Our longest push since California, we did 380 km today. The first 100 km was more (but less dramatic) sand dunes/mountain dunes, and then POOF. We hit the fog. It wasn’t as bad as that day in Ecuador when we couldn't’ see a few meters ahead, but it was bad enough that we had to ride visors-up. I’m not sure how long (in km) it went on for, but after about 30-45 minutes we dropped in elevation, the fog cleared, and Lima just sort of began…
We did not go into Lima. We did not see its historic center or plaza or churches. We drove through 60 km of Lima and its “suburbs”, so admittedly we have nothing close to a holistic view or opinion of Lima. But what we saw was no bueno. The smog and lack of vegetation (are there any plants in Lima?) was much, much worse than we imagined. The quality of the homes and buildings, especially the outer km out of the city center, were worse than we imagined. The noise and the traffic were terrible, which is what we expected. The lack of anything new and shiny was sad… the signs and statues were faded and dull and dirty. Even the McDonald’s “M” was a pale piss yellow and stale ketchup red and covered in 1/8th inch of dirt. The garbage was very different than I expected… I expected it to be lining the streets in piles, but instead it was floating, drifting, and blowing around. There is a six foot high cement wall dividing the PanAmericana in and around Lima, so the big trucks and bursts of traffic generate mini circulating wind currents. For the hour it took us to get through Lima, plastic and paper products of all shapes and sizes blew up and around us. Newspapers, chip bags, plastic cups, plastic bags, styrofoam… It was like the snowglobe of mariposas around Ernesto in Mexico, except instead of mariposas it was garbage. :( The two times we came to a dead stop in traffic we saw drivers buy snacks from the many highway vendors (which, wtf), and every one of them threw their plastic trash out the window of their car. Open tiny plastic bag of nuts, throw top of bag out the window, chug nuts, then throw rest of plastic bag out window. Or the juice! There are highway vendors that sell mini-plastic dixie cups of juice, and the cup is sold inside a plastic bag (so, you know, the vendor doesn’t get his ick fingers on your cup when it takes it out of his cooler). Sell to driver, driver sucks it down, driver throws both bag and cup out window as he pulls away. Sigh.
The vibe of the road changed after Lima in the sense of advertising. We hadn’t seen a single billboard since entering Peru 1200 km ago, but for the 75-100 km after Lima there were hundreds of billboards. And that is after accounting for the 70% of billboard “structures” that do not have an actual billboard on them. They are enormous (a few stories tall) and mostly advertising something affluent for and with white people. Which makes sense thinking about the gringo path here… people fly to Lima and take a bus to Machu Picchu, so that's the spot to advertise the ziplines, condos, malls, and golf of Peru. The contrast of this with the garbage…
We are stopped in Pisco for the night, which is famous for two things. One, pisco: a brandy like liquor distilled here. Neither of us like brandy, so we aren’t drinking any pisco in Pisco. And two, Islas Ballestas, which are just off shore. Called “the Galapagos for the poor”, they are home to thousands of nesting frigates, boobies, and penguins, and there are a plethora of companies advertising half day boat tours. We are ready, willing, and able to see penguins, but with mass quantity-bad quality boat tours still fresh in our minds, we aren’t interested. PInguinos will reveal themselves to us when they are ready.
After another 100 km of chicken farms today, we again sought out some pizza for dinner. Lucky for us (or maybe because many travelers who arrive here post-chicken farm actively seek out pizza?), Trip Advisor led us to the number one rated restaurant in Pisco, Montecassino Pizzaria. Owned and operated by rotund and jolly Rodolphe, he speaks Italian, French, English, and Spanish (and wears clam diggers and crocs - nice). He was very kind and very welcoming to us, and while his sauce could use a kick, his crust was fantastic. It was the best carb I’ve had in weeks. And he used fresh mushrooms, not canned, and that was very much appreciated. I wonder how he came to Peru from Italy and why (is he a chicken lover? There was no chicken on his menu). We opened up a bit telling him our brief story and he didn’t reciprocate, so we didn’t pry. He passed us a flyer and asked us to give him a review on Trip Advisor. We don’t do that, so to the five people reading this blog, if you ever come to Pisco we highly recommend you eat at Montecassino Pizzaria.
We did not go into Lima. We did not see its historic center or plaza or churches. We drove through 60 km of Lima and its “suburbs”, so admittedly we have nothing close to a holistic view or opinion of Lima. But what we saw was no bueno. The smog and lack of vegetation (are there any plants in Lima?) was much, much worse than we imagined. The quality of the homes and buildings, especially the outer km out of the city center, were worse than we imagined. The noise and the traffic were terrible, which is what we expected. The lack of anything new and shiny was sad… the signs and statues were faded and dull and dirty. Even the McDonald’s “M” was a pale piss yellow and stale ketchup red and covered in 1/8th inch of dirt. The garbage was very different than I expected… I expected it to be lining the streets in piles, but instead it was floating, drifting, and blowing around. There is a six foot high cement wall dividing the PanAmericana in and around Lima, so the big trucks and bursts of traffic generate mini circulating wind currents. For the hour it took us to get through Lima, plastic and paper products of all shapes and sizes blew up and around us. Newspapers, chip bags, plastic cups, plastic bags, styrofoam… It was like the snowglobe of mariposas around Ernesto in Mexico, except instead of mariposas it was garbage. :( The two times we came to a dead stop in traffic we saw drivers buy snacks from the many highway vendors (which, wtf), and every one of them threw their plastic trash out the window of their car. Open tiny plastic bag of nuts, throw top of bag out the window, chug nuts, then throw rest of plastic bag out window. Or the juice! There are highway vendors that sell mini-plastic dixie cups of juice, and the cup is sold inside a plastic bag (so, you know, the vendor doesn’t get his ick fingers on your cup when it takes it out of his cooler). Sell to driver, driver sucks it down, driver throws both bag and cup out window as he pulls away. Sigh.
The vibe of the road changed after Lima in the sense of advertising. We hadn’t seen a single billboard since entering Peru 1200 km ago, but for the 75-100 km after Lima there were hundreds of billboards. And that is after accounting for the 70% of billboard “structures” that do not have an actual billboard on them. They are enormous (a few stories tall) and mostly advertising something affluent for and with white people. Which makes sense thinking about the gringo path here… people fly to Lima and take a bus to Machu Picchu, so that's the spot to advertise the ziplines, condos, malls, and golf of Peru. The contrast of this with the garbage…
We are stopped in Pisco for the night, which is famous for two things. One, pisco: a brandy like liquor distilled here. Neither of us like brandy, so we aren’t drinking any pisco in Pisco. And two, Islas Ballestas, which are just off shore. Called “the Galapagos for the poor”, they are home to thousands of nesting frigates, boobies, and penguins, and there are a plethora of companies advertising half day boat tours. We are ready, willing, and able to see penguins, but with mass quantity-bad quality boat tours still fresh in our minds, we aren’t interested. PInguinos will reveal themselves to us when they are ready.
After another 100 km of chicken farms today, we again sought out some pizza for dinner. Lucky for us (or maybe because many travelers who arrive here post-chicken farm actively seek out pizza?), Trip Advisor led us to the number one rated restaurant in Pisco, Montecassino Pizzaria. Owned and operated by rotund and jolly Rodolphe, he speaks Italian, French, English, and Spanish (and wears clam diggers and crocs - nice). He was very kind and very welcoming to us, and while his sauce could use a kick, his crust was fantastic. It was the best carb I’ve had in weeks. And he used fresh mushrooms, not canned, and that was very much appreciated. I wonder how he came to Peru from Italy and why (is he a chicken lover? There was no chicken on his menu). We opened up a bit telling him our brief story and he didn’t reciprocate, so we didn’t pry. He passed us a flyer and asked us to give him a review on Trip Advisor. We don’t do that, so to the five people reading this blog, if you ever come to Pisco we highly recommend you eat at Montecassino Pizzaria.