Soon as we got going down the trail, I was riding high in the saddle feeling like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood in a classic western film…ok,

As we stood around in the drizzling rain waiting for the front end loader to attempt to grade the riverbed for our crossing, nothing was said, but I believe we all were thinking maybe this wasn’t the best idea. That may have been the first time we all were thinking that, but I’m sure it wasn’t the last.

From day one in Peru, Guy and I had decided to ride through the Andean Mountains rather than along the coastline. We had crossed into the country from Ecuador at a low altitude where it was unbearably hot and dusty, so despite being rainy season in the Peruvian Andes, the mountains were more appealing. After consulting the map, it looked like Route 3N would be the way to go.