Tarapoto, Lake Sauce

No, is not a sauce, its name is from a tree, the Willow tree which in Spanish is sauce. One of the main tourist attractions in Tarapoto can be reached by bike, not without some effort, especially if the sun kicks out.

As always the idea is to explore and try, in those years there were few cyclists in the area, and no one to really ask about. So basically we check out maps, and learn something about local transportation and in those years the great Carlos González (RIP) from Puerto Palmeras lent us a couple of bicycles.

We left Tarapoto by pedal very early and as supposed, the sun was already beginning to beat us down and before it kills us, we found a tuk-tuk, asked for a ride, and pickup the bikes near Colombia bridge, we saved ourselves from a long pedal ride to reach the pass of Huallaga river.

Once on the other side of the Huallaga River, there were no help, so we start to ride with the sun on our heads trying to annihilate us. But finally, we arrived, the route is a good direct ascent without stops and places to hide or buy any supplies. And as we spent a lot of time there, and as the day passes there was no time to try to return biking, so, if we went down back to the river we were not going to find a local transfer in the middle of the highway to Tarapoto and the night will fall, so we had no choice but to board a station wagon and put the bikes in, that way we could reach as close as possible to Tarapoto.