It is middle-May and we travel since 19 months. Good time to celebrate this with a visit to Kuelap - one of the most impressive ancient fortresses and archeological site. It was built 800-1300 and hosts about 300 round houses, which are built that way to make them safe against earth quakes. The Chachapoyas, who built that monumental stone construction, which uses more handcrafted stones then the pyramids of Gizeh, burried their people as mummies in holes in the wall. This fortress is still impressive today - overgrown with big trees, red bromeliads.

What follows on our 6-day ride from Chachapoyas to Cajamarca is that, what the Andes can do the best: extreme. From foggy 7degrees on 3600m altitude we enjoy a 60(!)km descent down to 900m. The vegetation changes are fantastic: we start in dry „pampa“ on top of the pass, ride through mossy cloud-forest, slopes full of flowers and later banana plantations and desert-like, cacti-dotted landscapes. In the afternoon we hit Balsas - a township on river in 45degrees. Here we have the chance to live very peruvian-like.

The only room for visitors in the whole village has two beds, is as dusty as the level road and no toilet or bath. The public „bano“ is located three blocks through the village. Showers have no doors. Simple holes in the ground are the toilets. At night our room bursts to life with cockroaches and the temperatures drop only to 32 degrees. No wonder that we are back in the saddle by 5am. It is still dark and the warm, fresh air reminds me a lot on our early starts on the hikes in Central Australia. Up to 4m high candle-bra cacti and small boab-like trees line the road, which is full of venomous, big, red (dead) millipedes. After crossing a river we have to climb now one and a half days to another pass on 3000m.

That night we pitch the tent on a place which is the reward for all the bike-work of the day: the views into this folded, ancient mountains, painted red by the setting sun and the clear, cool air are spectacular We camp in our million-star-hotel...

Some school-kids keep running beside our bikes, laughing and chatting all the way uphill. They keep our 8km/h pace without any trouble - dressed in thick woollen jumpers and on an altitude of more than 3000m. They are shy but we can figure out that 42 pupils learn on the school. A lot of social subjects are taught. People live very simple up here - clay-built houses with grass roofs, without windows, no electricity or running water. Usually they look after their six sheep or two cows all day. But they are very friendly and a little stunned when they discover our tent pitched on some mountain slope. Often they have never seen campers before...

After nearly 400km on dirt roads we hit asphalt, close to Cajamarca. The city is hard to miss - with 200.000 habitants and traffic chaos, which we are not used to anymore. Old churches line the main square, where a military parade is hold at the moment. We will leave Cajamarca tomorrow to head down to the coast and than back up into the mountains again.

Did you know that the world’s most efficient gold mine is located near Cajamarca and that the Inca-king, Atahualpa, was murdered here, which was the end of the Inca empire in 1533?

Since the last report: 340km and 5650 altitude meter

Monique

Finding ourselves sick again we have to take a bus along the insecure coastline of Peru. We don’t want to but our bodies just don’t want to be back on the bikes and insist on the bus trip. Everybody is being filmed before heading off - is it really THAT dangerous? The ride is spectacular: winding down from the enormous drops of the Andes we hit one of the driest coast lines in the world. Huge sand dunes surround little shabby villages where it’s hard to imagine what the people live from. It’s not hard to understand why some of them have to survive on robberies...

We only visit Trujillio, a vibrant city with the biggest traffic chaos we encountered so far, to see the World Heritage Site of Chan-Chan. Once the biggest city in whole South America and about 28sq km big, it was the last city which was conquered by the Incas and afterwards eaten-up by the dessert sands. Today it’s an archaeological paradise....

The persisting colds and diarrhoea symptoms made us catching another bus back into the mountains. As we arrive in the 3000 altitude meter high Andean city Huaraz we find out that our multi-tool was stolen right behind the luggage check-in. A nightmare of police-office visits and paperwork starts. After a fortnight of insisting and asking we get the money for the tools from the bus company.

Yes - we are since two weeks in Huaraz already. What is a place for fantastic hikes and climbs in front of the snow caped mountains for many tourists is for us a place to crush in and to search for health. After 3 days we are both sick with colds, stomach problems and fever and have to seek doctor advice. Rene caught a very bad cold and me Giardia - a bacterium, which offers a wide range of nausea, stomach pains and diarrhoea... After the visit in the hospital our room looks like massive drug store. But we start to feel better after a couple of days.

Time is flying and slowly we pick up the pace of this very nice township. The most impressive sight is still the market: wheelbarrows full of dead chicken, slaughtered guinea-pigs, cow legs complete with hoofs and sheep heads are for sale beside stalls full of cheese, wool and honey. A barefooted old lady begs for some cenitmos, one man sells shoe leashes and another sharpens knifes. The chaos is completed by the mixture of indigenas in colourful dresses, businessman in suits and tourists in shorts. A chaos we learned really to love and appreciate.

Renes hair dresser visit is like good comedy - as always. He is just too tall for the small girl who wants to trim his hair! The result is a lot of giggles and laughter. During the time we chat a bit about Germany. This girls can’t believe that we don’t grow coca or chirimoya (a sweet custard apple). Peruvians still live in their own fascinating world and it’s often hard for them to imagine there’s anything different...

On June 17 we want to head further. But... One day before I get my stomach problems back, full force. Back to hospital, back to antibiotics and another fortnight in Huaraz is waiting by now. It is a pity to loose so much time and a month of cycling but there’s no way around it...

Did you know that the snowy peaks outside Huaraz (the Cordillera Blanca) form the second highest mountain range in the world with 35 peaks over 6000m, packed into a range only 200km long and 20km wide?

Monique

After the last antibiotic-injections we have to wait for another 10 days for another final analysis in hospital. The first time within three weeks we are fit enough to explore our surroundings. On June 24 this brings us to an annual highlight - the fiesta Inti Raymi. The Andean people celebrate the old Inka-traditon for their sun-god Inti. The little mountain village is a postcard-perfect setting for this event: a grass plain, surrounded by snow covered peaks and dotted with old Inka houses.

We are the only tourists there. Hundreds of colorful dressed Indigenas are sitting around the place, where a school class creates the spirits from 500 years ago. The Inkas sacrificed 5 virgins for their sun god and the scene is absolutely stunning. After the festivities we travel back to Huaraz - in full collectivos (small buses, who stop to collect people along the whole trip). One of the old Indigenas wants to tie her sheep on the roof of the car. But it’s full already with big bags of potatoes.

On June 26 we start to get active again: a four day trek is waiting for us, including the crossing of a 5000m high pass. We press food for 5 days plus warm clothes in our small backpacks. Some items must remain outside: the load looks a bit adventurous with a plastic bag of food dangling outside. First day we enter a broad valley, surrounded by high cliffs and inhabited by galloping horses and a abundance of cattle. We had more expected to see llamas here but the dry cow dung creates a nomadic fire in the cold temperatures of the first night on an elevation of 4200m.

The next days we walk even higher: along green glacier lagoons, the glacial ice fields that close that we feel like we could touch them. Little rivers coming down through the otherwise dry, small cacti-dotted landscape of the puna (the name for the landscape of the Andes above 3500m). After a night with icy temperatures of -5 degrees our tent is frozen. But soon the sun melts away the cold and sleepless night in the high altitude and slowly we make our way in even thinner air. The way is slow and long: the lack of oxygen is enormous - 50 steps, 10 times hard breathing, 50 steps... Midday we reach the sunny, and cold windy pass on 5070m. The view is breathtaking. OK - not only the view... We have to melt snow to get drinking water, so dry is the land up here. The down is as hard as the up: steep and slippery so-called-trails winding down to another valley. The lower levels are greeting us with Chinchillas and an Andean fox is visiting in the morning. We find a peaceful camp spot, have a warm camp fire and feel a little bit like being back in Australia. Just a bit higher...

Over 20km we walk back to the next public transport. Huaraz seems busier then ever, the hospital analysis the next day shows that there are still bacteries left. That means another week in this place. We are getting very impatient by now - have to cancel many destinations along the way because we lost over 6 weeks of time, only being sick and have fixed flights from Argentina...

On 5 July we get started again we will make our way through the Central Andes to Cusco.

Did you know that the fiesta of the sun is also the traditional New Year in the Andes?

Monique

We are back on the road again! Our bikes roll under blue skies, passing the dry, yellow grass plains of the puna, clay houses with grass roofs and a backdrop of the snow capped mountains of the Cordillera Blanca. Headwind comes up and we search for shelter for the night in a camp of miners who work in a copper mine close by. Right at the entrance the warden measures our blood oxygen - the camp is on 4200m! The warm hospitality of the people here plus a hot tea let us forget the icy winds and the frozen tent outside in -5 degrees...

Early next morning we cross our first 4300m pass. Headwinds picking up again so hard that we are nearly blown off the road. On a grass patch we find a truck parked which functions as a home for a German couple. That’s how we meet Paul and Syliva, who, in their 60ies, travel since 2008 through South America. Best of it - the bikes fit inside and we can get a lift over the next windy pass!

Out of a „pass ride“ becomes a 6-day journey in the „Gringo Mobil“. The view on land and people out of that big vehicle is completely different: we see the first time HOW narrow the roads are and how landslides still shape it a bit smaller... In a muddy construction site we slip side wards in the ditch and stop only centimetres in front of the rocky wall. In a surreal scene we unload surfboards in the middle of the Andes to reach the tow rope. After a heart racing action we are free again and continue our trip along the dusty, pot-hole rich roads. Time flies with German hospitality,German food and two wonderful new friends...

On our last day with Paul and Sylvia we meet another Caravan: Swiss number plate, three little girls with them, living in Australia before setting off for the trip, 8 months ago. Next day we are on the bikes again - riding through a desert-like canyon with colourful rock formations, the blue ribbon of the Mantaro River in sight on an adventurous road: deep sandy sections change with water crossings and rocky parts. We marvel at the golden landscapes in the evening sun, getting grilled in 44 degree heat during the day and eaten-up by tons of sandflies... But the dramatic landscapes make it all worth the effort!

Right in time as the liners of sunscreen, dust, insect repellent and sweat are getting thick enough on the skin for a shower, we reach Ayacucho. Stomach problems hit us badly again and one day we end up in some hospital: as I open my eyes 5 faces steer on my belly. A nurse looks 4 times on various places for vein to put the infusion in. The bed is too short for Rene and he has always to shift his feet when somebody wants to pass. During the procedure I teach one nurse some German, answer the questions of the doctor for treatment prices in Germany and try to ignore the loud music in the radio of the emergency. Lucky us - that we are not seriously injured!

Next stop will be Cusco - the big touristy place in Peru. Bolivia isn’t far then...

Did you know that the plant Maca is a traditional food in the Andes since more than 2000 years and also famous as „natural Viagra“? The plant even resists the high UV light, strong winds and the low temperatures of the Andes.

Since the last repoort: 300km, 4200 altitude metres

Monique

This report might be not as thrilling as the pevious sections in our travels. We are still sick and so please be patient with us - we work hard to get back on the road as soon as possible... After leaving Ayacucho we have a 24hrs bus ride in front of us. The complete programme of twisty, bad roads and the far too fast driver speeding along. The pot-holed roads throwing all passengers the whole night from one corner to the other - sleeping impossible.

On 23rd of July we reach the biggest tourist destination in Peru - Cusco. The former capital of the Inkas has a fascinating mixture of fine colonial churches and old Inka-built walls to offer. The stones of that ancient walls weight tons and even today nobody knows how they managed to fit them so perfect together, that not even a knives blade fits in between.

For us the Gringo-town offers good health care in the first place. We find a German doctor, do all sorts of labor tests without any results. We are send on “holidays from cycling” and end up an eco-retreat, settled in a shady eucalyptus forest. But it’s only two days until I’m so sick again that we have to get back to hospital. This time the tests show a diagnosis: Typhus. We have to stay three days in our 30 square metre room in the sixth floor with Cusco views in hospital. Back to antibiotics and we do really hope that this nightmare will be over soon.

Finally we are back in our hostal, listening to the traffic noise, all the different languages discussing road conditions and safety issues. In front of our window there are four heavy-loaded motorbikes parked from England, Japan, Germany and Spain. We met seven touring cyclists here which made the time a bit shorter. In the last two months we only cycled 300km...

Because of doctors advice we will skip Bolivia and taking buses all the way to North-Argentina via North-Chile. So the next two weeks will be filled with bus rides, cities and getting back to health. In North Argentina we will be (hopefully) back in the saddle and riding down to the tip. Keep fingers crossed!

Soon we’ll say good-bye to Peru. It’s a country which grows more than 2000 sorts of potatoes, where taxi drivers are charging more when they drive uphill and where every main course consists of chicken and rice. Did you know that the growth of coca for tea is financially supported by the government and that Peru is the worlds second largest producer of coca worldwide?

Monique

Our last and at the same time prettiest destination in Peru has a lot to offer: together with wonderful food (alpaca steak) also historical sites. We visit a monastery which was isolated from the rest of the world for over 400 years. Only by 1970 it was opened for the public. As we wander around the narrow streets it opens it’s special history to us. 150 nuns plus up to 300 servants lived here. Nowadays there are only 30 nuns living an every day life of prayer and seclusion behind the tall walls in one part of the convent.

To dig a bit deeper in the cultural treasures Arequipa has to offer we visit a museum which has the worlds best preserved mummy on display. In a glass box of -20 degree lays a (former) young Inka maiden. About 570 years ago she was sacrificed on top of the 6300m volcano Ampato. The Inka believed that this mountain rules over water and harvest. Later we find out that even nowadays in this region the sacrifice of humans is still practised. Preferably when catastrophic nature events happen and especially around carnival this isn’t a good region for solo tourists to roam around off the beaten track...

In Peru still rules superstition: in the evenings it can be hard to buy salt in small shops because it is believed that that the sell can cause financial harm. It can bring misfortune too, to sweep the house at night. In parts of the Andes people believe in the existence of Pishtacos - white people or albinos with red hair who rob children to drain their fat and produce fuel out of it. Maybe this was the reason why in a northern part of the Andes some mothers escaped from us with their children. We didn’t know about the legend in this time...

Arequipa celebrates its 471 anniversary during this days: 4 days of military parades, costumed dancing and a visit of President Ollanta. The highlight is a 14 hour (!!!) parade through the centre on August 15th: dancers in short and long skirts, masks and sombreros from all over South America celebrating in the streets, Gauchos from Argentina and traditional dancing from lake Titicaca... For several hours we remain seated on the side of the road, watching all this fabulous dancers passing by. Rio can’t be better. Rene is having a bad cold so we are pinned to Arequipa for a couple more days. Then we’ll leave via Chile to northern Argentina.

Did you know that the Shamans on the markets here sell dried Alpaca fetus for sacrifice ceremonies for mother earth and that Arequipa experiences about 3 earth movements a day?

Monique