Motorcycle Explorer September 2016 Issue 13 | Page 65

You would be forgiven if you missed the town of San Juán near
the summit of the road travelling between Chugay and
Aricapampa in La Libertad. What can be seen from the road is
only a few concrete buildings selling some basic provisions and
gas. Most of the population lives throughout the countryside as
the high altitude valley is quite wide and open. From the town
the main road continues a few kilometres further to the summit
of the pass, but there are tracks leading off in every direction to
the farm houses of the people who live in the area. It was
nearing the end of the day so we decided to explore one of the
tracks hoping to find a nice location to pitch the tent. There is
literally an endless combination of tracks to choose from so we
just rode in a generally northwesterly direction until we came
upon an open area close to one particular farmhouse with
people outside.