Day 150
Due to the insane traffic in Lima I decided to get an early start to my day to see if I could avoid the worst of it so I left my hotel early at half past six in the morning however it was to no avail as the roads were already full of traffic. It took me over an hour to get out of the city and once I had ridden for about 30 miles or so I stopped to refuel and to have a coffee. I had put another layer on just in case I encountered the sea mist and shortly after I set off again I rode in to it. It did not clear till around ten o’clock.
The road again ran through coastal dessert terrain past lots of beach resorts but because of the sea mist there was not much to see never mind to photograph. However at least there was only a gentle breeze coming off of the sea so I could make reasonable progress. After that the mist disappeared and it was all dual carriageway for the first 200 miles then back to single carriageway roads and desert bordered by mountains. After I reached the town of Paracas the road headed inland and I hit the city of Ica just before noon and the traffic there was also quite bad.
Once I reached the other side of Ica the road became much quieter and the ride more bearable. After about an hour of riding on long straight roads the road then climbed inland over the mountains and then it descended in to a valley the bottom of which was full of vegetation. This was the first time that I had seen crops being grown on a large scale since I had entered Peru.
Then it was through the town of Santa Cruz and out of the valley and back in to more dessert bordered by more mountains. By early afternoon I passed the site of the Nasca Lines, the huge pictures that were drawn on the desert by who knows who. Obviously from the road nothing can be seen so there was little point in stopping. Shortly thereafter I reached the actual city of Nasca where I decided to stop for the night having ridden almost 300 miles by that point.
I found a nice hotel for 68 Soles (about 18 USD) for the night which had both secure parking and hot showers in the rooms.
The hotel even had a roof terrace from where I had some really good views of the city and the surrounding mountains the tallest of which was covered in sand at the very top.
Day 151
Another day of riding largely empty roads through dessert landscapes began at just after eight o’clock in the morning. It was warm and sunny when I set off but once I stated heading towards the coast the temperature dropped a little but not enough for me to stop to put on extra clothes however the strong side winds reappeared. The road then continually rose and fell as it hugged the Pacific coast but at least on the higher parts the road became more twisty and was more enjoyable to ride on.
However at some points the road was cut in to the side of the mountains that ran down to the sea but the main issue with this was that except for on the the bends there were no Armco barriers to prevent a vehicle going over the edge and plummeting hundreds of feet in to the sea. As I was negotiating these stretches of elevated twisty road I had the occasional moment when the bike was blown about by a strong gust of wind and pushed me towards the precipice.
I was happy once the road returned to sea level as when next to the coast at this elevation as it was a lot safer given the strong winds. However by this time the sun had gone and it was overcast which dropped the temperature even more. At this time the bike odometer turned to 11,000 miles.
After having ridden for over 300 miles I finally arrived at my destination for the night in the town of Mollendo. I stopped at the first place that I saw and got a room with hot shower for 100 Soles (about 25 USD) for the night. The place was nice enough but a little overpriced however it had secure parking which sold it to me.
As usual after getting sorted out I headed out to explore the town and get something to eat taking photographs as I went.
The place that I had chosen to eat in had an elevated terrace which gave me a great view over the beach which was still full at around five o’clock in the evening but that may have been because the sun had come back out.
Everywhere in South America parents with children or just children on their own walk about with baskets full of sweet things trying to get everyone to buy some from them. Whilst I was eating two children came in and asked if I wanted to buy some but I did not. However I thought that they each had a toy white rabbit for sale until I saw them move. I don’t know if the rabbits were for sale but I gave them 4 Soles to pose for a picture.
Day 152
My last day on my Southbound journey through Peru was going to be a shorter one than usual as my destination for the night was the city of Tacna which sits about 25 miles away from the border between Peru and Chile. I set off about half past eight in the morning and the road again headed along the coast but it was quite pleasant as it was sunny and warm without a sea breeze. After I had gone about 25 miles or so I came to small area where crops were being grown. I stopped to take a photograph of a rare bit of greenery and I saw that one of the crops was chilli peppers
On the opposite side of this greenery was the usual dessert landscape.
Shortly thereafter the road returned to the usual but very boring long straight stretches of almost deserted road running through absolutely nothing and once again the road rose and fell with some twisties in the higher parts. Once again I stopped on the higher bits to take a couple of photographs. In the second photograph the road can clearly be seen cut in to the mountain. The roads that I rode on the previous day was much higher and the slope down to the sea much steeper but once can get the general idea of how this coastal road is to ride on from this picture.
After about 100 miles of no petrol stations I arrived in the town of Llo and I decided to stop to refuel and to get a coffee. Again I took a couple of photographs from a small area on the sea front opposite the cafe which I was sitting outside of.
I then looked on line and found a small hotel in Tacna with secure parking for 15 USD which I decided to book to avoid hunting around for one when I got to the city. I then set off to finish the journey to Tacna which was about 90 miles away. Again I rode through the same monotonous uninhabited dessert terrain for a couple of hours before the road turned East and inland. I arrived in Tacna at just after one o’clock in the afternoon and after checking in and getting sorted out I headed out to explore the city.
A this point I think that I should point out that from the photographs that I have included in this post one would rightly get the impression that Mollendo, Llo, and Tacna were very modern and clean places however I need to stress that I only photographed the nice bits of these places and the majority of these places were very impoverished and not well maintained.
Now that I have completed my ride South through Peru I must confess that I have not really enjoyed it as a lot of the time the riding has been both quite boring and a bit of a grind. I am glad that this is part of my journey is now behind me but I suspect that I may be in for much the same in Chile until I get to the city of Santiago.
When I do return North through Peru I suspect that I shall try the inland routes to see what that part of the country looks like because I don’t think that it can be any more boring than the coast has been.