The Americas 2013

We met at the dive shop at 09h30 to fill in the dozen indemnities and kit up. I have been sporting a beard since November and had forgotten that I couldn’t get a seal on the mask with a hairy upper lip, so decided to shave my upper lip Abe Lincoln style for the sake of an enjoyable dive! Being Portuguese  however I have no doubt it will be back by the time I wake up tomorrow morning!

Before and after!

We had two dives planned off Tortuga island and being a small group of only 3 divers and a dive master made the dive even more special. We saw at least 10 Hammerhead sharks, playful seals, leatherback turtles, white tip reef sharks, Giant Manta rays, schools of Barracudas, Parrot fish and dozens of other beautiful but less memorable exotic fish. What an amazing day!!

These are a series of photos I found on Google and are not mine unfortunately. We didn’t have an underwater camera but this will give one a sense of what we were diving with…

The Galapagos is also home to a variety of other weird and wonderful animals that aren’t found elsewhere. The interesting thing about this place is that the animals are completely fearless. Whether its birds, seals, iguanas, it doesn’t matter, humans can approach and they don’t run or fly off. I suppose it has a lot to do with the careful manner with which the Ecuadorian government has controlled this Biosphere, it really is a special place.

Blue footed Boobies…

A great day capped with drinks and dinner.

We were up at 5am to catch our flight out of Quito to the Galapagos Islands at 09h30. Before we flew to the islands I took a look at the iPhone weather and was surprised that it indicated cold weather notwithstanding its equatorial location? I assumed that it may be a case of cold prevailing winds off the pacific and didn’t think to check that the weather programme of the iPhone may be incorrect alternatively that it might be another “Galapagos” somewhere else in the world so all the clothes we packed were for highs of 10 and lows of –2, until we landed at 13h00 and walked out into a wall of equatorial heat and humidity!! Bugger!!

The logistics of getting around the Galapagos are challenging at best but not surprising considering the remote nature of the islands, however getting into a 45 minute taxi followed by another 2 hour boat ride in 35 degree heat before we eventually reached our hotel in Puerto Villamil on Santa Isabel at 17h00 made for an exhausting day.

Iguanas all over the place..

On the upside, the Galapagos is Beautiful and unique. The accommodation is mostly quite rustic and although ours was the same, Casa de la Marita where we are checked into is right on the beach, really cool and the staff are great.

The local church in Puerto Villamil…

We have booked a dive for tomorrow morning and are both really excited about diving such a unique location.

View from our room…

Sunset in the Galapagos..

We knew that we had a 450km run to Quito and although the GPS said 5 hours because of twisty mountainous roads, locals were talking about anything from 8 to 16 hours so we left by 7h30 unsure of what to expect other than that rain was probably something of a certainty…and it was!!

The ride drops and climbs in altitude as one winds there way through the mountains. Everything above 2400m was in thick pea soup like fog and rain on twisty mountain roads meaning 60km/h was the order of much of the day. Everything below that was dry and fast although constituted only about 200km of the 450km we had to do so all in it turned into an 8 hour day including fuel, rest and a lunch stop at a quaint little place with “interesting” choices on its menu!!

Although the countryside is beautiful, this is some of the ominous weather we were riding into on the day..

The temperature was also very cold and the last 100km into Quito was a torrential downpour, (the kind where the cars on the highway all have their hazards going because its pelting down so hard) so our arrival into Quito was another soaked and frustrating affair particularly because the GPS software for inner cities in Ecuador is sketchy at best!

The menu at the place we stopped for lunch had some unique typical Ecuadorial dishes!! We didn’t have the ceviche!

We are spending the night at an awesome hotel called Plaza Grande right on the main square in the UNESCO registered historic centre of Quito which is super beautiful and is some reprieve after today’s ride! Dinner was in the hotel restaurant and we were both fast asleep by 10pm as we fly to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow morning for 3 nights.

Today was a day spent exploring Cuenca and its sights. This town really is very beautiful, quaint and a major competitor for Cuzco but without the access to Machu Picchu although there are Inca ruins in the surrounds! Other than exploring, resting and eating there is not much else to report.

The ride out of Mancora just after sunrise was beautiful. Sea on the left, desert on the right and the accompanying quality of light and cooler temperature made the ride to Aguas Vierdes on the Peru/Ecuador border really enjoyable..but then the bureaucracy commenced!!

My take on Peru is that I Loved it. I loved the vast contrasts of temperature and altitudes and the effect that this has on the localised countryside, cuisine, vistas and cultures. The history of this country is deep and amazing and although we were here for 3 weeks and couldn’t possibly see it all, the beauty of riding through on a bike means that we really got an opportunity to feel, see and taste the extremities and the pulse of this beautiful country. Thank you for your amazing hospitality Peru!!

It turns out that it is no longer necessary to go through the dodgy town of Aguas Vierdes to do the border crossing. The Peruvian and Ecuadorian government have built a road that bypasses the town and have built a new modern border crossing facility for both countries on the Ecuadorian side of the border which made exiting Peru customs and immigration and entering immigration into Ecuador a 5 minute affair. Getting the bike registered with Ecuadorian customs that is about 3km further down the road however was another story altogether!!

We were making great time and heading for Cuenca only 220km from the border and anticipating a slow lazy lunch overlooking the square or something equally romantic in idea but this is how the conversation with customs goes, all in Spanish…

• Customs official-“Good morning, have you got insurance for your bike?”
• “No, where do I get it?”
• “Hasquilla” (the neighbouring town about 5km away)
• “um, ok? can you be a little more specific?”
• “Next to the bank”
• smile..”ok! which bank?”
• exasparated!!..”Bank of Machala! I cant give you access into Ecuador without SOAT insurance (like 3rd party) for your bike. Come back when you have it!”

So we shlep into the quagmire of Hasquilla looking for the bank of Machala where we can buy SOAT. We were told that there is a 24h place around the corner but when we get there at about 10am its closed! so I ask around and a friendly guy on the street points me to 3 different places who apparently sell it however, none of them actually do. Its now past 11am and we decide to head back to the border post to make more enquiries. Border guards say we can buy it at the cafe but cafe owner says “no”. I go into the customs office there and advise them of the problem. I cant get customs to register the bike without SOAT and I cant buy SOAT anywhere. What do I do? It seems that SOAT is a private insurance sold by the public so although it is a governmental requirement for customs, they have nothing to do with it and wash their hands of the problem and send us away saying we need to find it or we cant bring the bike into Ecuador! Hmmm!!??

The long wait in Hasquilla looking for SOAT. Not a town to visit.

So we shlep back into Hasquilla to try again. I take all my bike papers and walk down the road asking all the locals and eventually go into this tiny shop that looks like it belongs in the oriental plaza in Fordsburg. The guy sells washing machines, fridges, hi-fi’s, phones and all things china and Hong Kong and one or two motorbikes too so I ask him, where does he buy SOAT for the bikes he sells? He points me to the 24h place that is closed. I explain its closed and he says “no problem, I know the guy who owns it and I will phone him at home because he is quite lazy!!”, so two minutes later he is on the phone..”something Spanish, something Spanish, something Spanish” and then he says, “ok, he will be here in 5 minutes!” I am sceptical but sure as, 5 minutes later there he is on his scooter and says “hop on”! So off we go, We get to his shop where Jacqui is waiting with a perplexed look when she sees me arrive on the back of this dude’s scooter, he opens up and 15 minutes later, Voila! we have SOAT! Go figure and welcome to Ecuador!!

We eventually get on the road to Cuenca after clearing customs at about 2:30pm. The mountainous weather here is like in Peru which means that we were likely to encounter rain on route so twisty wet roads were the order for the rest of the day however, Ecuador is BEAUTIFUL. It is clear that we are now equatorial because everything is lush jungle and the weather is temperate and warm and tropically wet!

Our Days ride..

Lush mountainous Ecuadorian countryside!

We got into Cuenca at about 5pm SOAKED as I didn’t even bother to put rain liners on because it was so hot. Drove around for about half an hour and eventually found accommodation at a really cute little hotel called Hotel Las Balcones. Cuenca and the surrounding countryside reminds me of the French countryside and its small towns. Cuenca was founded in 1557 by the Spaniards although the Canari and the Incas were here long before that dating as far back as 8000BC. After the Incas conquered the Canari they built a grand city to challenge the magnificence of Cuzco in Peru. Local Indians told stories to the Spanish conquistadors of golden temples and other such wonders but by the time the Spanish found the city, all that remained were ruins however Cuenca is considered a primary candidate for the mythical city of Gold which the Spanish called “El Dorado”. The architecture here is quaint and very European and hence the reference to the French countryside.

Beautiful Cuenca..

After we had settled in, showered and unpacked we took a stroll to a small local restaurant called Tiesto which was fantastic. Because the town is so unique we have decided to spend 2 nights here so we can explore tomorrow and then head into Quito on Saturday.

What an awesome night sleep! 11 hours of silence other than waves breaking!

Day spent lounging by the pool catching up on work and blog.

For Peta…

Pelicans waiting for the fishing boats..

We took a walk into Mancora at about 5pm to get a feel for the town and to have some drinks and dinner. Mancora is the type of place where surfers, hippies and ex cons go to drop off the edge of the world, like one of those small Mexican seaside towns that you see the criminals in the movies running to in order to escape the law in the US. That said, it is a special little place. Lots of beach bars, beautiful weather and warm ocean.

We found a great little bar on the beach and sat there until well after sunset drinking Coronas and Pisco sours. Dinner was at a little place called La Sirena de Juan which served awesome Tuna.

Tomorrow we plan on leaving Mancora by 7am as we have a border crossing and are unsure about what it entails other than some horrific stories on the net about crossing into Peru at Aguas Vierdes.

Today was another long ride. 610km through the desert from Trujillo up to Mancora where we are planning on spending the next 2 nights on the beach. I think I have cottoned on to the Peruvian driving methodology. Hoot, hoot and then hoot some more. Leaving Trujillo was like a mini version of getting out of Lima accompanied by the same recklessness. There is nothing to say about the ride from Trujillo to Mancora that wouldn’t be a repeat of yesterday..HOT, monotonous, smelly towns, bad drivers, trucks etc etc!!

Trujillo to Mancora..

Sunset in Mancora..

We got into Mancora at about 4pm. A beautiful little seaside town with awesome beaches. We hadn’t booked a hotel but headed straight for what Trip advisor said was the best hotel in the area. Down a 5km messed up dirt road where all the good hotels of the area are lined up. One would think that all the hotels would get together and repair the road for their mutual benefit..But this is Peru and I guess that logic of this sort is at a premium! DCO Suites looked awesome but was unfortunately fully booked so we have ended up at the Mancora Marina Hotel which is beautiful although in need of a little TLC.

Mancora Marina Hotel…

We were in bed by 8pm!

We planned to Leave Lima early in order to get ahead of the rush hour traffic however, between checking out, packing, getting the bike out of the parking etc we got out of the hotel at 9am, smack bang in the middle of rush hour!! I mentioned in a post back in 2010 that the Tanzanians and Egyptians were the worst drivers in the world! Scratch that! The Peruvians take that accolade! Not only do they drive like maniacs trying always to get just one car ahead as if their entire families lives depended on it but they do so with such reckless and naive abandon that an experience on two wheels in Lima during rush hour is enough to age a few years in just a few hours!!

Lima to Trujillo…

We finally got through the outskirts of Lima after 10am and then still had 500km ahead of us to Trujillo where we are spending the night. The Sechura Desert (not sure if there is a name change when crossing from Chile into Peru?) which stretches all the way from Northern Chile right up along the Peruvian coastline into Northern Peru is barren and HOT like most deserts. Riding the Panamerican highway through the Sechura is a mixture of beautiful (because of the way the light changes the way the landscapes look), desolate and exhausting because of the monotony and the way the heat and the repetitive drone of the motor wears you down and makes your eyelids heavy!

M O N O T O N Y…….

Peru in many ways reminds me of many African countries, and the desert part of Peru, the Sudan in particular. The economy is under developed for the size of the country and population. Notwithstanding its natural beauty and abundance of tourism opportunities, there is an enormous amount of poverty and it is reflected in the towns and villages you pass when riding through this country. Anybody that has travelled north of Namibia/Zimbabwe into Zambia/Malawi/Tanzania/Kenya etc will know what I am talking about. The towns and villages are built up in either makeshift mud brick houses along the main road or shanty structures. In addition, the towns have poor sanitation facilities and the garbage, accompanying rot, animals and vultures that mount up on the side of the roads leave a stench and impression of heightened poverty and unfortunately this is the prevalent theme in Peru other than the islands of luxury which are invariably the primary tourism hubs. Sound familiar?

We got into Trujillo at about 4:30pm and had fortunately pre-booked a hotel. The Libertador is a beautiful old colonial building right on the Plaza des Armas and its accompanying churches and nightlife. Dinner was at a small local place called Chelsea (but not really) and then we had an early night.

Hotel Libertado..

The Trujillo Church on the Plaza des Armas..

Today was another day spent at Leisure in Lima. We said Goodbye to Pete and Jenny who headed back to SA and then got organised for our ride for the forthcoming week which includes crossing into Ecuador. We spent a few hours walking around the city and after an afternoon nap had dinner overlooking the sea.

Today was a rest day in Lima. I had intentions of getting my tyres changed at BMW however, notwithstanding a confirmatory email of a few weeks prior, after a 30km roundtrip through gruelling traffic and heat, I got there only to discover that they in fact did not have stock of the tyres after all!! That’s BMW service for you I guess!

The remainder of the day was spent exploring parts of this beautiful city and resting.   I have mentioned once before that the Chinese (Chifa) and Japanese food culture here is quite developed although using local Peruvian ingredients instead of the originals because they are/were unobtainable so Dinner was had at an awesome Japanese restaurant called Maido which according to Tripadvisor is the best Japanese restaurant in South America…It was Fantastic!

Dinner at Maido..