A Day on the Bike: Meeting People

Each day of riding provides countless encounters with strangers who want to strike up a conversation with me, particularly if I am in need of directions or information. Sometimes I am lucky to encounter other English speaking adventurers but most days I meet friendly locals. On one such day, riding from Estacion Chuquicara to Carhuaz, I met a few new friends.

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5 November:

The morning was already hot but I felt ready for a good day's ride. I stopped at a small roadside tienda around two hours into riding. I loaded up on some Pepsi and was relaxing on a bench in the shade when a gentleman and a young niño, Silvestor, joined me. The elder had his hands full with the fruit they were sharing while the young boy struggled to twist off the cap of his gaseosa. I offered to unscrew it for him. They were both grateful and I could tell Silvestor thoroughly enjoyed the bubbly drink.

Silvestor then asked me what I had in my hand. I handed him my small notebook. He flipped through the pages with my random notes and scribbles, then gave it back. He then pointed to my camera; a "give a moose a cookie" kinda thing. Once he had the camera in his hand, he loved looking at the world through the digital screen and seeing how it had changed. Then he walked across the street, setting up different shots and snapping pictures. It turned out he only ended up taking one. You could see the store front and the shady bench were we met.

When Silvestor returned from across the street, we chatted a bit about my trip. I snapped a selfie with him and showed him the picture on my camera. I showed him a few other pictures that he appeared to enjoy before he had to leave.

Later that day, I had lunch at a typical almuerzo diner in Caraz. It was ten minutes to noon, nobody was inside, and food wasn't being served. But by ten past noon, there wasn't a single available spot anywhere in the room except at the "gringo table". I was then joined by Cesar. Along with many other workers, he worked at the hydropower plant just up the river valley. He went to a trade school in Lima for his job before moving out to Caraz. He informed me that there were two hydropower generators at the plant, one that produced 350 kilowatts and another that produced 110 kilowatts. They were jointly owned by a Chilean and a Canadian company. Cesar was on a typical two-hour lunch break between his 7am-12pm and 2pm-6pm shifts. The first hour was allotted for eating lunch while the second allowed him to play soccer with the other coworkers.

When Cesar heard I was from California, he listed off a few places that he knew: Hollywood, Bel Air, Santa Monica, and the Golden Gate Bridge. It's amazing to see the influence of American peliculas on the rest of the world. I don't have a picture of Cesar, but I do have some pictures of the power station area and my ride through Cañon Del Pato shortly after.

By the afternoon, I was only three km away from Carhuaz. I passed by a bus stopped at a police checkpoint. The passengers all stood up out of their seats to catch a glimpse of the gringo riding by. I continued riding when I suddenly had one of my "bright ideas". I turned around and "got atop my soap bike" to asked them all a few questions (I think I'm getting too comfortable here, but maybe that's what's keeping me alive!) -

"Porque no bicicleta? Es muy divertido y bueno por la medio ambient," I told them through the window.
"No tengo," a few replied.
"Usted necesitas, es muy importante!" I retorted.

They didn't seem to care too much. As I was about to set off on my way, they asked me, "De que pais?"

I replied back, "Estados Unidos!" Here is a picture of the captive audience. There are a few people in the windows standing up that are harder to see.

About an hour later, reading with an ice cream and pan dulce in the Plaza de Armas of Carhuaz, I noticed some girls off to the side. It appeared that they wanted to approach me and they eventually did gathered enough courage. They asked if I could be in their school project video.

"Sí, porque no?!"

One of the girls sat next to me while the other filmed, reading off her piece of paper questions in English. She asked ten questions, then another girl sat next to me and asked a few more, followed by a third girl. The questions seemed almost like a job interview.

"What do you like about your hometown?"
      "The availability of pizza." 

"What is something interesting that has happened to you recently?"
      "Probably this experience right now."
"What is your favorite activity?"
       "Biking!"
"How would your friends describe you?"
       [I leave that to the reader as an exercise]

It was nice to hear them speak, but I felt that they didn't entirely understand my responses too well. Regardless, it was great to talk a bit in English. I snapped a picture since I figured they wouldn't mind after filming a seven-minute video with me.

Not every day on this tour has had such enjoyable encounters, but that day seemed just right for meeting strangers and striking up friendly conversations.

Matteo

P.s.