Peru, Where the kindness reaches the sky while the faith was great as the desert! Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

June 1, 2003

Lucho got stuck in a emergency business so we got to do the trip by ourselves today by taxi instead of the bicycles because the whole trip would take more than 60 km for sure, our destination was Huanchaco to see the life of the fisher man which would be interesting attraction, the famous thing of the town was the boat that made from Rush or Reed tied up together to fight against the wave, they called it Caballitos or the Little horse which has been given from the Moche for about 1500 years, however today there were not many expert in constructing this kind of boat left.

If we look at the line of the boat which were ashore from a distance it wsa quite beautiful but if we got closer we would smell the urine pea, well before would enjoy some thing we must’ve passed through the hardship. On the way back we went further to the east side to see the Pyramid of the Moche which was called Huaca De La Luna, it was Pyramid in the middle of the desert which looks very old and had brought us many imagination.

June 2, 2003

We bike into town the buy the video tape to copy the news from YNP TV and watched Red Global which we were going to give an interview today, on the way we passed the Plaza de Amas which the was plaza in the central of the town surrounded by the very beautiful Colonial style building which was the was built since it was under Spanish colony, but the different from other place were the steel formation at the doorways and windows, in Trujillo the building here has their own style, at the moment there were 650,000 people lives here which was the number three in the country in the number of population, and it was about 500 km away from Lima the capital, the big town like this was not save at night at all especially in Peru.

On the way back from the TV station there were still some protest and the use of Tear gas which was also made us cry, tonight we had a chance to make a short call back home in Thailand but it was very expensive, they also watched the news from here and warned us about the protest as well.

June 3, 2003

Today we just stayed around the house and worked on the map of our route ahead and we went to the post office to send the Video tape back home, at lunch we went to Chinese restaurant but it was closed because the protest situation got more intense so we came back home and stayed here all there.

In Lucho’s bicycle house got many interesting things, if we were talking about the toilet, many people would say that they afraid of unclean toilet but here we have to use the unclean toilet as it was normal for us, for whatever the reason was that right after 7 pm there would be no water supply at all until 7 am of the next morning, 10 peoples with 1 bath room with all the guest and relative which uses the toilet many times a day plus the weather was so cold, no matter how much water reserve we have it would never be enough and every morning we would find that the flush toilet was full of the thing from many people but they all would disappear right after the water started to run.

At the beginning we did not understand why and never fell used to it but now we realized clearly, also about the key of the all the room got their own key which was normal but just fo the front gate alone got 5 keys with 4 of them were the twisting kind of key and they all very tight with the power of elephant would not even break the door, plus another alarm signal which represents well about reputation of the thief here, our fried have told us that they got pretty good security system and we see it with both or our eyes, actually they were not any important issue to remember but it was quite cool to have such system here.

June 4, 2003

At first we planed to leave today but Lucho told us that the situation was still not good so we should not go yet, should wait for a day more, tonight we had a special time with the family that we went to have farewell dinner. He told us that there has been more than 500 cyclist have stayed here with 5 guest books has been written but they impressed two of us the most, which was very overwhelmed with a big smile so that our lip almost touch to our nose, we told that probably because our culture was different and it was more gentle then others that they have met before.

June 5, 2003

We left the house that doesn’t look so big nor so comfortable but safe and worm with open hearted and welcoming which was more important, we took photos with the family, house and bicycle, after finishing all the farewell Lucho felt bonded with us because of the of the time that we spent together and he was very concern about our safety because the situation was still not so good so he biked along with us for about 30 km until we passed the unsafe zone of the town, then we sat down and had lunch together for one more time, we were together until 4 pm and got to ride back for another 30 km with all head wind against him so he should be home early evening, with all of our great friendship made it very difficult to explain right here and it will be everlasting in our memory.

Not so far after we got to Chocope which was small town but with good accommodation with only 5.50 US$ a night with a really big room, TV set, hot shower which was probably the best that we’ve ever found in Peru.

June 6, 2003

From Chocope to Chepen for with about 95 km apart and we were really have to keep on pushing so that we would not get there late, the breakfast was fried fish with Potatoes, the suburb area of the town did not looked so safe, while we were eating there were many people came to look at us which were both kids and adult, they were just standing without saying a word, after they had enough survey of us they just left and the same kind of looking and surveying happened over and over again with different people, so we got to eat quickly, they were very famous around here for a petty crime.

On the way we met 2 bikers, they were Australian woman and Argentine man, they met each other on a bicycle some where in central America and finally they were together, he was heading down south to his hometown probably with hope to show the daughter in law to family.

The Argentine got robbed in the middle of the street in Honduras during the daytime, the thief just suddenly pointed the gun to his head and the police could return him only the diary which was still better than nothing, we recommended him to stay at Lucho’s place because the condition of his bicycle showed that it need to see the doctor and he believed so.

For lunch we stopped at San Pedro De Hoc which served us with Fried fish and rice together with beans which was the maim meal here but it was good that we both love eating fish so much, we got to Chenpen right in a good time and got an accommodation with 12 soles or 3.50 US$ which was cheapest rate that we’ve seen but the town doesn’t look so save at night so we hurried with our dinner and back to the room to keep the energy for tomorrow.

June 7, 2003

Today with another 73 km to Chiclayo which was the forth largest town of Peru with less population than Trujillo, the rough number was about 625,000 people lives here, people told us that this was quite good looking town, during the day the temperature was quite hot here and got less chill in the evening.

Today we got story to share when we got closer to Chiclayo and we started to see many billboards standing up with in the middle of the desert suddenly there was a bus parking near the Pepsi billboard on the left hand side, we saw lots of people just got off the bus and pea right there but the worse was also the golden yellow poopoo were also there and could be seen clearly of who were doing their business in the area, so we got really surprise but this must be normal in the middle of no where like this but sorry that we would not help seeing it.

The last 20 km to town there was very big garbage dump site on both side of the road with very bad smell and all the burning ashes were flying everywhere, late in the afternoon we got to Chiclayo and got the accommodation at Hostel Venezuela for 30 soles per night but we negotiated with the owner to be 40 soles for 2 nights and it was it ok, tonight we got a very bad news from our Indonesian Journalist friend who told us that there was a German biker couple put up a tent on beach in Aceh, in the same that the military were cracking down on the rebellion, so when the soldier saw the tent and they called to the person in the tent with no response so they just shot into the tent, finally the man was dead while the woman were badly injured, it has been 6 years that they’ve traveled but got to end his life there, all he could do was just to show the sympathy and inform us about it.

The famous Chiclayo was quite good as it said to be, today we had survey of the town, in the morning we went to the market to see the life of the people here, the market was pretty big with lots of thing to choose from so that sometime we were not really sure that what were they selling there, many time that we went to buy some food we saw some kind of animal that looks likes rat but it was not nor the Rabbit, they all called it “Cuy” and told us to be very delicious but we were not brave enough to try it, I think that the Cuy was a kind of Guinea pig that the kid loves but here it was really big business even the grass grower for Cuy was also big business.

Another not to miss museum was Lambayeque Museum which was the name of the small town and it was also the name of the town which has 2 fined museums which was about 1o km north of Chiclayo and it cost only 5 soles or almost 2 US$ which was very good.

 

The museum “Museo Tumbas Reales De Sipan” which was considered to be one of the world’s best museum if we do not think about the size and diversity but think of only it completeness was probably the best with all the work of Sipan which accounted for hundred of pieces with all the well organization make it the world’s never to missed museum.

June 9, 2003

From Chiclayo to Piura for about 210 km which was one of the longest and loneliest desert road of Peru, with this far distance we would not make it easily in a day especially if we got the strong wind would make it almost impossible.

Today we started rolling about 10 am which was a bit late but we were ready without a problem, we passed Lumbayage after the first 10 km but we did not stop until we got to Morrope which seemed to be poorest town, we were plan to have a meal in the middle of town but the road here were still unpaved and people doesn’t look so trustable with lots of jobless here, while we were having a meal we got to keep our bike close to us, even the shop owner encourage us to keep the bike near even though the shop was quite small.

The road ahead now would be quite empty with very little plant in the middle of desert but the heat here seemed to be hotter than in the southern part of the country, it was hot like it could break our head into pieces, but it was probably the best flat road that we’ve seen in Peru so that we made about 110 km today from Chiclayo, before dark we started to find the place to stay and we walked our bike away from to road so that no people could see us, the temperature in the evening was not so chill like before may be because we got closer to the Equator all the time.

June 10, 2003

We got up since 5 am, got packed up and return to Panamericana, by 11 am we saw the first shop with the quality much lower than the price with probably the left over rice for few days that got burned and stuck in the bottom of the pot, with all this weather we did not want to eat at all but we got to be responsible for our order.

We just kept on biking with lots of leafless trees with not much of the sand around here, we stopped again at about 2.30 pm we were not hungry actually but we saw the shop and it was too hot for us to stand it, and it was quite thick with our sweat, this might be because of the moisture got increases in the desert, we sat there for about an hour and cool down with chatting with the shopkeeper to wait until later in the afternoon. Before we got to Piura we started to see the green rice field with coconut all along the field also some corn and banana, we could expect no more cold weather from this point onward.

We finally got to town at 5 pm with about 100 km for today which was quite good but weather was too hot. Tonight we got the accommodation for about 15 soles or about 4.30 US$ which was very cheap, the owner was quite nice and the place looks safe so we decided to stay for awhile so that WAN can have along brake to pass the woman’s important day, the town was quite nice with no dust like some other town probably with all of the tree has help absorbed them away.

The life here was not so rush, well there were many good things here so we could actually sit down and work and plan for our trip to Ecuador and the food here also good as in others town especially in Romano which was very famous for local food such as Chica Morada which was a very delicious Black corn juice and we went there almost everyday.

June 19, 2003

Our destination for day was not so far with only 40 km from Piura to Sullana, with a very hot temperature, even though the distance was not too far but we got to take a beak very often, late in the morning we then got to Sullana, with a very interesting fact was that most of house around here got an electrical Fan, today we got time so we check our bike once again and in the afternoon we toured the town to find some dinner and went to internet caf? for about 30 minutes.

June 20, 2003

Today we got to increas the distance to 85 km so that we could get to Talara, once we left the town we crossed the very big river and it looks more beautiful than the other side with lots of coconut rice plantation like in Thailand and made us homesick immediately, the road now was really flat and we really enjoy biking in thwas road with all sight of the people sight all along the road made it a very pleasant ride, but the good time never last with only 10 km of it, suddenly got replaced buy the semi dried forest- desert area with all of the up and down road but not so difficult, once a while there would be a some house along the road also some time there was herd of sheep.

After 42 km from the town we saw a lovely restaurant in the middle of no where so let have a try but the owner was sleeping when we entered probably because they got to too little customer, the owner was quite nice and told us many useful information and he also told us that there has been many biker stopped her for meal, after leaving the restaurant the route was still quiet with all the dried forest all the way until the intersection to Latara, the weather now got colder which was a bit strange after the very hot temperature all day.

Another 8 km away will be intersection to Latara the wind got stronger with the dark and cloudy sky and finally we got the rain before we got to the town, we haven’t seen them for about 7 months since Santiago, the capital of Chile and after that we were always in the desert all the time for about 5000 km, this was a sign that the next country which was Ecuador the country of tropical was coming closer.

June 21, 2003

Leaving Latara with 2 km straight of up hill and another 6 km to Panamericana once again, all the day was just bold dried forest with some up hill road but what made it different here was the Petroleum well or drilling head were everywhere around here, probably one hundreds of them moving up and down all of the time, the was the largest oil field of Peru with output of more than 60,000 – 100,000 barrels per day and the living cost here was quite expensive here with no restaurant or any shop at all until El Alto which was the small residence town of the Petroleum worker.

After the area the road just took us down the hill for 7 km straight until we had a sight of the sea once again, then we got to Los Organos but the sight did look so pleasant so we kept on going until got to Mancora in the early evening, the town looks lively with lots of accommodation to choose from because it was famous for beaches and holiday vacation, they got lots of restaurant but they all very expensive.

June 22, 2003

From Mancora to Zorritos, the city of beautiful seaside, Alan the Swiss’ who’ve recommended us stay here, he said the he like it very much so we always remembered this name, well we got to take a look at it, leaving Mancora with the up and down kind of road with more of the forest than before and also a herd of sheep too but the area around here looks quite lonely and scary but the distance was only 25 km then we got to Cancas, we had lunch there took the picture of the Fishery pier where there were lots of bird flying around.

The people here told us that they were Frigate Birds which was a kind of Sea Gull which lives around here but they got spreaded tail which was quite strange, when we went down to take photos we smelled some kind of urine everywhere in Peru but we do not really know of what was going on, also the people blew their mouth’s whistle which we heard them all the time here, but now we realized that if some one notice some things not right or need to show some warning they would just blow the mouth whistle so 100% of the Peruvian mouth whistle should be a good sign we were not paranoid about it anymore.

The road was quite good from Cancas to Soritos where we were riding along side with the seaside for about 50 km, very comfortable ride here but we still got to be careful with the chasing dog because there were lots of them were, we Soritos was really beautiful as mentioned by the Swiss but actually it was from the eyes of mountain people but for Thai like us this was normal, this was not being arrogant or anything but they should really see it with their eyes.

June 23, 2003

From Soritos will then be Tumbes which was the trading post between Peru and Ecuador, today we left quite late and just spent the time slowly to say good bye to Peru and tasted the very famous dishes before we were apart in the next 2 days, the menu was fish soup but it got all kind of seafood such as Squid, Clam and shrimp which made a perfect combination.

The route to Tumbes was quite easy all the way there and we would be there just for a short period of time to finish some business and get ready for Ecuador then from Tumbes to the border which was separated by International bridge which connect both countries together.

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