View from our hotel room in Huaraz (View on flickr)

Randy and Nancy in front of Cordillera Blanca peak (View on flickr)

We've just had the delight of riding right up into the Andes, over the highest pass of our trip, and over hundreds of kilometers of both paved and dirt road. It has to be some of the best bike touring we've ever done. And some parts of it were probably as hard as we've ever done.

In Huaraz, in the Cordillera Blanca, we looked out of our hotel window at the amazing peaks of the tallest mountain range outside the Himalayas. Huaraz is at about 3000 meters, or 10,000 feet. But from there we began to climb gradually to a pass at 4300 meters, then down a bit, then up to the biggest pass of the trip, at 4700 meters (15,400 feet). It was all incredibly beautiful.

But the best part all along the way was the people we met. There were shy families along the way, tending their sheep while knitting or spinning wool into yarn. One woman let Nancy hold her most prized lamb. We ran into celebrations in three different villages. They roped us into the dancing and the eating and the drinking. It was a delight. We stayed the night camped out with a Spaniard who is "getting away from it all" with a flourish - he and a friend showed Nancy how to pan for gold - and she found a little flake of gold in the Rio Maranon! Now she's rich and can afford the rest of the trip.

In Huánuco Pampa (Huánuco Viejo) we saw not only ancient Inca ruins but an amazing cultural competition, with planting and slingshot competitions along with potato peeling and spinning and rope braiding. See them all here.

In the tiny village of Huayuculano we rode up and entered into the mainstream of a full celebration: music, dancing, food. They stopped us, watched our bikes, made us dance. They loved having us photograph everything. You can see all the pictures here and watch the video here.

Here are the pictures from Huyanculano. You can click on them to see the big size,and click "next" or "previous" to step through them.

We're not able to keep up with all these pictures, so we're going to just give you some of them here:

Family tending the sheep, and knitting while tending (View on flickr)

Woman chatting with us along the way (View on flickr)

Nancy climbing from Pachapaqui (View on flickr)

Woman serving us lunch at celebration in Huyuculano (View on flickr)

Our friend Julia shows Nancy how to hold a lamb (View on flickr)

Woman spinning wool in the Pampa above La Union, near Huanuco Viejo (View on flickr)

José Antonio, Nancy, and Daniel at Tingo Chico (View on flickr)

Competitors in the potato peeling competition (View on flickr)

Inca maiden at Huayuculano (View on flickr)

Randy riding up toward pass on Chavinillo to Huánuco road (View on flickr)