I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to properly explain what it is that these mountains do to me. And I’m not sure it even matters. Fact though, is that I’m still to meet a mountain range that I don’t fall hopelessly for. And Los Andes might just be the mountain love of my life. I had already spent months going up, down and across them. Still I couldn’t wait to head into Peru to kick off another leg. The highest one of all.
Joined by Swedish Lars (www.lostcyclist.com) it didn’t take long to get the show going. A few smooth tarmac days from La Paz we left the main road in favor for a route that our maps suggested was a definite dead as the roads we wanted to take supposedly only existed in our imaginations.
As we decided to take our chances and roll onto our gravel road anyways I think we were both a bit hesitant… for like 15 minutes. One first golden hour view and that was it. This was it. Dead end or not – this road was gonna get ridden.
High passes. Mesmerising lakes. Out of this world canyons. Lovely local people. And lots of feeling incredibly small. Shortly put this first week or so was the bomb. And that’s without even mentioning the bonus of actually getting to speak my own language for a bit.
A few snapshots.
Adventure for us. Everyday life for others.
The mandatory river crossing shot ;-)
Chilly mornings…
…and warm Peruvians. Photo: www.lostcyclist.com
Between two passes we stumbled into the tiny mountain town Chojata – which I still hold as my top place in all of Peru. Stumbling into the 61st village anniversary and being pulled straight into the festivities was a lot of things, but boring sure wasn’t one of them. And boy do these people know how to dress!
Photo: www.lostcyclist.com
Truly capturing these views simply can’t be done. At least not by me. But I think these photos can give somewhat of an idea of the scale to it all. These environments aren’t just stunningly beautiful. They’re insanely dramatic.
Can you see me..? Photo: www.lostcyclist.com
And the village down there..?
I’m in this one too! Riding above the who knows how many hundred meter death drop into the most spectacular canyon I’ve ever seen. Can you find me? Photo: www.lostcyclist.com
This ride had every bit of what I search for. It even proved to have all those presumably non existent roads threatening to kill the fun at any given moment.
And the best thing of all? We’d only just gotten started.
Until next time,
Fredrika