6-9        

Mancora to Talara.  Breakfast at 7:45 across the street and down the alley to pancakes we go!  Juice, coffee and good discussion with our hostess as we ate outside, her young daughter going off to pick up butter, cambio (change – no one has change) as part of her young (4-5 yrs old) day with a dutch boy haircut with bangs and big brown eyes and boad smile.  The early morning brought some rain drops, things were damp, keeping the dust down and allowing us to smell the desert. 

 
             We climbed out of town and up, up, up and down through the baren brown rocky and sandy hills....from sea level over mountain shoulders up to the mainland plateau where we boogied down the road....flat, through the coastal oil fields,,,pipe lines follow us as did pumpers on both sides of thehighway.  Scrub bushes and trees broke the arid landscape.  At our morning stop we spoke with one of the oil production workers who came over and sat with us.  Nice young man (32) with three children (10, 8 & 3) as usual the where are you from, going, how long etc.  On the whole, after being in Peru for four days, I would have to say that the people we have encountered have been interested, warm, supportive and give us a thumbs up on the road.

6-9 Desert - Peru

             Today for the first time in ages we stoppped along the road and had PB & J sandwiches and Oreo cookies.  The wind had started to pick up and became a real pain for the last 20k into Talara.  Dust, wind, plastic bags in a 30-40 knot breeze made for very unpleasant riding as we approached the days destination....where the hell is this city?...at oh, oh no not down hill into the wind with sand in our eyes....yes the hotels are way down there...groan...into this industrial petrochemical kproduction city founded in 1956 to serve the oil industry.  Through the traffic and tuk tuk hazzle to a hotel.  The Grand Hotel it seems ($80 US) per night...no..on to the Hostal Giovanni ($26) but very clean, hot showers and Bici is leaning against the bar downstairs. - Art

6-10 

Sullana.  Today was a low ebb day.  We began about 8am under overcast skies with a fierce wind.  Art and I were both grumpy after we found our way out of the hole in which Talala sat and when we crested the top of the bleak mesa, the desert winds were worse!  Two plus hours and only 26km and several butt breaks, we realized the overcast seemed to perhaps be a storm front.  We were both depleted and stopped by the road to flag a bus.  Out of a mud shack a barefoot man strode to the road to meet with us.  After a few moments he called a friend on his cell phone, who came up with a pickup truck, loaded us on and proceeded to drive us forward.  After about 20k, the road began a gentle downhill with a diminishing wind.  Then we dropped ñinto a lush valley with irrigated field upon irrigated field of rice – as far as the eye could see.  Instead of pinning to ride, I sat joyfully enjoying the lovely passing greenery into the town of Sullana about 80 k from Talara.

 
             We ate lunch, found an upscale hotel with a pool and after a shower and Art a dip, we slept away two hours of the afternoon.  The desert took the spirit right out of us.  The gas tanks were empty! – Judee

6-11 

Began under overcast skies, heading to Piura.  Not a lot of wind, but I am still tired.  Yesterday after all the napping I still slept 9 hours until morning.  Art slept well, too.  But after the sleep fest we still felt low and looking forward to our planned bus trip across the 200k of desert south of Piura to Chiclayo.  Were we glad we did!  Sand dunes and scrubby bushes periodically dotting the landscape provided the landscape for the people who lived in houses constructed of woven sticks and plastered with mud.  We wondered where they found the mud among the sand dunes. What did they do to provide for their needs?  Donkey carts were the mode of transport and a few turkeys and goats provided meat and milk to the diet.

6-11 Chiclayo

 
             After several hours we de-bussed and got directions to the area that housed mid-priced accommodations and found a 90 year old Hostel with hot water and a big room fronting the park.  Right now it is comfortable sitting on our balcony, drinking a little red wine and watching the activity in the park.  We are both needing a recovery time – travel and changes can be stressful! - Judee

6 -12

Up by 7ish – can’t find a place to eat – honest people wandering for a breakfast.  By 9 we are on the road expecting 75-80k and end our day at 102km!  Desert oasis, desert – oasis- into the wind, especially at the end!!  We had a good day as we rolled by can fields, cotton, rice, nesteled into the desert.  At Pacasmayos we find a seaside resort, high prices and no people on Monday.  We negotiate $25 for a high end hotel with breakfast included and sit on the balcony watching the surfers and enjoying a beer.  A perfect end to a really good day – nice to be over the slump! - Judee

1. Rice 2.Pacasmayo

6-13

This a Harrangue – so know that it is coming from one who is tired and butt sore_  I am tired of every time I flush a toilet I must take the top off and fix the plumbing; I am tired of eating chicken and rice for almost every meal; I am tired of not being able to drink the tap water; I am tired of beds that sag, slope and poke; of no lights that work or just no lights except a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling; of the bare concrete wall: of  the dust and contant wind; of bed sheets with holes, rips or which don’t cover the whole bed; TV’s with remotes with dead batteries and no programs in English; of the mosquito splotches smeared on the walls; of no toilet paper in the WC’s; of no cold crinks on the desert; of bugs crawling around our bedrooms at night; of showers with no hot water or where the heads spay all over the room, no on us; with all of the said – Are we having fun, yet? Yess!  The adventure rolls on.

              Today out on the desert, as each hour passes, the texture and complexities of the landscape change.  Huge mountains in lthe distance, enormous sand dunes with powder fine sand , a mellow yellow to light tan, color change to a flat bolder strewn plane reacing to the horizon.  The only constant being the WIND – head on or quartering we grind away into it averaging 9.1 mph for 40miles.

 
             At our morning rest stop, a highway sign to hold up the bike, where we sit on tire casings so our wet shorts don’t pick up the sand, we nosh on energy bars and water.  A Swiss couple on a tandem pulling a Burley trailer with their 3 year old daughter comes raring down lthe hills up to us.  Wow, they have been on the road for 7 months from Ushaia, averaging about 1000km a month as they move north.  We exchanged road stories while their daughter prompley grabbed her bucket and shovel and went off to play in the sand.  Earlier they ran into French cyclists heading south about and hour ahead of us.  We may run into them in Trujillo – our next large city. - Art

1. Art looking for shade 2. Swiss couple on tandem with child

6-14

Today we got a bit of a late start – our laundry wasn’t dry and they didn’t want to give it to us not completo.  Our $8 room was comfortable enough and the people were absolutely warm, helpful and so polite.

 
             The wind blowing from the south into our faces across the desert!  At least the road doesn’t smell like fish as it has the last several days.  The trucks delivering fish drain a steram of water behind them, which we assume to be the melting ice that pack the fish!  Whew!  (Of course, there is still the occasional smell of dead things. The poorer countries are not a place for animal lovers.  The people themselves have a hard enough time finding all they need to exist, let alone helping animals to find food, etc.)

6-14 Chocope

            This landscape is bleak.  Although the photos don’t show it, there is litter and garbage alongside the roads.  The towns are all nestled into broad agricultural valley of rice, sugar cane, corn, etc, all fed by massive rivers flowing down from the Andes, cutting through the barren desert.  Surprising to see the green.  We are also traveling about 25k from the coast and experience a cloud cover or foggy air.  This is keeping us cool. - Judee

6-16 

We have been in Trujillo for a couple of days.  Here is the home of Luis (Lucho) and his family.  Lucho is a touring bicyclist’s dream.  He lives here and opens his home to travelers who are venturing up and down the Pan American highway.  He is a master mechanic, who machined a tool in order to fix a problem with our bike!  He has books dating over the past 15 years with signatures and stories of over 750 cyclists who have passed his home and stopped for the hospitality.  This man is an energetic and passionate cyclist – a racer, himself – who does everything in his power to promote cycling – one cyclist at a time.  He offers aid for those in trouble, offers routes for those passing by, and his darling wife serves as tour guide to the local ancient ruins and museums as Lucho repairs the bikes!  What a team! 

1. Trujillo 2. Lucho- premo mechanico 3. Lucho´s bike school

             This wonderful family still isn’t enough to prevent us from implosion.  I guess we thought we had the tireds licked, but ahhhh , we are so tired we have bags under our eyes!  We are going to hang out for a few more days in this area and perhaps plan a bus ride up through the mountainous, dirt roads into the Huarez National Park area.  Today, rest, tomorrow move to the beach resort near here for more rest! -Judee