(August 29 evening)
I could get used to this lifestyle. Warm evening, sitting at a beachfront table with (only one!) Pisco Sour and watching the waves.
First an item of business. We only had one response to my first 'contest'couple of weeks ago. This shot of the Pasamayo cemetary reminded me.
Yes, the photo was of a cemetary. That was easy. The harder part was the why. For the cemetary in question (I don't know if it applies everywhere), the reason they build stackimg crypts has to do with the price of the plots. You pay for the first plot - if you stack 'em, the rest don't pay for the land! Saves money , so there you go!
I don't know if the 'condo' style arrangement saves any extra money.
Here's the view from on top of cemetary hill.
(August 30 morning)
On our morning stroll we ran into a ceremony at the Plaza de Armas. Don't know what was going on - it seemed to be some sort of flag raising ceremony. Lots of brass band and singing (anthems?).
A good chunk of the rest of the morning was spent sorting and drying clothes. We're still down some, and we have to make a trip to the laundry at 5 pm with the staff to pick up what is left (if it isn't already in somebody else's bag). Not a problem - less to carry & wash later.
Here's a photo of the "Lavandria" where it all happened. Note their sign - They also sell electronic parts (mostly from 30 years ago), suits, shirts, ties and services motors (electric?). I took this for the memories it would trigger. The people there really were nice and tried hard - we just descended on them in a horde and overwhelmed them.
(August 30, 5 pm)
The big climax! Off we trotted to the Lavandria, armed with a list of missing items, translated into Spanish. After some hand waving and help from Asha, who is also missing stuff, they bring out a bag marked 'No Name Given.' It turns out to be all of our stuff with a few other items. We had given them all our stuff in one clearly marked bag, so it must have broken in the confusion. They charged me for it again (the 4 bucks is far less than the value of the clothes), so all´s well that ends (well or otherwise).
(August 30 - evening)
Having dinner at the beachfront restaurant, watching the sun set (will try to add a sunset photo). Excellent dinner (Tollo Sudado), a beer and ONE Pisco Sour. Tomorrow is the ride to near Trujillo and the Chan Chan ruins.
TTFN
Before we start, a photo from yesterday. We're sitting around, enjoying the first Pisco sours this trip. Laura, John & Bob (fellow riders), Jody (Cdn staff nurse) & Adrian (staff, racing director & surfer dude). Ask Laura if she made a pig of herself later on.
So, today we are just kicking around Pasamayo, taking it easy. Pasamayo is a relatively clean town (dogs not allowed on the beach promenade) with very narrow streets and sidewalks. Watch out for Putt-putts!
A view from higher up one of the streets
The central plaza which splits the main street.
Interesting for me (sorry to bore the rest of you): this is a wood framed wall. They start with 2 x 4 (about) studs, cover them with bamboo strips to which they apply what seems to be adobe mud. Then they cover the mud with a plaster layer to finish and waterproof it. When the plaster layer is damaged the wall is vulnerable to damage.
The town pier - it was originally a longer structure.
Another view of the pier. This spinly structure once supported railway cars?
Working on the local fishing boats.
OK - this segment is called "Adventures in Laundry." Whenever the tour rolls into town for a rest day, we innundate a local laundry with dirty underwear, socks shorts and other riding gear. Forty or so bags of laundry, each 2 to 4 kilos and we all want it back the next day. So far on the trip, there have been no problems, Until now. We overloaded this poor family laundry (which also doubled as an clothing and electronics shop) and they were unable to cope. Much of it got mixed up, came back wet, or is MIA. Laura and I dropped off 4.5 kilos of clothes and got back 4 damp kilos. We're missiong sox & underwear.
Tomorrow, we will be having a laundry swap meet at the riders meeting......
118 mostly flat km to Pacasmayo and a two day rest. Yay!
We start the day with a crazy bike train out of Lambayque. About a dozen of us weaving in and out of the already heavy morning traffic, dodging everything: people, puttputts, cars trucks, buses. Sorry no pix - I was to busy watching my life go before my eyes.
The town is dry and dusty and, as soon as we are out of town we are in full on desert. A shot looking out to our right (west).
And, to the hills to the east. Unfortunately, the road side is used as a garbage dump.
Further along, less garbage and some odd shaped dunes. A sign says this is a military reserve. Shell craters?
All of a sudden we are out of the desert and passing through towns with farming & other industry. We cross an an almost dry riverbed. Here's an outdor adobe factory. They are about 10 meters down in their pit as they dig it out and sell it.
Back to desert and a lonely little house with some front yard landscaping. I don't know where or if he gets water.
Further along - desert on one side and a factory farm (fully fenced, watchman at the gate) on the other. Good road with a wide shoulder (Pan American Highway). We passed a number of large brick fenced compounds in the with signs usually describing agricultural processing endeavours. (Memo to self - take a photo)
At the Lunch Truck. Chris (Belgium) inspecting a pile of adobe bricks
Laura's feet were still bothering her and the wind was threatening to come up, so she rode with the truck while I pedalled off to catch up to some other riders.
Here's a concrete roof pour in a town. There are about 15 workers hand mixing like crazy (one hamming it up for the camera).
Beautifully painted fence. Usually, they are unpainted or have political ads painted on them. Often in poor repair
Statue in the centre of Chepen
Different style of Putt-putt around here. 8 or 10 passenger vans are also popular as buses.
I catch up to some of the others. Cathy ( doctor from south Africa) and I decide to stop for coffee in San Jose. Big mistake - the coffee is instant and the wind increases while we are there, so the last 15 km are brutal.
Our reward - this is the view from Laura's and my room in Pacasmayo. 3rd floor, balcony. I think the couples on the tour got the view "matrimonial" rooms.
We spent the afternoon dealing with laundry, getting some new pedals for Laura's bike, and the evening enjoying a great meal (Ceviche, salad and a couple of entrees) and waaay too many Pisco Sours. Life is tough!
(Medical note - my "Galloping Shits" have cured themselves with the help of Ciprofloxacin and Immodium. I bet you really wanted to know that, eh?)
I'm posting from a shared computer, so I can´t check my work and apologize for silly errors.
All caught up!
114 km today with a possible side trip to some pre Columbian ruins.
An interesting feature of today was a team time trial - 4 person teams to ride a 25(ish) km course with the requirment that you had to estimate your time. The team that got closest to their time estimate without going over it wins. Go over the estimate and you are disqualified.
Our team consisted of Chris (the fastest cyclist), Fred, Laura and myself. We were on track to our time until we came to the last hill. We went over time and were DQ'd. One exciting moment happened when Laura hit a speed bump in Olmos and had her first aid kit fly out onto the pavement. I rode back, got it and managed to get back to our group without losing time. No photos of this fun event until afterward. Laura, Chris and Fred behind.
Corn, harvested, shucked, and drying in somebody's front yard.
Here are some photos of the pre-Columbian ruins at Ticume. I won't provide much description - check it out on Google for more details.
A few shots from up top (left to right). The pyramids are constructed of adobe, so don't weather well (El Nino in 1983 did a lot of damage)]
I had a very short romp through the museum before we had to leave.
A plan of the entire complex
Pottery: I understand all of the artifacts in the museum were obtained from the site.
On our way to 'camp.' A shot of one of the side streets in Ticume
We fought headwinds for the last 20 km and Laura's shoes were hurting her, so it was a bit of a tough ride. 'Camp' was wonderful, the Eco-Hostal Mamita Helmita in Lambayque. We got a room (Laura's idea) for 70 soles($33) and had a great night's sleep. Sorry, folks, I forgot to take pix again (my journalism is worth exactly what you pay for it).
Before we get into today's happenings, I have to talk about some more stuff from yesterday.
First - WATER HAZARDS! I mentioned about how the rivers will flow over the road when it rains. The Peruvian road builders just make a concrete dip in the road that floods when it rains. Here's the photo I missed from yesterday. This is one that's dry. Now the story from yesterday - There was a flooded waterbar just past the lunch truck. Laura went through it and, me, like an idiot followed her. This particular waterbar must flow constantly because the concrete was all over grown with very slippery algae (Ian, just like the WCT "black slime"). Like I said, I skid and down I go with wounded pride. It turns out a lot of the riders, including two of the staff suffered the same fate! Live & learn
The resort we stayed at (the 'Riosol') didn't have Wifi so I did the recent posts at an Internet shop. We went into town and back using the 3 wheeled mototaxis, which begged the question: "Why weren't we killed when we rode through earlier on our bikes?" An exciting ride.
Now for today - Chulucanas to some soccer / volleyball court near Pasabar. 102 km, 750 m A, 700 m D. If you are trying to locate us on a map we are about 100 km north of the coastal town of Chiclayo, Peru and 60 km inland.
Some poor overworked mule!
This is near the lunch truck and shows the fragility of the soil - just a few animals walking on it take any vegetation off.
Laura had to chase the goats off the road to clear a trail for me.
After we get to camp and get set up there is a Rider's Meeting, usually just before dinner. Josh (South Africa - the tall fellow on the right wearing the white hat) started a great tradition - buying beer and snacks on HIS birthday.
And the whole lot of us at the Rider's Meeting briefing for the next day's ride, with staff Britten (US) & Adrian (Aussie) doing the briefing.
We are camped on the concrete basketball court It hasn't rained here since 2008, so water is an issue. There are some irrigated fields near here, so there is a water supply.
I won't tell you about the difficulties with the toilets overnight.
Another fairly easy day - 76 km, 500m A, 645m D
A noisy night - dogs barking all night, and when the dogs weren't barking the roosters were crowing. There are lots of dogs in Ecuador and Peru. There have been lots of instances of dogs chasing bikes and a few bites. None to Laura or me, luckily. We have all learned to scream at dogs chasing bikes as this sometimes startles them and makes them back off.
We're in the desert and what appears - rice paddies! We are entering an area of intensive farming.
This tower was in the middle of the road. Somebody's idea of an attraction, I guess.
Look at this - a mototaxi pulling a cement mixer, along with 3 people. Definitely, an all purpose vehicle.
We start seeing a lot of adobe brick houses mixed in with the wood and clay brick versions.
Lunch stop, interupted by a herd of sheep (oops, forgot the photo).
Somebodys home business - making the adobe bricks
An older mode of transport. One fellow with a horse drawn version hollered "How are you?" in perfect English as I rode past.
Banana plantation - the bananas are wrapped in plastic bags for protectiion from some insect I guess. I saw a Dole sign at one large warehouse nearby, so this may be where some of our bananas and mangos come from.
Something new in Peru - "wet river crosssings." They are conrete roadways that flood when it rains. We went over one that was wet, but also covered in algae and very slippery. Laura made it through but I skidded and went over. Don't know what was worse - getting wet or having my pride hurt. Apparently, a number of riders skidded into the water
Adobe under construction. We're thinking about giving out a unique gift from Peru to all of you - a hunk of adobe brick
Main street of Chulucanas - chaos with all the people, mototaxis,and donkeys pulling carts.
We rolled along like gangbusters and did the 76 km before noon (remember we started at 0630). Here's our digs for tonight. We are at the "Riosol" resort in Chulucanas. Most of us have to camp. We've ordered "Chicharron" (deep fried fish) for lunch and will head into town to have a look around and try to post all of these. We are in the land of Ceviche and are looking forward to it.
On our morning stroll we ran into a ceremony at the Plaza de Armas. Don't know what was going on - it seemed to be some sort of flag raising ceremony. Lots of brass band and singing (anthems?).
