{"id":2755,"date":"2026-09-20T11:35:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T11:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spokesandshoes.com\/wordpress\/?p=2755"},"modified":"2026-09-20T11:35:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T11:35:58","slug":"day-334-2026-09-17-the-donkeys-pace-finding-warmth-in-the-canyons-of-yunga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spokesandshoes.com\/wordpress\/2026\/09\/day-334-2026-09-17-the-donkeys-pace-finding-warmth-in-the-canyons-of-yunga\/","title":{"rendered":"Day #334 – 2026-09-17 – The Donkey\u2019s Pace: Finding Warmth in the Canyons of Yunga"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Intro<\/h3>\n

Today was Day 334 of this journey, and it began with a shivering 3.8\u00b0C morning inside a cold schoolhouse in Pillone. After five days of wild camping or invitations and high-altitude grit since leaving Arequipa, my only goal was reaching Yunga, where the promise of a real bed and a roof outweighed any desire for high mileage. The gravel under my tires felt fast on the initial drop, but the day soon slowed down to a rhythmic, ancient crawl.<\/p>\n

Walking with Patricio<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • I woke up at 06:30, well before my alarm, but stayed pinned inside my sleeping bag to avoid the bite of the morning air. Breakfast was a functional mix of 100g of oats, nuts, and raisins stirred into the sweet tea a local lady had brought me the night before. That lingering taste of sugar and herbs became my first anchor for the day. By 09:25, I finally rolled out of the school gates, hitting a fast descent that cut through the silence of the high valleys. The gravel was well-maintained, and for a moment, I thought I\u2019d make record time.<\/li>\n
  • That changed at the 11:00 mark when the first real climb began\u2014a 3.4km stretch with 140 meters of vertical gain. At this altitude, my lungs felt like they were lined with sandpaper. I was stopping every few meters to catch my breath when I saw a man sitting in the dirt next to three donkeys. His name was Patricio. He was heading to Tassa and suggested we walk together. Normally, I\u2019d be worried about the clock, but today I accepted the invitation. For the next hour, my world narrowed down to the crunch of gravel and the recurring sound of Patricio\u2019s voice. He kept his animals moving with a rhythmic, low-frequency ‚burrooo, shhhh‘ that seemed to vibrate through the thin air. It wasn’t a conversation so much as a shared pace.<\/li>\n
  • Halfway up, we ran into a crew of construction workers in a van. They were fascinated by the bike, and Patricio, clearly not in a rush, leaned against the side of the truck to chat. They handed me a bag of salty cancha\u2014toasted corn\u2014and we took photos on a handful of different phones. When we finally reached the summit at 12:50, Patricio and his burros continued their slow trek, his ’shhhh‘ calls fading into the distance as I prepped for the descent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The Concrete Kitchen of Tassa<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • The ride into Tassa was spectacular, though I\u2019m paying for it now. I passed through a series of massive, jagged rock formations that looked like they\u2019d been dropped into the canyon by a giant. By 14:15, a light drizzle started to fall, and the temperature hovered around 11.7\u00b0C. I was hungry and looking for a place to hide from the rain, but Tassa doesn’t really have restaurants. I wandered into what looked like a construction site, which turned out to be the local ONPE office.<\/li>\n
    • The ‚office‘ was a skeleton of a building\u2014raw, cold concrete floors, exposed walls, and a roof that echoed with the tap of the rain. The smell of wet cement and damp dust was thick, but in the corner, three workers had rigged up a kitchen using a wooden board balanced on an 11kg gas bottle. They didn’t hesitate; they pulled up a plastic chair and handed me a massive bowl of warm pasta. In exchange, I dug into my panniers and shared my cancha, an avocado, and a pack of Mabel\u2019s wafers. Eating that pasta in a half-finished room felt better than any five-star meal I\u2019ve had on this trip. It was a moment of pure, unscripted hospitality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      The Dust and the Descent<\/h3>\n
        \n
      • The final leg into Yunga was a plummet into the canyon. The rain had cleared, leaving the air heavy and the backdrop of the town looking like a painting against the steep mountain walls. However, the last 1.5km climb into the village nearly broke me. Breathing was difficult, I still felt the dust from the previous days in my lungs, accumulating slime in the bottom of them. By the time I reached the hotel\u2014a basic spot located right above a grocery store\u2014I was spent.<\/li>\n
      • I had to wait nearly an hour for the owners to finish a delivery and prep the room, but I didn’t mind. I just sat on the curb, feeling the 15.8\u00b0C breeze and listening to the town hum. Once I hauled my gear up to the room, I spent fifty minutes on the phone with a friend in Germany, talking about everything from the route ahead to his tax refund. It was a strange bridge between two worlds. For dinner, I found a ’secret‘ restaurant in a local lady’s house. She led me through a few dark streets to a tiny room with two tables where she served me green rice, fried eggs, and more of that herbal sweet tea. It was simple, hot, and exactly what I needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Overnight<\/h3>\n

        I\u2019m staying in a basic hotel in Yunga, situated directly above a grocery store. It\u2019s the first proper bed I\u2019ve slept in for five days, and having a door that locks and a floor that isn’t dirt feels like absolute luxury.<\/p>\n

        Reflection<\/h3>\n

        The high-altitude dust from passing trucks has finally settled in my lungs, and though the cough is constant, the slow pace of a donkey-path day is the only way to actually see these canyons.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

        \n

        Route summary<\/h2>\n
          \n
        • Date: 2026-09-17<\/li>\n
        • Distance: 31.03 km<\/li>\n
        • Elevation gain: 371 m<\/li>\n
        • Elevation loss: 1207 m<\/li>\n
        • Duration: 6 h 53 min<\/li>\n
        • Time in Motion: 2 h 54 min<\/li>\n
        • Average Speed: 10.7 km\/h<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n
          \n