Leaving Huaraz turned out to be straight forward. This was the town that JC had said "there is nothing to see here" but we found the City of Churches to be actually very fascinating and visited about six of old Spanish churches before leaving.
He had been unspecific about the road ahead, and that usually meant that it was full of potholes or had loads of gravel, but in this case the first two thirds were magnificent, well sealed and complete with many corners. It was later in the day that it deteriorated somewhat. JC decided that we would go down Duck Canyon, as he had been upable to do it before. This road was built to support the Hydro scheme and was initially sealed. It travelled via 35 tunnels, but the seal was almost all gone and the potholes were horrendous. I had truly had enough by the end. This is supposed to be the main highway along the spine of the Andes, in comparison the Pan Pacific Highway which follows the coast, and is in general well sealed, even dual carriage way in some areas.
We were warned that the mountain people in Peru were a delight which we found to be true in many senses, compared to the people on the coast who might hold you up!
In the later morning, JC chose a small road-side stall to stop at to see if they had coffee, which they did not. However, the lady was delighted to see us, and offered herbal tea which was actually mint tea and decidely good too! We all imbibed. She also offered us a rolled bun of maize and some meat, wrapped in a corn sheath which was also very local and excellent. Beside the building was an open fire and some river stones, much like a NZ Hungi and she was preparing the evening meal, to be buried and cooked, for the road workers I believe. Anyway, we loved it all, and gave her a good tip.
We then stopped for lunch in a small town (rather than a village) and set up the picnic table under a rotunda in the main square. The locals were fascinated and we struck up a conversation with tow yourng men and a girl. She was about ten the boys were 12 and 14 and wanted to know all about us. The mid aged boy said that he had never met foreigners except once before, and wanted to know about us and Australia. They were genuinely interested, so we gave them some chips and other minor food. Soon after, a couple came along who would have been in their late teens. She spoke quite reasonable english and wanted to know all about our picnic food as it was very different to what they knew. For example she had never seen sliced ham before and was agog at all the different cheeses. I think we will be the talk of the town for some days!
After that, we proceeded on an increasingly challenging road and eventually made it to Trujillo, where the Andino Hotel was a delight, being run by a Swiss gentelman and of course everything was perfect including the trimmed lawn! He said it was the first night in four years that they had had a full house, given covid and the social unrest in Peru for a few months last year. We were surprised, but said that most people would not visit if there was any perceived risk, and the riots over Chinese exploitation in Peru was in that category.
Sheryle and I walked to the city Square and visited the Pre-Incan museum, covering the history of the Ancash people from about 2000 BC, which was certainly fascinating. We then visited an Ancash archeological site on a hill, that happened to provide the best view of Mt Huscaran (climbed by my friends from ANU in 1979). I also had a hair cut on the way home, that cost about $2.
After his accident, Jeff was heading home today to Japan, and can be seen in the photo below. The inter-relationship between the riders as in dynamics changed subtely but clearly as a result.
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