It was nice to be on the road again. Google maps which I have set up on a bracket on my bike using my old iPhone took me out of town. It adds an extra challenge when you are trying to follow the map and avoid all the potholes, speed humps, traffic, pedestrians and dogs. I was on my way to one of the world’s most famous canyons that you’ve never heard of.

The road was great in most places, nice surface and lots of sweeping bends but it did seem to be going up all the time though and was getting colder. I then came across my first Llama sign. And then some wild llamas in some sort of national park. Maybe they weren’t actually llamas. I’m confused about llamas, alpacas, guanacos and vicunas. This is probably the place to talk about them but not the time. I need more information and so for continuity, anything that is alpaca shaped is an alpaca. Unless I accidently call it a llama.

I snapped a couple of photos of the wild ones and then not much further down the road I came across a whole bunch of them. There were no fences and there was a lady setting up a little trinket stall on the side of the road. You often find people selling stuff on bits of the road where they have these monster speed humps. Turns out they were her flock that she was tending and let wander over the road. Obviously, an entrepreneur, she said I could take photos for a tip. I gave her two dollars.

As the road continued up it was getting cold and I thought I would need to stop and put on extra clothes but then I was suddenly at a summit. With signs and stalls and people. It is called The Mirador de los Andes and is 4910m (16203ft) and is a section of the volcanic mountain range in the central Andes, just in case you can’t read the rock. I left my bike running as I didn’t want it to cool down and I went up on the platform and snapped a couple of pics and laughed at all the little rock towers. There were lots of high peaks around but they didn’t look overly high when you are already at 4900m.

My fingers were cold and so I was happy to get back on the bike and head down the other side. The drop was pretty rapid, and it wasn’t long before I could see the town of Chivay down below. Chivay is the gateway town to the Colca Canyon. Maybe not quite world famous yet but at least now about another 50 people have heard of it. And so you should. Its one of the deepest canyons in the world and at 3,270 meters (10,735 feet) it is about twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA.

My ride hadn’t ended for the day as I needed to carry on to Cabanaconde where I had booked two nights accommodation and that was an hour away but I was still cold and the bike was thirsty. Fortunately my timing was good and I got a seat in the sun at a nice little restaurant and I ordered the almuerzo (meal of the day) and got this huge bowl of hot soup and chicken, rice and chips and a jug of limonada. the picture does it an injustice. And it only cost $5AUD. The bike also left Chivay with a full belly.

To enter the area of the canyon you pay 70 Soles ($30AUD) and I had to show the ticket at various locations around the canyon. I think it covers you for 3 days.  Riding along the southern side of the canyon to get to Cabanaconde was pretty specky. Being an Australian gives you a few extra adjectives when you feel you are overusing the normal ones. I had to keep stopping for pictures or just to admire the view.

I rode into Cabanaconde and found the guesthouse. I had booked the Pachamama Home as the reviews rated it highly and said they were helpful with organising tours. It also had a nice bar restaurant attached to it. It was almost exactly that. Unfortunately when I had booked I couldn’t book two nights but managed to be able to book two single consecutive nights in different rooms. Turns out the first night was in one of a couple of rooms that they had in a building next door. It was pretty basic but had a nice place against the wall for all my worldly possessions and a reasonable view out the window. It was a shared bathroom and it had the noisiest doors I’ve had this trip. I felt much better when I realised, I wasn’t the only one banging around in the night.

I had a wander around the village for a bit of altitude acclimation. At 3300m it was about a thousand metres higher than Arequipa. Lots of mud brick houses and little laneways and donkeys and chickens and friendly locals.

I was able to park my bike in the courtyard of the main building and everyone in the restaurant had a nice view of it. It garnered a lot of attention, and I doubt anyone would have thought it was mine. The restaurant had shared tables, and I ended up chatting to a young Kiwi couple which was nice. I wasn’t hungry after my big lunch so I just had a beer but the menu looked good. The owner of the place was once a canyon guide and employed good, friendly, knowledgeable staff. I got along well with a young guy who worked there called Leando (spelling) and he gave me a couple of good suggestions of things to do. The kiwi couple had walked from town down to the bottom of the canyon and back up again in one day. They said it was tough and they looked wrecked.

So that meant I had my next day planned and I went off to bed.

KMS 10440