May 11, 2017
A day of hard climbs and dealing with interesting rural communities who called us demonio gringos (white devils).
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Wild camp, Cajamarca, Peru
Destination: Redondo, Cajamarca, Peru
34.3 km trip, 6:03 time, 23.5 km/h maximum speed, 5.7 km/h average speed
842 meters climbed, 1047 meters descended, highest elevation 3985 meters
Route Description:
The day is a lot of climbing. After 27K we finally reached the peak at 3770 meters. Then we started the descent into the valley and it was not completely downhill, still lots of up and downs. It took us almost 2 hours to get down to the communities from the peak of the climb.
Accommodations:
There are no hospedajes or hostals in or near this town. We took the risk and came down the hill and in hindsight I would have likely not taken this risk and instead of stayed at the top and wild camped. It did however turn out okay. In this little town just as you are about to leave, you can see a school or collegio as they call it on your left down a little hill. We rolled down the hill and one of the teachers was still there. She let us sleep in the grade 4 classroom. She moved the desks out of the way, swept up the classroom and then showed us where the bathrooms were with running water and toilets. Her name was Lucy and she was so gracious and even gave us about 6 buns and a can of tuna. Clearly we looked like we needed some help. The name of the school was La Seecundaria Martires Escolares.
What happened…
Andrew writes: It should be getting easier, shouldn’t it? I had to resort to pushing my bike today. It’s bullshit. The roads which were like rivers just a few weeks ago because of the heavy rains, are now like dried-up river beds with child-sized rocks and ruts, and whatnot. I’m about ready to throw in the towel and fly to another country. Such a frustrating day on the bike. And then with nowhere to sleep and it turning dark, Amanda was really on my case, basically just frustrating me even more, almost to the breaking point.
Fortunately, we came across a school that let us camp in a classroom, they fed us, and I got to dance to Peruvian folk music. Good and bad, ying and yang.
Amanda writes: Today proved to be hard on so many levels. Not only was there more climbing than I had anticipated, the road conditions didn’t improve. Again after many hours of climbing we were left facing sun down within about an hour. We had climbed to the top of the second pass and it was 5pm. I asked Andrew if we could just pull the plug as we did the night before because I’m not comfortable trying to find a place to sleep in the dark. On this night he was adamant that we try and make the towns below. So with a little discussion we went for it.
So you’d think that going downhill would be fast, right? Nope, not always. When the road condition is poor and its not actually downhill it takes over an hour. Add to that we were in a region that we had been warned about. In these rural parts we are referred to as “The White Devil” or “White Ghost”. Our host in Cajamarca confirmed that in this area, the locals believe that gringos (white people) come to the rural communities to steal their children for the kids organs. And no I’m not shitting you. I’m not really sure why it’s a worry or if it ever really has happened but that is what they think. Other cyclists who recently rode through confirmed that people are weird in this section and that we should be careful. There’s even a story in the last few years of two cyclists being held hostage by the locals for almost two days because they thought they were going to steal their kids. Here’s the link. https://theridesouth.com/2014/09/11/arrested-by-peruvian-villagers-weve-all-been-there/. So maybe going for it as the sun set wasn’t the best idea.
So we did experience some hostility but in the end it was balanced by good people. It just shows me again that most people in life are kind. So before I get to the kind people I’ll share some of our encounters with the people that thought we were there to steal their kids. We had a family encourage their dogs to chase us and attack us as we rode by yelling “Gringo Muerto!” (Die Gringo). A bit further down I had a family whose property sat above the road throw rocks and yell at me as we rode by. Most other people just stared and some kids would run into their homes as we cycled by. As the sun set and our options for places to sleep seemed to be dwindling, we kept pedalling past more stares and saw a school just below the road. We headed down the trail and were welcomed with open arms by the teachers. They cleared out their Grade 4 classroom and told us we could set up in there. They showed us the bathroom, gave us bread and tuna and were so kind. Later after we had cleaned up a bit they were dancing in the plaza of the school to some music and Andrew went out and joined them. All in all it was a great end to a stressful day.