Week 103: to San Ignacio: too hot!!

March 15, 2017

“I’m glad I am not 50 anymore” Patrick says. Today is his birthday.

Steven and Michelle’s bikes are already gone when we get our stuff down to the lobby. We had a pleasant dinner together last night, it was fun to exchange bicycle stories. They have traveled a lot of the same places we have over the years.

It is already hot when we leave town, much hotter than it seemed yesterday. The road continues to undulate, with a pretty good climb up before we start a longer downhill to the Maranon River. The main road to Jaen makes a swerve to the south before crossing the river. There is a dirt road of about 10km to the town of El Valor where there is an oil refinery. The road starts off good, turns to asphalt through the refinery area, then turns to awful large rocks the final kilometers through the small town and down to the river. There is a choice of roads, but the locals know exactly where we want to go and shout out directions to go left.

When we reach the river bank we are in awe of the size and current of the river. In Balsas where we crossed by bridge it was fairly large and flowing rather placidly. Here the river is at least three hundred meters wide; a mud red fast flowing giant that would surely swallow the little boats they use to ferry passengers across. We expect to hear they are not crossing, but the two boatmen hanging around are not fazed by our sight at all. Steve and Michelle had crossed here yesterday.

We unload the bikes and they load all the panniers, bikes and us. Things are not helped by something that looks like a little diversion dam that keeps the flow calm right at the bank where the boats are moored, but with the high water creates a bit of a waterfall of the current pushing over it. They nose the boat into this, then use the current to get swept out away from the shore. The outboard motor has plenty of power to race us upstream, past a shallow area, then angles across to the other bank. It takes less than four minutes, the cost 2 soles per person and 1 sole per bike, less than two US dollars for our ride. Of course we tip them.

It takes us a lot longer than expected to get back to asphalt. First a rough rocky road takes us through the town of Bellavista, then towards Jaen. There is road construction going on and surveyors are doing their thing on the rest of the road, so hopefully you can expect asphalt within a couple of years. There are nice views of rice paddies and people working them again today. Just as in Vietnam, they are spraying the fields. There is one spot where we have to ford a small river. It is a lot deeper than it looks, but Steven had already warned us about that. So off come the shoes and we make it through.

Finally back on the asphalt, we turn away from Jaen and head towards Tamborapa. There is a big hill between us and the town, and it is very hot by now. Patrick is not feeling so well, he picked up a cold somewhere and has a fever (on his birthday!). We stop for some fruit and another cold sports drink at a small tienda, and just as we set off again a group of three cyclists comes racing down the hill. A couple from Colombia, and a solo Turkish guy who have teamed-up after meeting in Quito. We talk for a while before we tackle the hill. It is too hot! We do not have high expectations about what awaits us in Tamborapa, after having read other journals; it will be either camping behind the police station, or the Estefania Hospedaje that has no glass in the windows. Plus it is just too hot.

We decide to try and reach altitude again today by taking a ride. All during our climb we look over our shoulder and “thumb” a couple of trucks and minivans, but nobody stops to give us a ride. When we reach the town that was our destination we keep going at the police station, cross the river and find the Hospedaje. It looks dismal…. We take a seat at a little restaurant and have another cold drink, maybe there will be a ride. Then a half empty taxi passes, we wave it down and they sure are going to San Ignacio. A ride will cost 15 soles each for us, plus 5 soles for each of our bikes and gear. All through Peru these quoted prices have seem fair to us. Were this Vietnam, they would charge you five times the normal amount, ten times if they thought you were desperate. But a total of 40 soles or about 13 dollars for 70 kilometers seems a good deal.

So we load up and squeeze together into the front seat. The rear one is already taken up by three people and a baby. The driver is a bit crazy with taking curves and dodging rocks on the road, but we arrive safely in San Ignacio terminal about an hour and a half later. It is a short ride to the Gran Hotel San Ignacio, where 65 soles buys us a nice room, very hot shower and extremely weak Wi-Fi. We have dinner at a Chifa and Patrick turns in early to sleep-off his fever. When taking a ride there is always a push pull about whether we should have tried to cycle, this is a beautiful stretch of road and well worth cycling, but we need to make choices now on the best use of our time and Patrick is not feeling well.

We decided to stay an extra day here tomorrow.

At work in the fields. These guys are digging up the young rice plants to transplant them into the paddies.

Preparing the rice paddies for planting.

Roadside shop. This is at the junction to El Valor and the ferry across the Rio Maranon.

All loaded up and crossing the Rio Maranon.

Heading for lunch after working the rice fields.

One more river to cross. It is deeper than it looks.

Meeting up with cyclists. They are headed south to Ushuaia. Guess who didn't get the memo for a thumbs up.

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 29,180 km (18,121 miles)

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