It feels like a lot of ground has been covered since our last update from Cuenca – we now find ourselves in Jaen, our first major city in Peru, back in the sweltering heat of the lowland tropics. Those chilly days above 3000m seem like a distant memory now!
In the interests of full disclosure, we cheated a bit, taking the bus from Cuenca to Loja and in the process cutting out 200km or so. Truth be told, the dogs and busy highways in the days leading into Cuenca had taken their toll on us, mentally, not just physically. We both felt like the best parts of Ecuador were probably behind us at that stage, and with the promise of Peru and all its delights up ahead, we took the opportunity to press fast forward. Whilst in Cuenca, we’d also booked a week at a hotel on the Peruvian coast at the end of July, with the intention of getting some surfing in on the world’s longest wave (according to the marketing blurb), which added some extra incentive to get ahead. Still, Loja to the border is the best part of 200km and the riding is far from easy – we’d still feel like we were “riding across the border”, something that felt important to both of us.
The bus deposited us in Loja at about 1pm, meaning the first item on the agenda was to find an almuerzo (tick). The second item on the agenda was visiting the last Supermaxi supermarket in Ecuador to buy some peanut butter (also tick). With that, we set off out of town up a pleasant dirt track that winds it’s way up into the hills on the western side of town, finding on ok campsite the other side of a closed, but not locked, gate on one of the switchbacks.
We continued up the same track the following morning, the gradient gentle and the surface smooth for the most part. Perfect dirt road riding. The wind that we’d experienced north of Cuenca was still ever present, blowing the clouds rapidly across the sky and generating very localised weather conditions – off to our left, it looked like was raining, off to our right, bright sunshine. We were somewhere in the middle…
The top of the climb felt very mediterranean, reminiscent of the riding I did on the TransProvence route last autumn, with its sandy soil and pine trees. Then, it was onto a mega 1000m+ descent down to the town of Malacatos, our first time below 2000m in elevation since day 2 in Ecuador! The track followed the ridge line at first, before diving down into the valley via steep dust-filled switchbacks. It was one of the best descent of the TEMBR so far in my opinion (probably not so fun on a gravel bike).
Post-almuerzo in Malacatos (best soup in Ecuador so far?!), it was a tarmac hop over the hill to Vilcabamba, fighting the increasing headwind the whole way. Vilcabamba is another one of those funny towns which seem so completely transformed by tourism that they are almost nothing like any of the surrounding towns, all off the back of being featured in the western press. Still, we weren’t complaining as we enjoyed a tiramisu ice cream and artisanal beer! From there, we continued onto to Yangana via another tarmac climb/descent and a gravel detour to cut out another climb. We camped that night in the local park come outdoor gym, listening to a traditional dance class in the indoor gym next door go over the same two bars of music for the best part of an hour!
The following day was a tough one. While the big climb up to 2700m would have been spectacular on a good day, it was anything but a good day. The headwind was viscous from the get go and in rained for the last hour. At the pass, the wind must have been gusting over 100kph as I hid behind the only available shelter – a small shrine to Virgin Mary – and stripped off all my clothes to be replaced by a dry set for the descent. This turned out to be a survival exercise, fighting to keep the shivers at bay whilst simultaneously not getting blown off the edge of the road.
Eventually, after what felt like an age, we both spluttered into Vallodolid, 1400m lower, for an almuerzo. Despite the spitting rain, the locals we were walking around in t-shirts. Meanwhile, both of us had our hoods fully zipped up such that only our bloodshot eyes from squinting into the wind-driven rain drops could be seen. Quite a sight, I’m sure. After hopping around the main square from restaurant to restaurant (“just one more coffee”) to kill the time and let the weather brighten up, we coasted down the road some more to camp by the “Santa Ana La Florida” archeological site. This offered a nice flat camping spot by the river, and some piles of rocks to have a look round. According to the local guide, Jorge, who was just about to head off when we pulled up, but still took the time to give us the full spiel, the Mayo-Chinchipe people, who were the first to start building on the site around 3500BC, were also the first people to domesticate the cocoa plant. On behalf of the world, we thank you!
Our last full day in Ecuador was spent on the E682 once again, a road which seems unnecessarily hilly given it basically just follows the same river downstream! The steep ups and downs, coupled with the significant increase in humidity had us feeling like we were back in Colombia all over again.
Our final morning in Ecuador would take us from the town of Zumba to the border at La Balsa. At this stage, the E681 has turned to dirt, and Ecuador isn’t about to let you out of it that easily – there are two stiff climbs to winch up before the final steep drop down to the Rio Chinchipe and the border. Comically, the distances quoted on signposts to La Balsa are all over the place on this final stretch. One second there’s 12km to go, then 2km down the road, the next sign says 17km! Could this be a confusion tactic employed in case of invasion?!
Since the border, we’ve been following the tarmac 5N all the way to Jaen. This starts off nice and flat, before a climb up through coffee country to the hill town of San Ignacio, then a big, swoopy drop back down to the Rio Chinchipe and the long, hot drag to Jaen.
We’d spotted an intriguingly named POI on iOverlander called “Milton’s house” in the small village of Perico, but there wasn’t a whole lot of information on where this house actually was, or how to get in contact with Milton. We arrived in Perico in the late afternoon, dropping by a few tiendas to grab supplies and eat ice cream, hoping in the back of our minds that the word would get round to this fabled Milton that two viajeros were in town. Nope, nothing doing, so we headed back the way we had just come to a river beach where we had had a swim earlier. Just as we were leaving town, a moto taxi sidled up beside us and the driver engaged us in the usual where are you from/where are you going conversation. After a while, it dawned on me.
“Are you Milton?”
“Si!”
We followed him back to the other side of town, where he, his wife and their 3 children live, along with chickens, guinea pigs and a turkey! We ate dinner with the whole family, including the grandmother who lives up the hill, and Milton regaled us with stories of his racing days, the training rides he did and his best times between each of the main towns on the 5N. We also delved a bit into Peru’s current political situation at which point Milton got quite animated, deriding all the corruption that he sees at every level, in all the public institutions. It really brought home how hopeless democracy feels to a lot of people here, when the centres of power and influence are so far away, both geographically but also socially and economically.
It was far from a restful night camped in their back yard surrounded by animals and with not one, but two, 4am cockerel alarms within 2m of our heads, but we wrestled ourselves up and out by 7am to try and beat the heat for the final morning’s ride to Jaen. This went by quickly enough in a landscape now dominated by paddy fields, and just as the heat was really starting to build, we trundled into town and straight to a hotel room with a fan. Yippee!
The following are some observations from our first days in Peru:
- The contrast at the border couldn’t be more stark: ridiculously steep dirt on the Ecuadorean side, flat tarmac on the Peruvian side. Overall, it immediately feels like you’re in a different country.
- There are far fewer private cars in Peru. Instead, the moto-taxi is king.
- The smell of fermenting coffee brought us straight back to Colombia.
- Places seem a lot more full of life, also more like Colombia than Ecuador. People are more outgoing and liable to wave you over for a chat as your ride past.
- According to El, my back acts like a cross between a thermometer and a Rorschach test when it gets hot.
Another great blog, I really enjoy reading them over my morning coffee.