Now we’re headed back to the Pacific coast. The first time since Chile. The first day we bike to a suburb of Ica called Santiago where we stay at a kids’ soccer camp. The ride to get there was 130 km with some climbs early in the day and headwinds that slowly turned right in the afternoon...

My mind frame at this point of the trip is largely the following: I’ve seen a lot of things. I’ve cycled around the perimeter of South America. I’ve gone through the desert, across the Andes, over bad roads and through salt flats...

I last left off describing my ride in Abancay when I was on my way to Yacca. Yacca was a very small town and we had a quiet campsite overlooking the mountains - a good place to be camping before the hardest two days of riding on the whole trip...

The company that I am cycling with offers clients the opportunity to do just a section of the tour between Rio and Quito. The section between Cusco and Lima is called ‘The Gringo Trail’ and a new rider joined us for that section...