We ate dinner across the street in a typical one room dirt floor kitchen. Prices were higher than Ecuador and the food was poor quality and tiny servings. We were constantly hungry from the multiple days of extreme exertion. Many people from the village ate there however and the lady was very nice.

They gave us a clear understanding of where not to go; mostly in the mountainous districts to the east and in southern Peru.

Our driver was very interested  in Russian and American aid programs.

The Russians did; he showed us an irrigation channel built by Russian money.

We came to a washed out bridge that had been temporarily replaced by fill dirt and two boards. As the driver approached the extremely narrow crossing, I could see it wasn’t wide enough for the truck.  I hollered for him to let us out. Everyone got out of the truck; I wish we had  pulled our bikes out too. His wheels lapped over the sides of the dirt fill lowering his truck body about 2 feet. One side started slipping and the truck began to lean. He gunned the engine and by sheer flying made it across. 

 

Bicycling Peru

The Northern Desert

Sullana to Piura-18 miles

Northern Peru which is desert, had been deluged with rain the year before and much of the road system had been flooded out. Huge sections of road would suddenly not be there. Bridges were gone; only about 50% of the new highway remained intact. Sand blew against us, pushed by the strong south head winds that dominated this coast. Though we were not in the rain and cold anymore, the biking was difficult and unpleasant. So much for escaping harsh conditions. What lay ahead would be much worse.

We found the restaurants to be equally unsanitary. There are no menus. They would quote a price, bring the food, then bring a higher bill. When we question this, they’d say we misunderstood.

Piura to Chiclayo-130 miles-2 days

We left early in the dark to avoid afternoon desert heat. The very strong winds started to blow by dawn.  Went from 12 to 6 mph because of this wind.

 It was devastating and demoralizing.

Continue to Chiclayo-65 miles-13 hours

Left before dawn again to beat the wind. We had no lights and neither did the trucks driving on the highway. We could hear them, but not see them. It was frightening.

Stronger winds, a hot desert wind blew us to shreds. We’d ride 6 miles, stop and rest. We were hoping the desert would be a relief from the relentless climbing in the mountains, but this was far more defeating. This section of desert terrain was totally vacant.

Thought we only had 50 miles to go but the maps were wrong. Turned out to be 65 miles. We ran low on water and food.

 Passed a couple of graves along the road. Practically no traffic. Arrived in a town of 20,000, but there was no hotel. A helpful man offered to let us sleep in his place, but we were so dirty and wanted a bath. Decided to go on the next 10 miles to Chiclayo. Took 1&1/2 hours to accomplish that distance.

Chiclayo to Pascamayo- 64 miles-13 hours

What can we say; another grunt day against the wind. Probably the only time I looked up was to see a couple riding from the south on the other side of the highway. 

There must be a lesson here somewhere!

Pascamayo to Trujillo-60 miles- 12 hours

Nothing much has changed except our resolve. It was another harsh day of cycling through poverty and empty desert.

We were grateful to make it. Trujillo is a lovely colonial city with a large market place and a clean huge antique hotel called the Grand. The rooms were giant and clean. An oasis surrounded by dry sand blown hills and reed shacks.

Trujillo to Chimbote-68 miles-13 hours

We did make it to Chimbote. With a giant sigh of relief, we knew we were going to leave the windy Pan American Highway and head inland into the Andes mountains from there. Anything had to be easier than what we had just endured.  We were planning to cycle from the coast to Hylas del Callejon, near Huaraz.

 Our route from Chimbote would take us 104 miles uphill to Caraz where the valley began. It was gravel all the way, actually rock and boulders, hot and dusty, and sparsely settled.  It became an adventure all by itself just getting to Caraz where the pavement began.

We were delighted to reach Caraz where a paved road climbed from there to 13,000 feet to the outlet lake of the river we are following.

 Best surprise is the hotel. Clean modern rooms with hot water bath that doesn’t smell for $3/ night. We are definitely tiring of the real dumps and are spending more money for some semblance of cleanliness or sanitation.

Two weeks in Carhuaz area for hiking

For pictures and stories, go to our page Hiking Peru.

After hiking we rested 2 days  in Huaraz.  Enjoying the good food, pleasant surroundings and no cycling.  As it turned out,

 We continued to travel as far south as Cusco and Machu Pichu by buses. More of those stories below.

There is grand wealth too. Beautiful homes with swimming pools, tennis clubs, all the amenities. Cost is slightly higher than Ecuador, but much lower than northern Peru.

Not much cheaper available and not as nice  as $4 places in Ecuador. Food costs more as the city has obligatory taxes, an additional 16%, The variety is nice. We are finally eating good.

One evening we went to a fancy restaurant with live folk music, flute and harp.  Dinner prices ranged from $2 to $4. (12 soles = $1). Then the waiter brought another menu with complete dinner for 2 for 12 soles each.  Seemed like a good price for salad, dinner, desert and wine.  Enjoyed a magnificent meal with wonderful music and began to feel restored again. 

We blew our lids. They had put the price of the dinner in dollars. I looked at the menu again. There was a small d after the 12 instead of the S with one line through it. My fault.
I told the  waiter we were in Peru and the currency in Peru is soles, not dollars. The waiter was turning red from embarrassment.  One offered to help. I said I could handle it. It seemed so obvious to me that you can’t charge dollars in a soles country but we lost.  The restaurant had called the police who came quite promptly to make sure we paid.

Lima is filled with junk cars. Taxis are antique VW Bugs. Taxes are so high no one but the very rich can afford a new car. A Honda 125cc  costs $1,800. Sixty percent of that is taxes. Airline tickets have a 21% tax. It seems the government is pricing itself out of business. Nobody is buying.
Tried to change money.

 I carried all our bills from capital city to capital city in my cycling shoes for protection. The last bill we had was a little sullied as it had been in my shoe since Quito! The American Embassy would not help us. So we went back to the hotel, washed the bill with soap and water and set it on the heater to dry. Next day, the same money changer took it in a flash!

We were having a very difficult time making decisions. We did not want to go home but we desperately needed a break from the strain of so much cycling, and mostly from the constant strain of the thieving, lack of good food, cleanliness and sanitation.  

The language barrier was getting to Mike. He needed to talk to anyone about anything important. It was the kind of time everyone goes through when they wonder why they are doing what they are doing. Our original plan was to cycle all the way to the tip of South America. But, it had taken us so long just to get this far, and we were exhausted.

To cycle on to Bolivia and Chile would have taken at least another 4 months. From Lima to Bolivia we would have to cross 5 major passes on dirt roads. We could not go direct because of the terrorist trouble. A detour of a 1000 miles through  Arequipa to the south, then Puno, then back north to Cusco. We read the description of the roads from Puno to Bolivia to Northern Argentina. They were deserted, rugged high altitude roads which would have been a trek in themselves.

 We looked into taking a bus there though we had no desire to spend so much time on a bus. Also it was very expensive. We finally found a flight Lima to Baltimore $320/ person via Jamaica. We could take a two week vacation on the beaches of Jamaica for no extra stop over cost then return to the states in time to go to Alaska for the summer and look for work.

We decided to take the bus to Arequipa then Cusco before going home. It was a 20 hour ride. Bus falling apart. Window stuck shut, seat didn’t work, rattles everywhere. It was a tiring journey and the scenery was desert all the way.

 From the coast into the mountains the roads twisted and turned, climbed and dropped. There were few towns or rest stops. We dared not drink or eat anything because there were no stops for peeing. One lady just peed in her seat.

Juliaca

Taxis at Juliaca quoted $1 for ride to town. Took taxis. Paid $5 bill. Man gave back $2 change. Typical method of deception. Charge is per person, not for the taxis. Also he took us three blocks past the normal taxis stop ( which of course he forgot to mention. That cost another $1.

 You’d think we’d learn by now but they are well practiced at this.  I know I would not mind paying if they quoted a price and stuck to it but what angers north Americans so much is the dishonesty and deliberate tricks to get more from you.

Spent the day in Juliaca buying hats. Streets are filled with vendors sitting in the gutters selling their goods. There must be three hundred people lining the streets selling the same variety of things. Juliaca is a market town. Everyone sells wool goods to the tourists.

We bought 200 hats from 3 vendors. The whole town gathered round yelling, “buy me,” Didn’t have enough soles so went to bank to change money. The vendor was afraid we wouldn’t come back for the hats so he loaded them up on a bicycle taxis and followed us. Local bus to Puno, hats and all. Mike entertained by Peruvian Aunt Jamaima. Most Spanish he’s spoken on the trip.

Cusco

Train to Cusco. Machu Pichu. Yes, we went to the famous ruins. What a treasure they are. Utterly fascinating. I’m glad we took the opportunity to come this far, even though we did not bicycle it. Our adventure was over. We were going home via two weeks cycling around Jamaica. That’s another tale!