Squelch squish splurch

We have just 38km to do today. Sounds straightforward huh!? However, its all higher than 4000m with 750m climbing and on a dirt road - this will be enough.

What we didn’t allow for was road works. Not just a km or so, but almost the entire route. It rained a lot last night so its extremely muddy. Luckily not the “my wheels don’t move anymore” variety. More the “shucks, I really need not to wobble here because otherwise I will be paddling ankle (or worse) deep in it”. There is soup mud, fresh concrete texture mud, slippery slidey mud and pretty much anything else you care to imagine sloppy mud. The road is very wide, but often there is just one tyre width of possibility to sanely get through. Add to that the regular large mining trucks sploshing around, and trying to balance a reasonable route versus not getting in the way of something much much bigger than us. It is the longest, most challenging, muddiest bit of vehicle road we have experienced. We get some admiring cheers from motocyclists who have just done the worst part - and we only fully appreciate why afterwards.

It's hard going and difficult to admire the otherwise beautiful scenery as our attention is so fixed on the road. By lunchtime, Alain gently proposes to flag down a pickup truck to the next town. We decide to give it a bit longer - and it does improve - with less of the road in a dire state.

Finally we are climbing the last few km. Cerro de Pasco is a huge mining town at 4350m - the largest settlement anywhere at this altitude. It is distinguished by having a massive mine crater in the middle of the town- into which the rim buildings are subsiding. It is also surrounded by mines, processing and smelting plants, settling ponds, slag heaps and the usual mining mess and environmental consequences. Mining is part of Peru and it’s largest source of income - and many of the fantastic routes we have taken across the mountains would not exist if it were not for the mines. So here we are in the middle of it. The big plus, it has a hotel with ***heating*** - much needed at the low temperatures at 4350m and after days of pedalling.Read more