Author: neil

In the United States, if you woke up and your bedroom was 55°F, it would immediately drop you into a terrible mood because it would mean figuring out why your furnace stopped working, and how much it would cost to get it repaired or replaced. Here in our Junin hotel, it was a grin-inducing luxury.…

It was a balmy 43°F inside our hotel room this morning (compared to the freezing 41°F yesterday), but the more-consequential improvement was that there was no snow or ice, and yesterday’s fog-blanket had given way to clear skies. We returned to the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast, and again got the same “you’ll just eat what…

The thermometer said it was only 35°F when we woke, but it felt a lot warmer than in our urban campsite, sheltered from any wind by two walls and a roof. We still didn’t see anyone from the church to ask belated permission from (or give a donation to), so the only real difference between…

We woke to another high-altitude morning cold enough to cover our tent in a thick layer of frost (there had also been some form of light precipitation after we tucked in), but warm enough that our water supply (massed together under the rainfly) didn’t solidify. Despite the breeze that was flapping the rainfly, I was…

We went to our usual breakfast place, where Rett shocked the waitress by ordering six “pan con huevos” rather than our usual four. Hey, we’re actually riding our bikes today, not just hanging out around town, so we need the extra energy! We weren’t riding immediately though, because Rett’s bike had yet another flat on…