Two days cycling along the edges of the Sechura Desert. So far I like the “old Pan-American” road as not much wind and a number of settlements.
Day One

Left Piura and crossed river in city, largest water I would see for a while. My route brought me due east to start and had a cross-wind from the south. I expect if I’d gone the direct route south, that I would have started with that headwind.

Real estate developers seem to be similar around the world. Look at the smiling family next to the nice green lots and streets. Right next to the sign is the arid region that this is being developed and somehow doesn’t look as inviting.

Moderate amount of traffic as we came past some small settlements. This guy on horseback was working to guide some cattle along the way.

Road even had a bicycle sign. I also see some local cyclists in this area. Mostly riding from village to village as transportation as opposed to those riding for sport, e.g. more of those in Colombia.

At 49km was a gas station as well as this restaurant. It was early for lunch, but had it anyways here since I wasn’t 100% certain where I might see restaurants.

The road was starting to get quieter and livestock was more willing to walk along the road. For the first half hour of each hour, I tried keeping a count of how many vehicles came the other direction. These counts were as follows:

• 7am; too many to count, I rode through Piura
• 8am; 68
• 9am; 44
• 10am; 29
• 11am; 32 after my lunch
• Noon; 4
• 1pm; 5

I was still on the road after 1pm, but clearly not as interesting to count anymore.

This is the road intersection I passed shortly before noon. Most traffic came from the left and I went right.

Long somewhat straight road for a while.

At 82km, I stopped to check my maps. When I went to go, the rear tire was completely flat. Sigh, the patch had failed again near the tire boot. I patched the tube and then swapped in another tube. Had it all pumped up and started putting things back on the bike when it was soft again.

Rather frustrating. Decided to completely swap in a new tube and tire. I had been hoping to keep this tire along until at least Lima since I have only one more spare tire. However, too frustrating and also was going through my spare tubes as well.

By now it was hot and spent a fair amount of time getting things fixed up. Cycled until the next town El Virrey just past the 100km mark. There was a restaurant here and I asked if it would be OK to set up my tent in next door park. This was fine.

Carlos (age 8) and Antony (age 10) showed me where to get in the gate and watched as I set up my tent. They kept company asking a bunch of questions until that got too boring. They came past with some other friends for a while as well. Later in evening, I had dinner in the restaurant.
Day Two
Shorter ride today and mostly flat as I came to larger village of Olmos. I noticed several churches and after a bit decided to take some photographs. Missed a few but…still surprising how many of these little churches in ~50km of todays route.

Here is church #1, interesting to see things growing on top of it.

At 15km was a police station in Naupe. One of the other blogs had mentioned staying in the police station here. From looks of things, I was happy I was in the park. Getting to Naupe was a 150m hill with a few steep bits to climb over. After this it was much flatter.

This past March, northwestern Peru had a lot of flooding problems. The area is normally a semi-desert but during El Nino can suddenly get a huge amount more rain. Not 100% but my guess is that dry riverbed was a wide raging river and happened to also wash out this part of the road.

Church #2, I missed taking a photo of another one before this as well.

Church #3, was back in a field.

Church #4, also back in a field.

Another section of washed out road.

Church #5

Church #6

Church #7

Church #8

Church #9

Church #10

Church #11

Church #12

Church #13

These horses weren’t in much hurry to get off the road.

A more typical house that I saw along this stretch of road.

Church #14

This guy was painting the road markers. This time counting down to Chiclayo at 100 kilometers.

Church #15, overall I missed a few but this was many small churches in just a ~50km stretch.

Main street Olmos. Interestingly, there wasn’t a church on the main square in this town.

Several market streets and more fish here as well as fruits and vegetables.

Mural warning about mosquito-borne diseases.

Otherwise a relaxing afternoon. Past mornings have been overcast and cloudy. It burns off mid-day and then becomes warmer. Also spent some time having the hotel reboot their router, still tough to explain in Spanish when I see these diagnosis.