SEPTEMBER 2 - GUADALAPITO TO LA GRAMITA

Guadalapito was a small town; sort of a wide spot in the road with the resort, a few small stores and the local inhabitants.  Today we are off to La Gramita, 113 km away.   It doesn't even show on our maps, including my GPS (nicknamed F.R.E.D.   by Laura but that's a different story.)

Off we go with our usual 0630 start.  The weather has been consistent lately in that it is cloudy in the morning, and clears up around noon when the wind comes up.  This morning was unusual in that is was mostly clear, so I tried to get a photo of the sunrise.








I've mentioned this before - here's a modern factory behind a huge brick wall with locked gates and guards at the front. I guess there are trust issues.







Another huge wall - decorated with PPK (political party) slogans for the 2016 election.  Makes for some depressing scenery.


Early in the ride we had a short detour on a dirt road in order to avoid a busy traffic tunnel with no sidewalks.  I called "Tour de Garbage Dump."  We rejoined the main highway just near the middle bottopm of this photo.  Unfortunately, we've seen lots of towns were the local highways are the town dumping ground.  Definitely not something they should be proud of.

Fishing boat harbour in Chimbote.  There were hundreds of boats there, and this unusually white island behind.


Time to show you an innovative feature of the traffic light system in many of the towns:  They have countdown timers showing how much longer the light will be green or red for.  In this photo, the green has another 7 seconds.  So, this leads to 2 behaviours - hit the gas when the green is down to 5 seconds or less to beat the light; and, start honking at the guy in front of you when the red is at 1 second left to go.  After all, there's no point wasting time.

We're on our 'two lane cycle path" again.  Beautiful view to the sea with it's white islands.  There is a small seaside town hidden just to the left of the middle of the photo.








Past the lunch truck - another beautiful harbour with a small town visible.

In the middle of nowhere, desert all around are a couple of reed houses.  Here's one.  I am assuming the large reed wall is some sort of wind break.  I have no idea about the logistics or costs of services, especially water.  Also, why would you live here?







Around the corner the road continues.  A couple of kilometers along there is a semi-paved road to the right.  We go down it and here is the first view of La Gramita.





Our hotel.  Little cabins - we are in 'Chico.'  Power for about 6 hours a day, restaurant at the hotel and another in the village.  The rest day tomorrow will be very relaxing.