Peru - Lima, Nazca Lines to Arequipa on the Panamerican Hwy

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.

 

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....

 

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...

Piura Peru to Lima

I totally didn't know what to expect on my ride from Piura Peru (far north) down the 1000 km to Lima Peru to meet back up with Kevin.  This was the first photo I took. Looking a bit bland around here compared to all the green scenery of Colombia and Ecuador.

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..

Thank goodness for the lunch stop.  I was riding and riding in the desert, feeling really thirsty and hungry (must be a mental thing).  It was late though, I saw a big truck parked out side this one, so it must have good food.  I ate as big a meal as I could knowing, no more stops until I'm in Lima.

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.

Got a kick out of ALL the directory arrows!  They certainly want you to know there is another dangerous (?) curve.  Road safety as a priority in this part of Peru!

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.