The marathon ride begins. Leaving Lima Peru with a goal to be in Copiapo Chile in 6 days. I budgeted for 7 days at 400 km/ day, however I stayed one day more than I should have with Kevin in Lima. He talked me into it! The new goal is 450 km/ day which is fine, however allows no time for possible problems. The boys are arriving Santiago Chile now and will ride north to Copiapo to meet me. I will not be the one to hold them back from the short amount of time to achieve a world record because I have a problem on the road. Prayers begin.. ;-)
And this will pretty much be my view all day, eight hours per day for the next 6 days. Don't want to sound like I am complaining or anything! Wait, let me add that my earphones for music broke on this day as well. One side works, the other one not. Even with the volume completely up, I can only hear part of a song.. but I'll take it. It's better than nothing.
Ummmmm.. did they actually build the road over part of it???
This is the best view I can get. Incredible creation given the fact they most likely didn't have any aerial views themselves. No trees to build a tower even by ancient constructions.
There are two here I can see.
I darkened the 'lines' photos so the image is easier to see.
I guess I'm the only traveler interested in seeing them today from the road! ;-) Kevin suggested I take the airplane when I come here. He did it a few years ago. He said it was worth it but he wouldn't do it again. The flight should cost around $115. I'll think about it....
First though, it's getting late and I need to get into town and find a place to sleep tonight. I've been warned about camping out here alone, as well as traveling at night.
A nice man pulled up to me on the street in town telling me about his hostel. I'm always worried about these guys, but he seemed all right, so I followed him home. My first impression wasn't real good.
But he offered me to park my bike inside for safety (a huge plus), has wi-fi (another plus), cheap enough (triple plus), so I stayed.
Out for dinner (beggars can't be choosers, but I didn't have much luck with a decent meal today..) Chicken and rice, and a quick walk through town back to the hostel.
A quick conversation with Kevin online as I was nodding off to sleep. I talked with him more about the flight, and even though he still thinks I should do it, I decided not to. It will take 1/2 a day out of my schedule, cost a lot of money, and all I'll get is a lot of aerial photos of Nazca lines in the dirt that look exactly like everyone elses photos from an airplane. It wasn't worth the monetary and time costs to me. I'd rather save the money and I really don't feel like I am in tourist mode anyway. I'm on a mission and it's a big one. I'd feel better to get back on the road.
So another early morning start on the big road south. I feel I made the right decision. I didn't miss out completely. I was happy with the lines I saw from the roadside tower. Anyway, check out that website link if you want to see more of the Nazca Lines. They really are cool. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/peru/nazca-lines
Moving on.......
This is the Panamerican Highway. It's not a busy highway in the sense of others in the world. Not much population for it out here, even if the majority of people had cars (which they don't...)
But there are the occasional big trucks and even more buses. Often enough they are passing each other slowing going up a hill, while I'm coming down.. ;-( I don't like that.. but I am assuming that they are assuming that due to the lack of traffic, just go for it and if somebody comes, they will get out of the way. Which is all I can do...
I'm just going to add more photos. They don't need much explanation. I thought then I wouldn't include them, but then my other thought was if I do include them, it would be another way of showing just how long and dry this road is. I had 2 days of this north of Lima and the same for these last 2 days south of Lima. So far adding up to 4, but I have another 4 days of this to go.. Woo hoo!
It can be pretty for a while, but then it can be a bit lonely...
Sand.. sand... rock and sand....
Clearly a river makes an occasional patch of green, but then turns the blue ocean the color of .... sand... ;-///
Riding down through the rock, about to pass through a small patch of green where a river runs through, and the road climbs right back up into the sand.
How would you like to live here! Ocean front living sounds nice and expensive, plus offers great views in the United States. I'm hoping for this family, it provides plenty of food. Completely different needs.
Ooooo, a town coming up.. Exciting!
Gee whiz... I finally made it into Arequipa Peru for the night. Planned stop, and a bit of normalcy.
Beautiful town really. Wouldn't mind stopping for a day and checking it out. But not on this schedule. Took some photos in the morning while I was heading out for another day of desert.
Bugger, should have left earlier. After spending so much time alone on the scarcely populated Panamerican, I didn't expect a proper traffic jam.
Hasta manana...
And this will pretty much be my view all day, eight hours per day for the next 6 days. Don't want to sound like I am complaining or anything! Wait, let me add that my earphones for music broke on this day as well. One side works, the other one not. Even with the volume completely up, I can only hear part of a song.. but I'll take it. It's better than nothing.
Each day is planned out and typed into my iphone with the goal destination and kilometers to accomplish in between. Today's goal is to get to Nazca where the famous Nazca lines are and perfectly at 462 km from Lima.
The Nazca lines are these gigantic drawings on the desert that can only be seen in full from an airplane. Thought to be either drawn on the earth by the long gone Nazca people or the most popular theories are the artistic results of visiting aliens.
Here is a good website with photos and some great theories:
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/peru/nazca-lines
Outside the actual town of Nazca (Nasca), is a viewing tower. I had no idea there would be one of the famous lines right next to the road, so excited to take a look!
Ummmmm.. did they actually build the road over part of it???
This is the best view I can get. Incredible creation given the fact they most likely didn't have any aerial views themselves. No trees to build a tower even by ancient constructions.
There are two here I can see.
I darkened the 'lines' photos so the image is easier to see.
I guess I'm the only traveler interested in seeing them today from the road! ;-) Kevin suggested I take the airplane when I come here. He did it a few years ago. He said it was worth it but he wouldn't do it again. The flight should cost around $115. I'll think about it....
A nice man pulled up to me on the street in town telling me about his hostel. I'm always worried about these guys, but he seemed all right, so I followed him home. My first impression wasn't real good.
But he offered me to park my bike inside for safety (a huge plus), has wi-fi (another plus), cheap enough (triple plus), so I stayed.
Out for dinner (beggars can't be choosers, but I didn't have much luck with a decent meal today..) Chicken and rice, and a quick walk through town back to the hostel.
A quick conversation with Kevin online as I was nodding off to sleep. I talked with him more about the flight, and even though he still thinks I should do it, I decided not to. It will take 1/2 a day out of my schedule, cost a lot of money, and all I'll get is a lot of aerial photos of Nazca lines in the dirt that look exactly like everyone elses photos from an airplane. It wasn't worth the monetary and time costs to me. I'd rather save the money and I really don't feel like I am in tourist mode anyway. I'm on a mission and it's a big one. I'd feel better to get back on the road.
So another early morning start on the big road south. I feel I made the right decision. I didn't miss out completely. I was happy with the lines I saw from the roadside tower. Anyway, check out that website link if you want to see more of the Nazca Lines. They really are cool. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/peru/nazca-lines
Moving on.......
But there are the occasional big trucks and even more buses. Often enough they are passing each other slowing going up a hill, while I'm coming down.. ;-( I don't like that.. but I am assuming that they are assuming that due to the lack of traffic, just go for it and if somebody comes, they will get out of the way. Which is all I can do...
It can be pretty for a while, but then it can be a bit lonely...
Clearly a river makes an occasional patch of green, but then turns the blue ocean the color of .... sand... ;-///
Riding down through the rock, about to pass through a small patch of green where a river runs through, and the road climbs right back up into the sand.
 |
How would you like to live here! Ocean front living sounds nice and expensive, plus offers great views in the United States. I'm hoping for this family, it provides plenty of food. Completely different needs.
Ooooo, a town coming up.. Exciting!
Gee whiz... I finally made it into Arequipa Peru for the night. Planned stop, and a bit of normalcy.
Bugger, should have left earlier. After spending so much time alone on the scarcely populated Panamerican, I didn't expect a proper traffic jam.
Hasta manana...
No comments:
Post a Comment