After a few days in Trujillo we wanted to go up in the Andes before arriving in Lima for our flight to the Galapagos Islands. The beautiful valley between Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negra was our destination. However, there were two alternatives to reach the valley: the first one consisted of going down the coast for about 500 km and then coming back up through the mountains with the advantage of being "pista asphaltado", i.e. paved roads. The second meant going up a narrow canyon directly in the valley, thus avoiding 700 km of travelling.
After a lot of back and forth and talking to other travellers and tour guides we decided to go for adventure. In order to benefit from a first well maintained part of the road we needed to ask permission from the local organisation that was building and maintaining the waste irrigation systems along the coast. The owned a private road that went 50 km into the mountains, consisting of a well maintained dirt track, and cut the travel short by another hour. We went to see the general manager who after one hour of waiting wrote us a short letter giving permission to use the road.
After a lot of back and forth and talking to other travellers and tour guides we decided to go for adventure. In order to benefit from a first well maintained part of the road we needed to ask permission from the local organisation that was building and maintaining the waste irrigation systems along the coast. The owned a private road that went 50 km into the mountains, consisting of a well maintained dirt track, and cut the travel short by another hour. We went to see the general manager who after one hour of waiting wrote us a short letter giving permission to use the road.
The following day after filling up the camper with food and water we went off. We dismissed a first lunch stop after having studied the menu of a nice roadside restaurant with pool: all they had to offer where tripes and "cuy" which is a local delicatesse: guinneapigs! Soon we found the private road and indeed it was a well maintained dirt track for the big trucks of the water canal operations that allowed speeds of around 50-60 km/h. After half an hour we stopped for a picknick lunch in the desert. We drove through
some beautiful valleys that consisted of an oasis streched along the river in the otherwise desertic mountain ranges. We found a brandnew paved road running up the valley that is called Canon del Pato, our path for the following two days. Driving was easy and we were wondering whether we had not worried too much about the road conditions.
But soon we understood why. The paved road went to the right and we entered a stone track that consistet of two ditches for the wheels with piles of stones left, right and in the middle of the tracks. Our camper with its small wheels (yes Kate, you were right about the wheels!!) and low clearance had a lot of trouble making it through the ditches and we picked up a lot of stones banging against the chassis. It was an amazing drive but for me complete stress. At every bang I was expecting something major to fall off the car.
But soon we understood why. The paved road went to the right and we entered a stone track that consistet of two ditches for the wheels with piles of stones left, right and in the middle of the tracks. Our camper with its small wheels (yes Kate, you were right about the wheels!!) and low clearance had a lot of trouble making it through the ditches and we picked up a lot of stones banging against the chassis. It was an amazing drive but for me complete stress. At every bang I was expecting something major to fall off the car.
Having asked a number of people along the road and oncoming vehicle drivers about the time it would take to get up to the valley we had not more of a clue how much it would take: the answers ranged from 4 hours to 15 hours. We had been impressed for quite a while by the thundering river that came down the valley. It was clearly fed by the torrential rains in the mountains. After some time a slight rain began to set in and we were even more worried about potential floods and earth slides. Then we came across the first river coming down from the side and just crossing our track. We waded barefoot through the cold water to estimate the depth and current and after some discussion whether we should stop here and wait or risk the crossing we decided to tempt our fate. In the end it was much easier than we thought and we felt quite bold when a few more of these "dangerous" crossings barred our way. Even the track being diminshed by earth slides to about half width did not stop us any more.
The following morning we continued on our journey the track slowly winding up the hills. After several hours of rough driving we came to a sort of town that existed because of a big hydrographic power plant. We drove on up a very steep hillside until we came to a place where half the road was missing and a crew with a digger tried to fill it again. After watching them for half an hour we could pass and entered and even more narrow part of the path with a selection of 46 tunnels. These tunnels were obviously without any light and only one way! In the end we made it up and joined a paved road to Caraz our destination.
We managed an average speed of about 15 km/h and decided to stop just before sunset in the narrow valley at a place along the road that consisted of 5 houses, the inhabitants obviously living of selling soft drinks and fruit to the passing buses and trucks. I have to say we felt a little out of place with our high tech vehicle among those people who barely had an electric light for the night. But soon a contact was established through the children and we relaxed.
