La Pazzz to Lima

Its been quite an eventful few weeks since I last wrote. I´m now in Lima and have just two weeks till I meet Emma. I´m hoping to make it up the coast and sneak across into Ecuador in that time, but it depends if I can cope with the thousand or so kms of desert between here and there!

In the last post after saying that I hoped to get out of La Pazzzzz in one piece, I first had my wallet pickpocketed and then rode out of the city in the wrong direction. There are few road signs in Bolivia and Peru and the ones that do exist are usually very very wrong. So I rely on my map which is the best I could find and looks like a kids treasure hunt map and of course with the help of the locals. I´m sure the locals are doing their best, but they usually also point me in the wrong direction, or just point towards the sky.

After a detour towards the north shore of lake Titicaca, I found my way back on track onto the southern shore where I rode across into Peru. Unfortunately I had some heavy rain for that part of the ride, so I didn´t reckon much to the lake which I had been told should be beautiful. The ride to Cuzco then continued through wet green valleys and baron plains at an altitude of around 4000m.

The landscape in the mountains of Peru was similar to that of Bolivia, but the local people seemed very different. In Bolivia the locals seemed timid, whereas in Peru they act more like British workman - whistling and shouting. I usually also had company from intrigued locals on their bikes cycling between villages. Quite a few of the old men left me standing on the hills - a lifetime of living at altitude and not sitting in a car or at a desk.

I spent just a day in Cuzco and then got back on the road towards Nazca. From looking at a map the road looks like it should be downhill from Cuzco at around 3500m to Nazca at around sea level, but the route basically crosses the width of the Andes and so is pass upon pass. I also managed to get sick two days into the ride which didn´t help. Two days of getting to know the toilet later I set off and after riding a short distance both the front and back wheelhubs started grinding. I hitched a lift back into town and found a bike shop where the mechanic didn´t have the right replacement parts. He cleaned and greased the hubs up a bit and his wife made me a meal which was fantastic. As there was no chance of getting the right parts till Lima I decided just to get back on the bike and keep my fingers crossed. They luckily held out, but it was like riding with my brakes on for 1000km which didn´t help! Also that afternoon when I eventually managed to set off I got three punctures - not a good day!

It took a week of tough cycling through the mountains to get the 650km or so to Nazca. It was only in the last 50km where the road dropped from 4000m to the desert surrounding Nazca. I was wearing two coats, two sets of gloves and a hat at the top and in less than an hour was down to my speedos and string vest!

I then made my way through the desert to the coast. I´d been looking forward to cycling on the plains at sea level after being out of breath at altitude for the last few weeks. Somehow though I´d forgotten that deserts were usually dry and hot places and the riding was a bit trickier than I expected - even with mountain lungs! I passed by the Nazca lines which from the ground looked like any other piece of desert. A local family had however built a rickety tower which I climbed and where I could see two of the drawings which looked like some hands and a tree.

So now that I´m in Lima it kind of seems that the ride is starting to come to an end. I´m going to stick to the coastal road to Ecuador and hopefully get some payback from those Patagonian winds with a tailwind if what I´m told is true - its never going to happen! Then I meet Emma back here in Lima on 1 May for the start of our two month holiday together - woooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooo!!!

Oh - and I nearly forgot - I lost an essential piece of kit along the way too - my beard fell off on the way here. It was getting a bit warm anyhow!