Day 102 - Km16 to Km102: Getting out of Lima
As you may have noticed I have been referring to KmX here and there. What this is is the kilometre reading on the Panamericana Sur highway going south measured from the centre of Lima. When we get to the border with Chile it should read something like Km1300.
David Silva's house, where we had been staying, was at Km16 so without knowing it we had already covered some extra ground on our way into Lima coming from Ecuador almost 2 months prior which was a handy start. We set off early and as it was a Saturday we hoped we'd beat the traffic but we weren't so lucky. The Lima taxi's were already going mad by the time we left so we had a few hair raising experiences trying to navigate the merging and dividing highway heading out of Lima.
In the end all was good stopping for a little breakfast and lunch both with in beautiful weather and settings. We made good ground on the first day and got to Asia, a deserted beach town popular with Limeñons (people from Lima) in the summer.
We were dying to try out our new little camping stove so we set it all up in the courtyard of the deserted hostel we were staying in and whipped up some tasty pasta. Needless to say we slept well that might.
Day 103 - Km102 to 207: We meet another crazy cyclist
Little did we know that there was another crazy cyclist staying in Asia that night so when we stopped for breakfast he soon came peddling by. Graham was his name and he was from Cambridge just outside London. Graham is making his way from Los Angeles in the USA to Buenos Aires in Argentina by bicycle, plane and boat but he is doing it solo! In need of some company he stopped and joined us for some breakfast, apparently his third that day, and although we would like to have all continued on together he was heading in land from Nazca across the Andes, through Bolivia and into Argentina and was on a slightly different schedule. After sharing some experiences off he cycled into the distance.
We had a good day again that day so when we got to our planned destination but it wasn't all that so we pushed on for a bit more. We had food and our tents so we decided to see if we could stop somewhere for the night. Luckily a roadside restaurant come house come farmyard let us stay in the yard for the night but something about all those animals was bothering me.
The owner was very kind and even brought us a mattress, 2 chairs, some tasty leftovers (we joked that perhaps the dogs were going to be the ones missing out that night after loosing both their bed and their dinner to us) and offered for us to us the garden shower. Again we had a great evening cooking our dinner and just chatting to the owner and his family. They were the first recipients of the World Cup 2010 and South African promo goods we had been given by the embassy and they seemed to go down a treat.
Unfortunately though we got very little sleep that night. The highway was so close to the wall near our tent that it sounded like a truck was going to drive through our tent at any minute, then there were the ducks and the chickens scratching around, the dog that came looking for its bed and some leftovers and then finally the last straw was Pepe the parrot who decided at 4:30am it would be great fun to come sit on our tent and screech at us through its thin walls. Pepe at least shut up for a bit when you asked him nicely but the trucks and the rest of the farm yard noises all went on unabated.
Day 104 - Km207 to Km300: Sleeping at a gas station
Given the lack of sleep we were quite exhausted that day on the bikes so were not too happy when we arrived at our planned destination to find that the town did not have one hostel. The locals have a great trick and that is when asked where something is never tell them there isn't one but rather that it is just further on down the road. So, as exhausted as we were we just had to keep going and asking as we go and eventually we picked up on a theme that there must be a 'grifo', gas station, just further on with rooms. Finally 6km out the other side of the town just before nightfall we came across the infamous 'grifo' and thank heavens it had rooms!
Day 105 - Km325 to Km400: Very kind Cuban
Palpa is a pretty quite little town with a colonial looking town square. We had planned on finding a place to camp but had no luck asking around so gave up and started looking for a hostel. The first hostel we went to was closed so we asked a guy at the 'Eco Tours' shop come house to point us in the right direction but instead they offered us a place on the floor. Jorge, originally from Cuba, and his friend were holding the fort while the boss was away. Jorge offered us a warm shower and went off and bought us a nice cold Coke which was very kind. There's not too much to see in Palpa but apparently they also have some mysterious lines in the desert and quite a bit of town history.
Day 106 - Km400 to 502: Nasca Lines
The next day we headed off early so that we could see the famous Nasca Lines just before reaching Nasca itself. We soon started seeing the planes flying tourists over head and after climbing up onto the plateaux we came across the viewing platform where you can see 2 of the shapes drawn in the sand. While the lines aren't that amazing themselves, as they look like any old kid could have dragged a large stick through the same drawing them, the fact that they were drawn pre BC and are still there is nothing short of amazing. Given the wind that was brewing I was amazed that a line in the sand could last more than a day let alone thousands of years!
Later that day we arrived at Nasca itself and decided to treat ourselves to a lunch. Here in Peru most roadside places have a daily 'menu' which consists of a soup, main course and a juice. Today we were in luck because the main was fish so Mark could order the 'menu' option but unfortunately the soup would have chicken in it. Normally the soups do come with some meat floating in it but Mark just fishes it out however today it came with chicken feet so even I was doing a spot of fishing.
As we headed off the wind picked up and by the afternoon we could barely keep our bikes straight on the road so decided to just camp and hopefully find that the wind was better by the morning. It wasn't much fun trying to setup a tent in a pumping wind and by the time the tents were up they were already full of sand. Everything by this stage was covered in sand including our bike chains, gears etc.
Once camp was setup it got cold fast but some how we managed to get the stove going sheltered by the tents. We made dinner quickly having to dash in and out of the tents to the stove trying to avoid the cold.
Day 107 - Km502 to Km572: Bike ride from hell
The next morning we woke up early so as to get some good cycling in before the wind picked up but as my alarm woke me up I could still hear the pumping wind and now drizzle added to the mix! I shouted to Mark that we might as well rest a bit more so we did.
Packing up wet and sandy tents was not fun but was far more fun than the rest of that days cycle. It was mostly downhill but we had to cycle all day harder that we ever had even on an uphill. Eventually 6 hours later we saw a toll gate which just happened to be around the corner from Yauca and at this point the wind had gotten so strong that I actually had to get off my bike to avoid being blown across the road. The sand in the air was so thick I couldn't see Mark ahead and it was hitting my face and sunglasses to hard that it stung like mad and my sunglasses now have a nice sand blast finish.
The police at the toll gate gave us the good news that the town was just around the corner so when the wind died down to a hurricane we made a dash for it. We had joked earlier that day about finding the Lost City along this road but that is seriously what Yauca felt like to us.
As we came around the corner and into the valley with the wind shielded off a bit all we saw was a huge forest of trees before our eyes. I mean a forest is the last thing you expect to see in a desert! We stayed at a fantastic hostel that night getting some much needed rest.
See all the pics here.
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