Huaraz

I arrived in Huaraz late on Tuesday, checked in to my hostel and went for a late dinner. On Wednesday, I mostly did work and walked around a bit in the town. I found the local market and got some delicious (and ridiculously cheap) mango.

There are multiple trips recommended in Lonely Planet but they are all a few hours drive each way. I read about Julio, a local guide specializing in mountain biking trips. I met him in the afternoon and he was really helpful and genuinely a nice guy. He confirmed my suspicion about the long drives for the "recommended" trips (such as Laguna 69 and Paron). He suggested other hikes that are closer and less touristy but still as beautiful. However, I was mostly drawn to his mountain biking trips.

I decided to do 2 days of biking with him on Friday and Saturday. There is minimal driving involved, the trails are a bit technical, the group size is super small (initially just me), and we would be back in town early allowing me to do some work. That's a win-win-win-win situation.

Thursday was low-key, mostly spent it doing work and hanging out with people from the hostel.

Mountain biking in the Cordillera Blanca

I met Julio at 9am at his shop and we drove for about 45 minutes up in the Cordillera Blanca. The car drops up off at around 3,500m above sea level and we started biking a slight uphill for about another 45 minutes. The scenery around us was amazing, with views of pine trees, rivers, glaciers, Inca tombs, and earthquake fault lines.

Once we reached an altitude of 3,800m, we started our downhill down single track trails. Julio was very familiar with the area and was pointing me to many hidden side tracks.

There was quite of bit of descent, but at one point we started climbing back up for about 40 minutes on dirt roads passing by small, isolated towns. Most of these small towns rely on agriculture and raising animals for their livelihood, and as a result, many own guard dogs. These dogs are not really happy to see a bike pass through and most often than not, they start chasing you.

Towards the end of the ride (fortunately), we were going full speed down a trail when this one dog kept chasing us for more than 500m. He was pretty fast and hit my tires a number times. Being preoccupied with the dog, I wasn't really paying attention to the trail and suddenly started hearing a loud clicking noise. I had somehow (not exactly sure how) busted my rear derailleur. While the noise scared the dog away, I unfortunately was no longer able to peddle. The remaining part of the ride was mostly downhill back to the bike shop, so I managed to slowly make my way back.

I went back to the hostel, showered, had lunch and did some work.

Mountain biking in the Cordillera Negra

Opposite the Cordillera Blanca (called so because some of its peaks are covered in snow) is the Cordillera Negra. There is rarely snow on the Cordillera Negra and it is rich in minerals. Julio planned Saturday's ride in there and this time, Eliot, a Brit living in Vietnam, was joining us. Again we made our way at 9am and drove up to around an altitude of 4,000m.

We did almost an hour of rolling hills on dirt roads and then a nice 2km uphill on paved roads to gain a bit more of altitude. Then we started our descent on single track trails, passing by small towns, agriculture fields, and Inca trails. We were again chased by dogs but this time I made sure to keep my eye on the road. And I figured out that slowing down actually make the dogs less interested and they stop chasing you.

After we made it back to town, I showered and went for lunch. Joaquim (a Norwegian I met in Lima) wanted to hike up hill overlooking Huaraz. I joined him, but half way, it started raining hard. We made it to the top but were soaked by the time we got back to the hostel.

The forecast called for more rain the next day. I was thinking of doing a third day of biking, but then decided to just take the night bus out of Huaraz and make my (long) way to Ecuador.