Sunshine and Switchbacks Part 2: Vila Vila to Acasio

Monday, February 15: Vila Vila to Ochiri, 40km

We spent the day mostly heading south, following a spectacular road along a ridge, with views thousands of meters down to the valley floor.

It's unique to be riding up among the peaks instead of down below them.

Beautiful colors of rock and earth. We ended the day with a descent into the town of Ochiri, where we had a late lunch, found an incredibly grungy hostel to stay the night (also our cheapest, 40Bs or $6 for the both of us). The room was unpleasant enough and the bed uncomfortable enough, that we slept on the bed, on top of our own sleeping pads, and in our sleeping bags. We would have moved on and found a place to camp instead, but the long climb immediately after the town put us off. 

Tuesday, February 16: Ochiri to wild camp near Sak'ani, 45km

We started the day with a climb, bringing us across the valley onto a ridge parallel to the one we had ridden the day before. This time we rode north, making an enormous U over the course of two days' riding. 

Yesterday, we rode along the ridge visible in the background.

No camera trickery here, the rock and earth really were those colors!

Ridge-riding is great...all the views, little of the climbing.

After the town of Sak'ani we headed west and found this great campsite. It was a warm evening and we had great views. Our site did happen to be on a sheep herder's path, however...

Wednesday, February 17: Sak'ani to wild camp after Acasio, 45km

We had bought some really stale bread, so we tried making french toast (with banana and chancaca, raw cane sugar). It was hard to get the toast to cook rather than just burn the outside leaving the inside raw. 

The nice views continued until we eventually dropped considerably in elevation to Acasio.

Upon arriving, we looked for the first comedor. As we approached, Adie smelled the unmistakable scent of fresh guava! We had refresco de guayaba (think guava juice) with our lunch, and then bought about a dozen guavas for the road. So delicious! And so cheap, about $0.05 per fruit! The woman selling lunch was very talkative, and we learned a lot about local agriculture. The guava come from the river valley near Torotoro, our destination! She also told us that there wasn't too much climbing on the road from Acasio to Torotoro.

We camped by a stream after starting the climb out of town. It was a warm evening so we washed clothes and ourselves in the stream. The night was remarkable because three thunderstorms hit us, with torrential rain. Overnight, our little stream had turned into a raging brown torrent:

Next up: the end of the fun...