to Pedro Ruiz: that was a long 1000k's

March 13, 2017

Today we passed the 29,000 kilometer mark. The last 1000 have been tough and took us a long time. We need to pick it up a bit to get home to Boise before the snow flies.

We headed out at about 7:30 starting with a dirt road and 3km back down to the Utcubamba River. There we pick back up the main road going downstream through a very nice valley. We see the circular dwellings from another ancient Chachapoyas village on the mountainside across the river. Then the valley narrows and we pass through a canyon where the road is cut into the mountainside with huge rock overhangs. The rain has swollen the river, it runs mud brown. At the junction to the road to Chachapoyas, we stop for a food break and Patrick finds in his pannier a package of cookies from Thailand. A couple of kilometers on we pass the Pitaya petroglyphs site. After some searching we find the carvings up a small trail above the road. Our guide to the Cumbre Mayo site near Cajamarca had told us about his site. The petroglyphs can mean anything, but some people see aliens and dinosaurs in them. Go figure.

We have a few small climbs, but mostly downhill. There are incredible large bluffs and we can see the pattern mimicked in walls of Keulap. The Chapapoyas were known for building their structures in harmony with the natural surroundings. With about a dozen kilometers to go, we stop at a restaurant for an egg sandwich and coffee, then the last bit continues downstream going through several smaller villages.

We run into the end of a big rainstorm and get rained on pretty good just before we reach Pedro Ruiz. We were not expecting too much from this town, but the Casablanca Hotel right at the main junction is much nicer than expected. We take a cheaper room because it is on the rear of the building and is quieter than the fancier front rooms. We can hear the sound of the river. There is hot water, but no WiFi (yet, we are told they are getting it next week). The daughter of the owner speaks good English and German.

It is still early in the afternoon and we call it a half restday. A couple more days to Ecuador.