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DAY 140-141, Feb. 27-28, 2012, Lima, Temp 21-32C (620/18,060km)
The ocean in Huanchaco is very cold so I decided to leave…Nah, I just
had to get my ass in gear! Great spot
and worth 2 or 3 days, but with two riding buddies from "the Boat" in Lima I decided I'd like to
see them one last time on my tour of South America.
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| Lovely room in Naylamp |
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| Cold water, nice beach and great seafood in Huanchaco |
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Patrick's bike sitting at Naylamp
because of a wrist injury. Apparently
he flew to Chile to meet his girlfriend.
Funny to stumble upon the bike. |
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| People movers, not sure the price, but I'm thinking it's low |
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No one had to pay going towards
Lima, just if you wanted to get out |
A t
ough start through Trujillo traffic and then in to the beautiful open desert for most of the day. My only slowdowns were towns (no by-passes) and a road side cop stop (see Side Story). So basically C2/3R7/8T3V8/9 desert vastness, ocean views, mountain peaks and smooth road between towns.
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| The classic kid in the back window fixated on the bike |
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| Road side village |
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| Tire repair shop |
Side Story: Rode up to one of many road check points in Peru which I normally get waved through, but not this time. They pulled me aside and I got off the bike to dig for my passport along with my aduana (temp import for the bike), bike registration and international insurance (from International Insurance. Blah, blah…). The cop took all my documents back to his truck including my passport which I was not worried about as the stop was quite official with 5 or 6 cops and a bunch of trucks on the Panamerican highway. The stop was welcomed as I had to tighten my spare tire that keep sliding off my top case. After 5 minutes they called me over to discuss the fine I had to pay for not having Peru insurance. I spoke the Spanish I could and managed to confirm over and over that my “International Insurance” was good. He wasn’t buying in so I said, “you can sit here and study the papers and I’ll be over at my bike when you are ready to give the documents back” (of course not nearly as well said in Spanish). I didn’t even reach my bike before his young assist came over with my documents and told me to go. Ok, thanks. I put the documents away and proceeded to finish servicing the bike needs for another 10 minutes. NO bribe paid!
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| Cop stop ahead |
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| The veteran showing the rookie |
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| Patience wins every time |
Super Side Story: It turns out there is another way to deal with the corrupt cop stops which I found out from my buddy Gui who was stopped at the exact place weeks before. Poke them in the chest and yell “Coruption, corruption! What’s your badge, name…!” This is another option, but may require a bit more Spanish ability and attitude.
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| It just looks like a tight squeeze, but I had lots of time. |
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| Human powered transports |
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| Fun tunnel |
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| Cool |
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| Love the interest |
Great feel of the desert vastness in this video and the fast pace which you can move.
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| Beautiful! |
Transition from desert to ocean side riding.
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| I couldn't stop shooting |
In to Lima, with little traffic at first and then the well documented horrifically
clogging traffic for a good 8 km or more as I made my way to Miraflores the gringo
area. Still the moto was not slowed by
this too much. I had low expectations of
Lima and didn’t really want to go, but once I arrived in Miraflores I actually
could see myself living here for a while!
Unfortunately I stayed here on a Monday and Tuesday so not too much was
happening, but you could tell this place was great on the weekend. Beautiful ocean cliff side mall Larcomar with American
style restaurants (views were great, but prices were American), lots of places
to eat and of course Irish pubs here and there and a couple casinos (where I
made $40 on Black Jack covering my cost for the day).
Riding into Lima as the traffic began to build.
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How is this guy going to weave
through the traffic? |
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| Hostel Rivendell looks like a jail |
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Carlo Vellutino a Dakar rider from Lima who took the bike
for a test ride in order to diagnose my vibration problem.
Carlo also offered free accommodation at his family's hotel
near Machu Picchu. Very nice. See Peru South post. |
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Kevin and I search the town for
Barbacci Motos |
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A bearing change for $12 to eliminate
possibilities. Free labour, but no fix. |
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While waiting for Kevin to talk to a mechanic about his
Buell and dying of thirst I purchased the only thing in
the area to keep me going. First popsicle in years. |
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| Main park near Miraflores |
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| Am I actually in Canada taking this photo or what? |
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Cool fruit juices freshly sealed at
La Lucha Sangucheria |
RECOMMEND: La Lucha Sangucheria for a great sandwich and fruit juice
NOT RECOMMENDED: Israeli run Rivendell Hostel (room wasn’t cleaned, dodgy pricing, etc).
DAY 142-143, Feb. 29-Mar.1, 2012, Huacachina, Temp 24-30C
(300/18,360km)
Having a relatively short day ahead of me I decided to take my
chances at Malvinas trying to buy a cop helmet and hopefully a cheap used
phone. Malvinas is considered a very
dodgy shopping area where you can get anything.
It’s huge and has many different market buildings with specific areas
like one building just for electronics.
In the end everyone wanted $100 for 2 year old Blackberries so that didn’t
happen, but I did buy a cop style helmet in pure black for $8 (not possible to find a
cop replica). Although I was the only
foreigner I don’t know if it was necessary to keep my hands in my pockets the
whole time preventing pick pockets (free theft in a crowd tip for you! Also watch out for the bump distraction
technique).
Back to the hostel for 2ish pm with a crap lunch in my belly I struggled
to pack and get on the bike. Slipped
through the pre-rush hour traffic which was solid, but shorter than on the way
in to town, and headed south to Huacachina the Desert Oasis. More amazing desert views to my left and vast
ocean and coast line to my right for 200km or so out of Lima C2R8T2V8, double
lane all the way. Once I made a left and
headed inland the double lane and ocean disappeared and the traffic and desert doubled
C2R6T5V7.
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Most the buses have doormen trying to convince you to
hop on their bus. I'm guessing they are privately owned |
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Even better. Venders jump on buses
at lights and sell everything! |
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| Dodgy shopping area Malvinas |
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| Bike cops in the Malvinas area. I kept my camera low. |
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| What's the name? Blue Church? |
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Note this poor meal as I think this
was the start of feeling ill for the
next weeks! Don't eat too cheap!
The meat was liver and not good. |
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| Thank god those are cones and not a barrier as it was tight |
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| More seaside towns south of Lima |
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Couldn't figure this out for a while.
They are enclosures to protect
vegetable/fruit growth in the desert. |
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| Best ad ever! And massive too! |
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| Surf spot with shops |
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| Tonnes of advertising on the Panamerican South |
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| Road side life |
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| Beautiful!!! Shot while riding too |
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| Lonely tree |
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| Awesome looking armoured truck |
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| Intense colour as the sun began to drop |
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| Naked dude on the road side??? |
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| Entering Huacachina around 7pm |
Hurray for Huacachina! Arriving in this little Oasis next door to Ica you can expect prices and the chance of dumping your bike to double, especially if you try to take a sandy short cut. This place is all about Dune Buggies and Sand Boarding, but don’t be afraid to spend an extra day or two hanging by a pool (if you have water in yours that is). Although I wasn’t interested in the Sand Boarding or the extra cost of Dune Buggying the package price with a private room made it impossible to turn down ($48/2 nights). HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Dune Buggy and Sand Boarding.
A walk through Huacachina surrounded by hills of sand
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| Huacachina lagoon |
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| Why so angry little buddy? |
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Every place with a pool as the temp
was 30C+. People coming from
Machu Picchu were happy to arrive! |
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| Hostel Carole del Sur, Good. |
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| Love it. Cool Grandma and happy grandson taking a spin |
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| She's not laughing at me? |
Video I call "Holy shit!", riding the dunes in the buggy. Best part is we had to pay up everything before going in the buggies which made everyone a little uneasy and the video probably confirms why the want your bills paid.
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| Ready! |
A French girl going boarding for her first time head first.
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| Prepping at the top |
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| Outstanding. We are heading back now, right? |
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| crazy, I can't see |
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| Great shot of Huacachina |
Back after the adventure, a quick bite to eat and then Connor and I joined an underfoot grape crushing wine tour. Sounds gross…and it is. The crushing is ok once you get dirty, but the fact you are drinking foot pressed wine from the group the week before, yuck!!! Just pisco (super fermented wine about 40% alcohol) yourself up and you’ll forget everything. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
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| Location of the winery seemed very dodgy |
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Daniel Alvarez and grandkids.
Owner of Piscos y Vinos |
Jumping in to the warm bath of grapes
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| Nadja (Latvia) really jumping into it |
POV of a grape stomp
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| After the work it was time to play |
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Connor didn't partake in the initial
stomp, but after some wine... |
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| No idea, Me and Nadja |
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Proving to all my eyes don't shut
when I'm drinking |
Last note: Good group of people from the wine tour, so good, we all decided to go for a 2am swim together. Easily one of the best days of my trip!!!
Other Stuff
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| From a distance this guy looked like a tour rider |
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| Fully loaded |
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Um...where's the driver. This guy
was trotting down the hwy solo |
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| Another loaded moto transport |
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