Andes Trail Stages 32-33, Sept 10-11, 2019

Stages 32-33 of 109 Ayacucho to Chincheros via bushcamp, Days 43-44 of 142

Stage 33: 51.9km, 949m climb, 2:37.

I started the rest day in Ayacucho on Sept 9 with so much promise – all the digestive and weakness problems from the day before seemed to be gone. I had breakfast, a modest lunch, we checked out the town (very nice), and I went with Spaghetti Truchanesca (like putanesca but with trout) for dinner. I couldn’t finish it and massive diarrhea hit soon after. Wow! Like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my life. After the second bout I took a couple of immodium, then a 3rd a little after midnight. By morning I had to take a 4th (max dose per 24 hours) and was very weak again.

Stage 32 was over 100km with 2000m climbing, all of which I experienced from the lunch van feeling like crap. We finally got to camp at 4:15 and I crashed in my tent. Dinner was pretty delicious with a nice birthday cake for Henk. Back to bed right after and miraculously I slept for 10 hours waking up just once.

I was hungry for breakfast and could eat it, a great sign. The day was easy, 52km with just under 1000m of climbing. It sure felt great riding, especially the initial massive descent. We had our share of dog attacks though, some scary ones. I kicked one in the nose, not full contact but effective. I started the 14km big climb near the front and made it all the way which felt great. We had soup and lunch at a hotel where a few people are staying; our hostal is across the street. Warm shower, afternoon nap, excellent! Chincheros is very small but a pizza restaurant was found that opened at 5:30. Sure enough, at that time 21 of us were sitting in it, overwhelming the owners. They took a video of all of us, asking where we were all from. Tom bought some playing cards and we played a Dutch game that was fun for an hour as pizzas were prepared. We ended up buying out the whole place and a few had to go elsewhere, but it was tasty and fun. Now it’s almost 7:30 and time for sleep!