Day 16 (4/7)

Today turned out to be a total surprise. Recall, that at the end of the day yesterday we’d been been diverted from the final segment of our route through the city of Ica due to a road closure due to government protests. To avoid any potential conflicts today, our plan this morning was to make our way further down the coast before making our way more or less due east on a dirt road to Ica where we’d intersect the main highway south, presumably beyond any potential roadblocks.

We knew it would be scenic, as we would be making our way through a ‘National Reserve’ (The Paracas National Reserve) starting a few miles from our hotel, but we had no idea how unbelievably spectacular it would turn out to be. Initially our path took us on a straight line through a desert landscape with no view of the water. Soon though we found ourselves climbing up and over a series of ridges past a series of beaches with absolutely stunning views of the Pacific… and this went on for the better part of 2 hours before we cut due east and inland towards Ica. Add to the scenery, the fact that the riding was amazing. We found ourselves wending our way along on dirt, challenged with a series of steep climbs and descents (one very steep) and a couple of sections of pretty deep sand. Navigation also proved challenging a few times, with the road becoming barely discernible, but through the magic of GPS technology and our mapping software, we managed without any real issues. Once again, I’m left hoping that the pictures will do some justice to what we experienced. 

Once we made the turn inland to Ica, the party was pretty much over. The quality of the scenery and the dirt road gradually diminished with the final 3 mile descent through the outskirts of Ica taking us through a pretty depressing scene (See Claudio’s passage today for further reference). Once we hit the main highway in Ica, we had lunch at a gas station before making quick time of the final 90 miles to Nazca where we arrived at around 3:00. A pretty un-spectacular way to finish the ride, but none of it mattered after what we’d experienced in the morning.

NOTE: See ‘Bonus Footage’ section at the bottom of the page for a video that will give you some idea of what it was like as we made our way through Lima yesterday.

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From Claudio:

Covenant 

Arriving from the oceanic west into the city of Ica, we passed an unbounded shanty town; for several kilometers the road was hemmed in by towering mountains of garbage, new piled on top of old, stench over stench, putrid fumes wafting from corner fires, and behind all this imposing squalor, as far as the eye could see, the favelas. Yet life was not deterred -it is never deterred. People were about doing what people do. 

In need of directions when we entered Ica, I stopped by an old, hatted ice cream vendor leaning on his elbows on his three-wheeled cart, shading under a colored parasol. “Ruta Panamericana you said?” Yes. With a crooked forefinger he pointed in the direction we were traveling and said, “that way, ahead of you, for a while.” Then, pointing behind him with his thumb he said, “and back there, where you are coming from, is The Promised Land.”

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Bonus Footage: This is a roughly cut three and a half minute video that will give you some idea of what it was like as we made our way through Lima yesterday.