Foggy Days

A burst of sunshine got us swimming for a while then the clouds rolled in and summer resumed its normal pattern of cool cloudy days. We’re barely in the southern hemisphere so that might be winter but whatever. 

It’s California style fog, low clouds and a misty shore. It’s still pretty livable even if the swimming looks unappealing. 

I can’t say fishing looks appealing but it’s their job and they are out there riding the swells. 

The one that got away: 

We’ve been studying the road ahead and our plan now is to leave here Monday, or if the sun comes back maybe Wednesday. 

Our next stop down the coast would be Piura a town that is not described nicely in iOverlander where armed robberies have been reported but there is a decent secure campground. 

I’m curious to see more of this strange country though most of the tourist attractions are inland in the mountains. 

More high mountains are ahead between here and Chile. 

Enjoying the beach is good but there are many miles ahead. Ushuaia awaits. 

And that’s the direct route:

Beach Combing

The sun refuses to break through the seasonal cloud cover so we are preparing to leave and drive south. 

The main question is: will our laundry be dry by Saturday night? If it is we drive Sunday morning for Piura the next large town four hours south of here by Google maps. If the laundry isn’t dry we will postpone till Monday. On such details do plans turn.

The idea is to take the coast road before driving to 9,000 feet at Cajamarca to see how we do back at high altitude. Then we drive back to the coast and take another hop south before turning inland again to see the White Mountains - the Cordillera Blanca. 

The coast road is described as boring, a mix of dust and desert, trash and industrial farming on the plains and in my imagination it sounds like a drive through California’s Salina’s Valley but the reality will doubtless prove me wrong. After Piura, a city of no merit at all from what we’ve heard though there is a supermarket and a secure campground,  we will drive further south before turning inland to the historic city of Cajamarca. 

A fellow overlander in a large expedition truck is leaving before us to go inland and drive the mountain roads  but I took a look at Route 5 and Route 3 and they are not going to be much fun for us. Three days of this sort of thing on a narrow paved road in the mountains just seems tedious to me. 

“I like driving,” Bernhard said and so do I but there are plenty of mountain passes ahead that are unavoidable so one that is voluntary I’ll skip thanks and take the coastal route instead. After Cajamarca there are ancient ruins near Trujillo back on the coast as we drive south towards the snow covered peaks inland. And from those white specks we go back to the coast, skirt Lima if we can and continue south to the Nasca Lines and the Inca capital of Cusco. Theoretically we could go east to the Brazilian Amazon but we’ll probably drive south to Lake Titicaca and then back to the coast to Arequipa and the Chilean town of Arica skipping Bolivia for the time being. Bolivia is a mess for overlanders and to go there would probably drive me to drink prematurely. 

Meanwhile, after we hashed out a Peruvian plan for our immediate future I went back back to dawdling and I tried to take Rusty for a walk. He refused but his hunter instincts came back briefly and to my astonishment he caught and ate a crab. He looked pleased with himself. 

He used to catch iguanas for us when we first got him, his contribution to our survival until he realized he got food regularly every day without having to hunt. 

I saw a dead flamingo on the beach the other day and all I saw now was a pink feather. 

A navy ship has joined the fishing fleet at anchor in the open road south of the campground. It’s a weird spot as it has no visible protection from the elements. 

The weather forecast promises sunshine all week. If true we might not be leaving so fast.  What an interesting dilemma.