PowerCycle

03/18 It was bound to happen sooner or later I suppose. Some guys tried to rob me this morning. I’m not hurt or anything; just pissed off a little. It happened right on the outskirts of town when I was leaving Zarumilla. It’s off the main highway about 1/4 mile. Once you leave town there’s nothing–no buildings, no people, nothing.

I had just turned onto the PanAm heading south when a motorcycle with 2 guys on it drove by, made a u-turn and headed back toward me. They were waving for me to stop but I knew what was up so I tried to steer past them. They just rammed into the front of my bike and knocked it over. I jumped off before the bike fell and came up swinging at the guy who was on the back (I uttered a few choice words as well but I won’t repeat them here). I missed but he grabbed my front pannier and started running off with it. Figures he’d take the one with my laptop in it. I started running after him and he dropped it. He was kind of a fatty and I would have caught him anyway. He kept running but lost his sandal and had to run back and get it. Who tries to rob someone while wearing sandals? What an idiot. The guy who was driving the motorcycle jumped back on it and went to get his buddy.

I picked up my pannier and went back to my bike just as an 18-wheeler pulled up. He saw what happened and called the police on his cell. I also noticed a 3rd guy off to the side of the road who was running away. I guess he was in on it too but never made it in time.

The truckers left so I quickly stuck my panniers back on and rode off. There was no point in going back and from what I hear the police in Peru aren’t the most effective so what’s the point. I did end up seeing some coming down the road from the direction of Tumbes a couple minutes later. I flagged them down and told them what happened but they didn’t ask for anything that would actually help catch whomever it was.

I’ll be doing a little shopping today. I’m getting a machete so I don’t have to open my handlebar bag and try to find the little 6 inch knife I keep in there. I’m not planning on cutting any heads off with it but it’ll make a fine deterrent. I also need to find something to keep my bags attached to my racks so people can’t go running off with them.

I kind of knew things could be riskier in Peru so this didn’t surprise me that much. There’s a town on the coast called Paijan where several other touring cyclists have been robbed leaving town. I’m planning on leaving the coast before I get there but I guess the robbery problem extends a little further north then I expected (it’s 300 miles south of here).

I only rode to Tumbes for a change of scenery. My knee is still sore and needs a couple days rest. I also broke my sunglasses yesterday and there wasn’t a place in Zarumilla to buy new ones. I fixed them with some glue but I broke them again this morning when I dropped them on the road during the attempted heist. I have a bit of a cold too and my nose won’t stop running.

I’m not going to form an opinion about Peru just yet. The people do act differently here though. It’s kind of like El Salvador and Colombia where they see you and just stare in awe because they can’t believe a gringo is crazy enough to travel here or they are extremely friendly just like people in every other country. I am going to be a lot more attentive from now on though.

GPX track