"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road

Saturday, Nov. 25, 2000: Where, oh, where to sleep?
Tad - Lima, Peru
Frank - Casma to Huarmay, Peru - 90 km

Today, my first full day in Lima, I decided to go to the central plaza, the Plaza Mayor, to see if I might be able to find a place to stay with some stranger-soon-to-be-friend. Within half an houra security guard had offered me a place to stay and gave me directions to his home! I was very excited and soon found the place about a kilometer away in the Rimac neighborhood!

I got a chance for a shower and even decided to SHAVE, a rare event! I spent a bit of time with the family there eating a "calientado" or later than breakfast, heated meal.

Then I headed out and did some internet work on our new volunteer page and made a phone call to my family and a friend in Seattle. I came back around 5:00 pm, the same time that the security guard, Alex Sanchez, was going to get home. It turned out that he really couldn`t let me stay. He said that although he would like to, his father had the last word and probably wouldn´t like it. I thanked them for letting me wash and dry my clothes and for the place to leave my bike for the day.

And now after I had told Jenny, my Seattle friend, how I had gotten pretty good at finding free lodging my skills were about to be put to the test. Alex recommended I go to the National University as they had lots of extra space and lots of guards. He seemed very sure it would work out and then gave me the soft boot.

At the university, thirty minutes later, I did not have authorization from some head honcho and was not permitted to enter. Asked some guards at a nearby business... no luck but ¨surely¨ the military post nearby could. Asked the military folks and they acted like I was asking for them to give over their arms...an absolute no!! I am finding it interesting that each person tells me that the next person is sure to let me stay. I guess it helps everyone feel better, even if it is stretching the truth. I was still confident that something would turn up and thought that I would go back and ask this Chinease-Peruvian gal that I had met at a nearby Cantonese restaurant. Jenny very politely said no as well. Way back when I had told myself that I would ask for free lodging three times and if no luck I would go to cash lodging. I was now on my fifth inquiry and and was getting inquiry weary and it was getting dark. I finally decided to try a local hostal. And again, no luck, IT WAS FULL! When the second one was also full I realized I was attending an expert course on staying calm in the midst of uncertainty. And this wasn`t some little pueblo. This was Lima, Peru, home of some 8 million people!

As I was asking some fellows for directions to another hotel they told me that it was too dangerous for me to go alone (comfort level decreases) but that one of them would ride his moped and escort me (comfort level increases). The first hotel he took me to was way out of my price range and he needed to go meet a friend. So I followed him to his friend´s house and it turned out that one of the neighbors had a place. He told me he had an extra room ( comfort level increases) and that he would be fine with me putting up my tent. Now it was quite dark and quite late but I followed him into the house, happy to have finally found a place. Then things started to move into the less cool zone.

It turns out that his house is actually abandoned and he is squatting. He has no electricity, lives by himself, and the bathroom consists of a bucket/hole setup! Then, to top it off, he told me that most hotels would charge me about 30 Soles (almost 10$ US) but that he would only charge me 20 Soles. I thought I was getting a gift but for him this was a gringo business op. At this point, with my moped friend gone, I had few options and although he was a business man he seemed to be genuine and friendly. So I offered 5 Soles for the night and we had a deal! I plan not to put myself in this situation again but was very tired and decided just to close my eyes, hope for an eventless night, and avoid the hole of dark doom and crawling cockroaches for the next eight hours.

Makes you thankful!

TAD

Frank´s part...

Today I left a bit later, but made it out of Casma OK. The weather for the most part was awesome. A lot of overcast, fairly cool (for first three hours) with not too much wind until the last hour.

More desert, fortunately, I again left early enough and rode fast enough to avoid the drifting sand. The desert continues to be beautiful with the surrounding hills and low traffic. The hillier terrain has been a contrast to most of my desert experience here in Peru. I had an interesting cycling feeling that I don´t think that I ever had. Usually when I make big long climbs, the corresponding downhills seem to take relatively much shorter. It did not feel like that today. It seemed that I spent as much time descending as I did climbing. Is it because I am heading towards the south pole? Is it an illusion? Or a strange gravity phenomenon - I think that I missed that class. Either way, it was a bonus and I loved it.

As the weather got hotter and the wind picked up, I entered the pueblo of Huarmay which was interesting. As I asked for directions to a barrato (economical) hotel then the man (Pablo) that I spoke to suggested that I go to his brother´s hacienda. GREAT!

After meeting Fatima, I took a ride to the Plaza de Armas and was almost mobbed by kids and a drunk man who seemed too overzealous towards me for my comfort. The kids helped me find a market, buy fruit and vegi´s for the next day and some freshly squeezed jugo (juice). In thanks, I got them a big glass of fresh piña (pineapple) juice).

I got back to the hacienda and decided to take the 20 minute walk to the beach before dark. I am glad that I walked over the dunes and got sand in my shoes even though I only spent 15 minutes there. The field of marigolds put a nice hue of colour against the primarily brown and green background.

I later met Fatima´s husband Hugo Melgarejo. They grow marigolds (for chicken pigment) and corn. They offered me their place for the night for free. I had a great visit with the family, and we shared some stories, PeaceBike´s mission, and some tea, bread and cake - what a bonus! Their electricity was not working so all was done by candlelight, latern and my healight.

I felt very very welcome at their home. Thank you Fatima and Hugo.

I went to sleep quite content and ready for another day of riding.

- Growing up and always hearing encouraging words can be very lifting, but could it also spoil someone?
- Frank Pollari

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