Los Correos de Huanuco
Huanuco - September 3rd, 2010
Development : From 9 to 5...
We left Huaraz 4 days ago. 4 days with in total 290 km, including 200 km of unpaved roads. At least, that was the situation in 2008. 2 years later : only 50 km of unpaved roads were left. The sand, rocks and washboard have been replaced by new tarmac roads. The bustimes take nowadays half the time and also the sheep, pigs, chickens and dogs ( some very nasty ) have now great beautiful black asphalt to walk on. That's called development. Not only the bustimes are half, also the cycling times are drastically reduced.
Most riders didn't complain; not at all; especially not the last day into Huanuco when we were cycling 55 kilometers up to 3900 meters followed by a spectucalar downhill of 55 kilometers. The weather conditions were rainy and a wet dirt road would have been a nightmare. Now a long smooth climb and a slippery fast downhill with dangerous precipices covered in thick clouds was waiting. The riding time ( for the first riders ) was reduced from 9 to 5 hours due to the new asphalt.
Thank God ( or the Peruvian road workers which did an amazing job ).
With or without asphalt : the scenery between Huaraz and Huanuco is still spectacular.
