September 21
Another easy, non-extreme, 240 km ride today from Loja to Huaquillas. Nothing too boring (just a little boring), nothing stunning (just a little stunning), and nothing challenging (as in nothing at all challenging).
So, our hotel has a garage. When we arrive, the man at the desk says the garage isn’t secure enough for our motos. He wants us to park them inside the hotel, despite the large bus blocking the entrance of the hotel. He starts giving an Ernie a demonstration of how it's all going to play out (as I’m sitting with the bikes so I got to watch from a distance, but close enough to know it wasn’t a good plan). The man walks out to the front of the bus and points to a part of the curb from the street to the sidewalk that has a little ramp. Then he motions to the first of three steps on the sidewalk, around shops and concrete pillars and people’s boxes of crap for sale on the street… His arms are waving and Ernie is following. For the second time my Ecuadorian friends, our bikes are hundreds and hundreds of pounds, we cannot “hop” 10 inch steps without space and speed! The bus driver is in the lobby and he is sitting on the couch. He has a resting smile face (as opposed to a RBF), so I ask the hotel man and the bus driver man if the bus is going to be there all night, and if not, when it moves can we go up the ramp that the bus is blocking. The bus driver agrees to move his bus! He fires up the bus, moves back 10 feet while we move around the bus, he waits a minute while we both successfully use the reasonable ramp. We ride through the lobby and park at the back of the hallway on the first floor, and before we have even taken off our helmets, coats, and gloves the bus driver is back on the couch. Immediately afterwards we go up to him and say thank you with big smiles. About five minutes later I go out to the street to take a picture of our bikes in the back of the hotel. I can’t remember who started it, but we began a long conversation. It went from two people to five people to three people. His name is Fernandez and he was very curious and excited for us - where we have been, and where we were going. He was the most excited over our pictures in Ecuador and Colombia; I think it was his way of connecting with us as well as his way of demonstrating being proud of his (established) connection with what we are currently doing. It was the perfect way to end our travels in Ecuador. Gracias Fernandez! Y gracias Ecuador, por todo, incluyo Los Galápagos...
September 22
According to many interweb sites the border between Ecuador and Peru is the worst in the world. Um, no. Maybe it was during some other time and place, and yes it was terribly inefficient, but it was fine and safe and not a single person hassled us. We went to a building, had to go back to another building (actually we had to go back to another country), had to go back to original building, left with small pieces of paper, etc. It was still our fastest border yet at 2 hours and 15 minutes. By noon we were on 1N (after Lima it's called 1S), and… umm… it's not terribly interesting. So far, Peru smells bad, is brown, is straight, and is flat. There are a few parts that have a fun “Mad Max” feel, but other than that it is rather uninspiring. In fact, I had too much time to get lost in my own head, and sadly I thought about school. Before this sabbatical ends, I’m hoping to figure out how I can care very deeply about what I do without caring so much about what I do… I seem to collect and carry drama, disagreements, or disappointments with students or colleagues, so my shoulders and heart inevitably end up heavy with baggage. My old habit is to take it home and unpack it all, but that just sucks non-work time with work-related things, and I don’t want to do that anymore.
Even worse than thinking about work however, was the sea lions… (cover your ears Rager). We saw dozens and dozens of dead sea lions rotting on the beaches. We researched it later, and it has been going on since 2014. Hundreds and hundreds of pinnipeds have washed up over the past three years. I couldn’t find anything definitive, but most of the information says the fishermen are poisoning them. With depleting fish stocks and the pressure the fishermen face, I am saddened but not surprised (Peru is #3 on the list of what countries take the most from the ocean [China, Japan, Peru, Chile, USA]). The Galapagos sea lions were relatively small compared to CA sea lions, but the ones here are relatively large. When we first saw the carcasses we thought they were small whales. Needless to say, the buzzard populations are doing well. Seeing all those buzzards feed on all those potentially poisoned sea lions is my second worst imagery after seeing the perro get hit in Playa Ventura.
The good news/best part about today was that we got to see some old friends. As hinted at above we are riding fairly close to the coast for most of Peru, so our pelican and frigate friends are back. And the pelicans big: twice the size of Mexican pelicans. As for human friends, we met up with the English and Irish blokes from the Stahlratte at the border crossing! Right as we pulled into the parking area and were bumbling around looking for where we should be, we see Tom, Ian, and Phil, and their new fourth nut Mark who they met in Bogota. Bueno! Or as the blokes would say, Fucking Bueno!
We spent the night in a little surfer town, Lobitos. It is… sparse. The road to get here was thick gravel and full of oil rigs. It is a cute little collection of bungalows however, and La Senora is lovely. There are only two other guests here (maybe 12 rooms total?), and sadly, one of them is downstairs smoking meth. We apparently locked our door when we went out to find food, and when we returned we discovered our key did not work. Luckily the other guest was not high on meth and he was able to climb up through our second story window and open our door for us.
September 23
Today was hard. We did over 300 km and it took us about 7 hours of road time. The first 100 km was very slow (3-4 hours) on poor road conditions, on par and at times worse than Guatemala’s roads. It was either the quality and quantity of the potholes on the road (deep and plentiful), or just big sections missing pavement altogether. We averaged 10-15 mph. The second 200 km was one of the straightest, windiest, and desolate sections we have ever done (moto or car). The first half had some trees/shrubs and wasn’t as windy, but the second half was just sand and wind. We set the cruise control and leaned right into the wind.
Yesterday I was at least polite about it, saying Peru so far was uninteresting and smelt bad. But today I’m going to be more specific. The northern, coastal area of Peru sucks. The smell… at first I thought it was just the city, then thought it was just the dead sea lions, and finally I thought I had just stepped in a really big pile of poop. But now I think it's in the air, in the soil… just everywhere. It stinks here. Like a mix of feces and rotting flesh and burning plastic. Peru and/or Peruvians have also seemingly given up on trash and littering. Garbage and plastic has been a problem since we left USAmerica, and it is a post in of itself one day, but Peru is the worst we have seen (Nicaragua and Colombia were the best).
Reminiscent of Zihuatanejo, the address to the hotel that was given to us by Booking.com was not the actual address of the hotel. After 45 minutes of bumbling around and asking locals (several of which were seriously afraid of us, wha?), we finally paid a moto-taxi to take us there. It was on the complete opposite end of town, which meant it wasn’t in walking distance to food and tiendas. Grr. So we paid another moto taxi to take us in and out of town, but we are both glad because it was really fun! It was so loud and bumpy. It had these “doors” for the passengers in the back to keep the elements away, which after three months on a moto was really endearing.
And sadly, something happened to La Senora’s dog first thing this morning, and we are pretty sure he died. I am so sorry La Senora…
The most memorable part about today was Talara. It was not a nice town. It is one of many Peruvian coastal towns that boomed in the 60’s-80’s then collapsed with the fish stocks in the 90’s. There was a kilometer stretch of the road, north of town, that was lined with fishing boats that were once for sale, but are now just rotting in the sun… A supersized graveyard that is hopefully (but doubtfully) serving as a supersized reminder not to exploit natural resources. At one point we crossed a bridge and Ernesto and I were both stunned by the chaos to our right, so much so we quickly agreed to pull over and park so we could go look at it again. The picture does it no justice, especially since the bridge was so shitty it shook while we stood on it and the cars and trucks rode past… But the boats in the water, the boats on the land, the fisherman processing fish in the water, the pelicans in the water, the frigates flying overhead, the cranes moving cargo on the dock, the garbage on the banks, the insanely tall grass it hid full grown horses and made the boats look small…
Another easy, non-extreme, 240 km ride today from Loja to Huaquillas. Nothing too boring (just a little boring), nothing stunning (just a little stunning), and nothing challenging (as in nothing at all challenging).
So, our hotel has a garage. When we arrive, the man at the desk says the garage isn’t secure enough for our motos. He wants us to park them inside the hotel, despite the large bus blocking the entrance of the hotel. He starts giving an Ernie a demonstration of how it's all going to play out (as I’m sitting with the bikes so I got to watch from a distance, but close enough to know it wasn’t a good plan). The man walks out to the front of the bus and points to a part of the curb from the street to the sidewalk that has a little ramp. Then he motions to the first of three steps on the sidewalk, around shops and concrete pillars and people’s boxes of crap for sale on the street… His arms are waving and Ernie is following. For the second time my Ecuadorian friends, our bikes are hundreds and hundreds of pounds, we cannot “hop” 10 inch steps without space and speed! The bus driver is in the lobby and he is sitting on the couch. He has a resting smile face (as opposed to a RBF), so I ask the hotel man and the bus driver man if the bus is going to be there all night, and if not, when it moves can we go up the ramp that the bus is blocking. The bus driver agrees to move his bus! He fires up the bus, moves back 10 feet while we move around the bus, he waits a minute while we both successfully use the reasonable ramp. We ride through the lobby and park at the back of the hallway on the first floor, and before we have even taken off our helmets, coats, and gloves the bus driver is back on the couch. Immediately afterwards we go up to him and say thank you with big smiles. About five minutes later I go out to the street to take a picture of our bikes in the back of the hotel. I can’t remember who started it, but we began a long conversation. It went from two people to five people to three people. His name is Fernandez and he was very curious and excited for us - where we have been, and where we were going. He was the most excited over our pictures in Ecuador and Colombia; I think it was his way of connecting with us as well as his way of demonstrating being proud of his (established) connection with what we are currently doing. It was the perfect way to end our travels in Ecuador. Gracias Fernandez! Y gracias Ecuador, por todo, incluyo Los Galápagos...
September 22
According to many interweb sites the border between Ecuador and Peru is the worst in the world. Um, no. Maybe it was during some other time and place, and yes it was terribly inefficient, but it was fine and safe and not a single person hassled us. We went to a building, had to go back to another building (actually we had to go back to another country), had to go back to original building, left with small pieces of paper, etc. It was still our fastest border yet at 2 hours and 15 minutes. By noon we were on 1N (after Lima it's called 1S), and… umm… it's not terribly interesting. So far, Peru smells bad, is brown, is straight, and is flat. There are a few parts that have a fun “Mad Max” feel, but other than that it is rather uninspiring. In fact, I had too much time to get lost in my own head, and sadly I thought about school. Before this sabbatical ends, I’m hoping to figure out how I can care very deeply about what I do without caring so much about what I do… I seem to collect and carry drama, disagreements, or disappointments with students or colleagues, so my shoulders and heart inevitably end up heavy with baggage. My old habit is to take it home and unpack it all, but that just sucks non-work time with work-related things, and I don’t want to do that anymore.
Even worse than thinking about work however, was the sea lions… (cover your ears Rager). We saw dozens and dozens of dead sea lions rotting on the beaches. We researched it later, and it has been going on since 2014. Hundreds and hundreds of pinnipeds have washed up over the past three years. I couldn’t find anything definitive, but most of the information says the fishermen are poisoning them. With depleting fish stocks and the pressure the fishermen face, I am saddened but not surprised (Peru is #3 on the list of what countries take the most from the ocean [China, Japan, Peru, Chile, USA]). The Galapagos sea lions were relatively small compared to CA sea lions, but the ones here are relatively large. When we first saw the carcasses we thought they were small whales. Needless to say, the buzzard populations are doing well. Seeing all those buzzards feed on all those potentially poisoned sea lions is my second worst imagery after seeing the perro get hit in Playa Ventura.
The good news/best part about today was that we got to see some old friends. As hinted at above we are riding fairly close to the coast for most of Peru, so our pelican and frigate friends are back. And the pelicans big: twice the size of Mexican pelicans. As for human friends, we met up with the English and Irish blokes from the Stahlratte at the border crossing! Right as we pulled into the parking area and were bumbling around looking for where we should be, we see Tom, Ian, and Phil, and their new fourth nut Mark who they met in Bogota. Bueno! Or as the blokes would say, Fucking Bueno!
We spent the night in a little surfer town, Lobitos. It is… sparse. The road to get here was thick gravel and full of oil rigs. It is a cute little collection of bungalows however, and La Senora is lovely. There are only two other guests here (maybe 12 rooms total?), and sadly, one of them is downstairs smoking meth. We apparently locked our door when we went out to find food, and when we returned we discovered our key did not work. Luckily the other guest was not high on meth and he was able to climb up through our second story window and open our door for us.
September 23
Today was hard. We did over 300 km and it took us about 7 hours of road time. The first 100 km was very slow (3-4 hours) on poor road conditions, on par and at times worse than Guatemala’s roads. It was either the quality and quantity of the potholes on the road (deep and plentiful), or just big sections missing pavement altogether. We averaged 10-15 mph. The second 200 km was one of the straightest, windiest, and desolate sections we have ever done (moto or car). The first half had some trees/shrubs and wasn’t as windy, but the second half was just sand and wind. We set the cruise control and leaned right into the wind.
Yesterday I was at least polite about it, saying Peru so far was uninteresting and smelt bad. But today I’m going to be more specific. The northern, coastal area of Peru sucks. The smell… at first I thought it was just the city, then thought it was just the dead sea lions, and finally I thought I had just stepped in a really big pile of poop. But now I think it's in the air, in the soil… just everywhere. It stinks here. Like a mix of feces and rotting flesh and burning plastic. Peru and/or Peruvians have also seemingly given up on trash and littering. Garbage and plastic has been a problem since we left USAmerica, and it is a post in of itself one day, but Peru is the worst we have seen (Nicaragua and Colombia were the best).
Reminiscent of Zihuatanejo, the address to the hotel that was given to us by Booking.com was not the actual address of the hotel. After 45 minutes of bumbling around and asking locals (several of which were seriously afraid of us, wha?), we finally paid a moto-taxi to take us there. It was on the complete opposite end of town, which meant it wasn’t in walking distance to food and tiendas. Grr. So we paid another moto taxi to take us in and out of town, but we are both glad because it was really fun! It was so loud and bumpy. It had these “doors” for the passengers in the back to keep the elements away, which after three months on a moto was really endearing.
And sadly, something happened to La Senora’s dog first thing this morning, and we are pretty sure he died. I am so sorry La Senora…
The most memorable part about today was Talara. It was not a nice town. It is one of many Peruvian coastal towns that boomed in the 60’s-80’s then collapsed with the fish stocks in the 90’s. There was a kilometer stretch of the road, north of town, that was lined with fishing boats that were once for sale, but are now just rotting in the sun… A supersized graveyard that is hopefully (but doubtfully) serving as a supersized reminder not to exploit natural resources. At one point we crossed a bridge and Ernesto and I were both stunned by the chaos to our right, so much so we quickly agreed to pull over and park so we could go look at it again. The picture does it no justice, especially since the bridge was so shitty it shook while we stood on it and the cars and trucks rode past… But the boats in the water, the boats on the land, the fisherman processing fish in the water, the pelicans in the water, the frigates flying overhead, the cranes moving cargo on the dock, the garbage on the banks, the insanely tall grass it hid full grown horses and made the boats look small…