CYCLING: Couch Surfing and breath taking views!

The past week has been quite an eventful one but I will try keep this post brief as we bump down a dusty lunar like valley crisscrossing a river which I would much rather be kayaking down!

Day 13 to 15: The discovery of Couch Surfing
We had had a great time in Chiclayo especially getting to meet Yuliana with all her local know how. Jim, his girlfriend Dennisse, and now Yuliana had all spoken of the Couch Surfing on-line community that they all belonged to which enables one to get in contact with locals in cities the world over so that one can either stay with a local (for free may I add) or just meet up with them to learn a bit about each others city, culture etc. we decided to check it out and Couch Surfing turned out to be just what we were looking for as we almost immediately found a guy named Abrahan in Trujillo, the next big city we were due to stay in, with lots of local knowledge who kindly said he would have us at at late notice. We were to be his 107th and 108th Couch Surfing guests!

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We spent one night in Pacasmayo on our way to Trujillo. Pacasmayo turned out to be a nice little industrial beach town but the approach by bike was far from inviting. Coming into the city there was nothing but desert, a strong head wind and what turned out to be a cement factory in the distance spewing out a huge cloud of pollution. This scene was so unpleasant that they even had a sign asking you to smile because you were now in Pacasmayo!

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We spent 2 nights with Abrahan in Trujillo. The first night we hit the sack early as we had had 2 long days on the bike but got up early to check out the nearby attractions Chan Chan and Huanchaco had to offer.

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Chan Chan is an ancient pre Columbian village so as with most tourist attractions we came, we saw, we read a bit, we took pictures and moved on.

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Huanchaco is a very popular surf town with a great left wave but as the weather and water were far cooler than we had become accustomed to in Montañita we just watched a few 'gringos' learn to surf then headed back to check out a little more of Trujillo.

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Frank, another Couch Surfer from France, had arrived at Abrahan's house while we were out so when we returned we all set out together to the local market to buy the ingredients for the local dish Abrahan's mom would later help us to prepare. The dish was called Papa a la Huancaína - basically boiled potatoes smothered in delicious cheese and chilly sauce!

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Frank, not having to get up at 6am to cycle out of town, took up an offer to go to Abrahan's friends house - thankfully we declined as he only crawled in a couple of hours before we were due to depart!

Day 16 & 17: More kind people and the road to Chimbote
Next we were due to cycle to Chimbote where we planned to leave our bikes so we could head inland for a few days so we could go hiking in the Cordillera Blanca mountains. Fortunately, we found a Couch Surfer in Chimbote, Juan, who was away but said his mom and brother would help us out.

Chimbote was 130km away which we had planned to do in 2 days but after cycling about 90km there was nowhere to stay or that looked inviting to camp on, behind or near so we pushed on and stayed in Santa, just 12km outside of Chimbote.

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We arrived at our host which was actually a school early the next day and what a warm welcome we received! Everyone at the school greeted us warmly, even the children politely stretched out their hands to shake ours and greeted us with the few words of English they knew 'hello teacher'!

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Juan's mom and brother showed us where to store our bikes, the showers and where to change etc. Then Juan's brother and his friend took us to get our bus tickets, showed us a bit around town then took us for the most delicious Ceviche (mixture of raw fish, squid etc in spicy lemon juice) ever before seeing us off on the midday bus to Caraz.

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Caraz was 6 hrs away on the bus along a single track dirt road winding its way up into the mountains hooting loudly as it passed through precarious narrow sand stone tunnels, hair pin bends and any form of rural dwelling. Eventually we made it to Caraz alive after having seen some of the most amazing scenery ever and having played taxi to anyone that needed to hop on or off along the way including the local ice-cream man (optimistically serving up ice-cream cones running up and down hoping they would all sell before they quickly melted in the desert heat) and the dozens of local ladies selling rather sought after lemons which inevitably landed up rolling around the bus floor.

Day 18 to 20: Hiking the Cordillera Blanca mountains
We spent the night in Caraz, which is a very old Spanish village full of charm, at a beautiful little hostel which reminded me so much of my old farm house back in South Africa - high roof, thick walls and dry cool air.

Frank met up with us at our hostel early the next morning after having spent another night partying in Trujillo and a night on the bus up from Trujillo.

We then spent the next 3 days together exploring the area but I'll let the pics tell best part of the story:
-The Llanganuco lagoons: Chinancocha and Orconcocha (A day trip, 2hrs by taxi along a steep gravel road from Yungay a village just 15min away. 2 magnificent glacial lagoons surrounded by towering snow capped peaks)

From World Travels - Peru

From World Travels - Peru

From World Travels - Peru

-Old Yungay Memorial (This old village was destroyed by an avalanche on 31 May 1970 caused by an earthquake killing an estimated 70000 in the region including everyone in the village)

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From World Travels - Peru

From World Travels - Peru

-Parón Lagoon (A 2 day hike. After catching a taxi over an hour up into the mountains from Caraz we hiked up the valley along a crystal clear glacial river and around the lagoon where we were due to camp the night then return along the same route the day following. Which all proved tougher than thought as the lagoon had risen up and over the friendly footpath which can now be seen 1m below the surface of the crystal clear lagoon.)

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The hike up to the Parón Lagoon was awesome and fortunately no one lost their footing while clambering around the steep lagoon mountain sides thus avoiding broken limbs and a rather unwelcome freezing swim.

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The night spent camping at the mouth of the lagoon below snow capped peaks turned out not to be as chilly as expected thanks to our rather overly toasty 'bolsa de dormir' directly translated to bag of sleep. However, the outsides of our tents and my shoes which I had left outside the tent had somewhat frozen over night.

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Mark and I both woke up in the middle of night feeling like we were trapped in a sauna after having dressed ourselves in everything we had with us and wrapping ourselves up tightly in our below zero rated bags of sleep. However, in my panic to cool down by removing all my clothes, besides my underwear, while still in my bag of sleep, I managed to role onto Frank's drinking bladder and thus woke up an hour later only to discover I was now sleeping in a very wet puddle of water! At first, only because the puddle was rather toasty warm, I grew concerned that I returned to my early childhood habit of wetting the bed when sleeping in a strange place so I was almost relieved to discover the pipe running from Frank's drinking bladder underneath me.

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Day 21: Return to Chimbote
After seeing Frank off (sans his phone which must have been taken from his bag while in storage at the hostel - strange though because nothing else including cash in the same pocket had disappeared) and having spent one more night recovering in Caraz we are now returning to Chimbote for some more delicious Ceviche and a night at the school where we had stored our stuff.

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Tomorrow we set off on the last 450km to Lima hoping to be there by this time next week where we will meet up with Ross, store our bikes and head inland again to Machu Picchu and Bolivia.

Hope you enjoyed the pics! A full collection of the pics can be seen here.

CYCLING: Desert, desert and more desert

We have spent most of the past week tackling a long desert stretch but have made some good ground.

Day 8: a little oasis
After our night at the dodgy truck stop we had a long slog knowing there would not be a town for us to spend the night as Piura was over 100km away which meant we had to find a spot to refuel and rest for the night.

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Fortunately, as we were growing weary we came across what looked like a sugar cane region. There seemed to be plenty of little canals running between the fields feeding what looked like rather oddly place fields of green reeds contrasting beautifully against the backdrop of the brown sandy hills.

As we were in some kind of farming region we stumbled upon a little farming village where the local Jehovah's Witnesses kindly took us in (and yes we did get a booklet to read but if only they new how much of it we could understand). They provided us with what looked like a secure concrete and bamboo storehouse with a dusty sand floor, tin roof and no furniture besides a dusty old wonky bench. After entertaining the local kids with our game of Yatzy the locals started to role back into town which is when we soon became the local spectacle. Soon we had to retire to the privacy of the wonky bench to make and eat dinner so as not to feel like we were the main feature in a zoo!

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Day 9: Piura and the search for the camping stove
Piura was only 30 odd km from our sleep spot so we arrived there early giving us plenty of time to haggle the local hostels for their best price and to go on a hunt for a camping stove.

After being sent from shop to shop we landed up at the local market which was about 4 blocks wide and deep, a pick pockets dream come true! We managed to find everything thing in there except a camping stove however we did manage to leave with our wallets in tacked - I guess when most of the locals can barely afford a standard gas plate going camping with a fancy lightweight camping stove is at the bottom of their list of things to do. So the hunt for the camping stove will probably continue until we get to Lima.

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Day 10: the Sechura Desert
For 2 days we pushed on through the desert with very little to distract us except for sand dunes and a few thorn bushes dotted here and there, otherwise it was pretty flat with an unforgiving head wind sweeping across the planes.

Besides the unforgiving head wind the weather was very kind to us providing a thick cloud cover with even a light drizzle at one stage!

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We spent one very pleasant night in the desert. Dashing across the soft desert sand dragging our 50kg while discreetly trying to find a thorn bush big enough and thick enough to hide us for the night was a bit of a mission. However, once our tents had had been setup and the sun had begun to set we sat and enjoyed our tuna, avo and mayo sandwiches then headed to bed early as the evening quickly began to grow cold.

Day 11: Morrópe and a night at the dentist
We had a good and long nights sleep on the soft desert sand but we knew we were going to be pushing it to make it to the 1st town just under 90km away with a steady head wind.

It was a very long and arduous day and all we had to look forward to was more tuna sandwiches on the side of a dusty windy road. We had not taken very long breaks so by the time it got to early afternoon, after having got up at 6am, we had enough of looking for the next thing on the horizon - just another telecoms repeater tower which seemed to take forever to get any closer.

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Eventually we saw what looked like it could be a toll gate - yes had we finally made it to Morrópe?! Yes we had and right next to the toll gate was a little local restaurant. Boy did we have a good afternoon feast there!

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Morrópe the town was actually a little further on and smaller than expected. I don't think they often had visitors and definitely didn't often have gringos come into town as we were definitely the talk of the town. Some children even screamed 'gringos' to each other then stared at us.

We found a room to stay at the local dentist but before bed we went for a stroll and a drink at a local. By then the news had spread and the sniggers had changed to ones of disbelief - 'Africanos'?

Day 12: Chiclayo, Cesar and Yuliana
We got to Chiclayo by 9am, found a nice place to stay and headed straight for the highly recommended Romanas Restaurant. Cesar, a local businessman who has been living in New Jersey for 40years and too loves Romanas, befriended us and kindly helped us pick out the best dish.

After brunch he showed us around town and took us to his sister´s place where he fed us a local drink, Pisco, given to him by a local high court judge so it was good stuff. I kind of enjoyed my midday shooter but you can imagine how chuffed Mark was when he looked up to see a shot of the best being handed to him!

Later that eve we met up with one of Jim's (the Chicagoan guy from the Montañita Spanish School) local friends Yuliana. We had some good cheap local Chinese then did as all locals do on a Sunday even and headed for the up market mall where we finally found a road map of Peru! And, of course had a couple of local cocktails involving Pisco..

CYCLING: The most harrowing border in South America!

Day 3: Chasing the boat
So we are now in Peru but we never did get a boat across the bay thus avoiding Guayaquil on the way out of Ecuador.

After a very peaceful night under the bush 'near' Playas in Ecuador we started making our way down the coast to catch the infamous boat across the bay to Machala. Firstly we took some more bad advice and took a shortcut across a very soft sandy road to get to Playas which was shorter but the longer tar road would have been far quicker! After about 3 hours of cycling and being told at least 3 times at different points along the road that Playas was 'solo 12km' we decided to hop on a local bus with our bikes much to the amusement of the local commuters to make sure we made the boat in time!

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Sadly there were no boats going from Playas but we were told to head on another 12km to the port town (which was more like 20km) at the end of the road where there was sure to be one. But to our surprise there were only boats that would take you to Isla Puná which sits in the middle of the bay with Machala on the other side. We did convince them to take us across to Machala but they wanted $250 for their trouble as petrol was pricey in their little boats and there were many pirates in the bay. By this stage we were begining to feel uneasy and the rather unconvincing lady man was getting uncomfortably close so we took their advice and took the 'direct' bus around the bay via Guayaquil to Machala instead.

Machala is edgy and very big city like. The border we were due to cross to Peru along the coast was described as the 'most harrowing border in South America' so we did some googling and the reports did not get any better - 'avoid if possible'. We toyed with the idea of taking a bus across the border but thankfully we pulled ourselves together and got on with it.

Day 4: Crossing the border from Ecuador to Peru
We got up at 6am and at this stage we still did not have a map so got some sketchy directions from the receptionist, crossed checked them with where the sun was coming up, and did a beeline for the border.

We cycled all morning stocking up on free bananas along the way as this was banana country when finally we started coming across military check points which only meant we were getting close to the border! We had been instructed to seek an exit stamp in Huaquillas just 3km from the border but instead found a border just 500m before Huaquillas only to discover this was the new border kindly being constructed by the EU which was not yet open, but as with most things in Peru the sign posts go up long before the actual construction.

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We got our exit stamps in Haquillas with no problems or queues - odd, far easier than expected. Then we cycled through town, through literally a tunnel of stalls just waiting to be preyed on by someone but before we knew it we were crossing an old bridge on the ortherside into Peru - no boom, no searching, nada! Only about 2km into Peru did we pop into the immigration office to ask for an entrance stamp but only because we had been looking out for it. What on earth was all the fuss about?! Clearly the authors of the books and blogs we'd read had not crossed an African border or at least not the one between South Africa and Mozambique!

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We stayed in Tumbes, Peru that night after meeting some very pleasant Peruvians along the way. The one guy and his possibly son could not believe that we did not speak Spanish in South Africa and that in England he would not be understood if he spoke Spanish. We enlightened each other with some info about our own countries and he kindly provided us with some much needed fresh water then we were back on our way.

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Day 5 and 6: Mancora and rest day
The next day we pushed on to Mancora where we spent 2 nights. Nice little surf town, great food and we even bumped into Wing - the Californian who'd also been staying with Kajsa's Montañita home stay. Jokingly Kajsa had said to ´say hi to Mark and David´ as she set off home to Sweden knowing he was heading in our direction!

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Day 7: Hectic climb, awesome downhill biking, serious wind and beautiful views

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Today we had a harrowing 25km uphill cycle to start the day off with - something about the sign saying 'El Alto 26km' kind of gave us an idea it was going to be a long cycle before breakfast! We wound our way up the sandy desert pass making every other incline we'd done feel like a downhill in comparison but the view from the top was all worth it. Oil pumps litter the desert hills in all directions making it all look quite ominous!

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We decided against staying in the open tonight and decided to rather stay at a rather dodgy little truck stop/petrol station just like in the movies! To save cash we now lay side by side on an old double bed, no sheets, no pillow, no water in the bathroom and no power in the plugs - oh well what can one expect for $5 :)

CYCLING: The crazy journey finally commences!

The Depature

It was Wed June 2, 2009 and the big day had  arrived - the day we had agreed to set-off on our massive test of the expression let's just see how it pans out. The reality that we would be leaving the Montañita life and the fantastic people we had gotten to know over the past 6 weeks had in reality  already began to set-in soon after Kajsa and I had returned to from the Galapagos. If I had to be honest with myself I wasn't able to be the care free self I had been for the past weeks.

The days after we returned from our little sub holiday were awash with emotions. The Ecuadorian beach town of Montañita had become my life, my reality as I knew it. I had 2 of my best mates with me, a whole village of beautiful people inside and out, perfect weather, golden beaches with often perfect waves and I even had a Ecuadorian family complete with Golden Retriever. The knowledge and continuous contact with loving friends and family dotted around the world were by no means forgotten during this time but in fact were what allowed me to be so fully content.

The Monday before we left we all finally got round to making the infamous Swedish cakes with the Swedish girls - the first sign the Montañita life was coming to an end. Tuesday everyone joined us for dinner and drinks to bid us farewell - someone we didn't even know very well gave us a heartfelt farewell speech :)  First thing in the morning as the 'Swedish family' headed off to their voluntary work at the local hospital they bode us farewell and gave us Yatzy to take on our journey - thanks guys! We did some last minute admin then Kajsa and I had a good breakfast at the vegetarian restaurant we had all eaten at the first day we arrived in town. Finally it was time to leave so we said some difficult goodbyes and off we went.


Day 1: La Libertad
We cycled to La Libertad 65km away which was tough with all our stuff. After all our (my) faffing we only got away at noon just in time for the clouds to clear and a perfect scorching day to appear! We scored a great place for the first night in La Libertad - even got our own rooms for $10 each.


Day 2: The never ending cycle to Playas

First thing this morning we cycled to Salinas about 10km away only to discover we could not catch a boat from there to Machala (after being told by every other Ecuadorian before we got to Salinas that it was possible) which we had hoped to do in order to avoid cycling inland to Guayaquil and out again to get to Peru.
So we took some more Ecuadorian advice and decide to cycle to Playas which closer to Guayaquil but quite far off the main road so if the advice is wrong again we are going to be rather annoyed!

We have progressed quite well today as we have cycled back 10km to La Libertad, 30km along the highway towards Guayaquil and 20km down a dirt road towards Playas. We were advised to take the dirt road over a lunch as it was a shortcut and fortunately started just 10meters from where were eating.


The cycle down the dirt road is the best thing that could have happened - the scenery all the way back to the coast and along the coast has been beautiful and we have only seen a handful of cars.


Sleeping under a bush
As the evening began to fall we came across a little rural town where we bought some tins of tuna and refreshments for dinner. We soon became the town show as the kids gathered around laughing at our 'Spanish' and laughing even harder at our English. Most of the rural people don't even know where Africa is and keep asking if we have cycled from there. A local man offered for us to camp on the rather dusty field in the middle of the town but we decide it would be safer to camp where no one could see us.


Apparently, Playas is only 1hr from the rural town by bike but I was not trusting another Ecuadorian estimate after cycling all day so we cycled a little out of town and found a spot just 100m from the road behind some bushes to camp. After eating our tuna and playing cards under the full moon we have retired to bed early for an early start in the morning. Hopefully no Blairwitch sounds in the night!

EXPLORING: Galapagos and last days in Montañita

The Galapagos
The Galapagos was awesome but Kajsa's company, the nice people on the boat, and the luxurious catamarang made it that much more fantastic. Plus no sea sickness but the tablets did make us quite sleepy!

From World Travels - Ecuador

From World Travels - Ecuador

We basically spent five days sailing around the islands snorkelling, hiking on the islands looking at animals, eating well, tanning and getting some much needed sleep. Telling you about the animals here could bore you to death so check out the pics - again mostly thanks to Kajsa.

From World Travels - Ecuador

From World Travels - Ecuador

Although the animals were great my 2 best experiences were on the boat:
- The first was lying outside in the net at the front of the catamarang just staring at the perfect stars on a clear night as we motored between 2 islands. For a while all we could hear was sea crashing below us and not a light to be seen besides the stars.
- Second was on our last afternoon as we motored across to our last island. The seas were high and we were stood up front on one of the two bows - the boat would go up one swell then come crashing down at least 12ft leaving you drenched and hanging to the rail for dear life. I nearly split my sides when Kajsa described the eventful shower she had had when we first hit the big swells!

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Prep for departure
After the Galapagos I had a great last few days in Montañita but the town is begining to slow down and the clouds are rolling in. Mark got back from the highland of Baños on the weekend too - they sound like the had a great time - even went white water rafting - bastards! Ross and Sadie headed off for a week in the forests then Ross heads to Columbia when Sadie heads back to Montañita. Link to Ross´s pics http://picasaweb.google.com/rgecairns/Ecuador