Posts for July, 2010

There was mist around the mountains as we started driving this morning and for a few hours we had mixed visibility with the light wind sometimes blowing the mist over the roadway. This added some additional spice to driving the narrow, twisting, mountain track.

We were woken early by the mini-buses taking workmen back up the hill for another day of road building.

Today we left the Andean Plateau and descended to the coastal town of Pisco (a region that makes that famous drink). The mountains gave us an appropriate send off. From our camping spot gas station we climbed into the Cordillera Occidental the mountain range that is the western border of the plateau. These mountains are similar to those we saw in south west Bolivia being composed of the bright colored minerals indicating thermal activity. From the high point of this climb at Alta Apacheta at 4750m the road descended to sea level in less than 100 miles. As you could guess, more switch backs. Initially the descent was through mountain grass lands with scattered habitation and then into a steep valley with numerous small villages and almost continuous cultivation. The final stage into Pisco brought us into the grey sea cloud that is apparently common this time of year.

The drive up the coast and through Lima was mostly a replay of roads we traveled last year while heading south. But even so we were surprised at some of the sights. The juxtaposition of desert and large scale industrial agriculture, and the shanty towns being built in the desert. The coastal desert of Peru is certainly an inhospitable place and we noted again that the mountains of Peru seem to be a better place to live than the coast. At least there, one could grow some food.

More coastal desert today. But fortunately we saw the sun for a while.

Today we had a quiet day in Huanchuco. We spent some time walking along the beach front watching local fishermen in their little reed boats (called Caballitos) paddle out through the surf to set or check their fishing nets. Apparently the locals have been using this type of craft for at least 2500 years. Though on closer inspection we did note at least one modern modification to the boat - they now pack styrofoam into the center of the boat to reduce the quantity of reed required. Similar to the way coke bottles are used by the people on the floating islands on Lake Titicaca.

This morning we visited one of the local archeological sites named Huaca de la Luna. This large temple made from (140,000,000) adobe bricks was constructed by the Moche people between 0 and 600 AD. The structure is in fact 6 different buildings built over successive 100 year periods. Each new building was constructed to cover its predecessor. So that the current structure is like one of those Russian dolls - peel one layer and find another inside.

This morning after a late start we continued north through more coastal desert towards the city of Chiclayo. The sun was trying to come out from behind the clouds and the temperatures made it as far as the mid 70°F.

Today after leaving Chiclayo we crossed the Sechura desert of Northern Peru. This is a 100 mile section of road that passed through a vast expanse of flat sandy nothingness approaching the city of Piura.

Not far north of Lobitos is the township of Cabo Blanco. This town is the southern end of a nice section of coast with clear sunny skies (rather than the normal Peruvian grey), white sand beaches and lots of hotels, restaurants, and surf shops. The Panamericana runs along side this nice stretch of beach until just south of Tumbes, the northern gateway to the Peruvian coast. Thirty km north of Tumbes is the border with Ecuador.

On our map of Ecuador the 150km from Huizho to Ceunca is categorized as highway in poor condition. Mind you on this same map is no category for highway in good or normal condition. But it turned out to be a reasonably good road except for a 20 km diversion section that wound in and out of a valley on steep clay roads. The scenery was mostly tropical with steep green mountains swirling in cloud.

We stayed a few days in Cuenca in order to get some maintenance work done on the vehicle. Cleaning the air filter, oil change and new oil filter, and install the spare front brake pads we have been carrying since Phoenix.

The road North from Cuenca seemed generally to be in better condition than we recalled from last year. There were lengthy section of new concrete that last year were under construction. Just to keep us alert, though, there were still the occasional patches where the concrete was missing and the road surface dropped 6 inches into gravel and rock.

This morning we stopped at the town of Colta for a break. We had been looking for a place to stop for some miles when we came upon a road sign indicating a picnic area ahead. The sign was quite a surprise, signs are not common and official picnic areas even less so. But the place was even more of a surprise. A large very elaborate park with gardens, decorative bridges, children's play equipment and rest rooms was set beside a nice lake. The surprise continued. The place was swarming with people, adults and toddlers in traditional dress and children in school uniforms. After a while it became obvious that some kind of parade was going to take place and we stayed around long enough to see everyone line up and start marching east into the town center that was a little way removed from the highway and park. The banners being carried by the marchers indicated that the 28th anniversary of something was being celebrated.

We left Baños late in the morning heading East. The road traveled along the side of a steep spectacular valley, dropping down into the jungle of Eastern Ecuador. It was raining and misting, but even so the scenery was spectacular.

This morning we traveled a twisting mountain road through cloud forest to the thermal baths in the town of Papallacta. The cloud made visibility poor which when combined with a number of serious rock falls and landslides, caused by recent rains, made for slow but sometimes exciting driving. Of course the locals do not slow down in such conditions.

We were excited this morning to see that the day was going to be clear for our last transit across the Andes down into Quito. Last time we travelled this road it was misty and we saw very little except the tail lights of the vehicles ahead.

We spent the day on chores like washing and walked to and from the vehicle a couple of times. On one visit to the parking lot we got talking to a man named Fernando - he is a Colombian living in Ecuador and has traveled by RV in the US. We spent some time chatting and then he suggested that he and his family could come back to see the Tiger after work.

This morning we caught the Teleferico (cable car) to the top of one of the mountains that overlook Quito. The cable lifts visitors 1000m to a height of 4000m from where there are great views of Quito, and the surrounding mountains.

We hung around the parking lot this morning talking to Ollie and Sabina (the German couple with the American camper who were there when we arrived) about things we had seen and comparing our vehicles.Thus we did not get underway until almost lunch time.

Today was souvenir day. Nina has been telling me for months of the list of items she was going to buy when she got to Otavalo. She had concluded long ago that Otavalo has the best quality and best prices of any place we have seen in South America for llama wool goods.

A little more shopping today. The excuse was that we needed another nylon bag in which to pack all the things bought yesterday; but once in the market area more woven goods soon started piling up. Nina also took the opportunity to take a few more photos of the local women in the traditional dress. It's quite different to Peruvian clothing. Head ware is typically some form of cloth wrapped around the head, the dress is a long narrow skirt. Babies are still carried on the back but here the cloth wrapping them is white not a multi colored stripe.

Tulcan, the Ecuadorian town just south of the Colombian border, was our destination for today. From here we could get an early start on tomorrows border crossing (and search for Colombian vehicle insurance). Also, the guide book told us, the town cemetery was worth a look - and it was right. The cemetery was enormous, covering many acres of ground. The cemetery had normal graves, large and ostentatious mausoleums, and multi-tiered walls with small alcoves in which remains where placed - it was hard to conceive that this small city could need a cemetery this large . However the most amazing feature of the cemetery were the many large (up to 20 feet high) topiary trees carved into animal shapes. There were dozens of them. Maintenance of these trees must have kept a small army of workers busy. Also we happened to be there on a Sunday and the place was teeming with people paying their respects, placing flowers and generally enjoying a day out.

The border crossing was straight forward. The young Colombian lady that took the vehicle details was new at her job and was a bit slow and we needed to correct some of the details after her first efforts. One of the money changers had a calculator that produced the following calculation when I asked to change US$100.

As we passed Popayan today we took a detour and made a return visit to the market town of Silvia and its Tuesday market. We were pleased that the timing was such that we could again visit this town and market.

Today was only a shortish drive north to Hacienda Bambusa. Finding the place was a good deal easier this time. Firstly because we knew the way, but also the directions are less complicated coming from the south.

We spent a pleasant day on the porch of the Hacienda doing accounting work. I took the opportunity to update my fuel consumption log which I have not done for many months. I discovered that we have averaged 13.5 mpg, paid an average of US$3.08 per gallon, and bought 3640 gallons of fuel.

The simple statistics of todays road journey are impressive, if more than a little frustrating.

Since we made such little distance yesterday we made a very early start today, and planned on making it a long day, in the hope of recovering some of the wasted time of yesterday.