January 24, 2018
Rio Ibanez Wild Camp: A few things went wrong today
As we were finishing our supper last night, we were joined by a German motorcyclist. He was in the combine harvester business and we had a rather long and boring discussion about combine harvesters and how similar they are irrespective of where in the world they are used or what crops they are used to harvest. Then, out of the blue, he asked us thought happens to people when they die. Both of us honestly answered that we don't know. What followed was a long explanation that there souls hang around on earth waiting for judgement day and, because these souls need somewhere to go, they attach themselves to other living human beings. Not all humans attract these body-less souls, he said, but those that do harvest many souls. Suddenly he pointed at me and exclaimed that I am a soul harvester ! From combine harvesters to souls. At this point we thought it would be best if we excused ourselves and we went off to bed.
Once again, it was freezing cold this morning but I had to get up early to go and fecth our laundry which we had dropped off at a lady in town. With the cold morning it once again took a while to get going. During that time Leigh cooked us a great breakfast of fried eggs and tomatoes which we ate with some pan toasted on the wood fire in the communal area. Then it was off to the mercado to stock up for the next few days - we will be wild camping for the next two nights at least so we had to make sure we had enough food for a few days.
The climb out of Cerra Castillo was rather brutal from the start, mainly because of the very rough ripio and the heavy volume of traffic. We were heading for a well known wild camping site about thirty five kilometers out of town so we weren't worried about the time and could afford to take it easy. At the top of the first of the two climbs for the day we were joined by Jackson and Elizabeth who were heading for the same site to camp.
On the descent from the first climb Leigh took her eyes off the road for a brief second (to look at Jackson and Elizabeth who had just past her, she said) and took a bad fall, cutting her leg quite badly. It was in the same place where she had cut it about a year ago when taking evasive action upon encountering a boomslang (a highly venomous snake) crossing the road. We hauled out our first aid kit, cleaned it as best as possible, applied an antiseptic cream and covered it with a plastic skin dressing. We carried on for a kilometer or so but stopped again because the wound kept on bleeding. We were going to give it an hour or so to clot properly but a passing car must have noticed Leigh's injury and they turned around and the driver insisted on putting a gauze dressing on the wound and strapping it properly. After this treatment Leigh felt obliged to carry on cycling.
At the bottom of the descent from the second climb the road stuck to the banks of the Rio Ibanez. The west wind had whipped up and from here onward we struggled in a terrible headwind, averaging about eight kilometers an hour as a result of the wind, very rough ripio and the never ending string of traffic which kicked up enormous clouds of dust.
On our arrival at the wild camp spot on the river, we found Jackson and Elizabeth had just finished setting up camp. They too had really struggled with the conditions today. We set up camp, had a good wash (I tried swimming in the river but it was icy cold) and sat down to a beer and shandy before supper and bed. As we were retiring, another group of three cyclist came in. It was now eight o'clock and they must have had a long day.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 740 km (460 miles)
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