Intro
The morning in Paracsha was sharp and cold, the kind of air that makes your lungs feel brittle until the sun finally clears the eastern ridges. I started the day on a steep gravel pitch that lasted two kilometers, a blunt reminder that the Andes don’t offer easy starts, even when the sky is clear.
The Two-Chair Bistro
- I kicked off the day with a breakfast of dense local bread smeared with peanut butter and a few pieces of fruit. That salty-sweet smell of peanut butter stayed with me through the first heavy climb out of town. By 10:15 AM, I was locked into a six-kilometer secondary ascent. To be honest, I was getting bored with the scenery. It was just an endless repetition of rolling green hills, with the occasional snow-capped peak visible so far in the distance it didn’t feel real. The road surface was manageable gravel, but the monotony of the green slopes was starting to wear on my motivation.
- I reached the first summit around noon, passing a small blue lagoon that offered a brief flicker of visual interest before I rolled into the village of Antacolpa. I was starving and found a windowless restaurant that looked more like a brick bunker. When I asked the owner if I could move a table and chair outside to eat in the sun, she gave me a firm no. However, she compromised by bringing out two plastic chairs. One was for me to sit on, and the other served as my table. It was a ridiculous setup, but it worked. As I shoveled down a surprisingly good soup and some mediocre lomo salteado, a sow and four small piglets began scurrying around my feet. The sound of the piglets grunting and their tiny hooves clicking on the hard-packed dirt was my only entertainment while I balanced my plate on the second chair.
The Ridge Reveal
- The afternoon resumed with another climb, though this one was smoother and less aggressive than the morning’s work. I was still surrounded by those same green hills and the occasional small stream, feeling like I was stuck in a loop. Then, the road changed. I hit a mining track that began to switchback sharply through a narrow opening in the ridge. I geared down, pushed through the final bend, and the entire world transformed. The ‘Great Reveal’ wasn’t subtle; it was a total geological pivot.
- The rolling green slopes vanished instantly. In their place, the landscape dropped away to reveal a massive, deep-blue laguna. Beyond the water, the mountains had lost their soft edges, rising in jagged, vertical spires of dark rock and heavy glaciers. The scale of the peaks felt suddenly much closer and more imposing. I passed the first laguna and then a second one appeared as I began the final climb toward Antacallanca. The air grew thinner and the wind picked up a bite, but the sight of those snow-capped walls kept me moving much faster than the boring hills of the morning ever could.
A Bedroom on a Table
- I rolled into the settlement of Antacallanca just as the sun was beginning to dip. It’s a quiet place—just a few buildings around a grassy square where I saw two men and a lone sheep. One of the men, Louis, listened to me explain my need for a spot to sleep and simply pointed at a two-story event hall. ‘Here,’ he said. He disappeared after fifteen minutes of conversation, returned with a heavy key, and cracked open the padlock for me. The building was cavernous and clearly the site of a recent celebration. The red floor was covered in a fine, white ‘party dust’ that held the ghost-like patterns of dozens of shoe prints.
- Louis left me to it, and I prioritized calories over comfort. I whipped up a massive pot of pasta, fortified with two eggs, a sliced carrot, a tin of fish, and a bit of corn flour to turn the broth into a thick, creamy sauce. By 7:30 PM, I was scraping the bottom of the pot. When it came time to sleep, I couldn’t bring myself to put my gear down in that white dust on the floor. I spotted a massive wooden table that was wider than my tent’s footprint. I hauled my gear up, laid out the footprint and my mattress on the tabletop, and crawled into my sleeping bag. It felt like camping on a stage. I didn’t bother with a shower—I hadn’t sweated enough to justify the cold water—and by 9:30 PM, I was out.
Overnight
I stayed in a two-story village event hall in Antacallanca. It was dusty and smelled like a stale party, but it provided a solid roof and a massive table that kept me off the filthy floor.
Reflection
A large wooden table makes a better bed frame than a dirty red floor when you’re sleeping in a village community center.
Route summary
- Date: 2026-05-13
- Distance: 43.82 km
- Elevation gain: 922 m
- Elevation loss: 645 m
- Duration: 10 h 5 min
- Time in Motion: 4 h 59 min
- Average Speed: 8.8 km/h