An uphill start out of Tamborapa for 5 km or so, but with a chicken and rice breakfast in me, and paved roads underneath, it was all fine. Again, I was cycling past terraced rice fields, whose water cleverly ran down from one to another by means of channels dug at different lengths.
A downhill section led to the turn off for Bellavista, and I paused here a bit. Most cyclists take this route, which goes down a dirt track, t take a lancha over the river, and effectively cut 60 km whilst by passing Jaen to Bagua Grande. I decided against this, and pushed on for Jaen instead, as it was by all accounts a much bigger town than Bagua Grande, and I would be there easily by lunch time, giving me the afternoon to sort out ATM machines. The road continued to roll, and 10 km later I was in Jaen, which was maybe 5 times bigger than San Ignacio, and would surely have everything I need. I checked into Gran Hostal Libertad, which was reasonable at 15 Soles a night with own bathroom and cable TV, so I decided to take the room for three nights, as both my bike and body could do with a bit of a rest !Finding a few ATM machines was easy, but I was again greeted by the problem of my debit card not working. Each time I would get the message “Not able to connect with bank, please try again later”. I once more had to withdraw cash on my credit card. I at least have cash now, and a couple of days off to decompress before hitting the road again has been well earned I think !
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