Traveling Applejax

The other day Mike and I were interviewed in Tumbes, Peru. Being the gringos that we are, the local newsreporter had no trouble picking us out of a crowd in the town square of Tumbes. Since we had our bikes all packed up and ready to go for the day we were even more conspicuous. Obviously, if you encounter a couple of gringos on bikes it’s newsworthy. So what if they can’t speak Spanish worth a damn? Mind you this was a television reporter, not a newspaper journalist. Before we knew it, we had a camera and a microphone in our faces. Luckily, someone volunteered to translate so that we wouldn’t look like complete jackasses butchering the Spanish language on TV. We offered up our Spanglish interview about where we’d been and where we were going as a crowd gathered around us. All in all, it was an amusing experience. As thanks, the reporter told us the name of a hotel on our way and said that we could stay there for free that night. Unfortunately, the hotel appeared well before our destination town and we just weren’t ready to stop. Can you believe we passed up such an offer?

We ended up camping at this pretty cool eco-hostal a little farther down the road instead. The whole place is decorated with driftwood, seashells, rocks, and bamboo. It looks very natural and artsy, though the owner is obviously still working on the place. Another plus is that it is situated directly on a lovely beach on the Pacific. To top things off, it reminded me of my Aunt Kitty’s ranch in California because a) there were dogs everywhere (peruvian hairless dogs), and b) all the shower and sink water is recycled to support the plant life on the property. It would be great to own such a beauiful chunk of land right on the ocean!

Tonight we are hanging out in Mancora, the most touristy place we’ve been since the Galapagos. This is the spot for surfers in Peru, so we’ve seen a lot of gringos with dreadlocks or bleach-blonde hair. On our way here we thought we had hit a time/space warp because the landscape looks so much like the Arizona desert. Of course, this was only during the middle part of the day. On both ends we were traveling on flat pavement along the winding coast with views of the ocean and the beaches on our right and of the mountains on our left.

And so, we continue south for now. Sadly, we will be without pictures for a while (unless I find some past pictures that I never posted to include), but you can still check back for fun updates and polls. I’ll try to think of a new trivia qustion for next time…

Here’s a very basic map of Peru. We’re in the northwest corner right now. As you can tell by the labeled cities on the map, most tourists come to Peru to witness the Inca glory of Machu Picchu, experience the Sacred Valley of Cuzco, and/or visit the fantastically named Lake Titicaca (which are all things that we plan to do as well). Even the travelers who move through South America often take a bus or a plane from Lima to Guayaquil or Quito. For a better idea of where we are, you can check the “Travel Map” link to the left.

Okay, that’s all I have for now…