Through the valley, over the desert and into the small town of Palpa.
Today the ride had a little of everything. First, 30km was small villages in an agricultural valley. The church above was the center of one of those villages. I hadn’t been near a grocery store yesterday evening but stopped in at a small shop on the way to pick up fruit.
At 30km I left the valley and turned into a headwind as well as climbed ~150m up a long hill. The shoulder was rough most of today but there was also a lot less traffic than coming into Ica, so I could take the travel lane more often.
I expect this truck driver was feeling cross-winds as well.
On top of the hill was a longer plain where I met this Brazilian cyclist. He had cycled down the coast of Brazil, across Bolivia and now was heading north. He had an overall six-year plan that included 59 countries and 88,000 kilometers on a squiggly route around the world. He lamented that a visa to the USA cost him nearly $300. This is first cycle tourist I have encountered in a while.
Long, straight and mostly flat. Fortunately, the wind had died down by now.
Not quite sure what happened here, but a large collection of individual memorials as well as one bigger shrine as well.
Near 70 kilometers I crested a hill and saw the first point of civilization for a while. On the right side is the town and leading above it is the “old” road. The new Panamerican Highway bypasses the town and goes all the way left around the mountains. I cycled to near the town and had lunch here.
They farm cactus here.
This was split between new road and old road. I wasn’t sure what was prohibited on the old road, but I saw some cars come from there, so figured it was probably OK.
I got to the top and came to a narrow one-car wide tunnel. It was a little more than 100m long and you could see the other side. However, it was important to make sure you had a clear path before entering the tunnel. There weren’t lights and it got dark in the middle of the tunnel. Otherwise, it wasn’t too bad to cycle through.
There was a steep descent on the other side of ~10%. Off in the distance, Palpa lies in the second valley. I made my way down the hill and then across the next hill to small town of Palpa. There wasn’t much in the town square but I did find a reasonable hotel on the main road. Overall a nice variety of riding today.
Ica
A day riding mixed area of desert, farms and agro-industrial areas. Surprising amounts of truck traffic, though after the first 12km, the shoulders were good.\
Enjoyed my time in the little town of Pisco. I enjoy finding these little towns with a hotel not too far from the town square.
Everyone out of the van, we need to fix the tire!
Cycled six kilometers back to rejoin the Panamerican Highway. The road was busy and the shoulder was poor, so mostly rode the white line and watched my mirror when I needed to move out of the way. Fortunately, after the 12-kilometer mark or so, a reasonable shoulder reappeared and stayed until I was close to Ica.
There were several larger industrial type plants like this fertilizer plant.
If you lived here, you’d be home now!
This little oasis of lots seems to empty out into the desert once you pass the entrance station. I notice that prices advertised for lots have gone down since the coastal gated communities nearer to Lima.
Another industrial type area as a big chicken ranch.
These small huts were on side of the road. I thought it interesting that each seemed to have a TV antenna and the last one had a satelite dish.
That little isolated hut in the desert might not have a TV antenna though.
A statue also fairly isolated along the road.
At 50 kilometers, there was a toll booth and more of these fruit stands.
In addition to toll booths, there was some type of fish-check station.
My lunch stop was at this kiosk where bought a few items and took a short break. After this point there were more large farms.
These guys were busy loading up the truck.
These vineyards with netting to keep out birds.
One of my favorite signs, “don’t leave rocks on the road” made several appearances again today.
The last 15 kilometer were through several small villages and then into larger town of Ica. The main road seemed to bypass the center of town, so ended up with hotel on far end and not too much nearby. However, otherwise nice place.
Overall, definitely an interesting mixture of areas that are more populated than before but still dry areas.
Pisco
Short ride today to Pisco, next town along the coast.
A few kilometers to exit Chincha and then mostly an agricultural area with small towns. The town of El Carmen had a nice portal with murals that seemed to explain the history.
They were spraying something on the corn.
I am guessing this tower had something to do with irrigation, though not completely certain.
Corn was out to dry, though the birds were also feasting.
The freeway had ended yesterday so smaller road today with a sometimes bumpy shoulder. However, the overall distance was short and at 34 km I was already at the turnoff to Pisco. Went another six kilometers into middle of town.
There is a soccer tournament (FIFA confederation cup) that seems to be a big deal. It was playing in the cafe I had lunch and I’ve seen several other matches with Chile playing on other days.
One of the churches in town.
Otherwise, Pisco is nice small town with shopping street and small square. Not quite as busy as Chincha Alta.
Chincha Alto
Today was a ride with several different variations of landscapes. The kilometers are now counting up from Lima. Still close enough that there is a fair amount of development instead of complete desert areas. Today I came through several fairly distinct regions.
The first thirty kilometers I would characterize as the “private beach community” section. The road had rolling terrain across the hills. Off to the ocean side, there would be these small private beach communities below. Typically there would be a fence and potentially a guard house. There wasn’t much otherwise in way of commercial establishments.
I went down the hill and came to the small town of Cerro Azul. Good place for a quick stop and break.
The next twenty-five kilometers I would characterize as the agricultural. Completely flat road and crops being grown on both sides.
Also, donkey carts that needed to cross the highway.
This section did have a few no bikes signs. By the time I saw the first one, there wasn’t much alternative route to take. In any case, the Pan American continued to have a nice shoulder, except for a bridge where the third of the signs was located. I suspect the signs came because the bridge didn’t have a shoulder. However, traffic was light so I was only on on the bridge.
After the agricultural section, I went up a hill to a section I would describe as “lost coast”. The road again bounced on top of the hills. I didn’t see much of the coast on the side at all. There were a few of these fruit stalls. Nice excused to stop and get a few mandarin oranges.
This bathroom and shower was in this section, in middle of nowhere.
This seemed to be an argument or explanation for keeping the town beach in public hands rather than letting it become private as beaches further north had become.
I also passed this large Peru Liquid Natural Gas plant, a bit more description here.
After the lost coast, I came down the hill and went along the ocean. This had more businesses.
There were chicken tents (taken in HDR to get details from the shadows).
There was a wine business.
Finally the last ten kilometers I turned inland and to the small town of Chincha Alto.
I found a nice hotel that had been recommended by my uncle Gerard.
Found the town square.
There seemed to be some type of children’s parade.
Complete with a royal princess.
Overall a slightly long day but good ride with a good variation between the sections. Also Chincha Alta is nicest little town I’ve come through since Lima.
Asia
On the road again as I depart the big city and head south from Lima.
Several kilometers of stopped up traffic, but otherwise getting out of Lima wasn’t too bad.
I started on the bike path for first several kilometers. Miraflores has done a good job with these paths including having them on one-way streets but allowing bicycles to go both directions.
Leaving Lima, I had a bit of everything. Not long after the bike path, I descended into a high-speed highway. It merged with another highway and had fun getting across the lanes. Not long thereafter this bike path appeared on right side.
This was down by the ocean where I also found this statue. Unfortunately, discovered I had to climb back out again. This next bit was the most crowded with almost 10 kilometers of a mixture of stop-and-go as well as a very busy crowded road. Once again, many of these little buses that would keep zooming in to stop and drop off or pick up passengers.
At 15 kilometers I rejoined the Pan American Highway and shortly thereafter there was a toll booth. Not the most exciting road, but it has a good shoulder and reasonable direction. It started very busy with four lanes each direction and a lot of traffic, but over the next 20 kilometers, the traffic volume decreased considerably as the lanes also dropped down to two each way. Stopped at the 34-kilometer mark for a short break.
There were some fun billboards here, including many they had adjusted the shapes of the sign to match the product.
I came past more of these chicken farm tents. This time I was downwind from the tents and could definitely smell the manure.
Also multiple of these small communities where they were selling lots as well as condominiums. The 389 per month catches your eye, but I noticed multiple weasel words here including (1) “desde” = from (2) it is in US dollars, not Peruvian sol and (3) it tells you only for the first month.
This section advertised artisan bread. Stopped here for lunch.
Many other possibilities along the way as well.
There wasn’t a lot, but I did come past some agricultural fields as well. Overall, the day was overcast all day long. The streets even started out wet. I expect not necessarily much rain but a heavy mist today.
I am not sure what a woman in a bikini has to do with bricks. However, I will admit it did get me to take a photo of the sign.
I considered stopping at 64km where I knew there was a hotel but pushed on further to Asia at 96km. It was sort of a strange place. There was a large wall surrounding a mall complex. There was a sign for a hotel that said, open all year. I first cycled around part of the outside of the wall, but couldn’t find it. Next, I went to a gate in the wall. Guards told me the hotel was open, but when I visited it, they looked closed and said they had no rooms.
Next, made my way across the highway to a different hotel. No hot water but otherwise a reasonable place. Also found a restaurant but not much in way of store here to get breakfast items.
Nice to be on the road again.
Lima, time to be a tourist
Sunday in Lima, time to be a tourist.
I walked to the nearby square and signed up for a half-day tour of the historic center of Lima on the Mirabus pictured above. It was a nice chance to see a little bit of the city with the highlight being the Church and Monastery of San Francisco along with the catacombs found underneath.
As our tour bus went past several squares including Plaza San Martin, pictured above, I thought they sure looked familiar as I had cycled right past.
The last Sunday of each month, roads in the center of Lima are closed to automobiles to allow bikes, roller blades, pedestrians and others to use them. We also walked from here for rest of the tour.
I saw quite a few local scout groups out in uniform. They seemed to be in some sort of organized scavenger type hunt where they visited different locations, got clues and put together puzzles.
Church of La Merced was on our way, this photo in HDR.
The main plaza was packed with people.
There was music,
and dancing,
and horses,
and just hanging out with friends,
in traditional costumes or on the phone.
Church of San Francisco and associated monastery was impressive.
By the way, the black spots are pigeons.
We could take photos inside the church. However, no photos of the monastery or catacombs underneath.
What was particularly impressive was the paintings and artwork in murals, ceilings and in paintings. There was a historic library with 25,000 dusty books that might remind one of Harry Potter. Underneath, there were narrow catacombs with many bones, often neatly sorted into skulls in one bin, tibias in another, etc. Overall a rather interesting visit.
On way back, we could see streets were still closed for some cyclists.
Hopefully, tomorrow won’t get stuck into too much traffic leaving, having missed my window of light traffic. Even today this intersection was stopped up often enough that someone could come in costume and go past the cars.
A photo of bikes for rent during the traffic-free morning.
Spotted this bike oriented business as well.
Otherwise, nice relaxing day here in Lima.
Lima, bike maintenance + route planning
An easy day in Lima.
First order of business is to get some worn parts replaced on the bike. I start at Bicicentro bike shop at 9 am when they open. We check the chain and as expected it is stretched. So replace both chain and rear cassette since they wear together. I also ask to have brake pads replaced. They don’t have the metal version of the pads, so I bring a copy.
The mechanic seems to fiddle a fair amount. I’m sure more competent than myself, though don’t have as much confidence in his skills. Eventually, he is done and tells me best to replace the rotors as well. They have one extra rotor, but I then notice it is stamped, “resin only”. So I go back to my hotel and bring my extra rotor I had along. Surprised the front rotor was diagnosed this way since it was new in Colombia and doesn’t show as much wear. I buy a patch kit and a spare set of organic brake pads.
The bike rides smoothly though not noticeably different as I ride to the Specialized bike shop. They have a set of spare tubes here. I have an awkward size (26″ but Presta valves), so nice to have one or two additional here. Specialized also doesn’t have the specific rotor, but give me an address of bike shop that might. I do get the sense the Specialized shop is more set up for more general bike service, so would likely go there first in the future.
Next ride to Best Bikes. This is a Shimano shop and has Shimano pads and rotors but not Avid. Not sure of the compatibility, I skip buying a Shimano rotor. Later check the internet and suggests these are not always compatible.
It took pretty much entire morning but my bike is at least set up for riding ahead. I expect Cuzco might have similar shops and after that not as certain about Bolivia.
In the afternoon, I spent some time looking through blogs and planning the next steps. The next 450km to Nazca is pretty straightforward and looks similar to what I’ve already done. After that, a fork in the road. By default, I had assumed climbing the hill here from Nazca and going to Cusco, a distance of ~650km and also more than 12,000m of climbing. Yikes! As I looked for blogs of this route, I found few. Many cyclists had skipped this part, either coming to Cusco from mountains earlier or taking the bus or other alternatives.
When I ask Google Maps to plot a route to La Paz, a second slightly more direct option appeared, via Arequipa. There is still some substantial climbing. Hard to avoid when going up and over 4500m of altitude. However, this route is also roughly taken by the railroad and appears that once one reaches the altitude of the Altiplano, there is a lot less descent and climb over subsequent ridges. So 100km shorter distance and considerably less climb and less time and high (cold) remote parts.
What one misses is Cusco itself. Cusco is interesting if one wants to make a side trip to Machu Pichu and challenge yourself climbing/descending. I’m sure it is an interesting place, though right now am leaning more towards the Arequipa alternative. I’ve got a few days until Nazca to sort this all out further.
Lima
Today I cycled into the middle of a city of nine million inhabitants (7th largest in the Americas, and largest I cross on this trip). It wasn’t always pleasant riding, though as cities go, I would rate it as #5 in difficulty as compared with:
- Tegucigalpha, steep grades and fading brakes
- Panama City, high speed traffic when trucks block the shoulders
- Guatemala City, general chaos and mixed shoulders
- Guadalajara, sprawled areas, need to pay attention and keep adjusting
- Lima, big and sprawling
It all started pretty calm. Three kilometers to reach the Panamerican Highway and then another three and a half on the Panamerican.
At this point, the road split and there was a choice. Heavy traffic, e.g. trucks and buses, were directed to the right and light traffic, e.g. automobiles and everything else was directed to the left. From other blogs I had read, more than half of the cyclists took the Serpentin option to the right. The other route climbs up over a 400-meter high hill. So, I did the same and followed the Serpentin road.
There were signs for no motorcycles as well as this one for no bicycles. Others had gotten through without issues and so I ignored the sign as well. Not much further I came past the first of two police cars parked on side of the road. I cycled past as if I knew what I was doing and nobody said anything. Sorry, no photo on that one.
Serpentin road is carved out of the side of the mountain. No shoulder, but trucks all gave me plenty of room. It was a fun ride.
There was a section of road construction where I had to wait and go in one lane as well as a section thereafter where I cycled in a closed lane for a bit. The steepest winding sections were fifteen kilometers long and overall I was back at the Pan American Highway at 29 kilometers.
The road kept getting a little busier and the shoulder was intermittent. Buses would zoom in and pull over to the shoulder. I’d wait and then follow them back out again. It kept getting a little more challenging and at 48 kilometers just after a toll booth, I decided to bail and take local roads instead.
I was still little ways from the middle of Lima. My timing wasn’t perfect as I got off just before this waterway. Hence, I had to cycle another 2.5 kilometers before reaching a bridge I could cross back over the waterway.
These roads were still quiet and had nice cycling until around the 60-kilometer mark.
The next ten kilometers to the center of Lima were a mess. Several of the intersections were completely stopped up. One hour and I cycled barely five kilometers.
The middle of this road had a high-speed bus lane. There were sometimes frontage roads. There were sections with construction. I got slightly lost a few times. There was never enough speed to be dangerous, but it also wasn’t pleasant to keep sitting in the stop-and-go-traffic.
Eventually, I got myself into the center of the city with tree-lined boulevards.
I took a slightly wrong turn and visited a plaza and saw a statue that wasn’t on my list. However, using my offline mapping application, I was able to slowly get myself past center of the city and headed to Miraflores neighborhood.
This section was nice, even had areas with bike paths in the middle of the boulevards. The still crossed all the other roads and were bumpy concrete, so not ideal but certainly better than the traffic jams from before.
Not sure where Lince was, but I crossed it.
I had randomly picked a target hostal, but couldn’t find it once I got close. Next hostal I tried was full, but not much further I found what looked like a reasonable hotel. It turns out their prices were quoted in dollars instead of sol, but still an OK place to say.
I’ve booked for two nights and expect to take either one or two rest days here. There is a reasonable bike shop here and will see if I can get my worn chain and cassette replaced. If not at this bike shop, there is a second one on my recommend list not too far away. Once I get bike taken care of and some laundry done, then also time to see if any interesting tourist attractions are nearby and otherwise start to look over journals to figure out routes from here up to Cuzco and south from there.
Right now, just nice to make it into middle of this large city.
Chancay
Straightforward ride to little seaside town with a castle.
Last night the wind picked up and today forecast was higher winds. I was pleasantly surprised that they weren’t quite as strong as forecast. It was overcast all day long and hence a bit of a dreary looking day. Today the road was a four lane highway and as I near Lima, the traffic volume has increased.
Passed a toll booth where you can see the prices, 3 sol per dollar or just slightly less than $2.50 for an automobile.
One of the emergency beacon signs.
A little house along the way. Some dry areas, though also no huge stretches of desert without anything.
Several spots of construction. These guys were on other side so not a big deal, though there was a time or two we needed to watch as it got narrow.
I wonder why they felt a need to post a sign telling people not to burn tires.
Last bits into Chancay were mostly flat as I found my way into town. Found a hotel on the far edge.
The town looked deserted until I could find the shopping zone, just a block off the main street.
A little maze of market streets here.
My hotel wasn’t far from this tourist castle. It was built in 1940 and now is a tourist attraction. I bought a ticket and wandered around.
The main grounds of the castle.
Statues.
The scary part. I didn’t go in here. Not because I was scared, but because it cost extra.
Good chance to practice Spanish reading.
Gargoyle.
View from one of the towers.
Now close enough to Lima that will slowly make my way into the city tomorrow.
Huacho
Easy ride to a town that could have been named for a sneeze.
Today stayed mostly through agricultural areas and hence no long stretches of desert. People were busy harvesting in this field.
Most of the distance today had four lanes with only two in use. There would be these concrete barriers and sometimes the traffic would be directed on opposite side for a while. I cycled in closed areas once or twice, but mostly in the travel lanes. Even with only half the lanes, there was reasonable shoulder and traffic not too bad.
One of the slightly dry areas. I am skeptical that only 1.5 kilometers away and behind the chicken farms, the area is as green as suggested by the sign.
Passed through several towns, this was on of the shops.
There is a cart under there somewhere.
Not quite as reliable as the horse-drawn cart.
A fairly sophisticated separation scheme complete with sign.
Before noon I was in Huacho. Took a little looking but found a reasonable hotel. Walked downtown to Plaza Vea and then back along this monument.
Now getting closer to Lima and will start to read how others have navigated this large city. This is largest city will cross. Other cities in Peru have been surprisingly easy so hopefully this is more difficult but not abnormally so.