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Mexico City and south on a bike
My Diary - Peru - Ecuador to Trujillo

5/05/07 Ecuadorean boarder to San Ignacio (28 miles)

Up and down but I mostly noticed the ups! I cycled until 9:15pm. I was on the road for 12 hours from Zumba, Ecuador. The last few hours riding in the dark were not nice - especially the downhill sections as the road was increadibly rough and my headtorch was just not powerfull enough for me to see the bumpsa properly. Probably climbed over 2000m today. On the verge of death by thje end of the day!

6/05/07 San Ignacio (Rest day)

In an internet cafe I had a note passed under the partition to the next cubicle, asking where I would like to meet up for some gay anal sex - not the kind of welcome to Peru I was hoping for!

7/05/07 San Ignacio (Rest day)

It seems that the girls here in San Ignacio find me attractive aswell. A waitress in my favourite restaurant in town was getting all giggly and silly and gave me a free plate of chips. I already had a big platefull but I made room for it.

8/05/07 San Ignacio to Bellavista (66 miles)

A short climb and then a lovely long, fast, windy, rough descent on dirt roads for 10 miles to the bottom of the Chinchipe valley, where the legend goes is buried lost Inca treasure. Quite hot down here, but the uphills felt easy. Rice is grown in paddy fields in the valleys of this region. Smooth tarmac for half the ride. An enjoyable day. Sunny most of the time. Four miles of dirt at the end of the day to the town of Bellavista. I asked a few locals, including a taxi driver) where I could find accommodation but they told me there was none, then a boy told me there was one just the other side of the square. How can you live in a small town and not know that there is a hotel there in the plaza?

9/05/07 Bellavista to Pedro Ruiz (62 miles)

Eight miles of dirt and then the road came to an end on the banks of Rio Marañon (A mojor tributory of the Amazon River). The river was about 200m accross. I could see some people on the opposite shore with a boat. A motorbike turned up on my side and beeped his horn and a boat came over for us. The craft had an aluminium hull and was about 15 feet long and 4 feet wide. Both bikes were loaded via a plank of wood and off we went. The main road to Pedro Ruiz was not too steep. Very heavy rain during the last 2 hours of the journey. A fairly hard day and I though my luck had run out after being turned away from the third hotel (because they were full and not because I looked like a drowned rat I hope), but the 4th had a room.

10/05/07 Pedro Ruiz to Chachapyas (34 miles)

Lots of mud on the road up the valley beside Rio Utcabamba. There were major roadworks on the way. I managed to talk my way around having to wait 2 hours with the rest of the traffic before being allowed to pass. I was surprised how many female workers were employed on the project. The road was cut into vertical cliffs for some of the way and there was a short tunnel. I was amazed to see a huge four axled luxury coach come through this tunnel with only a couple of inches to spare. After 28 miles of mud the road turned to smooth tarmac for the steep ascent out of the canyon up to the city of Chachapoyas (Altitude 2200m). There was no rain today, though mostly overcast. Much cooler up here.