Northern Peru Adventure - Part 1

Following the success of my Grand Tour to Cajamarca, Chacapoyas, Moyobamba and Tarapoto I decided to head for the North Coast towns, particularly to visit Cabo Blanco, where Ernest Hemingway got his inspiration for The Old Man and the Sea. I had heard of a lovely hostel at a place called Zorritos, so decided to base my trip around there - and actually extended my booking by two days before I had even left Huanchaco! As I hoped to do some fishing this time I also packed my fishing gear, which consisted of a travel rod (3.6 metre which came in 6 pieces and fit in a suitcase, but had its own hard case) and my tackle bag, so I was somewhat more heavily laden than my last trip.

Packed up for my fishing trip up the North Coast

My route from Huanchaco to Rancho Santana

The first part of the journey was retracing my steps to Rancho Santana, at Pacora, where I had such an enjoyable stay on my way back from the Grand Tour. It was about 20 kms out of my way, but as I hadn't been able to find any other suitable accommodation in the area I needed to stop overnight, it was really a no-brainer. That part of the journey was pretty routine, therefore, and I was well rested for the next day, which was a 240 km ride all along the Panamerican Highway to Piura, where I had booked a night in a hotel.
The Peruvian coastline is pretty arid, and they actually call it a coastal desert, and most of the 240 kms was through the extremely barren, extremely boring Sechura Desert with nothing to see but miles of sand in every direction. At times the strong crosswinds made riding very difficult, with sand being whipped across, and in places covering the road surface. It made riding very tiring too, and I vowed never to use this route again - it might be part of the Panamerican Highway, so the road surface was generally good, and the road wide, but mile after mile of nothing but sand makes for unpleasant travel. Traffic was relatively light, which I have found along most of the Panamerican, which in a way made it easier as that was something I didn't have to worry about, but meeting vehicles would have broken the monotony of hour after hour of nothingness!

Rancho Santana to Piura (the grey route is an alternative which I used for my return and other trips!)

Arriving in Piura I find that the highway is under repair with diversions in place, so my carefully mapped out route to the hotel is of no use whatsoever, and, of course, no signs indicating where to go!I followed the flow of traffic for a while, but soon realised that I had gone too far, so had to retrace my steps, and eventually found the hotel, which turned out to be quite pleasant - very conveniently located to get me back onto the highway (despite the roadworks) and with some good eateries close by (I did explore further afield on a later trip). I ate at a Chifa just round the corner, which is a fusion of Cantonese and Peruvian cuisine, and always good value for money. There were two large televisions playing loudly - one with football, and the other with a local daily game show involving two teams and obstacle challenges, and to cap it off a wandering minstrel came in playing a guitar and singing from table to table!
As always I had checked that the hotel had parking and was shown to the "garage", which was a long narrow lot a couple of doors away. It was probably wide enough for a truck to park in, though it did widen to the rear where I was instructed to park. Next morning after breakfast I settled up and went to get my bike - and there was a truck parked in front of me blocking access! They explained that it belonged to the owner and he would be moving it "later", as he had arrived late last night. I pointed out that I needed to get on the road as I had 250 kms to travel to Zorritos, so they reluctantly went to call him, and came back to say he would be 30 minutes! I decided that I might have enough room to squeeze by if I removed my carriers, but there still wasn't space to get by, so I just had to wait! It turned out to be closer to 45 minutes, but eventually I was on my way!