May
10th,
2018
Hot,
sunny, a little cloud and almost no wind
Awake
at 5:30 a.m. I am packed and ready for the off, ready for the long
uphill struggle to Acostambo. Norma is up at seven and presents me
with dinner! Breakfast today consists of a huge plate of chips
drizzled over with some sort of chicken and pepper stew. It is
delicious. Luis had told Norma to feed the 'boy' up before he leaves
in the morning so this plate full was never going to be enough in
Norma's eyes. A large mug of porridge arrives next and a cup of
coffee, some fruit and a bowl of bread. Finally a blue paper bag
arrives within which are two egg baps and two oranges.
Leaving
at 8:30 a.m. I am soon on the main transit road amongst the morning
traffic. It doesn't seem to take long to cross the city, despite the
numerous public transport minibuses, from which passengers alight in
front of me or people dash in front of me to mount.
Soon
I am in the outskirts of the city, an area called Chilca where I find
the road out of the city south. After a change of heart over whether
I am actually on the correct road and after having pushed the bike up
a steep hill on a dirt track to get to what I feel is the right road,
I find a beautifully tarmacked road and cycle for a few miles. Just
after a police checkpoint, which I pass unchecked but waved through,
the ascent begins. Now the map found the previous evening showed that
today's route is practically all uphill and so the day's long push
begins. The valley floor with it's patchwork of crops drops away and
I am reminded of the road north of Lerwick on Shetland, North
Scotland. The heat, the cacti, the Incan farmers and an American
Kestrel persuade me that I am pushing my bike up a steep road in
Peru. The whole way up has the sound of countless Rufous-collared
Sparrows singing. I say singing, their song is more a few scratchy
notes followed by a brief rattle.
Through
warm brown, mudbrick villages I search on their garishly painted
front walls for family and football related names. I feel happy to
find Angel, my daughter Rebecca and Vila, my football team even if
misspelt. Dogs, the bane of my Peruvian travels, soon notice me and
three start an attack as I push by. This angers me and I scream at
them. They retreat. Have I found a new tactic for dealing with those
dogs of vicious intent? No, almost the next dog is a ferocious beast
with evil in his eyes and I am lucky that I have found a flat section
of road on which to peddle like the clappers away from him.
The
long climb continues and hours pass. The scenery changes as the crops
on the hill's slopes and in the valleys change to being surrounded by
embankments of loose stones. I imagine that over the decades
countless farm workers have picked up stones in their fields and
deposited them around the outside to demarcate the field and allow
easier ploughing. One field has eleven people bent double picking up
potatoes and putting them into large red sacks. This field is unusual
though for it is the first field where I have seen a tractor being
used. A twelfth person seems to be an Incan dressed, wide
black-skirted lady who seems to be instructing and watching the
others for slackers. Five dogs with this crowd start to run towards
me but stop before reaching me, luckily. I couldn't cope with five.
A
section of road goes through a place where the valley narrows and
Eucalyptus Trees grow high. Some roadside crash barriers need
repairing but not afternoon. I meet three workers, all wearing
florescent hi-vis jackets, who are resting beneath a tree. They ask
the usual questions of 'where are you from? Where are you going?' The
next group of three workers are all fast asleep beneath a bush.
Siesta!
By
now it is just past three in the afternoon and I feel well jiggered.
I look for a camping place despite Norma and Luis' instance that I
don't camp. Down below me along an old Incan route I see a quadrangle
of trees and flowering bushes behind which I imagine I could camp
unseen. As I contemplate my own afternoon siesta within my hidden
tent, an old Inca shepherdess with around a hundred greyish sheep and
two sheep dogs comes along the old route and sits down just by my
sanctuary. I continue along the road.
About
an hour later I pass through a toll gate. I don't have to pay of
course but all other vehicles do. The three attendants like my
companions and laugh at their names. I have changed Albert the
Albatross to Alberto, Tigger to Tigro and Oscar to, well Oscar is
Oscar.
About
a mile or so later the summit is reached and surprisingly to me the
next five miles is a wonderful downhill plunge through beautiful
limestone capped scenery. I pass through two beautiful villages and
finally reach my aimed for destination, Acostambo. Finding a shop I
ask whether there is a hostel and I am soon in a small, very basic
bedroom adjacent to an enclosed courtyard for the grand price of
fifteen Soles, around £3.40.
Green
Year list : 185 birds average new birds to list per day : 5.94
birds
Distance
walked : 28.37 miles
elevation
: up 2,883 feet, down 1,832 feet
altitude
: 11,818 feet
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