Our last send off, from Cochabamba.
This may come as a surprise to many readers, but our trip is coming to a close. It has been quite a while since our last post because we have not done any cycling recently. The road to hell really brought us to our knees, and our rest period in Cochabamba turned into more than a month of recuperation from injuries. I, Lucy, have been struggling with a hamstring problem since last spring and the difficulty of our route created a whole suite of other problems in my legs. Even after following a daily routine of stretching and therapy exercises, I am still feeling less than 100%. That, plus a mysterious foot pain that began last week, probably plantar fasciitis, have led us to decide that it is time to go home. It was a difficult decision to make as we have waiting for over a month, hoping that I would recover. But, in the end, it feels that this is not the time for us to attempt a long-distance bike tour, so we will be heading back to the States very soon.
During this extended period of resting and waiting, we did take a few side trips away from Cochabamaba. The first was to Samaipata, a town to the east of Cochabamba that has become quite a hippie hang out. We went with Lenka, one of my best friends, and four other women that she knows. It felt a bit like a vacation from a vacation for us, as we basically just transferred to a new location and continued chilling. But it was a lot of fun to meet a new group of people, see new places, swim in some beautiful waterfalls and continue eating lots of tasty fruit!
One of the great waterfalls that we visited.
El Fuerte, the largest carved rock in the world, that sits above Samaipata. It was carved by a Pre-Incan culture and used for sacred ceremonies, then later taken over first by the Inca, then by the Spanish and used as a strategic fort.
Back in Cochabamba, Hache's house became a true cyclists' hostel, as two more touring couples joined the tent city. We had a great time with the big gang, sharing stories, meals and tips for the road.
Here's the gang: Adie and me, Adrien from France, Hache, Ana from Argentina, Sunny from California, Patricia and Marcelo from Argentina. Added together the group has bike toured 150,00km! 100,00 of those are Hache, very few are us!
At the end of March, we finally said our last goodbyes to Cochabamba, the city that really feels like a home to me after spending over five months there. It was a sad goodbye, taking leave of all our friends, but I am sure I will be back before too long!
From Cochabamba, we headed to the Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca. When I stayed there during the SIT program, my host family had invited me back, so we were finally taking them up on the offer! We stayed with Carlos and Yhovana for two nights and had a lovely time visitng with them and their new baby, exploring the island and helping to make delicious foods.
We're actually all standing on the same level!
Feeling awkward holding a baby! His name is Carlos Adrian and he is four months old.
We got to learn the whole process for making humintas, Adie's favorite food here! We started with the fresh corn on the cob, plucked off the kernels, crushed it into a batter, and baked them in the stone oven. What a treat!
From the Isla del Sol, we crossed the border into Peru, the next country on our northward trajectory. We met up with Alix again and spent a week at a mushroom farm outside of Cusco, in the Sacred Valley. We learned all about growing shiitake, oyster and reishi, and ate plenty of them too!
While at the mushroom farm, my right foot suddenly began to hurt, for no reason that we could come up with. Alix thought it was probably plantar fasciitis. It got to the point where it was very painful to walk or stand at all. At this point, last Thursday, we decided that it was time to call the trip. Though we'd been keeping our hopes up and were planning to try to ride again after Adie's parents visited, we realized that the likelihood of being able to do that was very low. And, with this new inexplicable foot problem, my enthusiasm for forging on really sank. So, after waiting around for so long in order to keep our options open, we finally made up our minds. It was time to go home.
"El Castillo" rises up above the sacred valley
We scrambled into action on Friday because, in true South American fashion, we had made our decision right at the eleventh hour. Adie's parents were already on their way to New York, en route to visit us, but I decided that I would take my bike to Lima so that I could fly home from there. We headed into Cusco that afternoon, packed our bikes in boxes Saturday morning, then flew straight to Lima. We spent a couple of days there with Alix, then Adie's folks arrived and we parted ways with Alix who was heading back to the US before us.
We're now hanging out at the beach in Paracas, south of Lima, checking out the wildlife and doing beachy things. Photo credit: Adie's parents.
I (Lucy) will be heading back to Lima tomorrow to catch my flight back to Boston, while Adie will be spending another week in the mountains with his parents before heading home. Of course his home in New York is currently rented out to tenants, so he will actually be coming up to New Hampshire to join me. Our plans from there are open and undecided.
This trip has really been quite a whirlwind for us. From losing our tent, suffering from salmonella and then losing steam due to all my injuries, our journey has not been easy! Nevertheless, we have greatly enjoyed exploring Bolivia, meeting wonderful people, improving our Spanish, and biking when we could. We hope to return to continue the journey someday. This turned out to not be the right time for us, but we look forward to trying again when we are healthy and strong and will be able to do the kind of touring we really want to do, and enjoy it fully. We have both learned an immense amount from this trip, about the people and places of Bolivia, about the challenges and rewards of bike touring, and about eachother. Back in the US our future plans are so open, it feels like the adventure will certainly continue in other ways.
Until next time,
Lucy and Adie
