On Wednesday, the 12th of October, we enter Peru. And we
seriously hope it gets better soon. We cross our fingers that this is the
"Border" thing....
| This is a wealthy family for the border area of Peru. |
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| Looks can be deceiving. This is the view from our
room.
But any other direction you look, and it is amazingly poor and dirty.
Real dirty! |
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| This is what the homes were like for the first 200 miles
of coast line in Peru. But usually with more litter...... |
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| Beach front shacks. The beaches were very attractive,
much like certain areas of Baja, California. |
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| Very poor...... |
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| You never know what the day has in store for you.......
An anteater, I think... |
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| When we got to Mancora, Peru, we meet these Harley
riders from Brazil. A friendly bunch.
They were heading to a Harley meeting in Guayaquil. |
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| As you travel south through Peru, it is dry desert, but
every few miles a stream or wash leads from the Andes down to the coast.
Dozens of times, we negotiate detours around the washed out roads. |
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| During the summer it gets too hot for the dead. This
was a huge cemetery, and nearly every grave site had a thatched cover. |
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| Sullana, Peru. This is what many of the northern
cities in Peru look like.
The tarps cover the local street market. |
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| Ownership of mules is much higher than the private
ownership of cars. |
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| At first I thought we were seeing the results of an
accident, but it was a routine chain adjustment. |
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Weak attempt at "Artsy" day time moon shot, with
church......
Beautiful beaches and VERY poor
neighborhoods.......
| Jacob, This pictures is for you....
When we get home I will buy you another case........ |
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| We left Piura, Peru and headed across the Sechura
Desert. I thought we were riding across the middle east.
People driving livestock miles from any thing....
And extremely poor.... |
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| Almost looked like the homes of Nomads.... |
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| Many of the straw homes had livestock corrals right next
to their homes. |
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| It is difficult to see in this photo, but this was the
barber shop. The desert reminded me of the area near Bermuda Dunes,
California.
But without water, money and Mercedes... |
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| Homes like this line the road for 50 miles south of
Piura, Peru. |
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One of the few water sources in this desert.....
| As we turn around to take pictures of cracking soil, we
encounter somebody from Los Angeles. Los Angeles, Chile.....
Daniel was doing a speed run from Alaska to the tip of South America. |
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| He was riding a Honda "African Twin". Does anybody
know why they are not distributed in the United States? |
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| This is the cracked surface which we turned back to
photograph. We have seen many dry lakes, but none that developed
cracks from 12 to 24 inches deep!
The gaps were 10 to 12 inches across!
Truly strange..... |
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| This crack was over Daniel's knee.... |
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| And off he goes..... |
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| The desolation makes us feel as though we are on an
adventure again. The "Border" blues is starting to disappear!
I'm happy again.... |
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| When we were near the border, with the dirt and filth
and cloudy skies, Sandy got a little home sick.
Some weeping and crying.
But the blue skies of the desert have her back with a positive
attitude regarding this trip. |
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Cheap ADV Rider plug..............
How many more miles must we travel until we are
true Adventure Riders, and not want to be's?
| Safety is what you make of it. In Peru the government
is not imposing rules to protect you. |
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| We arrive in Chiclayo, Peru, and decide to live it up
for a few day. This city is very poor, but is in the center of many
Inca ruins.
Time to catch up with the laundry, the web site and relax for a day
or two. |
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And you thought the traffic in Los Angeles was
bad!
| A few faces in a Parade.... |
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| Cute kids....... |
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| Friendly Peruvians.... |
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| The "Pigs" at ADVRider will like this pictures...... |
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| More cute kids..... |
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| And more........ |
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You can't depend on the GPS for navigation. It
shows roads that don't exist, crossing lakes which are also figments of the GPS's
imagination.
And no, there were not dry lakes in the area.
Many times cities do show up on the GPS, but sometimes as far as 12 miles from
where they actually exist. It is a great compass and altimeter. Not
much more. A much less expensive GPS could have provided the same
information.
| On the 15th of October (Saturday), we did about 150
miles locally. In the background is a pyramid near Tucume. They
are about 1,200 years old and not hold up well. They are made of
adobe bricks. Not rocks, as in Egypt. |
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| This pyramid was located in the middle of a village, and
the kid use it as a play ground. They were recently discovered.
Prior to 1987 it was thought that they were just mounds of dirt, but
excavations revealed that they were tombs of Kings, with many items of
gold... |
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| There were 26 pyramids in the general area. This one
is currently be excavated. |
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| Same ruin as above, from a different angle. |
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| When we got back to Chiclayo, it was time for lunch.
This was the view from the 2nd story of the restuarant.
A boy wanted to wash the bike while we ate. We said no, but he
continued to sit near the bike. |
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| We flagged him through the window to come up to where we
were eating. They stopped him at the door, so we had to persuade
the restaurant to let him in. He was very please and polite.
12 years old and his name was Elder.
His smile was twice this when we ordered ice cream. |
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| It was a win/win lunch.
Sandy and I got to work on our Spanish, and Elder got a complete
lunch. |
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| Another mud pyramid..... About 20 miles of dirt roads
to get here, but found a asphalt road back to Chiclayo in less than 15
miles......... |
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| Quick lunch..... |
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| And a finally a religious procession. There were about 20
people bearing the load of this wood stage that appeared to weight at
least 1,200 pounds.... |
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Well, that's it thru Sunday night in Chiclayo, Peru........
Click on the next button to continue to Peru
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