This is a newsletter from Family on Bikes. The family of four is currently cycling the Pan American Highway from Alaska to Argentina as the 12-year-old twin boys attempt to break the world record as the youngest cyclists to bike the entire Pan Am. See a slide show of the journey here.
March 19, 2010
Hola to you all – from Peru! Yes, we finally (after four months in Ecuador!) crossed into our twelfth country after 18,000 km of pedaling. We’re slowly making progress toward our goal.
When I last wrote, Davy had just had his fifth toe surgery and, thank God, there have been no more since then. We do know he will have to have the root cauterized again on his right foot. We aren’t yet sure about the left and are hoping it will grow out properly. The left one was last operated on in Pimampiro back in November, and appears to be growing out nicely. However – as we learned with the right one – it could get ingrown any day. For now, we are simply continuing on grateful for every day we make it through without toe pain.
Although we were racing the clock to leave Ecuador, we were waylaid one more time before we finally reached the border. After we packed our bikes and headed up and over the highest paved road in Ecuador and our last pass for a while, we cycled only two days before pulling into Guaranda in the middle of Carnival. With all the wild partying going on, we felt the roads were too dangerous to navigate so we stayed put and enjoyed Carnival. What a wild week! We enjoyed the five-hours parades and fabulous costumes. The boys couldn’t get enough of the water fights and foam spray. Overall, it was a great time and we were happy to have been “stuck”!
From there, we made a mad dash to the border. We plunged out of the Andes and onto coastal plains. We cycled past sugar cane fields and banana plantations and papaya trees. We blasted through tiny villages throughout the day and stayed in the larger ones. After so many months in the mountains, cycling on flat ground again felt more bizarre than I can describe.
Slowly, slowly, we approached the border. A new country! New adventures! And theft. The buggers stole Davy’s toys out of his handlebar bag at the border. Davy’s face crumpled into tears. “I don’t have anything to play with!” he sobbed. We climbed back on our bikes and pedaled on knowing there was not a blame thing we could do.
From there, our new adventure continued on with tough times. Hotels were hot and bug-filled. Beds were torture devices which kept us up all night. During the day we battled headwinds and heat. At night, we couldn’t sleep. Food was awful. Our journey was no longer fun. It had become a test of wills.
And then we pulled into the tiny town of Sullana. “Don’t go to Sullana,” many Peruvians had told me. “It’s really dangerous. It’s full of thieves. Just go on to Piura." But we’re traveling on bicycle and that extra 40 km to Piura was simply too much. We looked for a hotel in Sullana and – gracias a Dios – it was a haven among all the rest.
We ended up staying three days in Sullana and recharged our batteries. The friendly owners took care of us and showed us that all of Peru wasn’t terrible and horrible. We enjoyed our time in the cozy, comfortable rooms with fans to cool us off and really didn’t want to push on – but eventually we had to.
Piura was only a short day’s ride from Sullana and we arrived early in the morning. I stashed my bike and headed to the market where massive riots had erupted two days earlier. In all, six people were killed. The next seven hours were probably the most intense hours of my life. I talked with hundreds of vendors whose livelihood will be cut off if they move to the new market like the government is demanding. I visited a man in the hospital with a bullet lodged in his gut. I talked with the father of another victim – a young man who was shot while working in the store and was in a coma. I learned a lot and will always remember the horrors of the rioting.
My heart was still heavy when we pulled out of Piura for the three-day crossing of the Sechura Desert. As we pounded the pedals we watched the vegetation change from fairly lush, to sparse, to nearly non-existant, to nothing by sand, sand, and more sand. And then the process continued in reverse as we approached the town of Chiclayo on the other end. It was a tough crossing in many ways – the headwinds were a battle to overcome and three of us got sick after eating some bad food from a restaurant – but we made it. One more challenge behind us.
One of the best parts of cycling are the little “traditions” that exist. One of those is visiting Lucho’s Casa de Ciclistas in Trujillo. For thirty years now Lucho has graciously opened his home to cycle tourists from around the world and we are just a few of thousands. Although the house was full when we arrived so we had to stay in a hotel, it’s been great to meet up with other cyclists and swap tales from the road.
And so we come to now – we’re now preparing to leave Trujillo. We’ve decided to stick to the coast for the time being. South of Lima we’ll turn left and head for the hills, but for now we’ll battle the infamous headwinds and heat and desert of the coastal plains. We all know the next weeks will be tough, but we’ll put a few miles behind us and get closer to our goal. It’ll work!
Thanks so much for being a part of our journey!
Nancy, John, Davy, Daryl
********
Read our other newsletters here:
Read y for takeoff: June 6, 2008
Dalton Highway in Alaska: June 28, 2008
Alaska Highway: August 3, 2008
Crossi ng into mainland USA: September 10, 2008
In Montana, Wyoming, and Utah: October 17, 2008
Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico: November 19, 2008
No rthern Mexico: January 25, 2009
Yucatan Peninsula: March 14, 2009
Belize, Guatemala, & Honduras: April 15, 2009
Ni caragua & Costa Rica: June 25, 2009
Costa Rica & Panama: July 21, 2009
Made it to South America: August 16, 2009
In the Colombian Andes: September 18, 2009
At the Equator: December 20, 2009
Southern Ecuador: February 7, 2010
Comments