a small breakfast of buns and juice I didn’t have anything to eat. OK, hurry to find a restaurant. Not too fast because everything I do is exhausting. The altitude, no food, the sun, everything is coming crashing on me. I have two shirts on my but I see the locals in a full winter attire. And I am getting cold. I don’t hang around and heading back to my hotel. The forecast calls for the temps to go bellow zero!
It is already pretty cold in my room and I type on my laptop with hands in my riding gloves. This is not gonna work. I decide to quit and head underneath the blankets.
It’s been one of the best day riding, ever. Even my pictures won’t be able to capture the beauty of this place. But they are all in my heart, for the rest of you, you just have to trust me when I’ll try to describe it.
See you tomorrow.