Andes Trail Stage 14, Aug 17, 2019

Andes Trail Stage 14 of 109 Motupe bushcamp to Lambayeque, Day 19 of 142

Photos at Strava: 72km, 36m climbing, 2:28, 37.7kph max

Description	Distance in km	Dirt km	Climb in m
South America	1,537	40	21,437
Andes Trail	1,255	31	17,824

Wow what a great night! I slept over 10 hours in my little tent and it was perfect. There were about 18,000 roosters in the morning but not very close so no problem. Breakfast was very nice, outside but oh so civilized, and at 7:30 since today is sort of a half day.

We left camp at 8:40, in a pretty big group. The speed slowly ramped up to 34, at which point I noticed no one was behind me! We had dropped everyone so just Chris, Niek, Jens, Andrew and I cranked out 72km non-stop to Lambayque. Most of the road was very smooth and nice. There was some construction and narrow one-way places with speed bumps where you had to be careful. Feet went down once for a few seconds at a one-way construction zone.

Overall it was boring scenery but the pace was fast (for me) so that kept me fully engaged. Entering Lambayeque … it looked like a war zone. We went the wrong way down a one-way street for a while to the hotel. It is surprisingly nice, with an inner courtyard for bikes and nice rooms. The wifi works well most of the time. The shower is a good Spanish lesson: F stands for Frio (cold) and C stands for Cold (also cold). We’re not complaining though, the water felt great and I did laundry too.

Lunch was combined with soup today, a big, full meal. Next some of us walked over to the famous museum, Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán. It was pretty interesting although some of us were flagging by the time we got out. Then we went to a bank (which was in the back of an appliance store) and Martin tried to change his $ to Soles. He was partially successful but it took a long time. They really only accept new looking bills. Bills with writing on them are right out. I had a nice video chat with Beau in SF and Grace at home.

We walked out for dinner past the church next door and there was a huge fancy wedding going. Must’ve been a military family as many officers with swords and lower level soldiers where watching. A Phantom 3 was filming from the air. The street had chicken restaurant after chicken restaurant and we eventually picked one. I had a great salad and some fries with plantains. Not the best but it was a fun, family place. Beers were expensive at S7.50 each (about $2.20). Now it’s time to recharge the leg batteries for tomorrow’s 119km ride to Pacasmayo.