Finally Out of Lima

Our stay in Lima was longer than intended. Grif was working on the bike the next morning; we were to leave in the afternoon. He came up to the room and was really tired and thirsty, so he had a 3 hour nap! Then it hit him. He was ill from the food the night before. He laid in bed for the next 24 hours. I spent most of the day sending emails and searching for Galapagos tours.

That evening, I ordered MacDonald's take out! It came by motorized bicycle with a hot pouch on the back! Pretty cool!

By the next afternoon, Grif was craving food, but still was too weak to travel. Late in the afternoon, we found a Honda dealership, within walking distance and found a new front tire for the bike. We organized the tire change for the following morning. We both had a light dinner and went to bed. It was good to see Grif eating again.

The next morning, the tire was changed, and we were finally out of the hotel!! It was noon when we left and it took us a good two hours to get through Lima. There were detours and construction on the Panamerican highway... utter chaos! Buses, taxis, moto taxis, honking... grid lock! Somehow we managed to find our way through the city of 9 million people! The sun was hot, about 30C. Grif kept turning Sammy off to try to keep him cool while stopped in traffic..


The Panamerican highway... literally

We headed up the coast of Peru, following the Pacific. There were lots of crops and sand dunes, with the Cordillera Negra mountain range in the distance.

We were stopped by police just before Barranca. This area in known to be a problem, as police pull foreign bikers over supposedly catching them for speeding and then get bribes. I got off the bike and Grif did as well. We made it look thankful that we got pulled over as our butts were sore. The cop asked for documents and Grif gave him his license and proceeded to talk to him, only in English, no Spanish. I must say, Grif spoke in his best English accent ever!! Grif got his license back and we were soon on our way, all within a few minutes! As we got closer to Casma, our destination, the sun began to set and the temperature dropped; a welcomed change. At times there was sea mist drifting over the sand dunes and the road.

Riding at Sunset

We checked in at the El Farol Inn and quickly went to the restaurant. After a few beers and delicious chicken dinner we were off to bed.