Huaraz - Brij want to move to Peru

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After 36 hours of travel by plane and bus we arrived in Huarez (9500') last night. The connections were really good and everything went like clockwork, except for the sleep. Couldn't get horizontal until we arrived here. The food ... what can I say. Starting from the bus ride we have been having one wonderful dish after another. It is so good it make me want to take cooking lessons. We had some mystery meat on the bus, and last night I had "Lomo Salt Ado" - beef tips. Jeff had what we thought was chicken, turns out he just found out that he had guinea pig. I wish I was so lucky in random ordering. The retaurant is right below where we are staying. The t-rex burrito was almost healthy, it had brocolli, beans, peas, potatoes, bell peppers, and some egg. Very light on the cheese. Sorry to ramble on about the food so much, but it is why I am now seriously considering moving here. The hosts, where we are staying, Aldo and Marco, also have a mountaineering and mountain biking guiding business "Galaxia Expeditions". They are the friendliest people (even more so than everybody else, who go out of their way to greet you). The brothers who run the guiding business have pioneered some spectacular routes in the Cordillera Blanca and Negra.

Unpacking the bikes we had two unfortunate discoveries. The shifter screw on my new dual drive (internal hub gear shifter) was bent from the travel. Trying to straighten it, it promptly broke in two reducing my 24 speed to an 8 speed. I thought I was done, though all was not lost since it was stuck in the easiest/granny internal chain ring. Jamie, the bike mechanic who was watching us assemble our bikes, took the two halves of the part and returned in about 10 minutes with the thing welded together. Then he proceeded to file it down with an electric grinder/sander. The bike now shifts like new. Jeff on the other hand left the skewer that has the hitch for the BOB in Anchorage. So he now can{t pull the BOB. Maybe BOB orchestrated all this ... we know how evil BOB can be. Connie is going to bring the part to us, so all is not lost.

Today we did our first acclimitization ride up to 10500', to the Ruinas de Wilcauhwaim. The access road was through this rural neighborhood, with people sitting around, pigs, sheep and cattle being herded by women in traditional garb, and some crazy dogs. I mean really crazy. Good things for bikes, they act as good shields between death by rabbies and us. Tomorrow, we go on a ride with Marco, on a ride that will take somewhere between 3 and 5 hours. If it takes us any longer than he is going to have to refuse to take us on the ride we are planning to do on Monday, along the Inca Trail. I hope we can keep up with Marco, otherwise we are going to have to kidnap him, and make him take us along the Inca trail.

Now to find some more food. I hear SPOT has been very chatty. Look for more updates soon.

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