Little did I know, the entire 2 days to Lima will look pretty much like this.. ONLY. Not much change, not much to look at.
It was important I get there as soon as possible, because we've asked the truck driver who has Kevin's Buell to deliver the bike to my KTM contacts and their warehouse in Lima. Kevin's Spanish is still minimal and he wants me there. If you can imagine the worry of sending your baby away on a truck, not really knowing when or if it will show up at the other end. How would you know, the drivers might see a nice big pretty bike and sell it off on the way down. We hope not, but we are in a foreign country and taking our chances. No insurance to cover it if it goes missing and they would not let Kevin ride down in the truck with it. So I will get there quickly to be at the shop and help with communication if possible.
Sand, sand, and more sand...
I saw this often and it was worth a photo.. sort of. It's warning of a dangerous curve ahead.
Below is the dangerous curve. The tranportation department of Peru should experience the Espinazo del Diablo (Devil's backbone) in Mexico to see what dangerous curves really are.. ha!
Unofficial fuel stop if you really need some gas from a plastic jug. Luckily I don't have to use them.
A super nice man we met in Piura told me of a cheap place to stay in Trujillo Peru (about half way). Parking was minimal but we made it work, and it was in a great location. Always happy about that. Just knowing where to go and not having to stop and ask prices everywhere before choosing is a huge savings on the road.
The street I ended up staying in Trujillo. Early morning start to get to Lima in time.. get out before the big traffic starts, I have another big day ahead of me.
I quite like this town, wouldn't mind staying a little longer to get a better feel for it, but not going to happen this time. And a quick view of the plaza before meandering my way back to the main road south.
Ahhh... good morning boring highway! ;-)
I'd normally choose my motorcycle over a bus any day. But at this point I'm feeling a bit jealous that Kevin is enjoying a nice air conditioned ride with movies, meals, accomplishing kilometers even while he sleeps. Poor poor pitiful me!
Every now and then I'd come up to a bit of green. From what I could work out, somehow, somewhere in the desert water runs through. These little patches of green usually mean a little town and an opportunity for much needed fuel and water. Um.. maybe not for them. Really must have been a hard life for the people here.
I passed 3 restaurants on they way to Lima with the name of Kevin. I only took a photo of the one, but what's that about? Kevin is a popular Peruvian name?? Only on this day in all my travels I have seen so many Kevin signs. It must be a "sign"... (???)
The road is pretty and interesting in it's own way.. It's just after two days of riding I feel I'm starting to go a bit cross-eyed.
It's a 500 km day. As usual on the long boring roads, I tend to look at my gps far too often.. How much longer? How much further? Oh man, I've only done 2 km's since the last time I looked.. ;-/
Still that far to go??? Ugh..
Got a message from Kevin that he's arrived OK, he said the bus was far more comfortable than we thought it would be (thanks for telling me that now, Kev..). He found us a place to stay and left me directions.
After riding another hour or two on the highway, a policeman pulled me over. He wanted to see my documents which is normal. No speeding as much as I wish I had a supersonic bike about now. He was a really nice man. Behind us was this neighborhood which I see often.
He looks at me and goes.. "Oh, Australia. Is Australia a nice place?" I said, yes, very much so. "Is there enough work there?" I said yes. He pointed at the neighborhood of shacks behind me, and said, "The people here are very poor. There is no work." I felt really bad. I just looked at the policeman and said I am really sorry. I hope that will change for them soon.
I have wondered often as I have passed many shacks in the last two days. No work, of course, but also no farming. No land to grow your own food, no cows, horses, sheep.. NOTHING. How do they survive? What do they eat? The one thing I did see a lot of was chicken batteries, but interestingly on their own in the desert, which confused me even more. No town nearby for me to assume they all went to feed the people close by.
Getting into Lima was a nightmare. The traffic was horrendous. I managed to arrive at rush hour. Buses, cars, taxi's, it was all I could do to keep from getting hit. This lasted about 2 hours until I found my way into Miraflores, the center where I need to find Kevin.
Luckily he had a nice room and a couple ginormous beers waiting for me. And then I collapsed from my Peruvian desert marathon... I made it.
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