Up and ready for a 7am breakfast then we sized
up the new Kawasaki's and loaded our gear into the new Nissan Ute that Geert
our guide is driving, signed the disclaimers and insurance papers and we were
off. The immediate stress of driving on the wrong side of the road and not
understanding the give way rules (I think no-one understands them) was
amplified massively by having to hit the brakes due to a truck pulling into the
road without any care for giving way to the main carriage-way he was pulling
into. No big deal you say but I had just passed and pulled in from of a 1963 VW
kombi. Hax was excitedly telling us about it moments before as we gassed up for
the day, being a Kombi geek he knew the exact year and performance etc., of
course being a 1963 Kombi, as I hit the brakes just in front of it, my initial
thoughts were that thing will not have any brakes, I am about to be rear ended
which made me instinctively release the brakes and take my chances with the
Truck. Anyway it was no big deal in the end, I rode around the truck and we
carried on. Once we were out of town Geert waved us through to continue on our
way out of town. He had explained that we should head out of town and take the
right hand turn when we get to the Y in the road then carry on down to a T
intersection and wait for him there. As we rode out of town the population
thinned, traffic thinned and eventually we were in the countryside, or I should
say the desert. We rode up an excellent road twisting its way up past the
Copper mine, which is the main industry here, it was a big open cast mine. We
sailed on through the left hand of the Y intersections and realised our mistake
pretty quickly so made the first correction in the trip. Geert was patiently
waiting for us to come back, not seeming surprised that we had gone the wrong
way, he later told us everyone take the wrong turn there. Excellent riding
through here with sweeping corners on a very good quality road. The desert is
very dry, not a scrap of detectable life as we passed through here, we
descended to the T intersection. This was through hills and sand dunes with a
view of the conical volcano, presumably El Misti (5822m) in the background. On
we went across a flat plane with long straights through the sandy/dusty desert.
We came across a heap of little shacks in the desert some made of basic brick
masonry others made of cane walls. It looked like they may be protecting mining
holes or something, however Geert later told us these are people squatting on
the land to gain ownership, which initially made no sense at all as the land
must be of no value at all, but then as we progressed along the road, it all
turned to green cultivated land due to an irrigation scheme. Amazing how the
desert springs into life once water is added, but is complete lifeless without
it.
We progressed down off the plane into Molendo.
This was another fun winding road down through a canyon with heaps of sweeping
corners on another excellent road. Most of the way down and we came to a toll
booth that Geert had told us to ride through, as there is no toll for bikes,
but as Hax rode into the middle barrier the guard got very excited and came
rushing out telling him to go around the outside with a lot of arm waving and
shouting. Apparently if the bike goes into the=is area it activates an
electronic counter and the guard has to pay the fee at the end of the day. As
we rode through Molendo we took the wrong turn for a second time. Eventually we
got back on track and headed along the coast, once again a desolate place with
the desert dropping straight into the sea.
Geert guided us through Punta De BomBon for lunch
but the tourist restaurant he had in mind was closed, so we drove back in to
the town and he asked a local police Constable where to get lunch, he suggested
continuing to Ilo (2 hours down the road). We ignored this advice and found the
only restaurant in the town and had a very nice roast Fish with rice and
veggies and a salad vegetable that looked like Capsicum but had the heat of
Chili, just as well we were warned about this. The restaurant was a very local
affair with bamboo roof, partial walls and limited sophistication, but the food
was good. After lunch it was back on the road for the final stretch along a new
road along the coast to Ilo. This road was more of the same excellent quality,
not at all what I had expected to find on this trip. It wound along the
coastline with some excellent views and classic roadrunner territory, sandy and
rock outcrops with tall cactuses dotted around every now and then. We stopped a
few times for photos, and couldn’t help but test out the off road ability of
these bikes. A fair bit of unnecessary wheel spin, flying dust and giggles.
Harry got a bit stuck and dug a hole with his back wheel almost bellying the
bike out trying to get up on to the road.
We arrive d in Ilo and fueled up, then the
three amigos waited roadside while Geert found a hotel. We were accosted by a
friendly guy who spoke a bit of English, but ultimately asked for money.
Settled into our hotel, which Geert struggled to get the New truck into,
jamming the side mirror into the entrance with a terrible crunching noise, I
guess its not new anymore. Went for a walk along a very pleasant esplanade,
with lots of bars and stalls all playing the football on TV as I is Peru vs.
Columbia, an important game for the world cup. Met another friendly guy in the
town square who was interested in whether we were off the ship, or tourists and
went of to engage us in conversation, mostly understandable. But as is often
the way the twist came as he was trying to drum up business for his sister’s
brothel. No wonder he was interested in whether we were sailors or not!
Returned to the Hotel then met Geert and off we went to get some food, at Geert
favorite Chinese restaurant. Langoustine on a hot plate, very nice. Home and
turned in without delay, pretty fatigued.
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