PowerCycle

This is kind of weird (but not really; more like stupid). Back in November 2009 I happened to be riding along the coast of California when I found myself at the gates to Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. At the time I thought their security sucked because they let me onto the base with hardly a glance. No ID check, no bag check, no dogs around and no x-ray machines (radiation?).

Well today I read this article about how 3 Middle Eastern men tried to get on the base under suspicious circumstances– possibly to test security. Seeing as how I was able to slip past them without so much as an ID check with bags that could carry 200lbs of bad stuff I thought this was interesting. They must have known I was harmless because I’m white. I mean duh, everybody knows white people don’t do terrorism.

Obviously I’m not advocating that terrorists use loaded touring bikes to transport suitcase nukes onto bases. What I’m saying that it’s a shame we live in a world where we think we’re safe from people that want to harm us and that maybe we should stop pissing everyone off and giving them a reason.

To be honest though I think this entire story is just a sham. How retarded is this? Wanna-be terrorists (of Middle Eastern appearance because who would suspect them) go to a gas station and (apparently in English) make hateful comments and terrorist threats in front of other people. Then they ask how to get to the military base. Are you kidding me? Or could it be that someone is trying to drum up a little more fake terrorism/anti-Muslim news? But why would anyone do that? Maybe to help bolster support for an invasion of some oil rich Greater Middle Eastern country that we have our eye on?

03/30 Getting closer. The Andes are right beside me again and whenever I leave my new hangout I’ll be heading up. I found the best place to stay in Chulucana called the Hospedaje Rio Grande. The room is $15 US and it’s one of the nicest rooms I’ve stayed in for a long time. It has a private bathroom, wifi, nice bed, new furniture, cable TV and there’s even a private patio. The best part is all the doorways are at least 7 feet tall so there’s no risk of smashing my head on anything.

Stayed in Tambo Grande last night. It was a typical small town but it gave me a renewed dislike of moto-taxis. It’s just incredible how many there are and how so many of the people driving them are morons. I wish they’d outlaw them and make them use bicycle-powered carts to shuttle people around. It would sure cut down on the air/noise pollution. The good thing is that driving them probably employs 90% of the 20-something year olds living in the area who might otherwise be out getting into mischief.

One of them caused me to have a little spill today. While I was crossing a flooded out section of road they decided to drive right along behind me. It’s generally a good idea to move out their way lest they run into you so I moved over another foot. Unfortunately my front tire ended up dropping into a very slick crevasse and it slipped out from under me. Thankfully I can unclip from my pedals in the blink of an eye so I just hopped off, grabbed my machete and… just kidding. It was just a kid, nothing was damaged so I picked up my wet bike and went on my merry way.

The road from Sullana to Tambo Grande was perfect– paved and a wide shoulder the entire way. The road from Tambo Grande to Chulucana was paved about half the time. Even the unpaved sections weren’t that bad but dust got to be a bit annoying from passing trucks. A few spots along the road were covered in water but crossing was easy (unless a moto-taxi is riding your butt).

The difference between the people living in Tumbes and… everywhere else, is astounding. People are just so incredibly friendly everywhere I go. I’ve really been enjoying the last couple days just because of how nice everyone has been.

My knee is fine again and that cold I had is gone so I’m back to 100%. The thing I’m finding about getting older is how dreadfully long it takes to heal. I’m going to stay in Chulucana for 2 nights (possibly 3) before the big climb. The wifi here reaches into my room and that’s a rarity to be enjoyed.

Of course having wifi and being able to actually connect are two different things. I spent a good half hour trying to get past the notorious “acquiring network address” issue (that eventually left me with a “limited” connection; aka no internet access). I solved it but it was by sheer luck. The problem turned out to be that the password for the network was supposed to be upper case and I’d been using lower case. You would think Windows XP would just prompt you for the password again which would actually make sense. But no, they make me waste a bunch of time on it. Maybe there’s a patch for it but I haven’t downloaded updates for my EEEPC in 2 years because there’s not enough space on the hard drive.

I broke down and bought a travel converter that steps 220v down to 110v. The only thing I have that doesn’t work on 220v is my hair trimmer thing and using it saves me from having to spend money on a barber. It’s kind of heavy but what’s another half pound?

GPX track

03/28 Ran into quite the adventurer out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I pulled up to say hi and it turns out I was meeting a bit of a celebrity. Guillermo Vega Cortez has been walking around South America for 3 years now. He started off down south (Argentina?) and he’s heading up to Colombia. This is the one time on my trip I wish I knew more Spanish (OK and the times I met Spanish girls). There were so many questions I wanted to ask him. He gave me a piece of paper with some info on it but I’ll need some internet access to translate the parts I can’t figure out.

Northern Peru is amazingly hot and barren. For the 2nd day in a row I was worried about where I was going to get more water. There’s just nothing out here and I’m going through it faster than I expected. I guess it didn’t help that I gave some to Guillermo but I’d do it again. He’s walking through the freaking desert! The water I did have in plastic bottles was hot thanks to the sun so I might stay on the lookout for something reflective to keep them cooler. After 40 miles there was a restaurant where I could grab some lunch and refill my bottles. The desert floor started getting green and soon there were crops growing. There was even an occasional tree next to the road where I could get some shade.

The system they have set up to provide irrigation is rather remarkable. It’s cool seeing green crops in the middle of the desert. There were signs saying the water wasn’t drinkable which also make me wonder how the wildlife deals with it. Maybe it’s only bad for people? Somehow I doubt it but that didn’t seem to dissuade people (guys–damn it) from bathing naked in the little canals. When the glaciers in the Andres finish melting I can’t imagine how bad things are going to get here. In 10-15 years the small glaciers (80% of the total) will probably be gone directly affecting 30 million people who depend on it. Big cities like Quito (1.6 million) draw 50% of its water from the glacier basin. Even power will be a problem. Peru gets 81 percent of its electricity from hydro power.

The people that built the bridges here didn’t do a very good job. Every single time I came to a river (dry) the bridge had been washed out. The one big river I came too, the same was that was providing irrigation for all the rice/banana/other crops growing in this area, had to be crossed to get into Sullana. There was a sign saying no bicycles and no moto-taxis but I saw moto-taxis crossing so I went for it too. Thankfully the bridge was intact and riding across was easy enough but right on the side was a tunnel. Fortunately there’s a sidewalk running through it so I jumped up on that and got through safely.

Not sure where I am in the city (pop. 140,000). Maybe still on the outskirts. I grabbed the first place I could find and then grabbed the first 3 cold beers I could find.

GPX track

03/27 Another hot one (max 105 F). Not too much in the way of tranquil desert scenery thanks to oil pumps dotting the landscape. There was a big climb a couple miles after Mancora that caught me off guard. I’m glad there was a service station at the top so I could chug down some Inca Colas. In a couple places there was a good view of the Pacific ocean and the waves crashing up on shore could be heard from miles away. After today I might not be seeing it again for a long time now that my eastward journey into the mountains begins. I didn’t ride down to see it but there’s a place called Cabo Blanco which is supposedly where Ernest Hemingway was inspired to write The Old Man and the Sea. I’m also going to miss the place just south of here that is the furthest westerly point on the South American continent.

Talara, home to the largest oil refinery in the Peru, ended up being more out of my way than I expected. The population of the city is over 100,000 so I was kind of hoping there’d be a little hostel or something at the turnoff. There was nothing and when I asked a couple guys if the little town I could see in the distance had a hostel they said no (and they’d end up being right). I’m not ready for solo camping in Peru just yet. It could be done but I don’t think it’s the safest thing to do, especially in this area. I grabbed the first place I could find but it’s about a mile from any kind of restaurant. I ended up walking to the central area, having some Chinese food and then taking a moto-taxi back. Tore my shorts getting in which sucked.

On a happy note, my knee doesn’t hurt any more than yesterday.

GPX track