We roll into Llipa about 4pm. It's a tiny dusty village with very little going on. It's perched on a hill, with the Plaza de Armas (centre of every Peruvian town) claiming the highest point. We look for a place to buy a beer but nothing is open and very few people are about. It's …
Continue reading Childhood education and the Family business
Almost exactly a year ago we stood at the turnoff to Ausangate for a good 20 minutes, agonising over whether to take it. We'd had every intention to, but a solid day of overdoing it on the Salkantay trek a week before had left my knees in bad shape. Fine when walking, but barely able …
Continue reading Bikepacking Ausangate: Suckers for punishment and singletrack
With our brains full of verbs from two weeks of Spanish school in Arequipa we were itching to do some riding. A route to Cotahuasi Canyon was on the cards, but there were two good options. The answer (obviously) was to do both, forming a loop of sorts, beginning and ending in Arequipa for more …
Continue reading A loop of southern Peru: High roads, canyon hopping and baby volcanoes
"Culipampa (4,770m). A shepherd we met just before the village told me ‘Tiene de todo!’ which I thought was a bit of an exaggeration as it only has about 20 houses, but there was accommodation, restaurants and shops." – Andesbybike.com route notes Despite having been fairly warned by this description, in my mind Culipampa is …
98 days in Peru (on our 100 day visa) by the numbers, for people who like that kind of thing.
‘I’m an oil man’ is what Daniel Day Lewis repeatedly says in the film There Will be Blood. I think. You know that movie? It’s surprisingly good. Daniel Day Lewis is an oil man and he hunts for oil in America and ruthlessly exploits it. Anyway, that’s largely irrelevant. Whilst walking the Alpamayo track ‘I’m …
It's downhill from here 