Tuesday 6 November 2012

Day 121: Pacasmayo to Huarmey, Peru

Evening all
Well it was a desert day. Long hot dry and dusty dusty dusty!

We had a bit of a hard case night last night when we met up with a bald kiwi from Wanaka called Curly. He and his mate Eric have been in Pascamayo kite-surfing for the last three months. Curly is the chimney sweep from Wanaka who has sorted his life very nicely thank you to include working like crazy from January to May and then spending the rest of the year skiing and surfing. They were good guys and we enjoyed their company.

We were up reasonably early as usual and on the road at about 8am. It should have been easy but it wasn't!



After several ventures the wrong way up narrow one way streets we finally got on the right street to find it blocked by a truck reversing!



Once we got it out it was ok and we were away. These are ancient towns and the streets are narrow and hard to navigate.









Finally we were out of town and heading for Trujillo. It wasn't all hard though with some amazing new facilities for people to gather and chat.



We stopped for petrol and Shirley got a shot of this amazing tree filled with herons. (And plastic bags!)



Then we were off down the desert road again.



Quite a lot of not a lot really.



Isn't this a great photo! Drifts of sand across with a lovely mirror shot. Well done, Shirl!



We stopped for a coffee and watched these blokes shifting flats. Or stealing mattresses. Or something!



Whoops.



It's scenes like this that remind you that you are in someone else's country!

And that was really our day: a mixture of desert riding with strong cross winds blowing loose sand across the road.....









interspersed with green areas where there is water....






We're not sure what these are.






and incredibly busy towns filled with honking impatient vehicles all jostling for position.









and some that really made you laugh out loud!



And a tunnel or two.



Plus the ass end of an ass.



Eventually we came to Huarmey we found a great hotel with safe parking and settled in for the night. The main drag was pretty grotty but the town itself was ok. This is part of the area that was devastated by a huge magnitude 8 earthquake in 1974 so things are relatively new. (Yes I know, some of you weren't even born in 1974)

We enjoyed the sheep being driven through town.









And so we had a very nice very fishy dinner and that was about our day. We have looked at our itinerary and we are trying to sort out some changes that will get Shirley to Santiago in Chile by the 17th. It's a little tricky because there are still things that we want to see and do.

Today's run: 393kms
Cumulative: 29,678kms
Tipovers: 7

Location:Huarmey, Peru

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