A little rain must fall.

Jan 27 Moquequa to Chuquibamba

The time has come for us to leave our quiet little town and make some miles once again. We are not really sure where will get to today but the general ideas is somewhere to the north and likely into the mountains. We take the desert route in order to bypass Arequipa, this will also save us some time. We had ridden part of this route last year and it is familiar to some degree. Although there is not much other than sand to look at there are still some interesting sights along the way, and with the aid of irrigation there is actually a large amount of agriculture out here. The watermelon stands are handy and of course we have to stop for a quality check.

Barren desert landscape

The valley up to Chuquibamba is also a magnificent sight as the valley floor is a mat of green with pure rock walls surrounding it. They grow rice, pumpkins or squash, fruits, and various other vegetables.

The second largest industry in the valley is road construction. They are busy paving and fixing all along past Corire and it is understandable because numerous trucks must run these roads to deliver the produce to markets in Arequipa and elsewhere. Actually there is an active tourism industry here as they also have a dinosaur exhibit and some amazing looking rock formations. We end up taking with a another guy as we are stopped on the road waiting for the road crew to open the road. He asks a bunch of questions and then wants a photo of the bikes so we motion for him to sit on the bike and take his picture, one with his phone and one for us.

The funny thing was we ended up following him all the way to Chuquibamba and he show us where the hotels are. It is misty in town but that is typical considering we rode up into the clouds. It is a small town so easy enough to walk between the two best options. This is the first time we get to park our bikes in the lobby for safe keeping. Then it is a quick dinner at the chicken joint, and back to the room by 7:30, we have to do some route planning through the mountains. Our host is very proud of his livestock, cuy or guinea pigs are a delicacy in Peru.

Pet or Food. Depends where you live apparently.

I may have fallen asleep before 8pm. This will of course mean that somewhere around 3am I will be wide awake.

Jan 28 Chuquibamba to Corire

What should be a long day of twisty mountain roads  starts off as expected, tossing and turning from 3:30 to 7am, then rough narrow mountain road with loose rocks to bounce around on. The valley view is spectacular and thankfully the clouds have lifted just enough so that we can see it clearly.

There is a small tunnel and sure enough just as I am about to enter it there is a gravel truck coming from the other side. I stop and push the bike backwards out of the tunnel to allow the truck passage. We climb up and up until we are back in the clouds, unfortunately these are rain clouds and our nice dry road quickly turns to mud.

I stop to wait for Brenda at a fork in the road and this is when I notice that my handlebar is loose, must have been all the pounding on the gravel road. I try and tighten it but it appears that the bolt is stripped out of the bar riser. So the best option is backtrack down to town and investigate further there where I can find a new bolt if needed. It is a nervous ride back to town, 50km with only one bolt in the handlebar is tricky, but slow and steady gets the job done and I find a mechanic shop so I have a bit of space to work.

Not much of a shop but it gets the job done.

Luck is on my side once again as it turns out to be a broken bolt which is much easier to fix than a stripped connection. The mechanic is helpful in that he goes to his house and finds me a new bolt, so within an hour the repair is complete. Now we have to decide if it is worth while to go back up in to the rain or backtrack a bit down the valley and stay dry.

Down the valley it is. The visiblility and muck are just more than we want to take on at this time of day, by the time we reach Corire it is dry and hot.

Old friends joking in the street. Typical mens hat for the area.