Tambo Grande to Motupe

We left Tambo Grande after a wee sleep in in our nice cool accommodation.

The plan was to ride a dirt road out of town for 30km, which would eventually join back up to a sealed to Chiclayo, about 90km shorter and with less desert than the main road. The dirt road only lasted for about 15km, a nice surprise. There are little villages all along this route, so we where able to buy a few cold drinks.


Traffic jam

The plan had been to camp between the villages somewhere, and push on to Olmos the next day. The problem was we rode about 75km and did not really see any well hidden camp spots. We followed a couple of dirt tracks off the side of the road but they either lead to dense bush or other people. It was beginning to become a long day, and then we had the first puncture of the trip, not such good timing. Then as we stopped to change the tube, we must have irritated a hornet’s nest! They took a liking to me, I did not like them, they stung me on my legs a few times. While I was leaping around trying to get away from them, Ben went about fixing the tube, they didn’t sting him at all, the only reason we can think of is that he smelt too bad.

So that probably was not the best hour of our trip so far, and with too far to go to the next main town, we asked a local farmer if we could camp the night in front of their house as it looked very secure. This was fine, and we pitched out tent amongst the chickens in front of the house. We chatted with the ladies of the house, and had a wee cuddle of a 2 month old baby, cooked a big pot of pasta, beans and tomatoes for dinner, and went to sleep.

Our host

Camping with the chickens

We said our goodbyes in the morning to this lovely family, and hit the road, making it to Olmos close to 100km away. We are feeling good that there are no more mountains to ride for a while, but are starting to feel like we need a rest day. We could have had a rest in Olmos, but the town smelt aweful and we had too many cockroaches and other creepy crawlies in our hostal, so we left early the next morning for a short 30km ride to Motupe.

Now, in Motupe we are resting and have the last decent ride tomorrow to a town just north of Chiclayo. So far Peru has had two sides to it. We have met some really lovely people and had some good riding through some interesting green desert areas. We have also had to learn to deal with more intense attention than in Ecuador, with more loud tooting, whistling and people who just cant help but yell ‘gringo, gringa’ at us.

But, all good so far, will have a few days off the bikes in a couple of days and plan the next cycle section of the trip.