My only companion on this segment of the trip

I got stuck with hundreds of needles taking this photo.

My second 11-hour ride in three days was also the second furthest of the trip, (at 191 km).  I spent most of the day (98k) on the pampa above 4000m.  Here I saw my first non-tourist llamas in Perú, in herds together with alpacas and sheep. I soon learned how to tell them apart.  Alpacas are smaller than llamas, with a shorter snout.  An alpaca could almost be mistaken for a tall, long-necked sheep.  Wild vicuñas are sleeker (with shorter hair) and seem almost as tame as their domestic relatives; though I think they are allowed to live free, untroubled by Peruvians.  The road passes several lakes, and on two of them I saw flamingos!  I wonder if they spend the night up this high since I saw icicles this morning (the first since leaving Minnesota in April).  I also saw a raccoon-like creature with a long snout scrambling over rocks; and many black and white caracaras, including two engaged in aerial battle.  I again started my descent at 5 pm and coasted the last 45k in an hour and a quarter; joining Julie after two nights alone. Today was not quite as tiring as the much higher climb out of Nasca, but my feet were killing me.  This was the first long day of cycling with my new bike shoes, though I’d been wearing them while walking.

 

A herd of the domestic alpacas and sheep.

Llamas near a high altitude lake.

Another lake & white mountains (not snow!)

Chilean Flamingos at 4000m

Icicles melting in the shade

Joel (12) & Santos (16) cycled 5k with me on their way home from school.

My muscles are very sore today (especially my gluteus maximus); my butt really hurt for the short 29k ride to the larger town of Puquio.  So I’m taking a rest day here to get an early start on what may be an even tougher day tomorrow.  This day of relaxation turned out to be full of frustrations.  The road into town is under construction giving a poor first impression.  Then the first three hospedajes I stopped at turned me down. I’d heard that the Shining Path Maoist guerillas had once been active in this area, and thought maybe locals are still suspicious. The highland people are considered to be more stoic. ( I later found out that road construction workers are filling the rooms.)  The internet cafes have frustratingly slow connections and power went off in the whole town before I could email Julie about joining her a day late.  After an hour the power came back, I sent the email, and  got my hair cut.  It cost only $1.75 but was not as thorough as  in Mexico, Cartagena, or Cuenca.  The final frustration was the pizza I’d been craving all day came full of tiny bits of ham.  Ham was not listed as an ingredient on the menu and I’d said “Soy vegetariano” and “no como carne”. “That’s not meat” I was told; “It’s ham”.  I wonder if the source of my frustrations is being solo, not having Julie by my side.

Vicuñas grazing near my lunch stop.

A large shadow crossed the road halfway up my highest climb yet.  I looked up to see an Andean Condor, identifiable by a distinguishing white ruffle of feathers around it’s neck.  I started at dawn and pushed hard all day in order to make it up and over the 4330m pass where there are no towns.  The climb was honestly not that difficult.  The road surface is excellent with little traffic and started ascending as soon as I turned of the Panamericana highway, with an average grade of only 4%  for the 100km to the top.  I got there at 5 pm after pedaling for 9 hours; but still had to bike in the dark after coasting 1000m down the other side.  I did not seem to suffer from the altitude, which was my biggest worry on this challenging climb.  I was tired when I took a lunch break at the Pampa Galeras Reserva Nacional, where I saw two herds of vicuñas crossing the road next to an “Animal Crossing” sign.  Vicuñas are the wild relatives of the domestic llamas and alpacas (all in the Camelid family).   Thousands of  vicuñas in hundreds of herds grazed on the 4000m-high pampa, (a large flat area).  With no high peaks in sight, this reminds me of  the high plains of Montana or Wyoming (but this pampa is 14,000′ high!).

Norca (13) at a tienda where I rehydrated.

Herds of vicuñas populate the pampa.

We took a small airplane to see the Nasca Lines. Viewing the lines and pictures in the desert, made by the Nasca culture about 2000 years ago for reasons which archaeologists have studied and debated since the lines were discovered by an airplane flying over this area in 1939, was amazing. They were made with sophisticated and accurate measurements, in an incredibly simple process. People just removed the small darker rocks on top, letting the lighter surface below show the pattern.  Only from above can the line or picture be seen. What is amazing to me is their survival for all these years.   In the dry desert climate the wind and sparse rain did not obliterate them, nor did humans have any reason to live in this area to disturb most of the lines. An example of how unnoticeable the lines are from the ground is in the making of the Pan-American Highway. It was built here before the lines were discovered and the road unknowingly cut through a lizard figure.

We also visited a museum where many artifacts from the Nasca culture were displayed discovered in tombs.  I was impressed with the exhibits of common foods, pottery, cloth and mummies so well preserved in a dry desert. Two-thousand-year-old corn, peanuts, beans and other foods sat behind the glass looking like they might be eaten today. There were also beautiful cloths woven with intricate designs in vivid reds, purples, yellows and browns still mostly intact.

In Nasca we needed to look at our bicycle route and make some decisions about how to continue. We had decided before we began this trip not to take camping equipment because of David’s experience on his first trip where he almost never camped outside of the US. Hotels and youth hostels were generally very available and very affordable. We figured that keeping the weight down on our bikes would make climbing the Andes a lot easier.  Riding to towns with hotels had not been a problem. However, our next stretch of road from Nasca to Chalhuanca, 350 km, seemed to have very few towns with even fewer hotels. Plus we had the longest and highest climb of the trip stretching before us, just outside of Nasca, 4000 meters up in about 100 km. I had no doubt I could bike such a climb and I love the terrain and sights at the high altitudes, but I knew I would need time to do it. It was clear, at my pace we would run out of daylight. Then, the next day of biking to make the next available hotel was an even longer stretch of distance. I knew David would push and enjoy the challenge of doing that distance in two days. I knew I would not. Happily there are very comfortable buses that travel between Nasca and Chalhuanca, and for a small price they also take bikes. So, at 10:00 in the evening, I loaded myself and my bike on the bus and arrived in Chalhuanca at 5:00 the next morning. There will likely be other times on this trip when taking the bus makes sense for me. David needs to bike through every latitude possible to truthfully say to himself that he has biked around the world. While I greatly respect this need, my reasons for biking are different.

Parade at dusk around Nasca's Plaza de Armas.

I first read about the Nazca Lines in the 1970s book The Chariots of the Gods. The author suggested that since these designs in the desert could only be recognized from the air, they must have been for ancient astronauts to see.  More plausible theories are that the symbols were astronomical (pointing to significant stars on the solstice), ceremonial paths (the figures are made with one continuous line having an entrance and exit), or for their gods to see (maybe a condor god).  We joined hundreds of tourists at the airport to wait our turn to fly over this enigma in small planes.

I also installed the pedals bought in Lima to prepare for my toughest climb yet.  Julie will take a bus halfway to Cusco because there are only two towns for the first 350 km.  I’ll have to push hard to cycle it in two days.

The Colibri (hummingbird) is the size of a football field.

Straight lines across the desert up to 10k long.

Aerial view of the Nazca Lines

Young beauty queen and her bodyguard.

"The Profile of the Inca" is like "The Old Man of the Dalles".

We headed inland today and won’t see the Pacific Ocean again until Thanksgiving.  My mood improves with a tailwind.  I’ve been practicing “The Coach Myers Wave” as I pedal along.  With a big smile, I raise my palm high, cock and hold; bestowing a greeting on you, not just a wave in your general direction.  I see myself as a freelance goodwill ambassador, promoting peace among peoples.

Sea lions on the Islas Ballestas

100m high dunes surround the oasis.

Palm trees line the shore.

We met Takuya Ishimoto on the road today, a Japanese cyclist heading south at about our pace. We ate dinner with him and will probably cross paths again on the way to Tierra del Fuego. Huacachina is a desert oasis surrounded by giant sand dunes that is featured on Peru’s currency. I climbed to the top, sinking back with each step, and saw sandboarders surfing down. We planned to spend an extra day, but with poor internet reception here we left in the morning.

78 year-old Carlos Nunez Sussman and his alien creation on the desert.

Takuya Ishimoto is cycling from Utah to Tierra del Fuego.

The 150m high enigmatic "Candelabra" image etched on a hillside.

Paracas is a lovely small fishing village which has become a jumping off spot for tourists to visit the Islands of Ballestas (“The poor man’s Galapagos”), islands where can be seen a large number of birds, including penguins, and where there are sea lions. The islands are also famous for their guano, an excellent fertilizer dating back to pre-Inca times. It became Peru’s largest export in the mid 19^th century and it caused a small war with Spain in 1865-66 over controlling of the wealth. Now it is less important because of synthetic fertilizers, but a guardhouse is still manned by two Peruvians to protect the guano and the birds. It is just a two month stint, but I felt a little sorry for the men as it seems like a lonely and smelly assignment.

Later in the afternoon on our bikes, we headed into a strong wind and made our way across a barren desert area through what is called the Reserva National de Paracas. Our destination was the Cathedral Lookout where we stopped on high deserted cliffs with gorgeous views of the rocky and sandy shore below. With the setting sun magically transforming the colors of the cliffs, the sea, and the desert hills behind and with a powerful tailwind returning us to the town it was one of my favorite bike rides of the trip.

The Cathedral overlook in the Reserva Nacional Paracas.

A Peruvian Pelican

Earthquake fractures from 2007 closed this overlook.

We get up close to thousands of Peruvian Boobies.

Shaky photos taken from a small open boat, rocking.

These Humboldt Penguins have climbed up steep rocks.

Guanay Cormorants

A red-billed shore bird

The new freeway ended, and we continued on an unfinished segment until it ran out and we biked along beachfront dairy farms. Lima’s coastal fog has diminished further south, and we biked ’till dark the second day in a row. The Islas Ballestas off the Paracas peninsula are called “The poor man’s Galapagos”; and we stayed an extra day to take a the $10 boat tour.

UFO sightings are common here. (We just saw ET on TV!)

Hot biscuits with, cheese and olives, fresh from the oven.

I got two flat tires before lunch on this, the 6th anniversary of our wedding. After relaxing five days in Lima, we pushed to make it halfway to Paracas along a scenic desert coastline, with less headwind than north of Lima. At 4 pm the northbound lanes of the freeway were closed to traffic so race cars could zoom by a minute or two apart.