Days 10 - 15. An unforgettable Ecuadorian farewell, hello Peru

Day 10 Catacocha. Change is coming when I return home.

It was a big day. 96km with 2273 metres of climbing.

On the first of the day's 2 big climbs, I was pleasantly surprised that I could ride all the way up. No breaks. Another step up.

We rode some of the old Pan Am highway, and it's in the process of being resurfaced. So it was all ripped up, with loose dirt and gravel mixed with fist sized rocks. Very tough when still riding on road oriented skinny slick tyres! Wrong wrong wrong tyres for these offroad parts. The rocks would roll under the bike causing the bike to skip and skate. Sure made me feel alive when I was going down the 10% slopes towards a hairpin corner, and if I missed the corner, I'd be wishing I'd packed that parachute.

I managed to get half way through, and pushed until I had no energy left, and stopped at lunch.

I received a call from work in the early evening. This was the call I've been expecting. I was advised with a number of other jobs, my job is being sent offshore. The official line is my employment with the company is still ongoing, until the point where they do not find another open position suitable to my skillset. Given the number of jobs going, and my rather specialised skillset, my bet is I'm getting a redundancy package. To be honest I'm glad for it, things had to change, and this is a way of helping it along. While I was on the call, I was looking out the hotel window at a rainbow.

Day 11 Macara. A tough rewarding day, and a night to remember

Another fair sized day. 94km with 1417 metres of climbing. The roads in parts were rough.

It started straight away with a 15km downhill on dirt road. This is where for once I was up at the front, riding behind Ilkka. It gave me quite a head start, as the fast guys didn't catch me until 40km into the ride. To be fair, this day wasn't being timed, so they weren't pushing hard.

Riding alongside Ilkka, still downhill, but after the dirt

Made it to lunch well enough, and kept going. It then got rather hot. My bike computer was reading a temperature 43C, and this made climbing very difficult. At one stage I found a shady spot, and sat there for 10 minutes cooling off and getting more water in.

The rest of the ride into Macara was difficult. More resurfacing of the roads, and I was still riding on my road tyres. When they're laying the road base before packing it down, it's very loose and my tyres kept sinking into it which can be dangerous. This was while still trying to pick a rideable path through, and keeping out of the way of traffic at the same time.

Later that night, just when all the hungry cyclists go out to hunt down a worthy restaurant, it worked out we gathered in the town's plaza. This day was a special day for the catholic locals. So they were having Mass, after which there's a fireworks display.

For the first time, we all gave in and bought some food from the street side vendors. Chicken, chips, grilled beef. It was all good. As a group it was great to hang out and mingle. Unlike where some go to 1 restaurant, others go to another and sit in 1 place at the table and only speak with who's sitting near them. An ice cream van turns up, which was popular. Half chocolate, half strawberry ice cream in a cone for 50c. Sweet! His generator on the van was so loud he didn't need to play any music, everyone was looking to see what the noise was anyhow.

We were all fascinated by this framework made of what looked to be made of bamboo. Attached to it were were wheels made of bamboo at various levels, and pointing in various directions. All these had fireworks on them. The maker of the display was quite proud of his work, but concerned that some of the fireworks wouldn't light, as there was a brief period of rain earlier in the afternoon. Then there was a toy bull, again with fireworks. With Mass finished, the fireworks display began.

First, a man gets under the toy bull, wearing it like a very large hat. The fireworks are lit, and he runs up and down the mall, people trying to get out of his way. That was good for a chuckle. Then some of the fireworks are lit on the side of the sculpture. Lots of sparks and that squealing sound. Not forgetting this is in a mall. Buildings and people right beside it. On the roof of a building on one side I could see some dry weeds. But this wasn't the kicker for the night. There's a wheel right on the top, lying flat. This was lit. But rather than staying on the frame, it broke free and lifted off. It spun its way down the mall like a tiny UFO, only to land over this woman like a hoop. Fireworks and still merrily squealing and fizzing away. People rushed in to help. I'm guessing she was ok because no ambulance turned up. There's no way any of it would be done like this back home. The fireworks would have been set away from buildings and people, and roped off.

Here, you're responsible for your own safety. We've seen man holes with no covers. Open the hotel window, and bare metal power lines are within reach. Drains across a road have their grill oriented to catch bike tyres. Stairs with big gaps to fall through, walk to the rooftop level and remember to duck the edge of metal roofing...take your pick.

Day 12 Chulucanas, Peru. Crossing the border and a coutryside cruise. For 127km.

The border crossing was painless. For the entire group including trucks, perhaps 2 hours.

This was a very different day. 127km, with 764 metres of climbing. This climbing was different in the fact it was spread over the length of the ride in the form of rolling hills. Not like the straight up the mountain type of climbing we've been doing so far.

The terrain was very different as we've dropped out of the mountains and are heading towards the coast. So the roads are straighter and more flat. Here's a good sign. I caught team UK (Tamsin and Adrian) at the 80km mark.

So it was a very easy day. Although rather long. Almost all of us fell off our bikes in 1 particular water crossing which was slimey. I was one of those riders. I slid right across the concrete crossing, and on to the rocks. No injuries. The water was nice and warm, and the slide was rather fun.

In all this pleasantness, I got caught out. The hours of endless pedalling in 1 position while I get used to using correct technique burnt out the muscles in my inner thighs while I try to keep my knees in. I was rather sore when finally reaching the hotel.

They have tuk tuks! Locally they're called cockroaches. Slow things, sometimes with excellent sound systems on them. They quite happily buzz around the streets ALL night. All the riders love them, so nice to fall asleep with what sounds like a never ending go kart race.

Day 13 Motupe. First bushcamp.

Another easy day, but long. More rolling hills. 147km and 811 metres of climbing.

Started out strong, but within the first 20km I was already slowing down. That soreness from the previous day was really starting to bite. We were riding alongside the Andes, it was a landscape of contrasting rolling hills, but tall mountains on 1, or sometimes 2 sides of the valley.

Riding alongside the Andes mountains

The locals as always are curious by us riders. I've noticed that only over the last few days have I heard kids call out "gringo!". I stopped by 1 guy, he was about to rope up 2 20L jerry cans full of water to his bike. I was as curious about what he was doing as he was curious about what I was doing.

On arrival at lunch, I could barely pedal the bike. Walking was even worse. Things are definitely done differently here. Our lunch spot for the day was at a temporary site for the government's department of agriculture to count traffic. Exciting job for them! They're there for a week. If we'd asked to setup a lunch spot back home at such a place, we'd be told to keep moving.

After a good lunch (as always), I was in the truck to the camp site.

The camp site first of all was full of thorns, so there's a good portion of riders fixing flat tyres. Other than that, it was a great place. An enjoyable dinner, eating in the dark as the generator wasn't working. We had a little light thanks to those of us who had lights worn our heads.

I have to say camping was very pleasant. Straight after dinner, into the tent, admire the stars for a while before drifting off to sleep.

Day 14 Lambayeque

For me, it had to be a day off to allow recovery. It was only a short day of roughly 70km, with negligible climbing. I was slowly walking like I'd ridden a horse for a month non stop.

So riding in the truck I heard Didier's broad tastes of music. Not a bad way to see the countryside pass by.

After everyone had arrived, most of us went to the nearby museum showing the royal tombs of Sipan, from the civilisation of Moche before the Incas 100-750AD. They were very good at working copper and gold. Our guide was also very enthusiastic and proud of the museum and his heritage. Only a few of us could handle the fast paced 2 hour visit. There was a lot to see there.

Quite a few of us noticed the similarity of this region to the Middle East. VERY dry and dusty.

Day 15 Pacasmayo

Another long day of 119km, and 363 metres of climbing. The climbing was almost impossible to notice thanks to all the climbing being done slowly and spread over many km, and also a constant head wind.

I had a very patient police motorbike trailing behind me. I managed to speak with him a little, using my very poor spanish.

The ride in comparison to what we've seen was quite boring. Desert and straight roads. I was grateful for the cloud cover, I could imagine this place would get very hot.

This part of northern Peru is barren

My legs began to send the warning pains at around 45km, so I called it a day when arriving at lunch, so I can ride tomorrow. Our final day of riding before 2 days off. It's been a long week.

Arriving at Pacasmayo, we're on the coast. Looking across the Pacific ocean. A surprising thing to see, as the desert leads right up to the coast. They don't get any rain here unless they have El Nino conditions, when they get too much rain, and back home in Australia we get dry conditions.