the route more or less for this post, stars at the green dot. Mostly off pavement except for the descend into Cajamarca.

After several nice days of exploring caves and waterfalls and moonlight night rides with the local kids it was time to leave San Andres. Before I left Fran asked if I wanted to see the `Cerro`which I think I would have enjoyed more than the rest but I felt like I was making no progress so I went on.

There were other options, there always are as it seems in Peru but due to the current brake situation I need to stay on the main-ish dirt roads. If I had more sense I would have taken the pavement all the way to Cajamarca but I couldnt resist dipping into the mountains.

my all-new custom made braking shoes! kind of like dancing shoes but for stopping!

for some reason my new brakes were an absolute dog magnet. All these little buggers, jelaous of my stylish footwear went on to chase me. This one from the photo nipped me through the sock but did not draw blood.

Soon the views opened up to reveal giant valleys with roads or trails going everywhere your heart desires. I dipped down to 1500m at the blazing noon heat but soon began a nice climb to somewhere cooler.

A short but nearly impossibly steep trail led to a little ridge where I could lean my bike and find a flat spot to camp. It was the best place so far in Peru, At 2100m it was cool enough to sleep without the tent fly and it had awesome views. You could hear the evening rave of dogs, cows and chickens from a village across the valley and watch the sun rays dance softly through the green hills.

On the remainder of the climb I was again getting that odd vibe. Animals were looking and staring with surprise and so were people (I did not feel right to take a photo of them peeking behind houses).

you know horse is surprised when he stops eating to watch you. He did not like strangers touching his face... normal I guess, I wouldnt like it either.

The downhill was rather stressful as road surface was more rocky, making braking with your feet exremely difficult. And near the end during another dog chase where I had to kick once and the dogs kept coming I decided to use just a little bit of my bear spray. It was quick, dog was confused stopped and went back, I continued. Down the road a man came out holding a cell phone;
¨You killed my dog!¨
Odd, I told him that the spray cant kill an animal so we went up to see. Apparently there was a kid behind a house 20m up the hill that also sniffed a little bit of the spray. The dog was completely fine, sitting in the grass below (although not trying to chase the bike again). The man obviously very upset and told me that he wants to call the police but first we had to wait until there was no traffic on the road because he stopped every single vehichle to tell them that I killed the dog and attacked a little kid.
Eventually he gets around to calling them and I clearly make out the following ¨A foreginer killed my dog and attacked a girl, please come.¨ I begin to get worried as things are starting to inflate. He also told them the girl was bleeding from the nose and vomiting (both of which no true). I soon realize there is no use of me talking to him that this was self defense and that I was worried about needing to get shots if I was bitten and that I absolutely did not know there was a kid behind the house. The police show up and then we go to the station.
I quickly explain the situation to the boss and then wait for another 20 minutes for the man who was not even there to talk. He mentions several times that he is a teacher and not at work so that makes me think he was after money? Then the commisioner explains the same thing I did to him but coming from him, he listens. We are off on our ways but the rumor is out and I begin wondering if I should stick around this town at all. What if there was not a police station nearby? Would I be punished by being tied to a rope in the sun on the pasture like the cows?

I stop by the family of a friend I met in San Andres to say hi and that I will be off the same day but get convinced to visit the ranch house instead. Cook a meal for the pigs, feed the chickens and the cats and the dogs.

these roads are not as wide as you would think. Passing the Potato truck can be problematic.

I get to stay in the blue room for the night and next day we make another brake for the ranch. Today we are pulling potatoes!

At the work house, the Abuela (grandmother) is already getting ready for making lunch and dinner.

and on the field, the real men are already few hours into digging out the little yellow buggers and chewing coca leaves

There are only two types of people, diggers or baggers. Digging did not seem to be my thing so I went with bagging.

Everyone had their sombreros! Although the little dog was a little sad

it was some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten, soup lunch and fish dinner. Yet I could not handle the mid day heat and ended up napping in the shade while the iron men still worked through the worst of it.

and the pay: $6 per day.

but you get to carry away as much potatoes as you want! and that is just enough to get me to the next town where I can get money from a bank.

¨one more day! today we skin the pig and take the potatoes down with horses!¨
But I knew that if I stay one more day, it will turn to ten. So I went out on a new suggested route to avoid the main, dustier way out of town.
The valley filled with fire smog and the road ascending toward the beautiful mountains, it was just the perfect road to be on. Steep enough to make pushing okay in favor of saving my bottom bracket (which is also waiting for a replacement at Cajamarca)

and if you put few sacs of potatoes on top of the KIA, you can even drive it here! With the extra weight it wont get blown over by the wind

Really not the first time somebody comes out of their house to find me talking english with their dogs. What do they do? invite me for coffee and breakfast!

I promised to stop by the school where Elida teaches on the way

In the spirit of what I have been seeing, I thought it would be great to talk a little and hopefully make kids and future peruvians more warm toward travelers. It was a high school, so I felt a bit uncomfortable as I have only spoken to the little kids in Colombia before and that was easy!
¨Dont worry,¨said my friend, ¨just go downstairs¨
... great!

Lunch was what you would expect: potatoes with something else

Andthe road was justperfect, nearing 3000m under the cool thin layer of clouds getting bigger as the day goes on and promising great sunsets.

A sunset through the ashes of a thousand trees!

Meanwhile, the master plan for the brakes was to get a motorcycle brake and make an adapter to mount it on the bike. I often inspected motos wondering how all that would work.

and on roads with blind corners like these... god may not be able to protect you buddy! Many people dont blow their horns but they are mostly motos or trimoto-taxis.

Eventually I found a nice ridge and followed a small track climbing up and around a peak to find the perfect spot. Semi protected by the wind and a biiiig view!

Although I kind of had to keep an eye on those fires, in case one decided to creep up the mountain at night.

It looked like it would be a great day but I opted to take the larger road to Chota, a bigger town where I may be able to find a moto brake and a workshop.

and while there are some Peruvians that are very reserved toward strangers, the rest are just awesome! Photo? Take your hats off, wait, take the baby´s hat off!!! The baby´s hat! It is cold!

Looking for a moto brake turned out to be a total flop. Apparently they do not have rear lever brakes as they are normally with foot. The front I was a little not too sure if I want to mount on a carbon fork and there are some clearance issues there. Looks like I will need to make it without for few more days.

it feels like dog knows what is happening and is making some sort of a facepalm (or in this case, facepaw)

I did find a cheap hotel that had a computer I can use and the food was good in Chota. I managed to do the whole 2nd part of Ecuador in just two days, spending 10-12 hours on the computer and the rest in a room with no natural light and bad bulb. It really felt like I was in the twilight zone...

Despite fears of going down rough roads I went on again guided via google satellite toward Cajamarca. Going uphill seemed alright.

A pack of schoolkids waited for an ambush around the corner and started chasing me... and then I just thought... only if there was a way to harness their limitless energy and turn it into some useful purpose!

half an hour later we reached a field and they took turns riding, althought I was really worried they might fall, now that would get me in a lot of trouble but it was great seeing their excitement and resting in the shade.

Then the cows came and ruined all the fun! The kind of cows that take shit from nobody and would charge the dogs!

Then we took a photo and in retrospect suggesting to mount the pig was maybe not the best idea!

I found a good open stable to set up for the night and went hiking to the nearest house to ask for water. Under the lazy protection of Soleika, the mistrustful dog, the family invited me for soup and coffee. I later returned with full bottles and started cooking. They came again wondering how I can sleep somewhere so cold and brought potatoes and told me that they were unable to get the local militia to patrol this place at night to protect me. The ¨Rondas¨ as they call them are the night warriors who look after the pastures in these lawless lands. (more on that later!)

While the stables offered no view, just down the road the red sunset shone across the valley and I was glad to have a roof over my head as it rained quite a bit at night

In favour of getting an early start on the rocky road I took a rain check on the invitation for breakfast up the hill. Animals were curious to see me and so were some of the locals but I was also getting a lot of those weird looks and stares as I pass by.

animals really seem to mirror people. The few times I have tried to take a photo of people looking at me, they ended up running away or getting very nervous.

A house had a signfor gasoline so I decided to top off my stove. I walked away with full belly... and a horse!

They warned me not to stop at the next town because people might think I am a miner... I did not want to ask what would happen but there was this story of a 20 hour arrest by a village mob few years ago, nearby...

and soon I was off to the rugged peaks and the beauty of the paramo

Then I found out exactly why the locals werent always so welcoming with foreginers.

just on the other side of the mountain you can almost forget about the mine, if it wasnt for the slight buzz of machinery and the gloomy lights shining through the clouds at night. I set up under a little roof at an old transformer station.

in the evening a pretty cool dog came to keep me company for few hours, ate some of my food and barked at nothing for no good reason. At 7 I got my first visit from the local horse militia, asking all sorts of questions, another one came by around 8 and a third woke me up at 11 to ask me if i am not afraid of getting killed here, although at the end he said: ¨dont worry the Ronda passes here so its safe¨ The latter two horsemen asked me for autorization and I said the first guy said its ok and all three at some point asked me if I was a miner...

cool dog friend hanging out, i did not want to wave around my cameras around the militia but a horseman with a giant battery powered light at night would have been an interesting shot...

I was glad to exchange the open pits for beautiful mountain landscapes for most of the day. The climbs were cool and the descends frightening but I was connecting to a paved road for the last 3900m to 2700m drop.

now, we must all agree that a convoy of 1 unit... is not really a convoy!

The scenery was pretty interesting and in a way reminded meof canada

until you turn 180 degrees...

like thats some really big stuff! tractor for reference

The ride to Cajamarca was on an extremely not steep road, I could easily stop with one foot and rotate from time to time but the bike was definitely turning heads. Through my time riding around town, there was a typical whisper that seemed to follow of which I grab few words.
¨no es un moto?¨ ¨mira, mira la bicicleta¨

meanwhile I was fighting a losing battle against peruvian internet. Multiple and multiday struggles to upload the new episode to youtube, vimeo... anywhere. Either the network was too slow or the power went out or the browser simply crashed after few hours. Even a night at a $20 hotel proved useless as the net was just not good enough.

as for the brakes, with the help of some friends and a little bit of luck that the folks at Magura have actually seen my videos, I got a pair of MT7s to help me get around the Peruvian Andes and some of the more serious hiking routes I hope to ride (or carry) my bike on. Just one little problem, I need to go and get them from Chile in about 10 days...

so the bike will get some rest and I can hitchhike and bus down, why not!