June 13, 2017
After taking a couple of days off in Chacas we hopped back on the bikes and started for the next section of our adventure.
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Chacas, Ancash, Peru
Destination: Wild camp near Paccha, Ancash, Peru
29.5 km trip, 5:10 time, 51.1 km/h maximum speed, 4.09 km/h average speed
888 meters climbed, 578 meters descended, highest elevation 3630 meters
Route Description:
When you leave Chacas you descend for a bit before you start climbing again. Traffic is quite light. There is an advertised hotel in Acochaca although we didn’t see it. In Acochaca go left and the left again onto gravel. Then you climb for a steep short distance and you can see the other paved road below along the river. At the 16.6K point turn left at the fork. Then at the next town of Sapcha your turn left before the church. There is a small store here and no hotels or restaurants. You then continue climbing on a gravel road. We camped just above this when we stopped before reaching 30 km when we found a nice flat spot near some water for camping.
Accommodations:
We wild camped on this day. There is an advertised hotel in Acochaca however we didn’t see it.
What happened…
Andrew writes: Amanda and I made a bet on when we thought our Austrian amigos would show up. I thought for sure before noon, and she figured later in the afternoon. Man I can’t stand losing bets to Amanda. Just the other day I lost a $1000 bet with her over something silly that I was certain I was right about. We all decided to wait a few more days for Nici to get better from the parasites (self-diagnosed) that were sapping all of her energy.
It’s a tricky situation sometimes, balancing momentum with friendship. We like to say how we’re never in a hurry, but the constant delays were really starting to grate on my nerves. I feel as though I’ve been sitting in a hotel for almost as long as I’ve been cycling back in Peru in 2017. Argh. On the other hand, I want my friend to get better, and I really enjoy the company of other cyclists. I think that I would hope that if the shoe were on the other foot, that my friends would want to ride with me too, and so just wait patiently for my body to mend.
Meanwhile, Chacas had parades, and good food. Amanda and I spent time every morning teach English online, not just for something to do, but as a way to mitigate the financial damage all of these hotel stays were taking on our wallet. It will be interesting to see what sort of positive impact just a few hours of work each week will make on our finances.
So on the fourth day, we were ready to go again. We would be leaving the nicely paved pista for gravel and dirt country roads. After enjoying the early descent, it felt like we climbed all afternoon. At one point, Amanda and I got ahead of N&P again, and decided to just sit and wait in the plaza in Sapcha and wait for them. It didn’t take long, but it was starting to look like we would have an afternoon shower. It rained lightly with the sun out but just a few km past Sapcha we decided to stop and setup camp in a field.
Amanda writes: Today started with a nice downhill out of Chacas and then we started the climb up. The views were great, not as great as they glacier mountains near the last pass but still the mountains are so big. It just reminds me how small we really are in this big world. We likely could have ridden further again today but as Andrew mentioned we had decided that cycling with our friends was more important than moving on. We had talked about it the day before after some discussion. While it’s early in our cycling we really want to try and make this short trip work as Nici and Philip are so much fun to hang out with. We will re-asses our cycling plans after this trip concludes.
The aerial view of our ride: