Places Ridden, Sights Seen, Food Eaten & How Much It Cost

My sister, Meghan, requested that I talk more about my day-to-day experiences, rather than merely small highlighted stories during this trip. My friend and frequent commenter, Lydia, requested to hear more about how much things cost. With only two weeks left before flying from Lima back home for the holidays (as well as getting back to reality), I wanted to tend to both of these requests here in this post! 

November 25th:
I woke up in my tent in the central park of a small town that didn't have an hospedaje. I had rolled into town already knowing this, but was hoping I might find a place to crash since I wasn't up for climbing the rest of the hill from Ayacucho. The small pueblo of Chiara was very hospitable and I ended up meeting a bunch of guys who worked on the carreteras here in Peru. They informed me that the park would be safe to sleep in for the night... and free!

Morning picture of my tent set-up in the central park of Chiara. The guy nearest my bike, Pablo, was super friendly and  very supportive of my journey. He is a land surveyor (with tripod GPS) for the roads under construction.

The ride that day ended up traversing 83 miles from Chiara to Chincheros and climbing 7,260 ft.

The 83 mile ride from Chiara to Chincheros. Another wonderful day on the bike, exploring the highlands of Peru.

Breakfast was eaten at a small tienda for 4.5 Soles, consisting of some yummy papas, huevos, judías y arroz.

Desayuno!

I had a few goals in mind throughout this adventure, fun things I like to call "Life Resume" items. One of them was to get my hands beneath a cow to milk its udder. As I climbed the dirt road out of Chiara, I saw a nice gentleman milking one and asked if I could try. He agreed! The milk was warm, although I wasn't entirely able to get the full stream like he showed me.

A señor showing me how to get a full stream from the cow udder. My attempt was much weaker and messier on my hands.

I finished climbing the dirt road to the main pista, a pass at around 4,000 meters in altitude. I took a small snack break of atún, crackers and sublime that I bought at the tienda in the morning.



Unfortunately this post was saved as a draft and I can't remember the rest of this day. I hope you enjoyed reading it up to this point.

-Matt

P.s.