Day 22 and 23: David and Goliath
On the first day after leaving the interesting but rather fishy smelling city of Chimbote (I'm afraid Lonely Planet was correct there) behind us we had a long desert like day passing the only beach like town off the Panamericana highway called Tortuga with little desire to explore as it would mean an extra several kilometers on the bike.
Just when we were ready to hall out the last tin of emergency cat food and take refuge from the afternoon wind and sun, under the only palm tree we'd seen in hours, we spotted a well presented little roadside café called La Balsa which we were very much elated to find!
We were greeted by a friendly lady who quickly served us some well chilled Inca Cola. Markedly interested in our journey she mentioned they had had many cyclists come by in the past, then she wondered off and came back with 2 scrap books dating back to 1992.
Many people had done similar journeys in the past 2 decades but one definitely stuck out, the Goliath Expedition. A man had planned to WALK around the world and had already taken 5 years to get from where he started down in south South America to where we were (google him and you'll see he's still going)!
It was great going through the book and quite funny to see that everyone else on bicycles had experienced the same thing prior to arriving even over all this time: strong wind, sun and lots of dogs chasing them down the highway!
Everyone had also mentioned how kind the owners were and we only found out just how kind they were when they told us everything was on the house, even the most delicious and generous portion of fish I'd eaten in weeks!
We were the first South African's to write in the book so I stuck my one and only R10 note in the book that I'd been using to explain to people what a Rhino is! Then we wrote a little message and headed off to Culebras where we'd spend the night.
The next day was much the same with us stumbling upon a little oasis just in time for lunch. That night we stayed at our dodgiest hostel yet - the pics tell it all!
Day 25 and 26: Town of delicious food, Lions on the highway and one strange town!
We only did 50km after the 2 long days on the bike so we had the whole day to spend in Huacho. We only chose Huacho because that's where we were when we stopped but it turned out to be a food Mecca! So we spent the day stuffing ourselves with $1 Ceviche served fresh in the market, fresh fruit and veg (avos galore) and a variety of baked goods hmmm!
The next day had some beautiful scenery including some Lions on the side of the road and an interestingly styled little villages down the dune side as we climbed our last hill before practically freewheeling down into Ancon just outside of Lima. We decided to stay the night in Ancon so that we could have the whole of Sunday to make our way through Lima to our host. Ancon was strange because it looked like any wealthy beach town near a big city with numerous high-rise condos except it was a Saturday and they were all empty! Even the old hotel we stayed at looked closed until we knocked on the door.
Day 27: Hairy and eye opening cycle into Lima
The cycle into Lima was awesome because we literally cycled across the city. We came in on Panamericana highway in the north then headed across the centre and down through the wealthy suburb of Miraflores where we stopped for brunch. We looked for a reasonably priced restaurant but this was not to be found in this suburb so we begrudgingly ordered a meal for 3 times the price of what we were used to!
After spending a couple of hours laugh at the tourists and wealthy limeños coughing up a fortune for what you could get just a few blocks away for a 3rd of the price I began to wonder do we do the same silly thing in our own beautiful yet divided city of Johannesburg?
After lunch we made our way through the city to San Jaun de Miraflores where we would be Couch Surfing with David Silva who turned out to be another incredibly friendly and helpful guy kindly sharing his 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home with us. By the time we got to David's we were smelling pretty funcky after having navigated our way through crazy taxis (yes way worse than South Africa's) so we were in much need of a shower! When I took my helmet off you could even see where it had been on my head as all the uncovered areas were black with soot!
Day 28 to 30: Exploring Lima and servicing the steeds
These are the events of our first few days in Lima:
-We caught public transport everywhere which was mostly minibus taxis with a complementary man shouting the destination out the door as in Cape Town. Is this what I have been missing out on in South Africa - how convenient!
-We explored the beautiful and historical centre of town which in Lima oddly is known to be one of the safest places in town.
-From the centre we made our way down the upmarket shopping streets and across to the beach front where we found a mall with the most amazing view ever!
-The taxis were on strike the next day as the government were due to implementing stricter fines (wow and I thought South African taxis had a bad attitude). We got on a taxi not knowing it was not supposed to operate so only when we got off and saw an angry mob followed by the police heading for our taxi did we realise why it had taken so long to get one! I guess the fact that we had more than 25 people in a 16 seater minibus crammed worse than the London Jubile line on a Monday morning, while 3 people hung out the door, should have been another clue that this was not a normal commuter day in Lima!
-The following day we took our bikes in for a service at one of the few bike shops that we could find that had even seen a bike worth more $100. I find it odd that so few people mountain bike here when they have the ideal terrain for this sport!
-Later we watched UP, a Pixar animated movie, in Spanish and I surprisingly understood quite a bit!
-We then spent most of yesterday at a market in La Victoria looking for an Alpaca top but landed up with an original 80s Casio watch and some seriously hideous sunglasses for cheap as chips instead. This area is known to be super dangerous but the fashion strip was fine yet just off the strip people were making their way through piles of rubbish sorting it into things that could be sold on the side of the road just behind them or taken for recycling so much of the area is just one big rubbish tip.
When a family friend of Mark's found out we had been here he sent a mail asking us to please stick to Miraflores. I think not!
I think its high time we start exploring more of our own cities. Yes there areas are not as safe but if you leave the valuables at home and dress down you can have a enlightening day eating delicious local food, meeting very friendly people and finding great bargains all the while supporting the man on the street!
We have been in contact with the South African embassy in Lima and they have kindly said they have some South African promotional goods for us to take along on our journey so we will hopefully be going over to meet them soon!
Later this afternoon we will be reunited with Ross! So we will soon be collecting the bikes, storing them then heading inland to Cuzco where we will start our climb to Machu Picchu!
Thanks for reading - until later..
Link to all pics here.
Well done guys:=)
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