Leaving San Mateo

After a rest day in San Mateo, we finally pushed higher into the mountains. At the last gas station for the next 140 km, we topped up the fuel bottles for our stove and continued up the main road’s steep climb. With every meter of elevation the air felt thinner.

By chance we passed the company that produces the bottled water you see everywhere in Peru. We’ve got a few of those bottles with us, but we keep refilling them with our water filter. Further along the valley the route turned spectacular: the railway from Lima snakes up toward nearly 5,000 m, going through tunnels, crossing high steel bridges, spiraling inside the mountain, and zig-zagging across its slopes.

In Río Blanco (a town named after the river we’d been following) we left the main highway and turned onto a gravel road into the high country. The scenery immediately improved: eucalyptus trees adorned the road, there was almost no traffic, and we started to feel like our bike trip had finally truly begun. We kept riding along the Río Blanco past tiny villages, but had a surprisingly hard time finding a place to sleep. Every flat patch near the river was used by locals for crops or livestock. We didn’t want to climb much higher because of altitude sickness though, but there were no guesthouses or official campsites.

Across from a gravel pull-out right by the river we spotted our chance: a level spot of land that did not seem to be fenced. The catch? We had to cross the river first. So we swapped our shoes for sandals and waded through the cold river, shuttling bags and bikes across one by one. Despite the basic setup, we were thrilled. It was the most beautiful campsite we’ve had so far. With no shower, we jumped into the river for a quick wash. And it truly was quick with those temperatures as we were back out in a hurry.

The evening brought surprises. A few oxes had taken interest in our little campsite and leisurely trotted our way. As soon as we noticed we sprinted to a fence to pull the gate shut just in time. Then the smell of smoke rolled in from somewhere upriver. Another large wildfire, it seemed. We watched and hoped it wouldn’t reach us. Thankfully the smoke eased later, but we stayed alert.

By this time, right after dinner, Elke started feeling very unwell. She caught a fever and had other unpleasant symptoms related to altitude sickness , although at the time we didn’t recognise them as such.

We turned in early once again that night. Once it’s dark out here, there isn’t much reason to stay up.