Lima II - the theme from Rocky

Miraflores is some way south of the the centre of town and requires a cab ride to see the main plaza (with a cab driver who was clearly fond of the British and was looking forwards to the Olympics).

Having been told at Huaca Pucllana that it doesn't rain in Lima, it was doing a pretty good impression of it - heavy drizzle if not rain.

This is the main square with the Presidential palace in the distance. If I overheard someone else's tour guide correctly, it was built by the French in 1939 - may account for why they weren't ready for WWII.

  Although this is the "old part of town" only the Cathedral is over 100 years old and is from colonial times

The roads were closed off and there was a bit of a crowd building outside the gates of the Presidential palace so I wandered over just in time to witness the "Changing of the guard".

As the band struck up the first few bars, an American woman in the crowd exclaimed "Its the theme from Rocky".
A) it certainly sounded like it
B) those of us that got the joke laughed out loud!
C) I don't think the locals appreciated our lack of respect for this solemn occasion.

It was bloody funny though!

There didn't appear to be any changing of the guard but just the band standing by the railings, in the drizzle, playing a few tunes. As they didn't play "Eye of the tiger" we all started to drift away. I don't think Buckingham Palace has any serious competition.

For my part I headed towards the Franciscan Monastery. I am not one for religion (you may have guessed that by now) but I quite like the fabric of Churches and some of their art. The real draw to going though was to see the Catacombs.

 Lima's original cemetery was the Catacombs below the Monastery and it was still in use until 1808. It seems odd that the Catacombs were only "discovered" in 1943 yet it had been continually inhabited but the monks. All very odd.
 
It is estimated to contain somewhere between 25,000 and 70,000 burials. They have stopped excavating but the estimate is based on the known population of Lima during the period. Bones are piled up along narrow hallways under the church, and one area contains several large holes (15 meters deep), filled with bones and skulls. It is not allowed to take pictures so I have pinched this one from the interweb.

All those bones and I still didn't manage to get one for Kiwi (the dog). If I am honest I was a bit disappointed, I was expecting it to feel a bit spooky but the ghost train on Brighton pier is more scary.

There is some lovely architecture, a fabulous wooden domed ceiling, a wonderful library with 25,000 books and some great artworks. Another mystery is why most of the fresco's have had the faces removed (even St Francis himself) - again there is no record of why or by whom. Sounds odd to me when the Priests have been in continuous residence in all that time.

One last thing - there is a fine 17th Century "Last Supper" painting in the dining room. The best bit is the last supper is Guinea Pig! Oh and a Devil standing behind Judas which is a nice touch.

The total cost of the two tours (here and the Adobe Pyramid) 18 soles, about £4 in all and both guides were excellent..

I made my way back to Miraflores and noticed a Hairdresser. The last haircut I had was in Pucon, Chile in April. I think I was due one. I have never had my hair cut with Wall paper scissors before but what can you expect for £3. No I haven't taken a picture of it!

Lima

I was beginning to get irritable in my cosy surroundings so, when Sunday came, I was pleased to get packed and load the bike for Lima. I had been warned that Pisco was not a nice town and having driven through it on my way out, I agree.

The Panamerica highway is not the most interesting road I have been on this trip. Although the Pacific is on your left and mountainous sand dunes on your right, it is still not particularly attractive. It didn't help that it was foggy, so foggy in fact that it was more like rain. It seemed a bit odd driving through the desert and getting wet!

Going it to any big city on a Sunday makes the trip easier and I was lucky to find little traffic and better still, went straight to my hotel without getting lost. Not bad for a hand drawn street map from Google the night before.

I am billeted in the nicest part of Lima - Miraflores but all the areas I drove through to get here were surprisingly pleasant. The hotel is kindly letting me leave my bike here whilst I am back in England for the next few weeks.

The main attraction in this part of town is Huaca Pucllana and it is right in the middle of the suburb. At first glance, big mound of dust and gravel, it is not easy to see what all the fuss is about. But once you enter the site you see the excavated part of the great adobe pyramid.

It is seven staggering platforms that at one stage covered nearly 2 kms. It was the ceremonial and admin centre for the Lima tribe up until 700 AD, other tribes took it over until the Spanish turned up (the Inca never got this far).

In modern times it was used as a market, picnic spot and Motocross practise track! It was not "re-discovered" until 1981 at which point it was fenced off and the excavations began. The work is still ongoing and they think it will take another 20 years to complete the task.

Despite regular earthquakes the walls are still pretty much in tact & the reason is the "trapezoidal" system used & the gaps left between each clay brick. You can see the angles in the picture. For those of you who read the Cuzco blog  you will remember that the Inca used the interlocking of stone to beat the tremors. All clever stuff.

More Pub Quiz stuff for you - the Lima tribe buried their dead laying down with a few trinkets. The Wari, who thrashed the Lima and took over their site, buried them in the foetal position (ie the best way to be re-born in the afterlife). This is a real burial chamber on the top level but with models of the real dead 'uns. The problem with the Wari was that they liked a good sacrifice so the important people had their best mate killed to go with them in to the next life and, in this case, 3 babies. With friends like that...................

Another comparison to the Inca is that the Lima worshipped the Shark. There is "always" cloud cover in Lima (but virtually no rain) so the sun and the stars meant nothing to these people (unlike the Inca - to whom it was everything). These guys caught fish from the sea and that was that.

Whilst I was having a beer in the bar (nothing memorable chaps) a group of "arts" charity fund raisers arrived. They (mostly French) were evidently in Lima for a conference. I was eavesdropping and was quite appalled by what I heard. They were talking about extracting money from people and were bemoaning their lot. At one point one said "I can't spend that much time with a guy when he only gives $5,000"!!!

They also seemed to have competition to see who had been to the most countries and were comparing notes about where they would all meet again!

I hadn't had quite enough beer to go and ask how much all their flights cost and the fact that they were not staying at a "budget" hotel.

Perhaps I had sucked up too much dust during the day!

Playground of the rich and Famous

A few strolls along the beach lead me to think that this place is the Lima equivalent of "Sand Banks" to London.

Large beach front properties and a lot of building being undertaken, oh and staff to water the lawns!

This one I particularly liked. The builders were very chatty and, although they didn't really know, they seemed to think that the total cost, including the plot would still be less than $1m.

This is going to be stunning when it is finished.

Along the beach is a little shack with Peru Kitesurfing on the side. There is no wind and the water is cold but I had a chat with them only to discover the month for wind is July but the water is still cold enough to need to wetsuits.

Also dotted along the beach are loads of this Jelly fish (and Flamingos)!

I think I am glad there was no wind! I will look again when I get further North.

In Paracas with Socrates (no not the Brazilain footballer)

Having spent the best part of the last two months in hostels I felt I deserved some of the luxuries of life, like hot water and a mirror to shave. I scanned the horizon for a nice place to spend my time before heading for Lima and my flight back to Blighty. Just up the coast from Huacachina is Pisco, home of the distilleries that make the spirit that goes in to Pisco Sours. By reputation it is not a great place to stay but just next door is Paracas.

There are some expensive hotels (by comparison) here and, given that I have been living in £10 per nights places I think the kids can afford it for a week.

I had some fun and games finding the place as the roads to the hotel are not finished. It is some of the most "off road" stuff I have done as had to negotiate the piles of hardcore dumped by the lorries but still waiting to be levelled. It kept the workers amused as I couldn't believe I was on the right track so passed the same way at least 4 times! They probably thought I was practicing for the Dakar 2013 by the skill I exhibited.

As you can see it is not exactly hectic here. The excellent pool bar is staffed by two nice guys. There are European flags hanging from the rafters and a large TV which is tuned to the Euro Football. As luck would have it I arrived for the second half of England v France. I sat and watched the rather dreary 2nd half whilst my room was made ready (I can't imagine why they did not have a room ready given that I think I am the only resident). The total takings from the bar that day were my beers!

After the football I wandered along the long white beach and retired with my Kindle to a deck chair in the shade. It is 30 degrees here and the sun is very strong (how is the flooding/heatwave in the UK?).

In case it is too much effort to walk to the bar or you are too impatient to wait for service, each sunshade has a call button on it!

At breakfast this morning I found that old habits die hard. Whilst in hostels you are lucky if you get 1 tea bag at breakfast so you learn to squeeze 2 or 3 cups out of it (that is, if you could get any more hot water). The waiter thought it very strange that I was jealously guarding my used tea bag when he came to clear my cup. I did apologise after pinning him to the wall by his throat.

I doubt there will be many more blogs from here as I am far too busy with my Ipod and Kindle.

For what it is worth I have just finished another great book. God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens - a God amongst atheists (yes the pun is intended).
If you have faith and want to retain it, do not read this book. If you want an intelligent and clear explanation of Religion and all its faults then this is the book for you! There are some classic You tube clips of him calmly tearing the religious orders apart.

I wondered about putting a blog on here of the books I have read with "Points out of 10" but given that we are all different I shan't.

I am working my way through the philosophers at present (spurred on by Hitchens) interesting but not many laughs.

Right, which sunbed do I fancy today...........................

Rio's Welcome Sign (2016 Olympics)

Nothing to do with the blog but I was shown this link & thought you may like to see it
 
" Solar City Tower ", built atop the island of Cotonduba ,
Will be the welcome symbol to the 2016 Olympic Games
In Rio de Janeiro .

It will be seen by the game visitors and participants as
They arrive by air or water.

The tower, captures solar energy. It will supply energy
For all of the Olympic city, as well as also for part of Rio .
It pumps up water from the ocean to create what
Appears like a water fall and this fall stimulates turbines
That produce energy during the night.

It will also hold the Olympic flame.

The Tower possesses an amphitheater, an auditorium, a cafeteria and boutiques. Elevators lead to various observatories.
It also has a retractable platform for the practice of bungee jumping.
At the summit is an observation point to appreciate the scenery of the land and ocean, as well as thewater fall.
Solar City Tower will be the point of reference for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro .

I think London has a rusty spiral of metal. 

SORRY WHEN I POSTED THIS IT HAD PICTURES!

Delbert of Arabia or Huacachina

Having bumped in to Duncan in Nazca we decided to ride together a few hours north to Huacachina. This is somewhere we had heard of on our travels and neither of us knew anything about it but we are very glad we found it.

.

The ride up through the Nazca desert was easy and we passed a few more desert etchings.

I played about with the video button on the camera. I have tried to load it here but not sure if you will be able to run ii (will try again when interweb connection is better). It made for a bit of entertainment getting the camera out of the tank bag, out of the case, turn it on and aim it. All whilst doing about 100kms with riding gloves on. I could have done with more teeth. I don't think you will find this exercise in the health and safety manuals.



Duncan likes a fag so we were stopping more often than I am used to and it would have taken two full days to do Cuzco to Nazca with him smoking 20 a day!

We also swapped bikes for part of the journey. If you think I am mad going round South America on mine - you ought to try his! I have a new found respect for his bravery. There were times when the front didn't feel like it was attached to the back. I was very happy to get my bike back under me.

We drove through Ica and turned west to Huacachina. It was nice following Duncan as he had Sat Nav so I didn't need to look at the map once. Very quickly you see why people come here, massive sand dunes soar up to the sky.

Riding in to the tiny Oasis I just needed Ravell's Bolero on the Ipod to complete the "Delbert of Arabia" effect, oh and a Brough Superior (the motorbike he was riding).

Duncan stopped for a fag and we had agreed that we would camp as the climate was perfect and there were one or two places that offered camping, I was getting rather excited about using my camping gear for the first time. Duncan then tried to start his bike. The Starter clutch failed. He had only just had if fixed in Chile a few weeks ago. This meant that we needed somewhere with Wifi so no camping.

It is an ancient Oasis around which several hostels and a few hotels have sprung up. Apparently they sunk so many bore holes and extracted so much water they now have to pump water in from Ica to keep the Oasis alive.

We found a place that seems more like a Kibbutz. The place is home from home for the Israelis including a Star of David stained glass window and Jewish menu. The rooms are clean and cheap, the gardens lovely with rabbits, tortoises and the cutest puppy called Pastul.

 A mechanic was called in from Ica to look at Duncan's bike. To cut a long story short the mechanic in Chile had made a right cock of the repair. It took 2 days and numerous false starts to realise that the previous guy had put the clutch in back to front!!! 

It was quite interesting to shuttle from the poolside lounger to the makeshift workshop as each visit of the mechanic met with more confusion.

The walk up the dunes is a tough one and best undertaken before the sun is up and bakes the sand. It is so soft flips flops are hopeless and bare feet is the only way to go. For every step you take you slip back half the distance. The trip down is the opposite and you slip down effortlessly on your heels it is so steep.

They do sand dune rides and hire out sandboards - as I am no snowboarder I left that to the back pack brigade (who sand boarded with varying degrees of success).It is back pack heaven but it is very peaceful and the climate perfect.

I have drunk more beer in the company of Duncan than I have for some considerable time! He is on a mission to get to Columbia and head in to Central America so he is heading off before me and there is one more place I want to see before reaching Lima.

Just trying to show you how big and steep these dunes are. The black dot is someone having a rest walking up the dune. Oh, just seen you have storms across the UK. There was a breeze today but in 31 degrees if felt very pleasant by the pool.

Drawing lines in the sand

Nazca is very much in the desert but no sign of Ricky Bobby! I suspect that I can discard my warmer clothing for the rest of the trip.

The images are on a high, arid plateau stretching 80 kms between the towns of Nazca and Palpa. They were created by the Nazca tribe (not Inca) around 400 - 650 AD. There are hundreds of images from straight lines to animals and people. They were simply made by removing the reddish pebbles and uncovering the grey ground beneath. Due to the weather (dry and little or no wind) they have survived remarkably well.

 The only way to see them properly is from the air. I can prove this point by the fact that, as recently as 1936, they built the Panamerican Highway straight through some of the desert images because no one knew they were there!

There are two options; a 30 minute flight over the Nazca part or an hour trip over both Nazca and Palpa. I booked the hour as it seemed silly to be here and not see it all. There was a bit of "confusion" once I got to the airport and feel I got "stiffed" for a few more dollars than was agreed, but what are you going to do?

 This is the "space man" as Von Danikin saw things, most others seem to think he was a priest of some sort.

This is a hummingbird. Most scholars agree that it is all about fertility, rain and the like.

This one is harder to pick out but is a Condor. A lot of the images are from creatures that did not live in the region so the they must have travelled and decided to recreate them (a bit like photos from a holiday).

A spider

And a Frog (for some reason the creatures are all represented with 9 fingers).

There are hundreds of the images, the largest figures are over 200 metres across, but I won't bore you with more pictures here.

The pilot did a good job of circling them so that we could get our pictures and after a hour headed back to Nazca. Amazing sights and nice to see the desert and the mountains from the air.

On my return I found that Duncan (the guy that bought the socks in Santiago) had arrived in town. We met for a few beers, some lunch and a chat about our experiences from last we met. Poor sod had been stuck in Arica for 5 weeks waiting to fix his bike.

Have you heard the one about......

..........an Englishman (who lives in New Zealand) who was trying to sell his bike to an Australian  who was with his Dutch mate, who also wanted to buy a bike, a Geordie Miner and Delbert.

As it turned out we had all descended on the same place at the same time and after kicking tyres for a while we adjourned to the Norton Rat for a  few beers "Old Speckled Hen" no less, on draught and tasting as a piece of old England should.

It is pretty common for guys to trade local bikes rather than pay the expense of shipping them to and fro. There are complications with borders etc but they seem to make it work.

Whenever you get in to such a huddle it is always interesting to hear each persons reasons for being there and or their plans. The UK/Kiwi was a passionate traveller and was already planning his return after earning a bit more crust (renting camper vans to the likes of Smelly & Armpit) to keep him going. The Aussie had worked in ships engine rooms all over the world, loved travel and bikes and was about to start a year long trip (I don't think he was going to buy this particular bike). The Dutch guy was a Jazz loving chef who played the property market in Holland (and lost) so was having a year to get away from it all. The pick of the crop was Ian the Geordie miner. Worked on the underground machinery, when the mining stopped in the UK he went to the Western Australia, Germany and Nigeria. Retired, shipped his bike to Miami 3 years ago and has been travelling ever since. He made it to Alaska but after spending a winter in Montana "ranch sitting" for a wealthy family. 7 months alone! He was happy to see spring arrive and the snow melt! I did ask him if "The Shining" was amongst the DVD collection.

He has been in Cuzco for 5 weeks with a broken piston ring. His plan is to head south and then ship his bike to NZ for their summer. So his trip is 3 years and counting. Makes me feel like I am not really trying and rather inadequate!

I would have been quite happy to share a few more beers over he coming evenings but I had an hotel booked and better to leave wanting more!

The ride from Cuzco to Nazca is a long one. Depending on who you talked to it was 9 to 15 hours! It is only 700 kms - why could it take so long? I would normally split this in to 2 days but, there wasn't anywhere on the map that looked like a bail out point. Anyway, I can easily average 100kms per hour on my machine. That time was for mere mortals.

I had meant to get an early start but the beer from the night before and handing over my old maps for Bolivia and Chile to the guys took longer than I anticipated so I went through the hotel front doors at about 8:30am.

It was easy to find the road as it is the only one going that way. If you look up "Cusco to Nazca" on google maps you will see it looks fairly straight forwards. Zoom in a few times and you will see where the time is spent.

It is a wonderful ride, up one side of a mountain range and down the other side - it seemed like 1000 hairpins for the day. You had to watch the lorries and buses as they owned the whole road apart from the bit they lent you occasionally. This picture is of a "softer climb". The sheer climbs were too dangerous to risk stopping to take a photo.

For a while you follow the river valley, beautiful crystal clear water and no doubt a few good sized trout in there. I had just crossed this smaller version of the Golden Gate Bridge.

It took me 3 hours to get to the one major town along this road, Abancay. It was then that I knew I had to hustle otherwise i would be riding down from the Andes in the dark.

At the top of one climb you come to the Alto Plata, losing about 12 degrees of temperature and gaining snow in the sheltered spots. It is the beautiful but bleak scenery i had seen so much of in northern Chile and Bolivia. Lots of Llamas, Alpacas and of course the "pre-historic" villages of their owners.

I got to Pucio which meant "pnly" 200 kms to go but I could see a large mountain range between me and my bed. it was 4pm and I knew I was going to be cutting it fine to get there in daylight. My wrist was hurting from all the gear changes so I popped a couple of paracetamol as I knew there were a few more hundred grasps at the clutch lever before the day was out.

Not only was I running out of daylight, i was riding due west so the low sun was right in my eyes. I was trying to do hairpins with one hand shielding my eyes from the sun, look out for pot holes, rockfalls and any trucks on the wrong side of the road................and all at pace! I had to average 100 kph if i was going to get there in daylight. given that i was struggling to do 50 kph on the hairpins I was having to fly along the short straights.
Rock falls - The road is cut through some serious rock with sheer sides so alot of the time you have small rocks or gravel in the road. sometimes you get a serious boulder.- on this trip (and i wish I had taken a picture) there was a rock in the road with 3 guys & a jack hammer on top of it trying to break it up to remove it. I don't exagerate when i say it was the size of a lorry.

I was relieved to reach the final ridge but at the same time saw just how much I had left to do and how little light I had left.
Nasca is where the sun is setting (well sort of). From where this picture was taken was all down hill and with more hairpins than I care to think about. To one side was always a sheer drop, the trucks and buses seemed to be at every bend and of course it was dark not long after I took this picture.

The danger with the dark up here apart form the usual issues are the animals. Even during the day you have to watch out for them but at night you don't see their eyes glinting in your headlight until the last minute. The one bit of good fortune I had was that I got stuck behind a long truck which backed the traffic up behind him. A car (the only one I saw all day I think) was in front of me and I was able to follow him down the hairpins. It made it so much easier to follow him that try to work out where the road was going. If he had gone off the edge I would have followed him (lemmings and all that).

Because the land is so mountainous I did not see the lights of Nazca until about 10 kms away, at a point the land finally levelled off and the road straightened. It may sound a little dramatic now but at the time I was sighing with relief to have got down in one piece.

Nazca was pretty hectic and at night with no road signs I didn't have a chance. It took me a while to get a taxi that was free and led me to my hotel. I pulled up outside at about 7pm.

The only stops I had made were for a slurp of water and fuel (the bike not me). It was such a varied and beautiful ride that if I was to do it again I would absolutely stop at Colcabamba (picture below) - this didn't look much on my map but is a really nice town with accommodation (for any riders reading this).

The whole ride is fantastic but the drop down to Nazca is the most dramatic and different to what I have seen before. I wish I had seen more of it in the daylight and could take my time to have enjoyed it even more.