Hotel Window ...the Road Ahead

Looking out my fourth story hotel window across rooftops and to the street below . . . been doing that quite a bit lately.

sunsets

political rallys before the election

religious processions

welding the front door of the hotel

My second time in this hotel - this time to get my frame repaired and get over a nasty bacteria that had me pissing out my ass every 20 minutes for the past 48 hours. As soon as, I could manage the four block walk I bought the king kong killer of antibiotics, ciprofloxina, - two full courses (12 pills) for a dollar - costs about $100 in the U.S. Strange to think that 100 years ago this could kill me and diarrhea is the 1st or 2nd killer of children world wide . . . but within four hours of the first pill my fever is gone and appetite is returning. I will be tempted to leave tomorrow but I should wait another day to insure that I have my full strength back - I am going to need it.

There is a dotted line on the map I have been gazing at for close to a decade now. The line starts at over 4000 meters and drops to 800 meters from puna to high sierra through cloud forest into the high jungle of Yanachaga Chemillen National Park, that has some of the highest biodiversity on the planet. The dots mean it is a trail, not a road, but it is a trail that was blazed 150+ years ago by Austro-German colonists that founded the town of Pozuzo (I hear they still wear lederhosen) . The largest indigenous tribe in Peru, the Ashaninka, live in the region, as well. The area became accessible by road in 1974 but it is over 100km of rough dirt track crossing a river dozens of times with out bridges . . . and from where I sit close to 500km away - versus up over the ridge and down down down. However, I can find no contemporary accounts of this trail . . . locals in Panao told Matt "no way" can you do that on a bike . . . but you can pay us for a burro and guide . . . I have been told "no way" too many times only to go away and do it anyway. People do traverse the route with burros and I am big enough of ass that if a donkey can, I can. I understand it is a 3 day walk and people live along the way. Figure they will be surprised to see me. Promises to be an adventure - pack lots of ramen and follow the gravity train until I hit the river at the bottom. When I get to Panao I will try to find a burro driver, buy him a beer and get route information. Reminds me the majority of the planet never goes more than 20 miles from home and all the naysayers have never actually been there . . .