9. High Altitude
Day 134
Wow, that was a cold night. The temp went down to -2˚C. It was colder here then back in Canada … There is a bright sun shining outside and no clouds in sight. I am not rushing to get out I want the Sun to do its job and warm up the planet a bit. The night was OK, but the altitude definitely played a role. It will be almost all downhill today.
It is still pretty cold outside when I leave at 0730. I am ready to hit the start button when a lady comes out of the hotel restaurant asking if I want to have a breakfast. I completely forgot that it is included. Some hotels have breakfast included some don’t. And I missed few just because I didn’t check or I simply forgot. Just like today. As nice as it would be, I am all bundled up so decided to skip it.
I am connected to the bike with an umbilical cord which powers my heated jacket. A heavy duty gloves on my paws. I am ready for cold. You know you are at a high altitude when you are at 3,600m and you start climbing up. The road is a nice tarmac and the view are again, spectacular. The problem with my big gloves is that they are very cumbersome and it is hard to operate my camera with them. I’ll ditch them as soon as it gets warmer. In a few short minutes I leave the town deep bellow me. The road just keeps climbing. Very little traffic, which suits me just fine. Today is about 300km back to the coast again. All on pavement. Should be easy. I keep climbing and I watch my altitude readout. I reach 4,000m fairly quickly. It is still very far from the top. When I actually do reach the top, the altitude is 4,878m. My personal record. From the pass you can see 4 other volcanos. I hope they all behave while I am around.
I start the descend. I soon reach a vast plateau with hundreds of vicuñas. They are right beside the road, I am afraid they decide to take a run for it. But they all behave well. Beautiful road as well. A beautiful day for riding. After awhile I join the main road. What a difference in traffic. It sis insane. One big truck after another. The road has very steep grade, so You are always stuff behind set of truck either going up or down. It takes me 100 km to get down bellow 4,000m. I have still a long way to go. The traffic is insane. It looks like this is a man road which carries all the good up to Cusco and surrounding areas. Not too much I can do.
I am getting close to Arequipa, the main town in the region. And the traffic is getting to level 11/10. .. I did’t want to drive through the town so I planned the route around it. I am riding nicely on almost deserted road saying to myself how smart I am while avoiding all the traffic. All of of a sudden the road stops. There is a huge bridge under construction behind it. Clearly, this not good. I return and try another “shortcut” only to get stuck by some construction site in the middle of nowhere. I turned back, retraced my track and took the dreaded city route. It was painful. I haven’t seen so many trucks on the road anywhere. I don’t like this town. Extremely dusty, windy and dirty. I finally get out of it and continue on a super busy road towards the coast. It is an exercise in patience. Finally the traffic take a different route and I am heading for the coast. Nice road again with just OK traffic. But still dusty and windy. Still no vegetation around, you are in a desert. And roads keep descending. I finally see the Pacific in the distance. I can wait. I get there in the early afternoon. Hotel was booked so I don’t need to look for anything.
I head down to the beach. Nice never ending surf there, looks nice. I have a dinner and a solitary beer and head back. Trying to catch up on my blog.
Tomorrow should be my last day in Peru on the way down. The plan is to return and to take take a different route. But is a coastal road all day tomorrow, so it should be fun.