Rides bikes, paddles sea kayaks, takes pictures. Life on the road & my home in Cornwall.
Jauja to the Peru Divide
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The Carretera Central is Peru’s primary road that crosses the Andes from Lima, heading east to the Amazon, and with spurs off to various centres north and south. As such it is horribly busy and a miserable experience for the cyclist, best avoided. I suspect not many folk are aware however that there is a “Carretera Central Antiguo”.. as it says, the old Carretera Central. I imagine it has largely disappeared or been paved over to make the new route however there is a stretch that begins near Llocllapampa, a few km from Jauja, which is little more than an unused grassy track these days. Extremely quiet and scenic.. this was my exit from town.
By the way, if you’re reading this and looking for a good way to join the Peru Divide from somewhere not too far from Lima then I highly recommend Jauja as a place to acclimatise (stay at the Hostel Berlin, just a short distance from the Cruz del Sur bus stop), chill out, and enjoy.
My planned route allowed for an easy, scenic day of steady climbing to 4000m, followed by a stiff, but not particularly difficult climb to 4600m or so before the descent into the valley to meet the divide between Vilca and Huancaya. There is plenty of scope for camping and water is everywhere; a couple of litres on board should be more than enough. I’ve included a GPS track at the end of this post.
I was delayed slightly leaving town, my host Water, as I was getting ready to leave, asked that I wait ten minutes while he dashed out. He returned with a lovely handwritten note wishing me safe travels and a small souvenir of Jauja to remind me of the place. Not sure how many extra calories the souvenir will cost me over the coming months but come with me it must. I didn’t leave straight away either, a coffee in the plaza and a few goodbyes to those whose acquaintance I’d been lucky enough to make over the days I was there.
It is an easy trundle of 20km on asphalt to the start of the Carretera Antiguo. Traffic was light with just a few buses, none of the heavy mining traffic that blights Peru’s highways in general. Llocllapampa turned out to be a friendly little village, while lunching in the plaza I met Walter, a local chap, who invited me into his home to look at his collection of fossils from the surrounding area. A true enthusiast of his local area he is in the process of converting part of his home into a homestay for visitors. Should you wish to spend some time hiking in the surrounding mountains or just looking for a short day out of Jauja he would be worth seeking out. Super chap. Llocllapampa also has it’s own slightly, and naturally, carbonated mineral water, it is sweet stuff.
Here’s that route from Jauja.
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10 thoughts on “Jauja to the Peru Divide”
Nice to see you fit again Mike and on a proper journey – with, as usual, stunning photos.
Hi, I’ve been following your blog for a while, I can’t remember why originally, perhaps something to do with a Brother Cycles bike. Anyway, this is inspiring stuff, I feel like I’m living vicariously through you and these amazing photos. I’d love to be able to do something like this, currently building up the nerve to go on an overnighter myself after having put together my own bike
I believe I may have also asked this before but what is your photography setup? Is it an X-Pro2? Are you using Lightroom to touch these up. The photography is lovely and for me really redolent of my travels around S. America in 2009.
hey Adam, thanks for the super comment! I hope you get out there under the stars very soon. Photo setup is indeed an x-pro 2 + 23 f2 wr and 50 f2 wr lenses. I’m also lugging along a 55-200 for this trip as I suspect last visit to the Andes. I’m not using lightroom or anything like that, just iridient developer to process the raw files and then some v minor adjustments in Serif Affinity if needed.
Brilliant photos Mike. That light! I had to go through my old photos to remember exactly where these places were. Is Laraos the village with the big hat in the plaza? The mayor came and personally welcomed us to town I recall :-D I guess that means you might be winding your way up Punta Pumacocha soon… now that’s a pass. There’s a wonderful bakery waiting for you in Huancavelica if you’re headed there. Enjoy!
hey, cheers and great to hear from you. re Laraos – yep that’s the one! awesome about the mayor. no such luck in my case, although did I tell you about the time i went to buy socks in Santo Tomas and ended up on local radio? It was not long before we met in Arequipa. anyway, yep, the Punta Pumacocha… quite a stiff climb…. In Hunacavelica now for a few days r and r , and catch up on work….!
Nice to see you fit again Mike and on a proper journey – with, as usual, stunning photos.
hehe, cheers! I don’t feel ‘fit’… not yet anyway, mostly just shagged. it’ll take a couple of weeks to adapt I think.. at least
A wonderful adventure. Glad you are able to be up there again.
Crazy that you are able to post this from from a remote place .
Fabulous photographs
cheers! it’s amazing isn’t it.. wifi everywhere these days…
Great to hear that you are doing well and sounding so up beat. Amazing photos, I love seeing your travels xx
ah thanks, looking forward to ‘dummying’ round the cliffs to yours for dinner when I get back ;-)
Hi, I’ve been following your blog for a while, I can’t remember why originally, perhaps something to do with a Brother Cycles bike. Anyway, this is inspiring stuff, I feel like I’m living vicariously through you and these amazing photos. I’d love to be able to do something like this, currently building up the nerve to go on an overnighter myself after having put together my own bike
I believe I may have also asked this before but what is your photography setup? Is it an X-Pro2? Are you using Lightroom to touch these up. The photography is lovely and for me really redolent of my travels around S. America in 2009.
Anyway, safe travels, looks amazing!
hey Adam, thanks for the super comment! I hope you get out there under the stars very soon. Photo setup is indeed an x-pro 2 + 23 f2 wr and 50 f2 wr lenses. I’m also lugging along a 55-200 for this trip as I suspect last visit to the Andes. I’m not using lightroom or anything like that, just iridient developer to process the raw files and then some v minor adjustments in Serif Affinity if needed.
Brilliant photos Mike. That light! I had to go through my old photos to remember exactly where these places were. Is Laraos the village with the big hat in the plaza? The mayor came and personally welcomed us to town I recall :-D I guess that means you might be winding your way up Punta Pumacocha soon… now that’s a pass. There’s a wonderful bakery waiting for you in Huancavelica if you’re headed there. Enjoy!
hey, cheers and great to hear from you. re Laraos – yep that’s the one! awesome about the mayor. no such luck in my case, although did I tell you about the time i went to buy socks in Santo Tomas and ended up on local radio? It was not long before we met in Arequipa. anyway, yep, the Punta Pumacocha… quite a stiff climb…. In Hunacavelica now for a few days r and r , and catch up on work….!