SA 53: Oyón

Welcome to 1000 Miles South America, which I started on May 22, 2026 as part of my greater project of running 1000 miles on every continent. On June 11, I finished running from volcano to volcano in Ecuador, climbing and skiing each one. Then, I set two new FKTs, on one the Cordillera Blanca Traverse, invented by Cam Honan in 2014, and the other onthe world-famous Huayuash Circuit. Now I am running with the wind through the Peruvian Altiplano for my final stretch of 169 miles. Follow this blog or my Instagram for updates.

Summary: Run from Oyón towards Cerro de Pasco with a newly lightened pack and hitchhike the rest of the way to the city.

Link to Line

I realized that I could probably send my camping and other heavy gear to Lima if I continued hitchhiking at the end of each run to finish the night in town. When I woke up in Oyón, I went to the bus terminal and paid 15 soles/$4.46USD to ship my sleeping back, tent, rain gear, and other emergency items to Lima where I can pick them up when I finish my 1000 miles in a few days.

For my last 80 miles, I’ll get to try out a new style of adventure: truly running on roads with just some snacks, water, and warm clothes + hitchhiking to wherever I need to go. I’m excited to try this out.

The run starts off jubilant. I’m jogging extremely slowly, but jogging consistently uphill to 4000 meters.

stop to swim at a crisp high altitude Laguna

The prettiest woman stopped and gave me an orange. Her smile made me blush and brightened my day.

Then some miners stopped and gave me a banana. Good vibes here

Buenaventura. I thought this meant good adventure, but it means good fortune… and

Compañía de Minas Buenaventura is Peru’s largest publicly traded precious and base metals company

Big mining town

Ucchucchacua is the 12th largest silver mine in the world, I later learn

Abra Ucchuchacua, 4737m mountain pass

Cattle country

hey alpaca

As the sun lowers in the sky I realize I’m still hours, even by car, from the nearest city. I start looking for a hitchhike

a man driving his family stops to pick me up. I find myself immersed in a family dynamic with a mama passing around snacks after a full day with myself

After the man drops off his family at home, he loads up a huge truck with alpacas and offers to drive me in that to the next city. He will skip sleep and drive through the night to a fair where he can sell alpacas.

A new woman and child also hop in the truck. I take her to be his mistress on account of his other family that he was driving in the daylight. I’m too tired to give much thought to the situation and fall asleep sitting between the man and his mistress.

In case you’re curious, cows sell for 2000s/$595USD, horses sell for 800-100s/$237-297USD, and alpacas sell for 400s/$119USD.

The man tells me people eat horse here, they make ham from the horses. But his mistress tells me that’s not true when I ask her. Glad I double checked before telling the world that Peruvians eat horse ham.

When we arrive in Cerro de Pasco at night, locals are performing choreography in the central plaza, Parque Minero.

At this point, all I know is that Cerro de Pasco is a mining town and not to drink the water which is contaminated with metals from the mine. More to come tomorrow on this peculiar city.