Into Peru

We left Vilcabamba well rested after three days of relaxing and getting caught up on the blog and book reading. We were within a few hours of the border crossing into Peru and had two route options: the “jungle” crossing that was due south of us on a dirt road, or we could double back and enter Peru on the “mountain” crossing on the Pan-American Highway. I asked around at the hotel and checked online and maps and decided to go for the closer but more difficult jungle crossing.

The path started paved past a few small villages while we climbed to just over 9,000 feet in elevation. At some point the pavement disappeared, we stopped passing villages or traffic and the road got rough.

We were glad that even though it was overcast, there wasn’t any rain to turn the dirt road into slippery mud.

I couldn’t believe this was leading to a border crossing, it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere. There were some deep ruts and rough riding as we descended towards the border. The lower we got the warmer it became and soon we were down to our single layer shirts and mesh jackets. The scenery continued to be amazing.

It was about noon when we got to the tiny, tiny border crossing town of La Balsa. THe border is delineated by the Canchis river. Here we are on the Ecuador side of the river where we needed to stamp out our passports and export the bikes. You can see the guy walking with a shovel. There were dozens of these guys with shovels and rubber boots walking back and forth across the border. I wasn’t sure what that was about but would soon find out.

As you can see, not many tourists crossing here, just us.

The process to exit Ecuador was pretty easy, here is Deby waiting her turn in the sparce office.

Once we were free to go we came to a gate that they would raise for cars and trucks, he just told us to just duck under it. No problem.

The Peru side of the bridge was paved with a legitimate gate across the road. We parked just outside the gate with a couple other trucks with some work trucks crossing the border.

Even thought we were really the only people crossing the border it still took nearly two hours, mostly on the Peru side. We got stamped in ok but the bikes needed insurance. Fortunately there was a small tienda across the street that could hook us up. Nice. When I walked over there was a continuous stream of men and women coming in and out with muddy boots after leaving their shovels and tools outside.

I asked the super nice woman what was going on (Spanish only) and she told me “oro.” Gold?? Yes and she pulled out a little container pretty full of gold flecks. Cool. Part of her business was to purchase the gold that these people found in the river. I was  watching the transaction closely as the prospectors carefully took out sheets of paper with specks of gold in the folds and set it on the counter. The woman sprinkled some chemical (Sodium Cyanide?),  over the gold and the miners then went to another counter to further separate the gold from dirt(?) before returning to get their gold weighed and collect their money. I was amazed at the whole process. This guy gave me permission to take a picture of him separating his gold with a toothpick.

In between the gold transactions, we managed to purchase the needed insurance. The woman behind the counter did everything on her cell phone. I needed to pay cash only in US dollars, about $70 for both bikes. Technically, we were in Peru so I thought it would be Soles, the official currency. I handed her some crisp $20’s that she was glad to use to buy gold. The guy in the picture got $55USD for that little bit or gold. I asked him if it was from one day’s work and he said yes.

At one point a woman came in with a folded paper that looked like it had pretty much gold in it. She was all grins and turned so I could see the treasure in her hands. I looked at her and the gold and suddenly, I faked a big sneeze coming on. Everyone’s eyes got really wide as I pretended like I was going to sneeze on her gold and blow it all away. Of course I didn’t, and everyone had a big laugh and sighs of relief when they found out I was messing with them.

Finally, my insurance transaction was completed for both bikes, all on her cell phone. It took a while because the wifi kept going out in the tienda and she was busy collecting gold. I thought I would get a printout with my insurance documents to show the Aduana officer, nope. She showed me the form on her cell phone and asked me to take a picture of it. Evidently that was enough proof of insurance.

Worked for me and totally acceptable to the Aduana officer. Not long after that the gate was unlocked and we were free to inter Peru.

I stopped for a minute to talk to one of the gold diggers and took a picture of his shovel and sluice. Of course, all transported via motorcycle.

They go down to the river and shovel gravel into the sluice and somehow it washes down over a grate to separate the gold. We sort of wanted to walk down to the river and check it out but needed to try to get back on the road. About a mile later we saw a larger scale gold operation along the river and stopped for a picture.

It was about 30 miles to the next town of San Ignacio. We arrived there about 3:30 in the afternoon and decided to look for a hotel and plan the next few days. We rode into the main square of town and checked our phones for a nearby hotel. The Gran Hotel came up and it seemed like it had good pictures so we went that direction. I went in and asked about parking and was told no problem… jump the off camber curb and ride into the lobby! My favorite thing to do and although we’ve done this many times in the past this was the first time for this trip.

I felt guilty riding our filthy bikes onto the nicely cleaned and waxed tile floor. M bike is behind the flower pot. The woman standing there with a broom gave me a little bit of a stink eye as we rode in and I shouted out “lo siento!”

That morning my iPhone popped up a random message that I’ve been climbing more flights of stairs than normal. Hmmm, never saw that one before but it was true. Sure enough, at the Gran Hotel we were on the third floor and had to lug all our stuff up the spiral staircase. More steps…

It was still early after we were settled in so Deby was looking at her phone and pointed out there was a mirador nearby. I had the great idea to flag down a tuk tuk, or “moto taxi” as they are called here, and see if we could visit it. We walked a block to a main street and negotiated a price to the viewpoint. Google maps said it was 7 minutes away but the kid driving the moto taxi said it would take 1/2 hour and would be 70 soles, nearly $20USD. Ummmm, I said if he would take 50 we had a deal and soon we were off.

I soon realized that there were two miradores, one closer and one further away. We were going to the far one and it was going to take 1/2 hour. We settled in as the 150cc Chinese based motorcycle hauled us up a steep, loose, twisty gravel road. It was rough, I don’t think I would have wanted to ride my motorcycle up this hill. A few times, we almost came to a stop because the small engine was having a hard time. I really thought I would have to get out to push.

Finally at the top it was a view worth stopping for. It was a little touristy but besides us there was only one other couple. They had props on the ledge of the mountain for pictures so we felt obligated to take a few.

Our driver took this one of us. Nice, because we don’t get many photos with the two of us.

I got a picture of our intrepid driver and the mighty moto taxi.

Back in town after nearly two hours I felt bad about only agreeing to pay him 50 soles and gave him a 100 sol bill. He was pretty happy.

Later at the hotel I had my first Pisco Sour, the Peruvian national drink that they are really proud of. Pisco is similar to Italian grappa. I’m not sure what else is in it but I know it includes egg whites and is really good.

I made a short video of us riding out of the lobby the next morning.

Day two in northern Peru found us on some great roads. we were in the Peru region of Amazonas that is known for dense cloud forests and rugged mountain terrain. We were in some lower elevations, around 2000 feet so it was much warmer than we had been expecting. There was some fun riding on roads that were carved into the mountains.

Close for the trucks.

Nice paved road following the river.

We made a few stops, one was at this waterfall where we walked around and explored.

It was an enjoyable day riding although warmer than we would have liked. After 180 miles and nearly seven hours riding we stopped to search Google for a nearby hotel. We didn’t really need to be in any kind of city and sometimes would prefer a rural stay so long as there was a restaurant available. Deby found a place called Hotel Fundo Achamaqui, wow what an awesome place to stay.

This rural getaway is now run by Alberto from Lima who purchased it a few years ago from the previous owners. Alberto had been a regular guest of the lodge for many years and when he found it was for sale arranged to buy it along with some business partners. It’s a cool historic building that is popular in the high season. Since we were in the rainy season (but thankfully no rain) we were the only guests that night. It was great for us having full attention of Alberto who spoke very good English. His staff made us an excellent dinner and breakfast in the morning.

Alberto recommended a hiking path on his property that crosses the river that runs next to the lodge.

He said if we crossed the river and climbed a path we would find what is left of a Sarcofagos burial site. I had to look this up. Nearby is the famous Sarcófagos de Carajía that you can read about HERE. Below is a picture from Wikipedia. The bodies are “prepared” and placed in these statues that are put in hard to get to places on the sides of mountains. (By PsamatheM – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87780351)

We climbed and scrambled until it was getting dangerously steep on the side of the loose cliff. We didn’t find the remains but had a good hike with great views.

The next day, on Alberto’s recommendation, we went to the Leymebamba Museum nearby to learn a little more about the Sarcófagos.

It’s a little bit creepy…. maybe I shouldn’t go into too much detail other than to say the bodies are “prepared” and then fit into a smaller space in the statues. The museum had a collection of bodies removed from the region.

Oh wait…. that last one is still alive. Whew!

Ok, I’m going to stop here. In the next post we start on Peru ruta PE-3N which would be our companion for the next four days. A rough gravel mountain road with many peaks over 10,000 feet. Thin air, steep drop offs, hairpin turns, washouts and spectacular view points.

More to come.

Donn and Deby