Tip of a Four-And-A-Half-Month Iceberg – Mazuco, Peru

Using Mazuco as a base we explore the same descent we did the previous day. We just have to see it again! Sadly we leave too late to make it all the way to the top of the pass, and the weather isn’t great for taking photographs.

No money for fuel? – NO EXCUSE! 😉

The reason for our late departure back up the valley is a discovery we make in our room that morning: We open the side pannier which contains our laptops and discover that both of the laptop screens are completely shattered! This happened when the bike fell over in Urcos yesterday morning during the oil top-up but we didn’t check them – the whole oil-spill business caused us enough frustration and delay that we just left Urcos as soon as we were ready.

We’re now several hundred kilometres away from Cuzco, which would be our next best option for a repair. Going back would be a serious journey uphill. We decide that the best course of action is to go forward, in the hope that we can find replacements at Puerto Maldonado (a town of about 90000 inhabitants). Failing that, we recon that we’ll surely find what we need in Rio Branco or Porto Velho of Brazil, which are both much larger. The electronics have since moved from the side pannier into the tank bag, cushioned by clothing and hopefully out of harm’s way.

Little do we know, this is only the tip of a monstrous, dispiriting, four-and-a-half-month iceberg!

On the bright side, we take some beautiful photos of the area and on the return we have a very interesting encounter :

As we were leaving Mazuco that morning we see several people heading out of the town with wreaths of flowers and various such items. It looked like they were heading for the cemetery. By the time we return from our excursion it’s dusk and as we pass the cemetery we encounter lots of stationary cars, trucks and motorbikes in the street. Some are playing loud music. The cemetery is alight with innumerable candles and people are sitting among the grave stones, talking, drinking and listening to music. It’s as if they’re having a night out with the dead! We don’t take many photos as we’re not sure whether it’d be deemed disrespectful. However it’s an amazing, unusual, and in a way beautiful sight. We don’t know anything about this tradition but the atmosphere is peaceful and familiar. Seems a very nice way of remembering family members passed away.

Stopped in Quincemil for a beer on the way home… they were merry and want us to come back…