So glad the road over the mountains was paved, but now the dirt has us back and we find ourselves pushing the bikes again when the going gets tough - especially us girls!
Pretty worn out and tired of climbing all day (yes, we are attempting another 4300m peak) we stopped at a little village school house and got permission to camp in the school yard. It was the only level spot we had seen in a long time. Of course we were the target for curious looks and soon we were surrounded by - it must have been the entire young population of the village- kids of all ages. Waldemar got the idea to buy cupcakes as a thank you to them that we can use their school grounds and the kids devoured them in no time flat. Those kids were hungry and quite dirty, but they did not look sick or malnourished. They were shy but curious and came closer and closer, but as soon as we picked up our cameras to take a picture they ran off in all direction..... ok, to be respected....... BUT soon they came back with cell phones and started to take pictures of us......interesting.....
They hung with us until late after dark giggling ....a fun crowed, though it wasn't easy to see the humor after hours and hours of riding in the dirt and then being stared at and laughed at - Indre ask them to give us some space when we were eating our dinner but the kids did not see the reason why they should leave, so they didn't....
What ever we pulled out of our panniers and how we cooked dinner and what we ate and so on and so forth was just too strange and needed to be examined at close proximities - understandable!
When we crawled into our tents and said good night, they left us alone, but we heard their happy laughter while playing some game of hide and seek well into the night. What different worlds we meet on this trip - we are all living and enjoying the same planet and we are lives apart and yet all the same. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now.
The next day we climbed the peak - a lot of pushing as expected, but the surrounding beauty, as always, kept us going feeding us the energy we need to make it up and over on rocky roads and then down the rocky road to the next village to stock up on supplies, rest, be stared at and head out again.....this is going to be like this for the next 1000km ...oh, boy....sometimes I get mixed feelings about putting my body through all this. I can see the wrinkles in my face grow - when ever I find a mirror and that isn't every day, but I can see I have grown at least one more every time when I do find a mirror. There is a difference between exercising in a regular life in Marin County and living a physically demanding life in high altitude every day (like these Inkas). Age 50 the mountain people look like they are 100 years old. Two years out of my life I am pushing my body to do this trip and I will gain more in age then two years, I know that and it is OK - I am proud of every wrinkle I earn!
We are on our way to Cusco on small dirt roads, up and down for 1000s of km and we are in the midst of it right now. The thing is, when we climb and climb and climb for days we ride down, down, down the next and we know we need to climb up the next day again to do the same. That is the beauty of Peru.....some times I question my sanity!
