The Rest of the Story

After Cajamarca we succeeded in topping out the Andes’ first high ridge on a rocky, dusty road at 3765 meters. Claire began coughing at the most excellent bicycle resort, (an earlier post) and I at first thought it was the thick fine dust we’d been subjected to over the pass. It wasn’t dust. By the time we reached Celendin, Claire was as ill as I’ve ever seen her, coughing violently and choking. I was very concerned, and mentally planning how to store or abandon Zippy and get us back to Lima. She did improve over the next two days, but certainly not enough to consider cycling. We took a bus to Chachapoyas, and stayed for a week, where I got my current lung infection. Bummer.

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Who Needs A Bullfight?

We arrived in Celendin during a big fiesta week, on the day of the bullfight. We made our way to the still-under-construction bullfight ring. After careful consideration of the rickety contraption, that would soon hold, we hoped, a few thousand people, we selected seats (rough cut boards) on the second level fronting the ring. Our strategy, should the thing start rocking, would be to jump into the ring, and take our chances with the bulls. This was not to be. Lack of language had led us to think the event was free to all, and seating was open. No. Just at the end of this video, we were unceremoniously escorted from our seats. Apparently a family group buys a whole section, and we were trespassing. Oh well, we were able to see a couple of bloody bull deaths later on local cable TV in our (no water, but cable TV) room. That was close enough.

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Cruz Conga, Peru; Resort Extraordinaire

It’s all part of being travelers. Sometimes things don’t turn out as expected. The day began beautifully; a 300 meter climb, on pista (pavement) for a change. Sunny, lazy dogs, Zippy behaving, and a change of landscape over the top. Our legs felt good. It was to be a short day, 40k to a village just big enough to have accommodation and food. We found the food, but wasted an hour looking for the hospedaje, and failed to find it, after being pointed to all corners of the village.

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