The little kitten seemed to know I was leaving and looked wistfully up at me from my lap as I had my final breakfast in Moyobamba, and I was sorry to say goodbye. But I loaded up my bike and headed out of town towards Tarapoto.
Moyobamba is situated around 900 metres above sea level on the banks of the Rio Mayo, and my route followed the Mayo most of the way down to Tarapoto.
 |
| Roadworks along the way had created a semi-permanent settlement selling drinks, food and fruit |
 |
| And a security guard (one of the "semi-official" ones) at each end keeping us safe. |
 |
| Looking back the way I had come |
I had a chat with the Seguridad as we waited, seemingly interminably, to be allowed through the road works and joked that he must make a lot of money at this spot as traffic was forced to stop, and perhaps he, with his big gun, was one of the "highwaymen" we were told to look out for! He saw the joke, and, like all the "police" I met along the way, was delighted meeting a lone Gringo travelling through Peru on a motorbike.
A little further along I got a good view of the Rio Mayo, and stopped to take a picture
 |
| Rio Mayo |
Some movement by the river on the opposite bank caught my eye, so I zoomed in
 |
| My zoom picked up a family bathing in the river |
 |
| Such a wonderful pastoral scene |
and got a candid shot of a family bathing in the strongly flowing river. I did feel a little guilty, like a voyeur spying, but it was such a lovely picture of life here in the remoter regions of Peru. I left them to their ablutions and continued down the valley.
 |
| Looking down the Mayo valley |
 |
| Looking back up the way I had come |
Soon I was down into the flatter countryside approaching Tarapoto, and traffic increased a little, but still not very heavy.
Like in Moyobamba I had a few problems finding my hotel - the Leito Inn - I had printed a map, and knew it was a little way out of the centre of the town, but the map didn't prepare me for the poor dirt road the hotel was located on, and as I turned off the tarmac, having asked directions, I was very apprehensive as the area didn't look too good - but the Inn was an impressive building, and my fears were allayed when I arrived and was shown my room.
 |
| African print on my room wall |
 |
| Small courtyard outside my window |
A relatively short ride today of only 120kms from Moyobamba.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to leave your comments, however Spam or adverts will not be allowed. The blog is open to all so please minimise the use of improper language!