Hop, Skip and a Jump from India to Peru

Three long haul flights have taken us via the UK to Peru. Along the way we have dropped off the tandem and picked up my Surly Long Haul Trucker. This was due to Den suffering on the back with heat exhaustion in the heat and hills. As South America has both we decided on a change of transportation. Den on the flight out was therefore bike-less and our shopping in Lima consisted of running around bike shops. Eventually, one was found for exacting demands, she wanted one that fitted....I ask you! So bike bought, pimped by me and we were ready for the off. Oh, except running round looking for all the essentials like fuel for the stove, food, water containers and spares for Dens bike so our three days in Lima were pretty fully.

07.11.10 (Lima to Chilca, 36miles)

We had been told by various people that drivers in Peru and Lima especially were erratic at best, so with this in mind we woke early and headed off around 7am, by sheer luck it was a Sunday and the traffic was fairly light for Lima. We were staying in a suburb called Barranco which was south of the main centre and fairly easy to exit the city from. (For anyone following this route it was as follows: took Pedro do Osma all the way to the end, including all the name changes until it met Huaylas, which has a name change to something to do with defence, but helpfully has the old name written real small underneath. Follow this for miles until eventually you come to Panamerican sur, which is the main south route, bikes can go on the nice wide well maintained hard shoulder. Simple!)

So with the city behind us we pushed on, Den had to adjust her saddle several times as it was too low, higher and higher it went until her knees stopped hurting but she felt safe, 8 months of not having to worry about steering, braking or pretty much anything has made her a cautious, which in Lima traffic is a good thing.
 Den's New Bike

So our first night on our tour of SA was spent in a small town called Chilca, we stopped at the first hostel we saw called Leo's, which was pretty basic and had black bathroom ware and lime green walls, interesting was the word. This was were it all started to get expensive when the Samsung gave up the ghost.... funny noises and nada, Computer kerput. There was nothing to be done in Chilca except go to an internet cafe and see what samsung says. So one very smelly Internet shop I would not like to say cafe as it was basically a room fully of typically smelly teenage boys playing computer games or Play Stations, grim, we stayed long enough to know we were in computer trouble. Thus ends our first day.

08.11.10 (Chilca to San Vincente de Cañete, 50.5miles)

So the road south from Lima cuts through a desert, great, with great big sand dunes that the panamerican highway goes up and down, up and down, up and down so I think you get the picture, when we arrived in Cañete as the locals call it Den was ready for a lie down. We were helped to find a hotel by a Brazilian guy who is taking 5 years to cycle from Alaska to the tip of Argentina, he had gone for the local look of no panniers but Chinese laundry bags strapped high on the back rack, he could leave his bike in the square and walk us to the hotel down several side streets, we could not walk 10 meters from our bikes!!! So once we were settled in we went in search of our friendly cyclist to buy him a drink for helping us, but all we saw was him riding a round the streets, hopefully we may meet up with him again.

Through the power of text and helpful parents back in the UK we had a number to call for Samsung repairs, so after chatting to them came we to the conclusion that we were not going to get our computer fixed whilst traveling via them. This was slightly worrying as we have come to rely on it quite a lot and having seen the inside of the average internet place here we do not want to spend too much time in them!! Decisions have to be made..... but not to day.

09.11.10 (San Vincente de Cañete to San Clemente, 53.07miles)

Our continued ride south followed the pattern of yesterday, up, down, up, down, however today like the last part of yesterday we were on the old highway with periods of access to the new highway which is being built, this was great as we could nip on the the new tarmac and ride with out too much concern for the 18 wheel trucks speeding past just a few feet away.

We had decided to head for San Clemente a small town near the turn off to Pisco. We took the decision not to go to Pisco (it was a 12 mile detour) where was a massive earthquake there in 2007 and the colonial architecture from which half it's fame derived had been mostly destroyed. The other half came from the drink Pisco Sour. Apparently in Pisco the word on the street is that mass corruption has kept the relief money from the people who really need it. Neither did we want to go on the Paracas trip (Den has done it before and I am happy not to go). Sometimes, I am such a rubbish tourist. So San Clemente it was.

Our hotel was clean and looked fairly new. Don't remember the name, but it was a big white building perched on the hill overlooking the Pan American Highway. A couple of kms north of the Pisco turnoff. There was a delightfully helpful owner for whom nothing was too much trouble. If you ever stay there be sure to check out channel 55 on the TV.... the only English language channel available, but a lot more exciting than CNN, I can't say any more here. We walked around the town while shopping a bit later on. There are a fair few new buildings around after the earthquake, however there are more tumbled down and makeshift homes than new builds! Had dinner in a local restaurant, which hosted a great game of “chicken”. The local stray dogs would come in and edge towards the kitchen very slowly, until the cook would notice their presence and send them running with the closest kitchen implement to hand. Not very hygienic but great entertainment when placing small wagers.

10.11.10 (San Clemente to Ica, 48miles)

getting up this morning was hard.... the bed was not that comfy but what with the last effects of jet lag still clinging on and the cycling after a month off the bike we were tired. Luckily, the ride to Ica was not so bad, the up and down eased to flat or a gentle incline, so the riding was easier but the hard shoulder was narrower and in not so good repair. We arrived in Ica around lunchtime and ended up getting off and pushing as the traffic was the worst we have seen in Peru. We eventually found a place to stay after the lonely planet sent us to a building site!

Decision time, what to do with the computer??? choices, get in mended via Samsung in Peru, not an option as they could take up to 5 weeks!! get a new hard drive fitted in Ica, not a good idea as it may not be the hard drive that is only our diagnosis, also all the software would be lost, so that leaves us with the third option of sending the Samsung home and looking around for a new computer. We had talked about not having a computer but really we have decided that we like having one for the photos, the blog and keeping in contact in general. As we think all three are really important and would fall by the wayside if we had to spend too long in the internet places over here we decided to look around for a new computer.

Bingo, after starting in the smaller computer workshop time places we eventually met a really helpful shopkeeper who took us to a shop that sold small notebook computers, after several more shops like these (found with out help!) we found a good priced one and bought it. Ica is known for theft so they had us set up the basics in store so it was password protected when we took it out. Which was great for security but not so good for the set up. It is in Spanish!! After spending hours on the internet researching it, the options of how to get the language into English, were to upgrade the software to Ultimate at a cost of $250 or so, (nearly the price of the computer!!!), learn Spanish quickly or install a different operating system. We went for the latter. Frankly though it's ridiculous. Message for Microsoft. People sometimes buy computers outside of their home country, perhaps in a country where the local language is not spoken by them. To then ask them to pay the same again on top of the cost of the computer to upgrade to a version of windows that can be made to run in say, English, is ridiculous. Anyhow, our friend Manuel, from the computer shop installed us a copy of Ubuntu, which replaces windows and is free and as far as I can tell so far is just as good. So there!!

Ica itself has a delightful town square and lots of lovely eateries where we whiled away our rest day. We also paid a visit to the regional museum, which houses a collection of shrunken heads and a scale model of the Nazca lines in the lot around the back.

From Ica we had a long 65 mile cycle to the next town of any size south. Palpa. The last 2/3rds of the ride took us across very arid desolate desert. We climbed slowly throughout the baking heat of the afternoon. And were rewarded nearly at the very end with a flying decent into the town of Rio Grande. More good fortune on arrival in Palpa. Another reasonably priced nice hotel.

Just a note on all these hotels we've been staying in. When I first thought of this trip, I had visions of camping out most nights under the stars. Hotels are for wimps, I thought. Real travellers rough it. Well, when tthe reality is that for about five pounds each you can have a hot shower, wash your clothes and have a meal that someone else cooks. Yes, we could spend less, but at home if you live rough and try to spend less than a dollar a day, people will call you a tramp. And they'd be right, you would be. The only downside with our approach is that you do have to concede you fall down the hierarchy of hardcore travellers by not living like a bum. I should explain. In the same way that backpackers look down on package tourists, and over-landers in turn look down on backpackers. Hardcore cycle tourists will look down on us as being soft..... and well that's fine with me. On that note we came across a chap who was walking from La Paz to Lima, dressed all in white with a big white flag held above his head on two poles extending upwards from his bergen. We would have stopped to talk, but he was blatantly mad. Regardless, he went straight to the top of my hardcore travellers list.

Palpa to Nazca.

What should have been a comfortably short cycle was given a bit of edge by the raging headwind that blunted our progress for most of the day. Stopped off to look over some of the Nazca lines from the observation tower by the side of the highway. Then cruised into town. Staying at the Hotel Oro Viejo. Bit on the pricey side, but very tranquil walled gardens to relax in and gird our strength for the testing road to Cuzco and beyond. 
View from the Nazca Lines observation tower and some other photos...

  

Advantages of having a Den in India

Den's been getting a lot of attention from the gentlemen here in India.  I think it's likely to be the height and the blonde hair, though she's assured me she finds it less than enamouring.  I've found one plus side though  When negotiating prices for tuktuks and such like, she seems to immediately get offered prices that would take me an age to haggle down to.  From now on I'm letting her do all of the negotiating.

We spent a few days in Jaipur.  It's known as the pink city, as the whole of the old town was painted pink to celebrate a royal visit in the 19th century and has remained like that since.  1st day there was one of doing nothing, and then we had a day shopping.  Our most important purchase was a new umbrella (sunshade) for Den as the last one was misplaced a couple of days ago in a rickshaw.  When we eventually got round to sightseeing, there were some lovely forts and historic buildings to see in the local area.

Our favourites were.... first off, Amber Fort.  Set in hills 11km north of the city. The fort's battlements follow the jagged hills for miles beyond the citadel.  There was a festival on at the time we visited so the crowds were large and the hawkers on the march up to the gatehouse were unrelenting.  But once inside, the crowds dispersed in the narrow maze of corridors around the main palace. 

From there we moved on to the Jantar Mantar Observatory, which I remembered from a BBC documentary as containing some wonderfully designed scientific instruments.  Mostly still in full working order, I found it very exciting to be able to wander around them and read the time off a 300 year old, 30m high sundial and to find my watch to be a minute slow.

Had a look around the ostentatious City Palace, which still today houses the  Maharajahs, their current seven story abode was a little more bling than the average home in India it is fair to say. 

From Jaipur we caught the sleeper train to Jaisalmer.  More visiting forts ensued.  This one built of sandstone and very imposing with views for miles across the desert scrub.

Went shopping, and ended up being given an impromptu tour of an old town house that belonged to one of the merchants, whose great, great, great, great etc  grandfather had served in the court of the Maharajah.  He was hoping to use the proceeds from his shop to turn the house into a museum.  I hope he does.  I think it's the not so stately homes that give the most interesting insights into the past.

In the evening we took a Camel ride in the desert to watch the sun go down over the sand dunes.  A bit of a cliché, but what a lovely way to end the day, especially as we were met on arrival by a man who sold me a cold(ish) beer.  For a price.

We tried to get a train back to Delhi for the following day so that we could make for Amritsar, but it was fully booked, so we've had an extra day of reading and pottering around the shops while waiting for tomorrow.  Will have to remember to make sure we book our tickets well in advance next time.

We stopped long enough in Delhi to witness the “improvements” that they have made to the backpacker's ghetto in preparation for the Commonwealth games. Interestingly they decided that the crowded Main Bazar street would look a little more elegant if it was a little wider.  To achieve this they removed the front rooms from all the buildings for maybe half a kilometre along the road.  While a bit drastic, it does make the street look a lot more spacious.  Unfortunately they failed to attach new fronts to the buildings in time for the start of the games. In fact, they didn't even get close to finishing the job.  For the time being therefore, if you look up, away from the gathering swarm of hawkers at street level, you can peer into the shopkeepers homes above.  Must be most disconcerting. 

Stayed more than long enough to decide that our hotel wasn't the best, then headed north to Amritsar.  It was a comparatively painless 8 hours on the train, and our hotel was immediately opposite the train station.  Spent a few days there, taking in the sights, foremost among which was the golden temple, also doing a bit of shopping and seemingly rather a lot of time looking for book stores that have recently closed down.  Very frustrating.  And as a result of which, I ended up having to read one of Den's trashy girly novels. 

India & the Commonwealth Games

Just when we thought we were comfortable with riding our tandem around in Asia and being used the generally poor driving, we hit India.  Fine on the rural roads.  Suicidal once you hit a town on a loaded tandem with a trailer.  No one expects a push bike to be so long, and they don't drive with a margin for error.  Scary!!

More importantly (for me - Rich) my ribs are still causing me discomfort from where I bashed them a month ago.  We now have 3 weeks before we head off to South America, via home, and I wanted to make sure that I am 100% fit for that. So after we got close enough to Delhi to be able to load up a taxi, we decided to give my bruised ribs a rest and to finish up the Asia leg of our trip a few miles early... .is that wrong??

For our holiday from cycling, we're going to be relaxing in Delhi, going to the track cycling at the games and having a train based tour of northern India.  We are currently in the medieval fortress city of Gwalior, 100km south of Agra.  We saw the Taj Mahal a few days ago, and for once I came away without feeling that the reality doesn't live up to the hype.  It's amazing!!  It's even worth running the gauntlet of hard sell touts and hawkers for. 

The trains have been a pleasant surprise too.  Normally I'm an avid exponent of the view that the best way to see a country is by bicycle.  But with the driving in India, for the moment, taking the train seems the ideal way for us to get around.