The day one goal of making it to Arequipa was becoming more and more lofty by the moment. Leaving Mollendo we were welcomed by the approach of night. Not only were we contending with darkness, we were also contending with a climb and decent on a twisty narrow mountain road that none of us had ever traversed before. If that wasn’t enough to heighten the senses we would also compete with Peruvian and Bolivian truckers for space as we crossed. To add to the excitement of night time mountain riding we entered a cool steady mist. We were riding literally into the clouds.
As we spread out across the mountain you could see the single light of each bike navigating the ascent. While admittedly cool to look at the required concentration stole most of those “hey that’s kinda neat...” moments and replaced them with “...shit I hope I make it to Machu Picchu...”
As the team spread out you quickly found yourself essentially alone in the dark. Rain never bothered me on the bike but the vision of two trucks side by side coming down a hill directly at me did. Raising my visor to double check what I was seeing...on came the brakes and off to the shoulder I went. The two trucks past...I laughed...thanked my Mom and continued. A short while later I caught up to the majority of the team who’d stopped at the side of the road to ponder the whereabouts of Larry. Something we’d do often.
Finally arriving in Arequipa the team collects on the outskirts to determine the location of our hotel. We are greeted by Peruvian’s on city busses giving us “the finger”. I’d heard that the Peruvian’s don’t much care for the Chileans. Seems it’s true.
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