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We were up early with our bags packed and ready to go.  Our target today is Armenia, which looks to be about ½ way between Bogota and Cali.  We had a quick continental breakfast in the hotel restaurant (when we found out that breakfast had been included all along), then said goodbye to Daniel and Milton, the desk manager and doorman who have taken great care of us during our stay at the Hotel San Francisco.  Milton hailed us a taxi to guide us out of Bogota to the entrance of the Autopista Sur.  It’s a good thing we had the guide, I’m not sure we ever would have found it on our own.  It was 45 minutes of darting in and out of one-way streets and reversing Avenues, all the while trying to keep up with the taxi and keep other vehicles from crowding our lane.  We finally arrived at the entrance, paid our guide, and set off for the South.  

We managed to take a wrong turn about 15 minutes after (signs are few and far between) we left our guide, and started driving near Soacha on a very nice road through some absolutely gorgeous scenery; tall pines and cedars, flower nurseries, and horse pastures.  We were stopped for a police check who just wanted to know where we were from and where we were headed; they were very nice.  About 5 minutes after we left them, one appeared behind us on a motorcycle and flagged us down.  He thought we might be on the wrong road if we were really headed for Armenia, and he gave us instructions to get back to the main highway in the right direction.  It was chilly so we stopped and put on our sweaters under our mesh jackets.  We must have climbed up from Bogota’s 8800 feet above sea level.  20 minutes later we were back where we had taken the wrong turn, and this time got on the right road toward Cali.

The first hour was pretty straightforward driving on a 4-lane highway.  We went through our first “peaje” tollbooth; the Colombians have a great arrangement where motorcycles don’t pay the tolls and have a special lane just for them.  As you will see in the photos, some of the moto lanes were pretty narrow; it was a tough go on a couple of them, Dave had to duck-paddle the bike through while Pam lifted her feet so he had room to do so.  One was so narrow that our right saddlebag scraped on the guardrail and we drove beside the left curb with Dave duck paddling on top of the curb.  Meanwhile, we had seen motos going through the car lanes and around the end of the gate-which we would do in the future for these narrow ones.  We would encounter 5 more tollbooths enroute to Cali on a narrow twisty road above 10,000 ft. The landscape changed quickly from suburban fringe to barren hillsides, and eventually began to climb into the forested mountains.  The roads became two lane with lots of curves and the traffic was increasingly building with large cargo trucks.  About 2 hours into the curves we entered the clouds and had to be extra special careful, as not only were there twistys and heavy trucks to contend with, but also pedestrians!  We managed to climb up to around 10,700 feet.  We came out of the clouds and stopped for gas at a small station that also had “menu corriente”.  No Big Macs here; we each had a bowl of sanchocho, the chicken soup we had in Panama but with a little different flavor.  A plate of baked chicken, lentils, French fries, yucca, and a small green salad followed the soup.  Each meal was less than $2.00 US and was great.  Dave took some photos of the pretty restaurant courtyard, and then we checked the map as we still had a long way to go to Armenia.  We don’t want to be riding these twisty, cloud covered roads after dark, so we picked an alternate destination of what appeared to be the next biggest town this side of Armenia, and reset Garmin to the town of Ibague.  Not that the GPS will help us find anything but it gives a nice readout of our running ETA to destination and the altitude.

We were still going through the mountains, and spent the vast majority of the time in first gear.  The road was fantastic but the heavy trucks were slow up and down.  Traffic was heavy, most of the small cycles here in Colombia use the far right moto lane to pass, and auto drivers seem to have an expectation that we would do the same.  The moto lane is (a) too small to be comfortable for Tiburon, and (b) encourages passing on the right, which is not something we are comfortable doing.  So we took up our space on the highway and fought off the encroaching trucks and cars as best we could.  The town of Melgar houses one of the Air Force bases, and we took pictures of the entrance gates with helicopters on pedestals for Chris.  We also saw one in the air presumably doing exercises or routing guerillas.  After Melgar, we passed through several smaller towns where we saw many school children in uniform on their way home for lunch, and lots of vendors of furniture made of wicker and bamboo.  We also saw some interesting signs for local cuisine: “rabbits au Gratin” and palm wine for sale along with fruit and candy made from fruit hanging everywhere.  The scenery continued to be spectacular, and as we came around one curve there was a sign that said Nariz del Diablo- the Devil’s Nose.   Not knowing what to expect Pam kept the camera ready and got a great shot of the “nose” as we came around the next corner.  This whole stretch of road was spectacular like that.

After 3.5 hours we had only gone 60 miles and the next pass appeared to be socked in heavy with rain clouds; it became obvious that Ibague was our target for the night.  We entered the town at about 5pm; the main street runs right up the middle of town and past the town square.  We did not see any hotels (though we did see lots of universities and technological colleges), until we reached the very end of town up a canyon high into the Andes where we found the hotel International Casa de Morales.  It looked very nice from the outside (and even nicer on the inside).  Pam was able to negotiate a rate of $62/night, which included Internet (which failed and never got fixed while we were there).  The hotel appeared to cater a great deal to businesses, with rooms for client functions and lots of activities for bored spouses (gym, pool, spa, etc..)  Dave took some good pictures around the hotel and from our balcony (yes, balcony), which overlooked the whole town and the beautiful mountains beyond.  We are glad we stopped here.

We asked the front desk for a recommendation for dinner, and received a recommendation for a local restaurant, “San Sebastian” that serves typical country food, including their specialty, a small animal that lives in the mountains whose name is Chiguiro.  Pam wanted to try it but when we took a taxi there the restaurant ended up being closed.  We called the hotel back and they had the taxi take us to La Vieja Enramada where we were the only clients and had an excellent meal of steak and fries and patacones (Dave), and grilled chicken in mushroom-wine sauce.  It rained briefly but hard while we were eating, but the streets were clear when we took our taxi back to the hotel.  

All in all, we only traveled 70 miles today in 7 hours, but the fabulous scenery and the discovery of Ibague  was worth it.  Tomorrow we have another mountain range to cross to get to Cali; we will try to drive around the city and not through it, but we will have to see how far we get.

Here is where we were tonight:

Latitude: 4.449
Longitude: -75.2477

Nearest Town from unit Location: Ibague, Colombia
Distance to the nearest town: 0 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 01/28/2008 22:07:41

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4.449,-75.2477&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1If you zoom in on the link above and switch to terrain you can see the high steep terrain.

Feedback dave@rogorides.com

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It has been 1 month today since we left Chicago on our great adventure.  What a difference!  Cold and snow in the plains of the Midwest to tropical breezes and rain showers at 8,000 ft in the foothills of the Andes.

We left the hotel about 10 am and easily found the road leading west over the next range of the Andes Cordillera Norte and then south toward Cali.  At one point we passed under the very high hillside where our hotel was located, we could just barely get a picture looking back at it.  Shortly thereafter, uniformed soldiers waved us over at a security checkpoint; today seems to be the day to check bikes.  They asked for the registration papers for Tiburon, and seemed satisfied with the registration and the import papers we had.  We were waved on after just a few minutes. The soldiers were professional and polite and carried new looking M16s.  The scenery and the traffic was breathtaking much like yesterday for the first 3 hours, but once over the mountain pass (which crested around 11,000 feet) the weather turned warmer and we finally arrived at Armenia, sure glad we didn’t try to do that last night!  Once again we had passed through the clouds (going down, not up); the views in the mountains were unbelievable.

Once we got down out of the mountains to about 3500 ft, we were both ready for something to eat, and found a touristy restaurant that had been advertised on the side of the road.  We sampled their special that was served on miniature wooden wheelbarrows covered in banana leaves. We had chicken, yucca, potatoes, and fried bananas.  The help were all extremely gracious and the family sitting at the next table got a big kick of the bike. After lunch, the landscape turned more agricultural.  There were bananas and coffee growing everywhere.  We passed miles and miles of sugar cane, with several signs warning of “cane trains entering”,  and eventually came to a sugar cane processing plant.  The smell of cut cane is intoxicating; it is very sweet and almost smells fermented, like a wine.  We passed several “cane trains” and took a deep breath each time.  At last we passed the last sugar cane processing plant which spewed lots of black smoke but still put out that heady smell.  

Shortly after passing the cane sugar plant we entered the town of Palmira.  There were as usual hundreds of motorbikes in the streets, most of whose riders were looking appreciatively at Tiburon.  Odd coincidence, we passed a store called “Marden’s”, which happens to be Pam’s favorite store back in Maine.  We were side by side at a stop light with a family; Dad, son, and daughter.  They admired the bike, and when we asked, volunteered to lead us to a hotel. After 10 minutes of dodging traffic, we arrived at the Hotel El Dorado.  It had parking and the price was right at $25.00USD.  It is an older Hotel right on a main street one block off the town square and the massive cathedral.  We got one of the larger rooms with a private bathroom (some had a shared bath).  The desk staff was very helpful– Dave went out to get water and was gone for 2 hours, getting lost in the narrow streets.  When he finally returned, we went out for a quick dinner at a local cafeteria/bakery; we munched on pizza and chicken-stuffed bread rolls while watching the locals stream in to buy tomorrow’s bread from the bakery.  

No Internet after 19:00 in this town so we will defer uploading this report.  Tomorrow we hope to head somewhere south of Cali.

Here is where we were tonight:

Latitude: 3.5276
Longitude: -76.3001
Nearest Town from unit Location: Palmira, Colombia
Distance to the nearest town: 0 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 01/30/2008 00:47:35

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3.5276,-76.3001&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Feedback dave@rogorides.com

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Well. Big surprise, once again we have no hot water.  What can you expect for $25 a night?  Up and dressed, Dave went to the internet shop that said they would be open at 8am, but they were still closed, so he picked up breakfast at the bakery across the street; coffee and fresh arepas and bear-claws made with guayabana jam. Yum!  The Internet still wasn’t open after breakfast, so we loaded the bike for departure.  Dave had quite the entourage around the bike when Pam brought around the last of the bags.  The secure parking for the bike was in a privately owned carwash/parking garage, and the owner, all the help, and apparently some customers too were all standing around admiring Tiburon and in awe of our gadgets.  They were amazed at the concept of heated electric vests and couldn’t understand why we would need them (it was probably 78 degrees in Palmira at 845am).  One of the car wash employees told Dave that this motorcycle would not be good for Palmira as all of the moto riders race and bang handlebars from light to light. Anyway, we had a big send-off, with good instructions to get back to the highway.

We took a secondary road around Cali instead of dealing with the city traffic. The road took us through Puerto Tejada, which was the first place we have seen in Colombia that looked a bit tawdry.  The streets were terrible, full of potholes and water and mud.  The car wash owner in Palmira had warned us about the bad people of Puerto Tejada.  Once we were there it was obvious that the residents of Puerto Tejada were black and the warning was based on some kind of local prejudice.  We stopped and gassed up and asked directions from a cab driver and everyone we met was friendly and helpful as much as anywhere else.  Once back on the main road, we found that both roads and signage were very good.  We only missed one turn, and only by 50 feet; Pam got off and Dave backed the bike up to the exit ramp, much to the amusement of some children standing at a bus stop with their mother.  In Colombia rules do not apply to motos.

It had rained during the night and was still overcast; eventually it looked threatening enough that we pulled over to put on our raingear.  This was the first time we had used the new Frogg Toggs for rain, and they proved up to par; very comfortable, they kept us dry while still “breathing” so that we didn’t overheat.  We had pulled over to the side of the road in front of several small houses, and by the time we were finished what appeared to be an entire household was standing in the doorway of one of the houses watching.  We waved as we drove off, and they smiled and waved back.

We had completed the bypass around Cali (thank goodness) and the scenery was changing now from sugar cane fields to rolling hills with the mountains looming near. We noticed once again that along the highways the roads and greenbelts were scrupulously clean, and we often saw men working to trim bushes or sweep the gravel from the shoulder.  Several times we passed through beautiful thoroughfares of tall pines and/or eucalyptus trees that made the air smell incredibly fresh and clean.

Colombia is a beautiful country, and we have only seen a small part of it so far.  As we went further south, we climbed higher into the mountains and the roads became 2 way and crowded with trucks and buses.  There were the usual roadside stands selling fruit and cell phone minutes, and in a few places we saw coffee beans spread out on concrete in front of the houses to dry.  We passed several horses carrying sacks of coffee beans; this high in the mountains we passed continuous coffee fincas.  At one point  it was raining heavily and we came to a line of vehicles stopped as though waiting for a construction stop.  We continued past the line of trucks and buses to the front of the line (which is customary here); the line was almost 2 kilometers long.  When we got to the front we found the reason for the holdup; a good 100 feet of road had washed away in the rain.  There was a backhoe hard at work filling the gap with truckloads of gravel.  Pam got off and walked across the gravel fill while the backhoe paused, then Dave and a couple of other motos drove across.  The cars, trucks, and buses on the other side were parked in both lanes, it was very difficult to make our way through; Pam had to walk ahead and signal drivers to move over so Dave could get through.  Finally there was enough room to drive safely on.  That was the worst of about 6 washouts we encountered on the long road to Pasto.  It was worth it though, for the incredible scenery as we climbed over 10,000 ft into the foothills of the Andes.  In many places we drove up into the clouds and could barely see the traffic in front of us.  In other places, the sides of the mountains rose straight up from the road (and straight down).  Twice the road led through tunnels in the mountains (no lights–very spooky). We passed several Campestres, hotel/vacation resorts.  The terrain is extremely rugged and there are huge scars on the mountainsides where landslides have fallen away.  Everything is incredibly green.  The pictures just don’t do justice to this beautiful country.  At last we arrived in Pasto, where a recent volcano eruption had caused part of the city to evacuate only 2 weeks ago.  It is still high in the mountains, about 8300 ft, and is actually cold; we wore sweaters to dinner.  While looking for a hotel we spotted another VStrom.  He pulled over and signaled us to do the same; we pulled up along side and exchanged greetings; when we told him we were looking for an inexpensive hotel, he said, “follow me!”  We followed him to a very nice place at Hotel Torres del Bosque www.hoteltorredelbosque.com .  Our new friend introduced himself as Juan Carlos Buchelly,  Juan Carlos honked and they opened the large metal doors to the parking under the hotel.  We parked safely inside and he accompanied us to the front desk and negotiated a great rate for our room.  Juan Carlos is an avid biker and member of the Pasto Classic Motorcycle club.  After ensuring that we were taken care of, he called some of his friends to come and see Tiburon.  We all had a grand time in the basement garage of the hotel exploring each others’ motorcycles, including a restored 1983 Yamaha 500 XT that looked brand new.   Juan Carlos was on a Vstrom 650 that looked exactly like our Vstrom 1000.  We swapped cards, and hope to see them again sometime.

Our clothes had gotten wet in the rain, so we spread them out to dry before walking three blocks to dinner at Mister Pollo.  We will take a day off here to try and acclimatize to the high altitude since from here we go up again to Quito at 11,000 feet.  

Our location tonight:

Latitude: 1.2289
Longitude: -77.2888
Nearest Town from unit Location: Pasto, Colombia
Distance to the nearest town: 0 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 01/31/2008 00:42:22

Click on the link below to view our location.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1.2289,-77.2888&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

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Today was a very laid-back day as we recuperated from the long drive in the rain of yesterday and the day before, and tried to adjust to the high altitude.  We slept in until noon!  We went to the nearby shopping center for lunch, which is a very nice mall, very Americanized, with a good food court, cinemas, network gaming centers and several boutiques, shops and an amusement park.  There were a score of private security guards running around talking into walkie-talkies.  We stopped in the supermarket to pick up some water and snacks, and browsed the produce section where we saw several items that we did not recognize.  Dave took some photos (of fruit) so we could try to find out what they were, and before you know it the private security guard was upon us, informing us (very sternly) that we must first obtain authorization in order to take pictures of their produce.  We were asked to not take any more photos, as we had no authorization from the store management.  We put away the camera and made our purchases, then strolled back to our hotel, which was only three blocks away.  There is a large hospital and several neighborhood shops that were very busy, and all just a block away from the Pan-American Highway.  We talked with one of the shop clerks who told us this area is always cloudy, but very green with beautiful parks in the area; he mentioned a large lake called Laguna de la Cocha that is supposed to be very beautiful.  We also chatted about the volcano that erupted here barely 2 weeks ago.  He pointed out that last time it erupted it killed the American and Japanese scientists that were here monitoring it.  Pasto, whose elevation is at 8,200 feet a.s.l., is the capitol of Nario State and is a University town with many students and the little businesses that cater to them.

Tomorrow we hope to be off for the Ecuadorian border.

Click This Link for Pasto, Colombia 

Volcano News 

Our location tonight:

 Latitude: 1.2289
Longitude: -77.2887
Nearest Town from unit Location: Pasto, Colombia
Distance to the nearest town: 0 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 01/31/2008 23:04:55
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1.2289,-77.2887&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

For video of eruption click the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCHKsGpB7qE  YouTube

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Marty back in Chicago has been analyzing our satellite coordinates for tonight and thinks the beach in Ecuador where we spent the  night was “Las Penas”.We´re not 100% certain yet but it sounds better than “unknown beach”. 

Today we were up and away by 9:15am.  In the thin mountain air and clouds of  Pasto our rain-soaked clothes never did dry out completely, so we packed what was still damp in plastic bags and put large plastic bags over the duffels in case it rains again today (which it probably will.)  Leaving Pasto we drove on the Pan-American highway that goes right by the center of the city.  Within 5 or 10 km of leaving Pasto we had climbed back up over 10,000 ft in and out of the clouds.  We had some good views of this charming college town and were sorry to leave, but Ecuador beckons.

We took the PA south toward Ipiales, which is the border town in Colombia with Rumichaca, Ecuador.  The scenery as before was breathtaking, with small hamlets with large churches perched above rivers and surrounded by neat farmsteads.  Before we knew it, we arrived in Ipiales; the border comes up quickly and quite unexpectedly.

We parked the bike and Dave went inside to take care of formalities on the Colombian side while Pam watched the bike.  She was startled to hear a North American voice from behind her asking “where are you from?”  and turned to find Dave X (we will add the right name when we find it) a well known Adventure rider who had been on the road adventure-riding for 7 years; he explained he was on his 9^th motorcycle and currently had them on 3 continents.  He had just flown back from Asia the day before and was headed North on his BMW.  He works for BMW.  They exchanged pleasantries and card information, and Dave X walked back to the Ecuadorian side; he was trying to get his bike cleared and was having problems.  Shortly thereafter our Dave returned, Colombian documents all in order.  $30,000COP–about $12USD– had pulled him to the front of the line eliminating a couple of hours wait and we proceeded to the Ecuadorian side.  Clearance there was also pretty easy, nothing like the headaches we had experienced in Central America.  Dave R. met Dave X. in line and they also chatted a bit; Dave X. recommended that we not go to Quito as he had just come from there and it was raining heavily. He recommended that we go to Esmeraldas on the coast and then down to Guayaquil instead and stay out of the rain.  As we were tiring of the constant mudslides and washouts we thought that might be a good idea.  After we completed all our customs and immigrations paperwork in record time (35 Minutes!), we set off for Esmeraldas.

The road off of the Pan-Am Highway went right through downtown Rumichaca, and we got lots of pictures.  It was very picturesque in a different way from Pasto.  Buildings appeared older and were painted bright colors, and there were more people in ethnic dress.  We saw an old man dancing his heart out in the town square to the music of a girl singing on the corner.  Once we got through town, we continued looking for the cutoff road that led west to Esmeraldas.  Our map showed the only way to stay on a main road was to go ¾ of the way to Quito through the rain and then turn west, but our map did show a secondary road heading west only about thirty kilometers out of Rumichaca.  We took the first road turn that showed El Angel, the first town on the new route, and followed a beautiful wide paved alley through the mountains and pastureland along some very obvious volcanoes with their steep hillsides completely cultivated with small farms.  There was almost no traffic on this road.  People in both Colombia and Ecuador tell us that it had been raining for the entire month of January and that was very unusual for this time of the year.  The rain is taking its toll on the roads; we would see this over and over in the steep hillsides washing onto the road.  We would wind our way up to 11,000 feet and then descend and just as we thought we were out of the mountains we came around a corner and there was the next mountain range lying completely below us in the valley below.  The views were phenomenal and the road was great.  We have yet to find any straight road the past few days.  When we arrived in El Angel, there were no road signs (or roads for that matter) telling us where to go next, so we asked at the gas station where we filled up.  It appears that our map was incorrect, this obviously new road incorporated parts of the road shown on our map but much of it was different.  Our GPS with Garmin’s world map was no help either.  It showed us crossing a major route at one point and there was nothing around for miles.  Much of the time on this part of the trip the GPS was blank.  At the gas station a truck driver and the station attendant collaborated for a few minutes to give us great directions (ignoring several other vehicles patiently waiting for gas.) They told us we could take a shortcut across the valley to the next waypoint at the San Mateo Police checkpoint and then the town of Salinas, and head west from there.  At the checkpoint after showing our papers the police told us to turn right 5 minutes up the road at the round-a-bout which we did.  We started going back up again on a very good road that appeared to be fairly new except that it was washed out in many places.  This road follows the Rio Mira river gorge all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  The drive was longer than we had anticipated, about 4 hours, but had incredible scenery and a roller-coaster ride–at one point we rose as high as 10,200 feet, and we ended up at sea level.  Similar to the Columbia River gorge on the Oregon/Washington border, the gusty wind from the Pacific howled up the gorge.  The geology changed dramatically as you can see in some of the photos; the rock formations include several different types side by side in huge columns of stone, and the gorge carved out by the river contained all different colors of rock.  Some gorges were dry, others were wet; we couldn’t really tell what made the difference but suspect it had to do with how the clouds approached the valleys.  As we went further west and gradually lower in altitude, the climate became more humid and the landscape much more jungle-like, and we could see several cascading waterfalls far away on the other side of the river gorge.  There were ENORMOUS ferns and some trees that looked like philodendrons except a single leaf was as big as Pam.  Most of the houses were raised up on stilts, with lots of fruit orchards, palm and pineapple and papaya, and the faces became darker, reflecting the African influence on the Ecuadorian coast.

We had imagined that once we reached Ecuador’s tropical coast there would be at least a smattering of Hotels and resorts to welcome us.  We didn’t think we would make it to Esmeraldas by dark and Garmin confirmed that.  We continued on and reached a large intersection at just 5:30pm, where our road continues 5 km to the beach and a road to the left heads south toward Esmeraldas.  Garmin had verified that sunset was at 6:30pm; we had an hour of light left, so we opted to turn south and go to Borbon, which showed 38 kilometers to the south.  Once we turned onto the coast road, however, it became really- bad—lots of BIG and DEEP potholes, mud in some places, gravel in others, and we couldn’t make much speed.  Many of these potholes could easily disable a large truck much less a motorcycle.  There were also amateur built speed bumps added to the road by many villages.  These poorly constructed speed bumps had high-rise and short length and no matter how slow we went we would drag bottom on the bump.  Our well-made German bash plate that we had added to the bike was earning its keep, but may need some restoration work at the next oil change.  This road as well as much of the road to the South was built over swamp and quickly deteriorating in many places.

We did get to Borbon at 6pm, and were encouraged by a few hotel signs at the entrance to town; however, the town was merely a collection of dirt streets along the riverbank.  This village in the jungle on the river looked exactly like pictures from the Amazon basin.  Borbon was filled with people living with minimal infrastructure and you can imagine what a spectacle we were, two white faces in full gear riding through on Tiburon.  The one hotel we found was pretty primitive and no obvious parking for the bike.  We made the decision to continue on, even it if meant we had to drive in the dark, which is against our policy.  The one positive thing about the brief visit to Bourbon was that it sits right on the River, and we were able to see several dugout canoes both on the water fishing and pulled up on the bank and the bank lined with bamboo houses built on stilts.  Unfortunately Pam did not get pictures.

Now back on the highway, it was almost sundown and the road was getting worse, not better.  Dave had to drive really slowly to avoid the huge potholes, and several times we bottomed out in spite of his careful navigation.  We surmise that the road had not been there very long, or there would have been more habitation and better maintenance; we were truly off of the beaten path.

After about 40 minutes we came to a road heading west with several hotel signs posted, just before a bus stop.  Pam got off to enquire of people waiting for the bus where the hotels were and how to get to them, and we were directed “just 5 minutes down this road”lots of great hotels.  We could see lights in the distance, so we drove down the new road, which was even worse than the one before, just dirt and rocks and one lane.  After 5 minutes we came to a police checkpoint and asked the officers which way; they pointed to a car’s lights down the road and said there was a good hotel just across from where the car was. We went to where he pointed and then turned right in the dark; we should have turned left but one of the officers drove up on his motorbike and led us to the Hotel Jose Maria, a large, 4-story concrete hotel with swimming pool, water slide and nice bungalows.  Dave negotiated with the desk clerk and got us a great room for $20USD ($10 per person), but we could only stay one night at that rate, as they would be full tomorrow (the beginning of Carnival).  It became obvious why they charged by the head as truckloads of people from the mountains began arriving the next morning packed into small cars and trucks.  A family checking in when we were checking out was complaining about $80 per night for the 8 people in one room.  But for us it was a good deal.  It was a very comfortable Hotel although there was no air conditioning, no working TV, no Internet, but no problem for us; it was 7:10pm and dark.  We also had a nice oscillating fan that makes it really hard for any mosquitoes to land.  We unloaded poor Tiburon, showered and changed, and headed to the beachfront for a beer and some dinner.

We had stumbled on a remote beach resort area that would be teeming with people tomorrow, and the locals were all prepped to handle a couple of hungry Norte Americanos.  We strolled up the street side and then down the beach side of the row of several restaurants before choosing the one that looked the best to us (they were probably all good), collecting a small pack of stray dogs as we walked.  We ended up choosing an ocean side table in an open-air cabana and having fabulous seafood cooked up by “Mamie” while her 6 children took our order, finished their own dinner, and wrestled with the dogs.  The grilled langostinas with chimichurri sauce and huge- deep-fried sea bass, along with rice and patacones, and beer came to $15USD for both of us.  When we presented a $20 bill, Mamie didn’t have change, so she called her younger son to run to the store for a can of condensed milk; he came back with change for our change.  Did we mention that Ecuador as in Panama uses the good old American greenback and does not have their own paper currency, although for coins they use a combination of US and what looks like Ecuadorian minted coins (including a brass colored one-dollar coin).

We must be back in the tropics; before dinner we covered ourselves with mosquito repellant (a good smelling non-DEET kind) and took our malaria pills.  This town reminded Dave of Puerto Angel on the coast of Mexico 30 years ago.  After a quick stop at the small store to purchase water and ice cream bars, we walked back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.  Tomorrow we will be up early to beat the heat on the way to Esmeraldas; oh, and we will try to find out where we are tonight! 

Here is our position report from tonight, if anyone knows the name of the town where we were please be sure to let us know:

Latitude: 1.0952
Longitude: -79.1638
Nearest Town from unit Location:  Unknown
Distance to the nearest town:  Unknown
Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/02/2008 00:18:49
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1.0952,-79.1638&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Click Here For Today´s Photos

Happy Groundhog Day!  Or, as we are in Ecuador, maybe it is Happy Guinea Pig day. (Cuya is considered a delicacy here, as well as used for medicinal purposes).  Anyway, we had a great night’s sleep and were up early to beat the heat and the traffic and get off these awful roads.We learned from the day desk clerk that we were near La Tola, a beachfront holiday spot for tourists from the mountains located midway between San Lorenzo and Esmereldas.  As early as we were on the road (07:45am), there was already a steady stream of vacation traffic thundering down the dirt road.We were relieved to find that the roads south of La Tola were a little better than those we had traveled the night before; they were not a great improvement, though, and the large amount of traffic didn’t help any.  The views were beautiful though as in the daylight we could see the Pacific coastline that paralleled our road.There were some very nice beachfront properties, many of them for sale, with great views of the ocean.   At one point we went up a small hill and could see a line of tanker ships heading for Esmereldas, as well as a few fishing boats out in the early morning. We stopped briefly to grab some breakfast, and bought juice, yogurt, and pan dulce (sweet rolls) at a small shop, then sat on the curb by Tiburon to eat, next to two men working hard at repairing an outboard motor.  It was a beautiful day.  When we arrived at the next wide spot in the road, Rio Verde, we got our first real taste of the traffic horror to come.  Lines of cars, trucks, and buses were fighting to get through the 2-lane streets of the town; at every tope several vendors of all ages were hawking drinks and snacks, including beer and fresh -cut mango slices.They were doing a booming business as the vehicles waited in the hot sun for their turn to cross the narrow bridge.We narrowly missed being squirted by the crowd with water from squirt guns (although it was hot enough that we wouldn’t have minded.)  Ah, Carnival!  And it hasn’t even really started yet.

We continued on toward Esmereldas, but in light of the huge amount of traffic and the stories our hotel clerk had told about mobs of arriving Quitenos, we decided to continue on further inland, as we thought it unlikely that we would be able to find a reasonable room without a reservation.  We waved hello to the very large looking city across the lagoon as we drove by, and continued south along the Rio Esmereldas.  The roads were still not the greatest, with large potholes and old patches to constantly be on the lookout for; plus the heavy traffic streaming in from the mountains that continually tried to crowd around us.  We would attempt to use the far right of the right lane as that was the smoothest part of the road, but had to watch out for vehicles that took this as an open invitation to drive along side us like they would a moped.

It was time to gas up both for Tiburon and ourselves, so we kept an eye out for a gas station and/or eatery.  We found both in the form of Petroecudor, a big modern filling station with a fast-food counter and small 7/11-type store attached.  We had seen banners for the last few kilometers advertising the lowest price/gallon in the area ($1.02USD).  This place was a circus.  Every one of the 12 pumps except the two diesel pumps had a line of cars or buses to be filled up, and there were crowds of people milling around with various lunch items in hand.  Over all this was Caribbean-style salsa music being played by a DJ over two LARGE speakers.  Every 10 minutes or so, an older man with glasses, mustache, and a Panama Hat (which are made in Ecuador, by the way), took over the mic and gave 3-5 minutes of non-stop advertising for the gas station and its amenities.He bore a striking resemblance in both appearance and delivery to Doctor Johnny Fever from WKRP.

Anyway, our timing was good and we found a parking space right in front of the only outside table (and right between the two bass woofers).  Pam held down the table while Dave went to get lunch; 2 pollo combos, which was a quarter roasted chicken, rice, fries, and salad, with a drink, all for $3.30 USD.  It was very good.We sat and watched people, waiting for the line to diminish so we could gas up Tiburon.  We watched a tour bus start to leave without at least a third of its passengers, and watched them all run after it, banging on the sides for it to wait.  Dr. Johnny would come out every ten minutes or so and do his spiel, then the DJ would start up the music again, with the bass turned so high that it set off every car alarm in the parking lot. It was hilarious.  At one point Dr. Johnny was exhorting over the sound system that the double parked Toyota was causing, Danger Danger, in the parking lot.  The Ecuadorians seemed to be looking warily at their self appointed host and moderator.

Finally there was a break in the line, so Dave gassed up the bike while Pam collected the gear and packed up the maps.  We have decided to press on to Santo Domingo de los Colorados, the junction where the highway comes down from Quito and continues on to Guayaquil.  We figured it was far enough from the coast that we should have no problem finding a room, and later found that to be true.

Once we tuned out of the traffic, it was yet another pretty ride.  Fairly straight roads, not in the best of shape, but lots of pretty farmsteads and plant nurseries along the way.  We also saw several places where people had spread what appeared to be different kinds of beans to dry on the asphalt shoulder of the road, marking them with small boulders so people wouldn’t drive through them.  Some larger establishments had drying areas in their own front yards, and we saw people raking and turning the beans in the sun.  We saw several cooperatives that advertised “Accepting all produce for sale”, and a huge truckload of green bananas sitting outside one.  No one appears to go hungry here!

The last big town on our route to Santo Domingo was La Independencia, which our map showed to be just a few minutes north of the equator.  We drove through the city, and then began watching Garmin closely to determine the exact location of the equatorial line.  We arrived in the town of Concordia, and for a while we worried that we would find it running through some tope in the middle of a busy street; but as luck would have it, Garmin pinpointed the line on the outskirts of town, just feet away from a Suzuki shop!

We took pictures of Garmin showing the coordinates of 00-00-00, and impressed a gentleman standing nearby waiting for his bus to take a picture of us standing on the line.  He reluctantly agreed, as he was concerned he would miss his bus; we understood why when it came a few minutes later.  The buses here don’t stop; they merely slow down if you flag them down, and you run and step on as they pass.If he hadn’t been watching, he would have indeed missed his bus!  Anyway, we got the pictures, and then took one of each other standing with one foot in each hemisphere.  Dave brought out Spot to mark our location on the exact site; then Pam monitored Spot while Dave walked to the Suzuki shop to get some new chain lube, as the stuff we bought in Bogota turned out to be not very good.  He had a good conversation with the owner who said his shop had only been there about a month; however, he was fully prepared to handle any warranty work we might require!  We took pictures of him and his shop as we drove out.  We spoke to several people as we were getting ready to send our satellite coordinates and take pictures – nobody in this town had any idea that the equator ran through their town much less this spot.  They probably thought we were completely out of our minds.  Hey a suggestion, how about “Equator Suzuki” instead of “Zona Motos”?  There were a couple of other bike shops right in the area.

On the road again, it wasn’t long before we reached Santo Domingo.  On the outskirts there is a large traffic circle, and we pulled to the side to try and decide which way to go.  A man on a bicycle pulled up to us, said hello, and asked us where we were looking for.  When we told him a good hotel, he recommended the Grand Hotel Santo Domingo and gave us directions to find it, waved and cycled off.  We came close to finding it, but got off on a wrong street somewhere; luckily, we found ourselves in front of a police post.  We stopped to ask directions again, and an off-duty policeman just leaving with his family offered to guide us there.  Within 10 minutes (and after following him through two illegal left turns and a red light), we arrived at the Grand Hotel Santo Domingo. It’s a very nice establishment with all the amenities, including Hot Water.  We negotiated a rate of $50USD as it was carnival weekend and most people were celebrating on the coast.

We went down to the pool area and had a few beers in the afternoon sun before retiring for an afternoon nap.  Sitting by the pool we could see the rain clouds and huge cumulus clouds building.  It was nice to get in before dark and have some time to relax.  After nap, we wrote our trip report and then went to dinner at La Casa de Consuelo, recommended by the hotel staff.  It was near the hotel, inexpensive, and very good; avocados stuffed with shrimp, and rice mixed with shrimp and chicken, a beer and a soda.More than we could finish, and total bill was $20USD including tip.  While we were dining the rain began and it poured down all night long.  We had planned to walk back to the Hotel and enjoy the Carnival celebration in the streets but neither of us felt like getting drenched.  We had the waiter call a cab, for which he ran a block up to a main street in the pouring rain and hailed one for us.  Back at the hotel, a wedding reception was in full swing.  Tomorrow we will continue south.

We made a special stop here to take pictures (notice the latitude):

Latitude: 0.0
Longitude: -79.3947

Nearest Town from unit Location: La Concordia, Ecuador
Distance to the nearest town: 1 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/02/2008 18:28:16

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=0.0,-79.3947&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Our overnight stop tonight:

Latitude: -0.2549
Longitude: -79.1653

Nearest Town from unit Location: Santo Domingo De Los Colorados

Distance to the nearest town: 0 km
Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/02/2008 20:12:12

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-0.2549,-79.1653&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Click Here To See Some Of Today´s Photos 

 The wedding reception complete with live band went on till almost 5 in the morning—needless to say with the band and the heavy rain, we slept in a little later today.  Up and dressed, the rain finally took a break and we went downstairs to partake of the included Continental breakfast, which was coffee, juice, and fresh hot rolls with butter and jam.  The juice was delicious, orange in color and velvety in texture; it tasted like a cross between orange and apricot and a tart mango.  The waiter told us the name; “manahilla” but neither of us recognized it.

It started raining while we were eating; Dave took bags down and serviced the bike and wiped the seats while Pam settled the bill, then we took off in the rain toward Duran, just 7 miles outside of Guayaquil near where the coast road joins the Pan Am Highway.  We had a few false starts getting through town and onto the right road (no signs), but eventually got on the right road.  For the first two hours it rained on and off, but the Frogg Toggs kept us dry.  We are glad we did not go to Quito, for we can see the heavy clouds obscuring the mountains and are sure the rain is still pouring there.

In this part of Ecuador, we have noticed that the farming is larger and the produce is bigger than we have seen in other parts of the country.  The fruit stands are very well stocked with a larger inventory of larger fruit; we see factories for processing rice and corn and cacao, and pass beautiful green rice fields and fruit plantations that stretch for miles.  At one point we drove along a stretch of bananas that was kilometers long and stretched all the way to the horizon; bananas literally as far as the eye could see.  We passed signs for both Dole and Chiquita including a Dole infirmary for Banano workers.

The rain let up for awhile as we approached Bagahoyo, and we were surprised to see a large lake off to the east.  At first we thought it was just flood plain, but then we saw the houses built on stilts with bamboo “sidewalks” connecting them to the roadside, some of which were several hundred feet long. 

This weekend is Carnival, which corresponds to our Mardi Gras.  The festival lasts through Tuesday, with most businesses closed and many, many people enjoying the days off.  During Carnival, people will throw water, eggs, flour, foam, confetti, whatever, on passers-by, and expect to have the same done to them.  Nobody gets annoyed and even the unwilling or unsuspecting cracks up laughing.  We passed many trucks today filled with young people who threatened us with water bottles and large squirt guns, and favored us with big smiles and waves.  We got some great pictures of two motorcycles and their riders battling each other on the street with water and spray foam, and while we were gassing up a truck full of kids drove in to gas up also, and all the kids asked us to take their picture (which we did.)  It’s great to see everyone having such a good time.

We finally hit some really nice road as we approached Guayaquil; 4 lane highway with good markings.  We also hit some peajes (tollbooths), but unlike those in the north, these did not charge for motorcycles and we were able to just drive through.  After a little bit of backtracking, we found ourselves in Milagro where we had no problem finding the best Hotel in town, “Hotel Carso Inn” for the night; the desk clerk told us forlornly that everyone was at the coast for Carnival, and we were able to get a great rate of $37USD for a large room with A/C, TV, internet (doesn’t work of course), hot water, and American  breakfast included in the morning.  Tiburon was stabled in the underground garage next to the owner’s Peugeot.

Most establishments were closed for Carnival, so we took the security guard’s advice and hired a taxi to take us to the large shopping mall where there was a food court.  This place was a beautiful monument to American style capitalism, absolutely gorgeous inside with at least 10 restaurants in the food court.  We had a great dinner from some of the local take-outs, Dave had meatball soup with a single large meatball made of different meat, yucca, and raisins, and Pam had Chicken Creole in a rich local sauce.  Pam then wandered about window-shopping while dave hit the internet kiosk to upload some photos to the web.  Dave wanted to take a pictures but we saw the security guard eyeing us warily.  Knowing that the best defense is a good offense, we went and politely asked if we could take pictures of the beautiful mall.  The guard said we would have to obtain permission first and called for the mall manager to come meet us.  He was very nice, and said it was against their policy for photos to be taken directly of the mall but personal or family pictures were OK.  We took this to mean it had to look like a picture of one of us with the mall in the background.  Oh, well, we learned our lesson at the grocery store in Pasto.  Dave took a couple of nice pictures of the mall (with Pam in the foreground), then when went for ice cream.

When the mall closed, we caught a taxi back to the hotel to catch the end of the Superbowl (how ‘bout those Giants?!)  Tomorrow we plan to continue south, but the forecast is for heavy rain—we’ll see.

 

Here is our position report for tonight – and we have uploaded the photos for the Pasto to Las Penas leg.

Latitude: -2.125
Longitude: -79.5925
Nearest Town from unit Location: Milagros, Ecuador
Distance to the nearest town: 0 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/03/2008 22:10:58
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-2.125,-79.5925&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

 Click Here To View Today´s Photos

Well, it still looked ominously cloudy in the morning; we decided to just head south and start out with our raingear on.  The hotel price included a full American breakfast, so we ate well before we left (although the coffee was -gasp- instant!).   We had no problem getting out of town, as it was closed up pretty tightly; most people are gone to the beach for Carnival.  Pam took some photos before we left, including one of the grouchy old lady in the store across the street that was so grouchy to Dave the night before.  It was easier to see the town today as we knew where we were going (sort of) and could enjoy the sights.  Milagro has some very pretty areas, and obviously considers itself the Pineapple Capitol, as there are large Pineapple statues and motifs everywhere.  Built so close to the flood plain, there are a few canals that have arched bridges over them.  Once we left the city, we backtracked to the road where we had cut off the night before, and continued south toward

The roads were pretty good initially until we got away from the Guayaquil area; quite suddenly they deteriorated into the same rutted, gravel-strewn roads we had come to know, including some classic

 

We stopped for gas and bought some water and candied peanuts for snacks.  After we had finished our snacks, we were just getting ready to go again when a car full of young men drove in to gas up.  They all got out and admired Tiburon, took some photos with their cell phones, and told us about the road ahead (it’s terrible.)  One asked where we were going and when told said he was sorry to say but North Americans must be crazy.  Pam took a picture of all of them standing in front of the bike with big grins.

It was hot and the clouds had subsided, so we stashed the FroggTogg jackets in the back and continued on.  The landscape was more of the marshy fields we had seen yesterday, with lots of rice paddies and banana farms, and we think cacao trees, too.  We turned inland for a bit and climbed to about 295 f.a.s.l. but came back down to 37 by the time we reached the end.  It wasn’t long before it again started raining and we had to pull over and put our rain gear back on.

Upon arriving in

After unloading the bags, and a quick shower and change, Dave went to see if he could find oil for an oil change –poor Tiburon is overdue.  He had no luck with oil as everything was closed, but did come back with water and snacks.   A little later we had dinner at a Chifa, a Chinese restaurant.  It was as good as our favorite restaurant in Seattle’s

Latitude: -3.2571
Longitude: -79.9564

Nearest Town from unit Location:  Machala, Ecuador

Distance to the nearest town:  0 km
Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/05/2008 01:27:01
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-3.2571,-79.9564&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Click Here To View Today’s Photos 

We left this morning at about 11:00am and headed south to the Peruvian border, about 1 hour away.  The road signs showed 63 kilometers to Huaquillas, the border town, but it was longest 63 km. we have ever traveled.  Shortly after we passed the first sign on the highway pointing to Huaquillas, the road was diverted because of construction.  We passed over good asphalt, bad asphalt, dirt, mud, gravel, sand —you name it, we hit it.  About every 10 kilometers we would come to a “Y” in the road, and of course there were no signs, so we guessed by dead reckoning on which way to go.    All the while, there were hundreds of kids cruising these back roads on motor scooters or in the back of pickup trucks, throwing water balloons and spraying foam, enjoying the last day of Carnival.\\

Finally we got back on the main road with signs to keep us going in the right direction, and at last we came to the border.  We passed through the first checkpoint to leave Ecuador with Tiburon with no problems at all—it took Dave 10 minutes to finish everything.  We changed $40 here into Peruvian Soles; the rate is about 3 Soles to $1 USD at this writing.  Then we continued on into town to the immigration checkpoint and the actual frontier.

Huaquillas is the caricature of a frontier border town.  It has narrow winding streets, NO signs anywhere, all the streets filled with street vendors selling everything from socks to onions.   Our clue to find the border was the large Ecuadorian flag that we could see at the distant end of the town.  We carefully wound our way through the very crowded streets, and finally came to the government office for checking out of Ecuador.  Dave was in and out in 10 minutes, and we drove Tiburon about 50 feet across the bridge to Peru to check in.   If you didn’t see the small sign that said “Aduana” (Customs) written on the outside of the building, you wouldn’t even know it was there.  While we were parked there, a man in a black T-shirt and cap with “Policia” written on it came up to us and offered to check any money that we had changed, as he said it was well known that Ecuadorians circulated forged banknotes.  Dave smelling a scam refused any assistance and ignored the policeman.  The police officer then told Dave he would be taken to jail for passing counterfeit money which Dave ignored.    It got really strange there for a while, but we just drove away treating the rogue cop just like any other beggar.

The last stop was about 4 kilometers down the road, where Peruvian customs asked to see our papers as we left the no man’s land.  All we had to do was open the bag; as soon as he saw the blue paper that was Tiburon’s entrance permit, he waived us through.  We were finally in Peru.

There were two significant changes that we noticed immediately.  One, the roads improved dramatically—we got up to high gear again for the first time in 3 days.  Two, the gas prices have gone back up to the prices we remember—almost $4USD/gallon.

  

We cruised along on the great road  and watched the change in the landscape.   Whereas the land in Ecuador was very marshy with lots of rice paddies, the terrain in Peru was very dry and desert-looking, with long stretches of sand and bridges over dry riverbeds.  After a short while the road turned along side the coastline and we followed along the beachfront for several miles.  At lunchtime we stopped at a small beachfront restaurant outside of Zorritos and had some mixed seafood ceviche  (seafood marinated in lime juice with peppers, onions, and a variety of spices) with chifles —thin slices of banana that have been deep-fried like potato chips.    Wonderful!  

A few minutes later we passed the turn off for Punta Sal, which was a nice looking beach resort. About 45 minutes later we came to the town of Mancora, which had been our planned destination today.  It is a large touristy beach town that appeared a bit over developed.  We decided to drive on a bit further and see if we could find a place with less development and more natural beauty.  That didn’t take long, we found Los Organos about 11 kilometers further down the road; much smaller, but with at least 2 Internet signs and a beautiful beachfront.  We asked and were directed to an area that might still have rooms, and finally found the beautiful Condominios Mirador and a fantastic room right on the beach with pool, community kitchen, covered parking for Tiburon, and a large and comfortable room for us.  We will sleep to the pounding of the surf tonight.

As soon as we unloaded we went for a quick swim and a walk on the beach, watching the surfers and the beachcombers, and a fabulous sunset.  Coming back through the garden, we noticed several palm trees that had “name tags”—we assumed they were named for the owner’s family members.  One just happened to be “named” Pamela. (First a bus, then a tree.   Hmmm.)   After a shower and change, we headed into town for dinner, catching a ride with one of the three-wheeled 100 cc motorcycle “taxis” that patrol the area looking for fares.  The one that picked us up felt like it might shake to bits before we make it to town, but we survived.  After a quick stop at the Internet store, we strolled to the busiest restaurant off the town square and had barbequed chicken with fries and chifles for dinner.  We had thought about walking back to the hotel, but it was really dark and a really rough road, so we opted to use the taxi again.  This time we looked for and got one that had some decent shocks and a motor that didn’t sound like it was going to come apart at any moment. 

Arriving back at our hotel, we watched the local news; Peru is suffering from extended rains that have damaged the fruit crops causing prices to skyrocket, and more importantly for us, has washed out several large stretches of road.  We will have to research carefully which roads we take.  We may relax a little by the pool before hitting the hay.  Tomorrow we will continue south on the coast route toward Lima.

Where we ended up tonight :

Latitude: -4.1799
Longitude: -81.1372
Nearest Town from unit Location:  Los Organos, Peru
Distance to the nearest town:  1 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/05/2008 23:32:42
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-4.1799,-81.1372&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

There is a nice satellite zoom of our beach if you click on the link above.

Click Here To View Today’s Photos

We left our beautiful spot on the beach to continue heading south. It is amazing how different the landscape is here from Ecuador, which is only about 70 kilometers away; the green wet rice paddies of Ecuador have given way to stark brown-and-gray scrub brush and sand. Although we could view the blue Pacific coastline for a while, soon there was nothing but rock and sand. It reminded us both very much of Southern California or Arizona.

We climbed from sea level to about 430 f.a.s.l. on switchback roads through the canyons, then cruised on a very good, very straight road for about an hour toward the distant mountains. Although the air had become very hot and dry, we both noticed a smell like rotting fish; as we passed one of several trucks that appeared to be leaking water from their cargo areas, we finally realized that they were transporting fresh fish inland, and the melting ice dripped on the road causing the smell.

On the way we saw what appeared to be an oil pipeline and several oil wells, although only one of them appeared to actually be in operation. We also passed a cemetery with the above ground crypts that are common in this area; what we found interesting and unusual was that each crypt also had a thatched roof canopy constructed over it to provide shade.

At one point we saw several workers on tractors and with hand shovels “tilling” the sand as though preparing it for planting, although at the time we had no idea what crop would possibly grow in this arid environment. We were to learn in about an hour’s time when we drove through an obviously irrigated area where they were using tractors to prepare rice paddies, in the same fashion we had seen in Ecuador! Just a little further on we crossed the river and saw the dam that no doubt provided both water and power for these projects as we entered into the town of Sullana. We were making good time so decided to continue further before stopping for a late breakfast.

Our next stop was Piura, a good-sized and good-looking city; it is the capital of the state by the same name. We found a charming square with a restaurant; our timing was excellent, as shortly after we walked in the place filled up for lunch. We had ceviche de pescado, rice and fried bananas accompanied by Inka Cola.

As usual, Tiburon collected an audience when it was time to go. Dave talked briefly with the men answering the usual “how fast and how much?” questions, then got excellent instructions out of town from one of the municipal policeman who had been lounging on the corner under a tree near the restaurant. We easily found our way back to the main road and continued south.

Nothing that we had read prepared us for the next 200 kilometers of this road; it goes straight through a desert complete with Dune zones! We didn’t think we would hit desert until we got to Nazca and Atacama. Anyway, the winds were blowing hard from the southwest, and in some places the sand had actually drifted onto the road. Rivers of sand were moving across the road. Every once in a while there would be a sign for “Zona Urbana” (Urban Zone), which meant a motley collection of adobe or bamboo houses on the side of the road. It was very desolate. It is hard to imagine how anyone could survive out here. Occasionally we passed a large truckload of field workers all standing or sitting on the back of the truck and most with full facemasks or scarves to keep out the sand, and once Pam saw a herd of goats trekking across the dunes.

Our gas gauge got down to just one click above empty and we were getting concerned, when we came across a tiny roadside café. We stopped for a drink and asked the proprietress about the next gas station and found we were almost at the end of the desert stretch; the next town was just 10 minutes away, and Chiclayo another 15 beyond that. At the first opportunity we put in enough 90 octane to keep us secure and continued on to Chiclayo, passing several large grain mills on the way into town. Rice appeared to be the biggest product, and Dave read later that Chiclayo had once been a huge grain export center before Peru’s brief experiment with socialism.

Driving into the center of town, we saw beautiful old buildings and upscale shops and pedestrians. We followed the signs for centro and had begun to search out hotels when Pam noticed a taxi driver trying to get our attention. A block and a half later he caught up with us again as we pulled over to the curb in front of a hotel on the plaza; he told us he knew of a great place, good rate, safe for motorcycles, he would lead us there! We followed him around the square back to 2 blocks away from where we started, to the Hotel Central, just ½ block away from the spectacular cathedral on the main plaza. The hotel gave us a great rate of about $35USD for a nice room with hot water (yes!), fan, internet in the lobby and bike parking right across the street.

After checking in and parking the bike, we changed and went for a walk through the town. We stopped to admire the beautiful old church that was built in 1507. The large tree-filled plaza was full of people, and the sidewalks were busy with shoppers. After crossing the hot desert we expected the air to be hot also, but it was pleasantly cool and fresh. We found a snack of a great fruit salad with yogurt and puffed wheat before returning to the hotel, and later had a wonderful dinner of chicken and pappas fritas (real French fries).

Tomorrow Dave will try to find a motorcycle shop and oil to service Tiburon, and Pam will look for a Laundromat—it’s that time again!

Here is where we are tonight. Click on the link below for some nice satellite shots.

Latitude: -6.7718
Longitude: -79.8365
Nearest Town from unit Location: Chiclayo, Peru
Distance to the nearest town: 0 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/06/2008 21:27:51
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-6.7718,-79.8365&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

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