As you know from yesterdays Blog, we had difficulty finding a town with accommodation, and by the time we got to Cajacay we had already tried other towns without success, so we took what we could and booked the rooms. For dinner we thought we would walk to the Town Square and find at least one little eatery, but sadly this town was the proverbial “One horse Town” of which the horse had died. Tex recorded this proud moment at the square:
So dinner was found next to the main road, in a truckers stop. Not very grand, but, the food was edible and there was a bottle store opposite, also for the truckers (you must see how they drive!!!!!) We bought their last bottle of redwine and some clear liquid which was a mystery as it was also lost in translation but drank anyway, and a few beers, and ordered Guinea Pig for Danny-boy and Peens who had not eaten this before. The rest ordered steak, we thought, but this was also lost in translation as we received a stir-fry with slithers of some red meat in it.
In spite of such a small empty town there was a maniac who was reversing his steam-roller up our street at 5h00 this morning when he left for work at some construction site in the area. He just had the Beep-Beep sound on, but the sound made by his roller on the concrete road was more than enough to wake the dead.
This morning after waxing our chains we left looking for fuel, and Danny-boy’s back wheel of the Rally-Car was extremely fat, so he left looking for air. Our town had no fuel station, the next town 30km along the way only had Regular Fuel, two down from Premium and Super, plus no Air, so we continued another 36km before finding both at a Repsol Station, now I know what Repsol does, they sponsor a Honda team in the Moto GP and I always though Repsol was just an oil.
Our little town was at 2500m and we spent the 1st 50km dropping down to 146m and then followed the river for a while before stopping for “breakfast” which was an egg, goats-cheese bread roll and an instant coffee, made form a liquid coffee that is poured into a huge cup of hot water and evaporated milk and sugar. No it’s not Balsamic Vinegar, that is the coffee, and the Coke is for Peens as he says coffee is bad for you and likes to choose the healthier options in life.
But the mist came in as we were heading for the see, and this luckily hid the desert landscape although there was some farming every now and then next to the river.
There were stretches where very large amounts of Chillies were being dried:
They are larger than what we know as chillies back home, and more like a pepper, but don’t try eating the pips, we had a tasting session and the words “mother-in-law-hell-fire”come to mind.
And then we made a left-turn onto the Pan-American Highway. The name is actually Panama- America highway and it runs from Laredo Texas to Buenos Aires in Argentina, (for which we dont cry,) (not sure all of you would have gotten that.) It does not go through the Darian Gap (between Panama and Colombia) as it is jungle and filled with gangsters and robbers. On two occasions they attempted to build a road through the jungle but each time it has failed as those who operate their smuggling through this area does not want a road there and they sabotaged and threatened the construction workers who then stopped trying to build the road. But, others believe that America has refused to fund this road as this would speed up and make smuggling easier, at least with our the road the drugs gets carried and not hidden in vast quantities inside the trucks.
This road was UGLY and very boring, straight highway, in the desert, but filled with many many trucks and busses. It passes through many little settlements where you can find vendors and small little shops, we stopped for an early lunch of soup and I took some photos there.
I also took this video:
We knew this was our last ride and we did not want it to end, so we stopped again for ice-cream:
And them Tex’s clutch gave-up-the-ghost and we could stop again, for some crisps and a coke while the clutch was bled and new hydraulic fluid added and the old fluid flushed out of the system.
As you can see I am clutching at straw here to fill the blog with something.
And then we got to Lima, the GPS said 40 minutes to travel 13 kilometres. It was chaos!!!! I remember lots of chaotic traffic in Istanbul, and also one afternoon in China, but this was on another level as the 3 lanes were not bumper to bumper but moving at 60km per hour and everyone pushing and hooting and forcing their larger vehicles onto the smaller ones and changing lanes. The busses were the worst and it almost felt like we were in a river flowing around obstructions when 3 lanes became 2 due to a bus or taxi stopping in that lane. Then a navigation error saw Pie, Tex and I go through the centre of the city, which was interesting as the buildings are beautiful Art Deco Buildings around several squares, but chaotic traffic, will never forget this mad-dash.
So, I am going to Post another few of Peens’s photos, not sure where he got them as all three are not “oil paintings.”
Probably taken these at the last minute at our fancy hotel foyer. Yes, we got an up-grade back up to Oros Status Accommodation as we have been scratching the bottom of the barrel when it comes to luxury the last few weeks. Our toilet tonight even has a seal on that states it has been sanitised.
Below is a photo taken of our boots at the beginning of this trip, you will see mine is still new as I had to chuck away the ones left at my bike for 6 months as it had become 2 mushroom farms. We discussed how long we had these boots and at which stage did we ride with them for the 1st time. Pie’s boots will be thrown away at the end of this trip, we hope, Millsy has the brown boots and it has done North America, Central America and up to now, and it still looks OK. See how I am struggling for blog-contents. My boots are the new ones in the photo below :
Anyway, see how these boots look today:
I am going to wash them and also wash my riding gear, but my helmet had beaten me, its over, its coming home and next time I come with a new helmet, the current one lasted 60 000km, its done now. I tried to get rid of the smell of mushrooms and Millsy has sprayed his secret muti into the helmet of several mornings, but no luck. I thought I was clever and filled the helmet with vinegar overnight, and all that got me was smelling like a Fish & Chips Shop and my hair is now yellow.
Just for the record, I am not a spend thrift, my 1st set of boots made it from London to Helsinki in Finland, the 2nd pair made it from there all the way to Singapore. Then I bought new boots which lasted
47 500km through North America and Canada and all the way down Central America and up to Ecuador.
Tomorrow we are off to our “Fixer” who will do more than fix our bikes but also fix our TIPS (temporary import permits.) But more about that tomorrow.
Be Good
Fleisch
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