LATEST 17TH MAY:  18,230KM FOR 439 ROAD DAYS.

NOTE: MY SPOT TRACKER HAS BEEN GIVING ” PATCHY ” FIXES TO PUT IT MILDLY OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS AND WEEKS. I AM NOT IMPRESSED TO PUT IT MILDLY ABOUT THESE MISSING TRACKS, IT LOOKS LIKE I AM SKIPPING HUGE AMOUNTS, WHICH COULDNT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. I HAVE RUN, OK SOME WALKING EVERY SINGLE LAND KILOMETRE SINCE THE START IN OCTOBER 2010. I AM ALSO NOT IMPRESSED THAT IT ONLY GIVES MY FIRST  50 DAILY FIXES WHICH ARE (10 MINUTES APART) WHAT THIS MEANS IS, SHOULD I RUN A LONGER DAY THAT THE ENDING LOCATION WILL NOT BE RECORDED ON THE SHARED PAGE MAP AND THERE WILL BE ANOTHER GAP AT THE START OF THE NEXT DAY. I HAVE EMAILED SPOT AND AM NOT SATISFIED BY THEIR RESPONSE. REMEMBER LAST YEAR WE HAD A GREAT GOOGLE MAP WHICH WAS ON TOP OF THE SPOT SHARED PAGE? WELL THEY PULLED THE GREAT GOOGLE MAP  OFF MY SITE SAYING SOMETHING LIKE THEIR SOFTWARE COULD NO LONGER SUPPORT IT.  THIS JUST HAPPENED TO BE PULLED WHEN MANY PEOPLE MYSELF INCLUDED MISTAKENLY MADE COMMENTS THAT THE SPOT MAP DID NOT UPDATE, IN FACT IT WAS THE GOOGLE MAP THAT DID NOT UPDATE. NOW THEY HAVE ALL THEIR ADVERTISING IN  OUR FACES ON TOP OF MY VERY HARD WORK.

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ALWAYS PLAYING CATCH UP HERE IS THE END OF THE DESERT STAGE. I NEED TO UPLOAD PICTURES AS SOON AS I GET A CHANCE AND THEN WRITE MY AMAZING  MOUNTAIN EXPERIENCE. SORRY FOR THE DELAY, TIME IS TIGHT ON THE ROAD.

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I was really enjoying my Peru desert experience as I continued running south along the Peruvian desert coast. At times there was little shoulder but lots of gravel and of course, plenty of sand!

At km 347 I stopped for a quick ice cream at a restaurant called ” Restaurant La Balsa ” The restaurant is owned by a very kind-hearted man called Clemente who takes an interest in any traveller that stops by, mostly cyclists around the world or from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska, motorcyclists, walkers and myself the very first runner!

Clemente fed them all and got them to sign his 3 guest books dating back to 1998.

I knew two of the travellers, both walkers –  French Canadian Jean Believue who completed an 11 year world walk last year and Karl Bushby walking in unbroken steps from Tierra del Fuego at the very tip of South America all the way to his doorstep in Hull,England all without any transport whatsoever. He has already walked the Americas, crossed the Bearing Straights between Alaska and Russia when it was frozen. Karl is now in central Russia, he has obviously gotten some kind of a special permit to walk under the English Channel and through the Chunnel from France to England… Now there is an idea… Got me thinking, I must admit

Having read his book Giant Steps and knowing the eye he has for women I laughed when I say his entry on a map he drew into the guestbook of South America with the places he had met lovely women en route! You see Karl is a Curt Cobain lookalike, the former front man of rock band Nirvana and when girls mentioned it to him, well reading between the lines I think he took full advantage of his good looks!

He also wrote in big letters NO BICYCLE, yes I can relate to that irritating question! He signed off by telling cyclists to get off their bikes and stop being girls and to walk instead!

Here in the restaurant Clemente brought me into his special room for his travellers. I signed his almost full and third guestbook called ” Amigos Adventurous. ”

There were also photos of a French couple who were cycling around the world on a tandem towing their young child in a Chariot trailer behind. What a wonderful learning experience for the youngster but I cant imagine how the drivers here treated them.

I spent about two hours there and could easily have spent the whole day. Clemente fed me fish and chips. I wondered how many travellers have gone by oblivious of this great place. Just as I was wondering this an English world cyclist called Ivan who I had met that morning flashed by. I told Clemente that its a pity he doesn’t have a sign outside.

Next day I got lashed by a sand storm, sand getting in everywhere, my face, eyes, mouth even with my bandana covering most of my face, also shoes, socks even into my pockets. It only lasted about half an hour, I guess its not a desert trip without a sand storm!

The advice I had gotten from many people that had travelled this desert route is obviously now out of date. I was told it was a lonely stretch with little traffic and long distances between villages or shops. The longest I went was about 28-32 km on four occasions and as for the little traffic, well there is a road widening project going on due to the amount of truck crashes.

The next couple of days having shook the mountains out of my legs I ran strong to record 46 and 54km days. I don’t normally time myself but couldn’t resist it and some of my kilometres were around 5.40 which is very fast for me now, and a confidence boost for when I eventually leave the Andes behind in Argentina in about two months time.

That second day I had gotten off to a very late start and at the end of the day got a police escort to the edge of the town of Gramadal. Four cops on two motorbikes escorted me about 6 km as far as km marker 196 as it was dark. I finished my day at that marker and got a mototaxi to town for the night. I will return to the same marker in the morning as usual.

When I arrived at the plaza the mototaxi driver told me the police had paid my fare, just goes to show a few bad apples ruin it for the majority as mentioned in a previous blog.

I am now 11 degrees below the equator, I feel I am making steady progress.

The next day I finished my 43 km canter at km 153 right at junction 18. This will be the end of the desert for me. I had to make a side trip to Lima to pick up a package sent from home containing fresh supplies. It was sent to the Irish Embassy there but the post office said I had to go to their main sorting office to have it examined by customs.

First I got a taxi to the Irish embassy but unfortunately Irish ambassador Michael G Russell was at a meeting with all the other ambassadors in Lima. I was helped by his assistant a very friendly and helpful man called Kevin from Kansas.

Another taxi took me over to the post office depot, which took up a whole city block. I was told to expect to be there for a whole day, such was the bureaucracy. In fact I was back in my hotel within two hours eating my Irish chocolate with a lovely cup of tea!

While waiting for my number to be called I noted on the information monitor that the importation of used clothes and shoes was strictly prohibited into Peru. I thought that funny as I am sure some of the people I see wearing Chicago Bears tee-shirts and the like comes from charity drives.

I had one of  my favourite  running tops which my sisters friend Ger modified for the next stage of the run… Also two new pairs of running shoes. I had asked my folks to muddy them up and let them dry out in the box and mark them as used so as not to attract serious import tax!

Through a glass counter screen I watched the post office official in the company of a customs officer open my box. The customs officer just had a casual root around the top shoe in the box, closed it and said $5 charge! Nice one.

The most important contents in the box was some of my favourite chocolate, a crushed Easter egg and belated birthday cards. The jokers in my family boxed my package in a box which previously contained chicken fillets and knowing what I have written about the Latino chickens in the past I got a great laugh!

That night I went to dinner with Alejandro, a Peruvian software designer, son of a doctor and runner who had run the Dublin marathon in 2011. I had always had visions of Lima, a city of 9 million inhabitants to be crawling with beggars at every street corner, in fact I had expected this all over Peru, which is not my experience. I have met only about a dozen and always try to help.

Having said that there is a huge poverty problem here but also an elite privileged class.

Granted we were in an exclusive area of Lima and looking out the restaurant window out over at a beautiful beach. Alejandro told me he can run long distances unhindered on that beach, even a marathon.

 Before I left Lima, Alejandro a great music fan bumped my music up by a further 18 gb! In the box today was another 32gb memory card which he also promises to fill up… Timing is everything… Anyone else got a good music collection they want to share with me, I can arrange a memory stick delivery!

Many thanks to Barbara Churchley a resident of my former homeland Colorado! Barbara is an artist of some magnificent  fine art. If anyone makes a purchase from her WEBSITE  please mention this website!

Barbara has made a very kind donation to my Paypal account on the sidebar of this website to help me fund this world run.

I would like to dedicate this current, and most difficult of mountain crossings all the way to Huancayo to you Barbara for your generosity Timing is everything and fittingly in the next few days I am due to climb up to SANTA BARBARA DE CARHUACAYAN which many locals tell me is over 4,400 metres high or well over 15,000 feet! Just like being back in good old Colorado! And with no support vehicle, this is the life of the dream!

If anyone else wants to sponsor a day or hotel night  please feel free to make a donation on the side bar and I will acknowledge it in the blog!

Thanks to everyone for your great support and comments to the blog, it means a lot to me

SHORT UPDATE.

THINGS ARE REALLY REMOTE NOW! 2 DAYS AGO NO CARS PASSED ME ON THE ROAD, O I WAS NOT RUNNING FAST! YESTERDAY I LOST COUNT OT SURE IF IT WAS 8 OR 10!  TODAY WAS A SHORT DAY JUST 13KM AS I RAN FROM WHERE I FINISHED YESTERDAY TO ACOS. THE COMMUTE DIDNT LEAVE TILL 11AM DUE TO ROAD WORKS, SO IT WAS TOO LATE TO RUN ON. I AM IN A SMALL VILLAGE WITH THIS LIMITED INTERNET SERVICE, SO BEST TO STAY ANOTHER NIGHT HERE AS I HOPE TO REACH PIRCA TOMORROW. I UNDERSTAND THERE IS A HOTEL THERE. THEY WILL BE FAR APART FOR A WHILE, SO BEST TO TAKE ADVANTAGE WHEN POSSIBLE, EVEN IF SOME DAYS ARE SHORT.

ON MONDAY I STAYED WITH A VERY POOR ELDERLY COUPLE WHO OPENED UP THEIR VERY MODEST HOUSE TO ME AS THE HOTEL IN TOWN WAS CLOSED. I GAVE THEM MY FOOD AND HOTEL MONEY. I LOOK FORWARD WHEN POSSIBLE TO BLOG ABOUT THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE IN THE PERUVIAN ANDES MOUNTAINS. I STILL HAVE ABOUT 2 WEEKS OF THE DESERT BLOG TO CATCH UP ON ALSO! IT´S ALL GO IN THE ANDES!!

THANKS TO EVERYONE AGAIN FOR YOUR WONDERFUL SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT!

I HAVE JUST BEEN TOLD TO HURRY UP AND FINISH ON THE INTERNET AS THEY ARE AFRAID WHEN THEY PUT ON THE LIGHTS IN THIS GROCERY STORE THAT THERE WILL BE A POWER SURGE!

¡ HASTA LUEGO!

AN OUTDOOR CHURCH IN THE ANDES

**** HI ALL. THE MOUNTAIN ROADS ARE IN VERY BAD CONDITION, ROCKY ROADS, LUMPY,GRAVEL.

 MY PROGRESS WILL BE SLOW FOR NEXT FEW DAYS. IT”S GOING TO MORE OF A MARCH THAN A RUN FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

THERE WAS EVEN A SOCCER PITCH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! I DONT KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY SCORE A GOAL!

 I ALSO DO NOT EXPECT TO HAVE AN INTERNET CONNECTION FOR A FEW DAYS ****

I MISSED THIS RIGHT TURN TODAY AS I JUST STAYED ON THE MAIN ROAD AND HAD TO BACKTRACK 6KM! IT'S ALL IN THE DREAM

I HAD TO BACKTRACK TO SAYAN TONIGHT TO POST THIS!

THERE WERE 10 OF US IN THIS TOYOTA COROLLA WHEN I WAS COMMUTING BACK TO SAYAN, INCLUDING THESE 3 IN THE PASSENGER SEAT!

ROUTE FOR NEXT WEEK AND A HALF PRESS > HERE

5TH MAY UPDATE….TOTAL TO DATE: 17,869KM FOR 427 ROAD DAYS.

PERU DAILY LOG HAS BEEN UPDATED. TO VIEW FULL PERU DAILY DISTANCES AND DETAILS PRESS > HERE

 MAY 5TH 2012. FROM KM 31 ON ROUTE 18 TO KM 46 IN SAYAN THEN TO ROUTE 1NC AT KM 0. AS FAR AS KM 15, NOTE SPOT TRACKER DID NOT UPDATE THIS LAST SEGMENT. 30KM TODAY.

MAY 4TH 2012 FROM KM 153 ON PAN AMERICAN HIGHWAY AS FAR AS JUNCTION 18 (EAST TOWARDS MOUNTAINS AND CUZCO) ROAD HAS NO SHOULDER, JUST 2 MTS OF ROCKY,UNEVEN GRAVEL. I RAN FROM KM 0 TO KM 31 = 31 KM TODAY.

MAY 1-3 IN LIMA FOR BUSINESS.INCLUDING PICK UP HEAVY BAG/RESEND TO HUANCAYO, AND PARCEL FROM HOME. ALSO A VISIT TO THE IRISH EMBASSY.

 PM MAY 3RD TRAVEL BACK TO ROUTE FOR RESTART TOMORROW INTO THE ANDES TOWARDS CUZCO.

APRIL 30TH 2012. FROM KM 196 TO KM 153 TO FINISH CLOSE TO JUNCTION 18 TOWARDS SAYAN.  43KM TODAY, FELT GOOD, TRAVEL TO LIMA. STAYING IN HOSTAL TROPICAL.

29/4/2012. FROM KM 250 TO KM 196 (BARRANCA CROSSROADS ON PAN-AMERICAN HIGHWAY) LATE SLUGGISH START AND LATE FINISH. GOT A POLICE ESCORT TO FINISH. 54KM TODAY, GOOD DAY, I MANAGED TO RETRIEVE 3 OF MY 4 WATER DROPS ON THE ROAD,THAT SYSTEM WORKING GREAT! HEAVY TRAFFIC/GOOD SHOULDER. AM NOW 11 DEGREES BELOW THE EQUATOR. 

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A couple of routine days took me to Lambayeque, which is about 12km from where I decided too base in Chicalayo. I got there early and wanted to get out and back onto the road as quickly as possible. I asked a mototaxi to take me to a clean, cheap place and so he starts talking about a place where gringos stay. Fine I say thinking it’s a backpackers hostel, so he took me to a 5 star luxury hotel and wondered why I didn’t tip him! At the reception I was told $250 a night!
I turned around and sprinted out. So another taxi driver takes me downtown and everything is very expensive and without wi-fi. So I wander around and am standing outside a Hotel called Hotel Kalu. It’s a nice place. I see the cheapest room advertised at 100 soles a night, about 40 dollars. Next thing the doorman starts negotiating with me. He quickly comes down from 100 soles to 70, to 50 No deal I told him, then he says 40. So I say 30 soles = $12 is my offer. He goes inside and checks with management who say yes. As I was checking in I noticed breakfast was included, but didn’t say anything in case they said no as I was getting a great deal. That’s what happened, I got breakfast the first morning and they cut me off the other two days I stayed there including a rest day.

Running out of Chiclayo was tough, really congested, the noise, honking taxi drivers who think I came all this way to take a ride in their beat up motor! Anytime I ask anyone for directions I am told it’s far away, even five blocks is far, when I tell them that’s nada they are genuinely astonished. The next day I am running towards Mocupe, it’s another tough day even though there are only 27km on the clock today. I stop at the side the road, it seems there is some kind of a charity fundraiser going on as the vendors are selling juices out of half litre used soda bottles for about 50 cents, a steal here.

THE DESERT ONLY BEGAN 12KM BACK AND ALREADY IT'S PARTYTIME!

It’s at the side of the road, outside a factory gate in a remote location, a true oasis for me. I drank a lot of water that day. I sometimes wonder if drinking water is just like lubricating a rusted bicycle chain. Neglect it and it will seize up, just like the body, lubricate it and it will perform wonders.

Sweat and salt from sweat fluid are creating a glue like substance on my lips, the wind and sand dont help and its sometimes painful when I open my lips. Yes it’s very hard for me to open my mouth I now have very sore lips exasperated by my addiction to hot tea and coffee. It is sometimes very painful brushing my teeth.

A PENNY FOR YOUR THEM.

A couple of days there were strong sandstorms. I had to cover my face as much as I can. Its difficult to keep my hat on, sometimes I just leave it off.

ENTER SANDMAN! THE SANDSTORM IS ALMOST OVER.

I have been told that the further south I go in south America the cheaper things will be. That’s not what I am finding,I am finding Peru to be expensive and just like Ecuador more expensive for a lesser product all the time.

I spotted the ocean today for the first time, what a thrill, I pinched myself, yes it’s really happening!
The roadside and desert fields are littered so much it’s just unreal. It’s almost like the city officials either allow people to dump their household waste, including old sinks, broken tiles, you name it.

I saw a woman cross the road and empty a sack of rubbish into a hedge opposite to her house.

But as I have said before, what can people do if there is no rubbish collection, only bury or burn but I don’t really see much of an effort to keep the place clean. Last week I saw people burning their waste right up against a wall of…. wait for it…. A gas station! And there was no sign of anyone stopping them. I passed many desert dumps with scavengers who appeared to be living on these dumps in a desperate effort to scrape out some kind of a living, it was very sad.

In this part of Peru I have seen more syringes than I have ever seen in the whole of my life put together, it’s always eerie seeing a used syringe, even if I didn’t see any blood stains. I wondered if they were from hospitals or diabetics or junkies.
At the end of the day a young boy shouts over to me ” Un otra dia senor! ” or another day, he is smart, really tuned.
The desert thickens, more and more sand dunes. Sometimes, usually near small towns there is some vegetation as small patches of sand have been irrigated by the few small river channels around.

THIS MAN IS WORKING VERY HARD TRYING TO CULTIVATE A FEW PLANTS.

 There are a few vegetable and fruit farms, even one vineyard. I stop at one of these farms and the security guard lets me fill up a couple of my empty bottles from his water cooler. Fill at every opportunity.
Then I get to a place called Ciudad de Dios, or Gods City.

GODS CITY!

It truly is a miciraculas place as the dogs don’t even bark at me, they haven’t barked all weekend. Here in Peru dogs are often up on the roofs, up where they belong in my view!

UP WHERE YOU BELONG, WHERE THE AIR IS FREE

I stopped for an ice cream there and the vendor insisted I gave him a 5 soles coin, he is persistent, it, takes all my bargaining skills, but this time in reverse to convince him that it was only a 2 soles coin, Gods City indeed, there is hardly a day when a couple of people don’t try to cheat me, just like back in Panama. I call it the Gringo tax.

By now I feel the mountains are out of my legs, I am starting to feel strong and pound out 3 days of over 50km. It’s a great confidence boost for when the mountains will be ahead of me when I get to Argentina in about three months time.
I have written about my energy crises in the past in the Colombian and Ecuadorian Andes, but what can I expect with over 17,000km in the legs, having run for over 2,300km in the Andes, without no support vehicle, no support crew, all the extra work what with blogging and the never-ending emails, late nights, long days on the road.

The fact that I often have to hit the snooze button in the mornings for over two hours. I now use my ipod alarm connected up to my external speaker and the fact that I can fall back asleep to the sound of AC DC, Iron Maiden and Metallica tells it’s own story! Night time I usually drift off with something light, often classical Beethoven or Mozart which is nicely placed between Metallica and Motley Crue!

I mentioned before that this coast has a bad reputation for armed petty crime. A lot of the time I keep to myself, well as best as I can! I just don’t hand out as many cards as I used to and mostly tell people I am just here for a couple of weeks vacation. If a car stops in a suspicious manner I have trained my mind to memorise its registration number as I run towards it. I never run on the inside, if the road is clear I just run wide on the road or cross over. I still remember the registration number from a suspiciously parked white pickup truck in northern Ecuador, PSB1258.
There was a morning when I was commuting back to Viru from Chimbote. A couple of cops got on the bus and examined peoples identity cards. Being the only gringo on the bus he asked me for my passport. I told him I left it back at the hotel, so I got pulled off the bus, bag and all.
They tried to scare me telling me it’s an offence not to carry my passport with me and especially the visa slip. The general advice is not to try to talk them down, just go along with the flow.
” How do we know it’s in your hotel, you do not have a passport and are travelling on this bus? ”
I pulled out the hotel card as I always ask for one, in case I get lost.
” Here phone them, they will confirm my passport details as I just registered there today and the phone number is on the card. ” I said.
Then he said in English… ” How much will you give me if I let you go, 100 soles or 200 soles? About 40 or 80 dollars! The nerve of the man, I couldn’t believe how dumbly he phrased it, 100 or 200!
I lost my cool and with my right index finger started tapping him on his left shoulder ignoring his English and in Spanish, and for all around to hear I shouted…
” I will give you Mierda (shit!) Nada, nothing, and will write about you in my blog! ”

I also tell him if he wasn’t busy collecting ‘ fines ‘ his country would be a lot safer and wouldn’t have the bad reputation it has and that I would be able to carry my passport around safely with me.  Colombia and Mexico are much safer countries now than they used to be, all because they took crime seriously and swamped the highways with the police and military.

That night I get copies made of my passport and my visa, I will carry them around with me in future and continue to leave my passport back at my hotel. 
He asked another couple of dumb questions before backing down and told me to get back on the bus. I had just passed through a small tunnel, so now I am a bit worried when I run through this area tomorrow. It’s funny that the last time I had hassle with a cop, it was just before a small tunnel in north Colombia. (Not the blog posting where I got lost. The one where I got interrogated and asked questions about how much money I had on me.)
Next morning I ran through that tunnel without spotting the cop or having any trouble, it was only 200 metres long.

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DESERT DREAM!

TUESDAY AND WEDNESS REST DAYS AS I GOT TO MAKE A SIDE TRIP TO LIMA. NOT SURE ABOUT THURSDAY.

TOTAL TO DATE AS OF MONDAY  APRIL 29= 17,808KM/11,065 MILES (MILES  ARE APPROX) FOR 424 ROAD DAYS.

PERU DAILY LOG HAS BEEN UPDATED PRESS HERE TO VIEW DAILY DISTANCES

Monday 30 April2012 Today a good 43km from km 196 to km 153 in Huaura.

Sunday 29th another wonderful day, I finished strong and ran 54km and allong the way some of my fastest kms in over a year 5:40s and many sub 6. readers will know I dont mind pace a lot but its still exciting after the energy crises in the Andes. Tomorrow Monday last day in desert and then its back to the mountains on route 18 towards Cuzco

SATURDAY I RAN A WONDERFUL 46KM FEELING REALLY STRONG AS THE MOUNTAINS ARE OUT OF THE LEGS,. THAT GAVE ME A WONDERFUL CONFIDENCE BOOST FOR THE FUTURE

I am enjoying the desert. Will be out of it in a few days. Meeting really wonderful people. Sunday after running I expect to make a side trip to Lima for a couple days. Then it´s back to the mountains! > PS JUST FOUND OUT MON AND TUES ARE HOLIDAYS HERE ( FEAST OF THE IMMICULATED CHICKEN ) SO MORE THAN LIKELY I WILL LEAVE THIS TILL TUES EVENING. THIS KIND OF THING IS TYPICAL HERE WHEN ONE WANTS TO DO URGENT BUSINESS THATS WHY I WOULD NEVER DREAM OF ARRIVING ON THUR OR FRIDAY. SIMPLE TASKS IN LATIN AMERICA CAN TAKE DAYS!

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I tell you Hollywood movies have a lot of answering to do! They will show us visions of snakes everywhere.. Naw, only see about one a month. You call those snakes? Bare footed asparagus pickers spit them out for breakfast, real men!

YOU CALL THOSE SNAKES TONY? WE SPIT THEM OUT FOR BREAKFAST

Yes you read that right. Asparagus growing in the north Peru desert where the only rainfall is from June to August.

Then they will show you visions of a poor hapless wanderer on hands and knees crawling along through sand dunes on all fours.

No need to buddy just get in your car and drive!

But this is the desert are there roads? Sure and they are built in record time… You just flatten out the road and throw some tarmac on it.

But how do you flatten out the road?

That’s the easy part… You just become elected mayor of your oasis town get in a truck with a giant speaker and tell the assembled townsfolk that there is a chicken ban for a full week. Then you drive off followed by the pounding crowds of enraged citizens.

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! HEAR YE! WE HAVE FROZEN THE CHICKEN TILL YOU LAY THE ROAD

So Are they slacking up? Not doing a good enough job for the engineer? Well you just up a couple of gears by shouting into your speaker its going to be a full chicken less month.

NO MORE CHICKEN

This should compact the sand even more.. Still the engineer is not happy? Well go into full gear and tell the angry pounding mob it’s going to be a year, a whole 365 days without chicken and to make things worse this is a leap year. Then tell them all they got to do is throw some tarmac on the trail and you will change your mind.

But you could always drive in the sand? Why would you do that when all you got to do is pay your tolls?

PAY YOUR TOLLS OR YOU DRIVE ON THE SAND!

Then Hollywood throws up visions of said bewildered wanderer gasping for water!

Why would he do that when all he has to do is throw a bottle out a window while commuting?

WATER DELIVERY, THE ONLY HOT DRINK IN PERU IT SEEMS!

I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others.. Not my own, so please listen up to this especially if you are planning to crawl, run or walk across your nearest desert in the near future..

Please read this carefully as I will only say it once.

Yes and the famous mirage? Is that really ice cream?

When you are crawling through your local desert please have your money ready BEFORE you stop the ice cream man because if you don’t, well the ice cream will rapidly melt while you are fumbling for change because  the vendor will have an outstretched ice cream dripping hand. If you do not want to lick the back of his hand off you will just have to buy a second ice cream. Serious lesson here.

A MIRRAGE?NO MIRRAGE! MEET JULIO HE WORKS THE DESERT SHIFT FROM 10AM TILL 4PM AND THEN CYCLES HOME! JULIO,JULIO.. WHERE ARE YOU GONE?

I GUESS HE JUST WENT TO WASH HIS HAND AFTER BEING LICKED SO MUCH?

Do you think I could learn from this serious act of carelessness?

No, not all all, 50 metres further on up the road I stopped at a shop… Yes a shop in the desert. Hollywood will really hate me after this

So what did I buy after my ice cream? I bought of all things CHOCOLATE! And yes before I could pay it was melted.. The last one in the shop.

CHOCOLATE CRAVINGS, I JUST CAN'T GET GOING TODAY!

So Please, please learn from the mistakes of others, not your own mistakes before setting out on your next desert toddle.

THE WANDERER

THAT'S THE PACIFIC OCEAN IN THE BACKGROUND

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Still in northern Peru I moved to a strange town called Olmos on Good Friday as my new base.

Strange town indeed, Olmos is far from Olmost functioning!

Olmost Heaven, north Peru! No Olmost ready to hold the Cockroach Olympics! Honestly I have never seen so many in all my life. The bastards jumping onto my shoes and running up my legs as I walked through the town of sorts for three nights looking for an internet connection. No service I was told night after, no signal. It seemed there were no lights in half of the town as the place had a dark glow to it at night.

There were 3 hotels in town. One that looked like a nice clean one but unfortunately was closed for the holidays. A second which was full and mine where I secured the last bed in a place I called Cockroach Hell!

They were running under a gap under the door, onto the bed, up the walls. I sprayed the place with my insect repellent but only with limited success. I became good at aiming my shoe and knocking the slimey pests into la la land!

To make things worse I was directly across from the bathroom which had a toilet that overflowed and didn’t flush down properly. So you can only imagine the stench of it. Running  is the easy part.

The shower was so filthy that I just had body washes in the sink for the 3 nights I was there. Yes I remember my athletes feet problems from Nicaragua. No matter how light I travel I will always pack my shower flip-flops. I don’t know why I didn’t take a single picture in the town.

This blocked toilet issue was a huge problem in Central America. I never mentioned it in the blog but most times in cafes, restaurants and smaller hotels when one went there was no water to flush it.Ofen no water to wash hands.  The etiquette is to fill up a bucket from a water barrel outside and to pour it down the toilet.

I don’t know why so many Latinos have a problem with connecting up pipes, which just about anyone with a maintenance mind can sort out in any other part of the world. There is a huge laziness streak here, a manana mentality. Ah it will do till tomorrow, now go away and let me watch the football or a ‘ we got talent  ‘ show. Sometimes there is a water supply as there is water in the sink but not for the toilet.

As I mentioned before it does not seem to be the culture to complain about bad service, they just put up with it. I have been in Latin America for about ten months now and have yet to see anyone hand back food for being too cold or for some other reason. I am always doing it here. In this town at a burger joint I handed back the same plate of fries back three times till they were heated enough! The next night they improved as I had to only hand it back twice. Now stone cold potatoes or fries or rice may be the culture to some but if the customer specifically request it hot… what is the problem? Coffee and soups are always on the cold side of luke-warm.

One place refused to heat coffee up for me and they were charging a dollar for the coffee. I think a dollar is a lot for a coffee from a roadside shack in Peru. I remember how the women in Guatemala were out selling small bags of pineapple slices for just a few cents from early morning till after dark. And here it seems that once they get a licence for a shack in a corner of a village that they can do whatever they like! I have no problem with people earning a decent living but in a country that has an average wage of $400 a month I am amazed that a pizza costs the same here as in the USA and many other items like shampoos are even more expensive.

Anyway that Good Friday I crossed the plaza and am not exaggerating there were thousands of dead cockroaches and just as many cannibal cockroaches all over the plaza and no sign of any city maintenance services. They just crawled in and out of pharmacies and banks, people just treated them like pets. How come that a few kilometres down the road there are none? I pity the poor people that have to live here, I can just run out anytime I like.

There are many small towns and villages all over Latin America which are barely functioning. A mayor in another country told me that this is often due to corruption. In his town the previous mayor just put the money in his pocket. When he became mayor, suddenly the whole town was cleaned up and painted. Crime then went down. Why are people not marching and protesting about the open drains, broken side walks, bridges, rubbish all over the country. I can understand people burning trash  if there is no collection. But I wonder why children are not taught about littering in schools, after all if they can learn the rules of football, surely this is not beyond them?

Many police officers in much of northern Peru stop cars and search the passengers bags for anything that looks  ’ finable ‘ the people just pay up, usually a couple of soles, just less than a dollar. On much of my commuting in the area I have noticed drivers getting out and reaching for a few coins. I have seen the coins handed over. Then the driver drives off and gives other drivers a hand up signal telling them they have to pay a fine a bit further on. It’s just accepted, like a toll. No wonder there is so much petty crime on this coast. This is one of the reasons police forces around the world are paid a decent wage.

Mexico and Colombia, though still not perfect fired a lot of the corrupt police and hired more honest cops. It has always been very tough for the cops that wanted to be straight there as they were often threatened by gangsters with violence against their families. The saying always was…

 ’ So what do you want… Lead or silver? ‘

I went out to the highway to commute back to where I finished the day before. Really I should have taken a rest day as there was little traffic. Eventually a man brought me ten kilometres back down the road. I was a bit worried about getting stuck there in no mans land until a truck driver called Julio came along. The next 35km took an hour and a half as he crawled along up the short steep hills, stopping a couple of times due to his truck engine over heating. One of these times we stopped in a restaurant, so I bought the refreshments. Eventually I made it to my start at km 158. I managed only 12 kilometres before I had to head back, that’s what I mean, I would have been better to have taken a rest day. I got a lift back from a very nice couple, I did not catch his name but his wife’s name was Carmella. They had a sheep in the back of their Toyota Corolla which was asleep.

 A few time it awoke up wailing as if having a nightmare, almost like a child screaming. I got the fright of my life every time it wailed. The couple just laughed their heads off telling me they were going to eat it.

CARMELLA AND HER HUSBAND

For tradition reasons, not religious reasons I don’t eat meat on Good Friday, don’t ask me why, I figure it’s only one day in the year. I would have thought it would have been the same here in a religious country like Peru, but no the poor chicken doesn’t even get a break on Good Fridays! To keep things simple I told the hamburger seller I was a vegetarian and didn’t eat meat! That I just wanted a veggie burger and fries with an egg. If I was really a vegetarian I would have been sickened as she cooked the egg smacking it up against someone else’s chicken pattie while using the same utensils.

The next day I returned telling her I was not a vegetarian anymore!

The third day operating out of Olmos I ran a glorious 50km enjoying every step of the way, well I tired at the end but it was still great.

That was Easter Sunday. I awoke in Cockroach Hell to Easter Sunday mass from the Vatican. The television was blaring at 6am from a room just up the corridor from me.  This was the same television which was blaring porn just a few hours before, a lot of double standards here.

 This is something else about the culture in Latin America, the constant blaring of music and televisions at anti-social hours or even at anytime, almost as if they want everyone to hear what they are listening to. Not to mention car and truck horns for almost no reason.

When I was on the road today a pick up truck with a speaker that even Iron Maiden would call excessive was blaring out an advertisement for a store in Olmos that sells ‘ lovely water ‘

There were four of them in the pickup driving up and down the road, one on a laptop, the driver, motor mouth, and another man. They drove by me about four times shattering my ear drums. Eventually I turned around and said…

” Hey I got ‘ lovely water too! ”

And sprayed them with my water bottle! They said nothing!

HEY I GOT LOVELY WATER TOO!

Thank God I am out of here tomorrow. My next base will be Chicalayo. With a name like that I have visions of chickens laying eggs on the highway!

Before leaving here I saw a mototaxi as the motorcycle rickshaws are called here with a sheep tied to the rear luggage carrying rack. It was not obviously secured properly as the poor sheeps head was almost touching the ground having a painful shave as the mototaxi sped along. I saw a young lad running after the mototaxi.

MOTOTAXI. I HAVE SEEN THESE FOR SALE BRAND NEW FOR $2,200. I WAS IN ONE THAT HAD 7 OTHER PASSENGERS. THEY ARE ALSO USED FOR TRANSPORTING HUGE LOADS OF CARGO AROUND SMALL TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

 He looked like he was just out walking and took up the chase. This was the fastest I have seen anyone run in about two years. Fair play to him I hope he caught up as they were soon out of my view.

Yes I am delighted to be out of Cockroach Heaven, Olmos Hell.

And finally I wish a very happy birthday to my mam Sheila who taught me my first steps and is celebrating her birthday on Monday 23rd April.

 I love you mam and dedicate my Peru Desert crossing to you.

THIS IS MY PLANNED ROUTE FOR THE NEXT WEEK AND A HALF. PRESS HERE TO VIEW.

I WILL THEN TAKE A QUICK SIDE TRIP TO LIMA HOPEFULLY SUNDAY NIGHT BUS  TO ARRIVE ON MONDAY MORNING (30 APRIL) TO PICK UP PACKAGES. I WILL THEN RETURN TO THE EXACT SAME SPOT TO CONTINUE RUNNING TOWARDS CUZCO

Total 17,440km Sorry dont have the road days and details as log book back in hotel. Will update in Peru log soon.

Wed. 50km finish in Viru

Tues 53km Finish in Trujillo

17,337KM TO DATE.

SATURDAY 34KM

SUNDAY 36KM

MONDAY 52KM. TODAY I WAS FLYING, FELT VERY STRONG I FINISHED BETWEEN PAIJAN AND CHOCOPE, THEN COMMUTED BACK TO PACAMAYO.

TOMORROW I HOPE TO REACH TRUJILLO.

EVERYTHING GOING WELL, MET A LOT OF NICE PEOPLE TODAY.

WELCOME SUNDAY TIMES READERS!

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MANY THANKS TO RICHARD OAKLEY,SUNDAY EDITOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES IN IRELAND FOR PENNING A GREAT ARTICLE. WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS PIECE FOR A MONTH.

I WAS IMPRESSED BY RICHARDS PATIENCE ALSO HIS PAINSTAKING RESEARCH OF THIS WEBSITE.

NOTE: AFTER DOWNLOADING PLEASE SELECT ZOOM LEVEL THAT BEST SUITS. 100% SEEMS TO BE GOOD.

PRESS Running_Man TO READ RICHARDS ARTICLE IN EASTER SUNDAYS TIMES

ANIMALS ARE A BIG PROBLEM ON THE ROADS IN PERU

THE PERU DAILY LOG HAS BEEN UPDATED TOTAL TO DATE AS OF FRIDAY 13TH!  = 17,215  KM FOR 409 ROAD DAYS.  FOR FULL DETAILS PLEASE SEE THE PERU DAILY LOG A COUPLE OF POSTS BACK, I  HAVE ALSO INCLUDED MY PROPOSED PERU ROUTE MAP AND PERU INFORMATION.

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I HAD INTENDED TO PUT A BLOG POSTING IN ADVANCE FOR IRISH FOLLOWERS IF THEY WANTED TO BUY THE PAPER BUT I COULDN’T AS MY BASE IN A PLACE CALLED OLMOS HAD NO INTERNET SERVICE OVER THE WEEKEND.

JUST A SMALL CORRECTION. I AM NOT DOING ANY ‘ ROUGHING IT, SLEEPING UNDER BRIDGES ETC HERE IN SOUTH AMERICA AND MUCH OF CENTRAL AMERICA AS HOTELS ARE MORE AFFORDABLE THAN IN THE USA OR CANADA. I ALSO NEED TO HAVE A BASE TO STORE MY STUFF SAFELY WHEN RUNNING AND COMMUTING AND ALSO FOR REST/RECOVERY AND SAFETY REASONS. MANY FOLLOWERS HAVE SPONSORED THESE NIGHTS AND IT IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF HOW YOUR HELP HAS PAID OFF, ALSO WITH YOUR MUCH GRATEFUL HELP I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO STAY IN SAFER HOTELS WHERE I DONT RISK MY DOOR LOCK BEING SLIPPED!

MANY THANKS TO ALL.

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ALSO FOR ANY NEW FOLLOWERS, ESPECIALLY FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES THAT MAY BE WONDERING ” WHY OH WHY! ” I HAVE PROVIDED THIS LINK TO A BLOG I POSTED LAST OCTOBER WHILE RUNNING IN CENTRAL AMERICA

A BIT DATED BUT FOR SOME ANSWERS TO THE WHY QUESTIONS PLEASE CLICK HERE ON Y

A GRAVEYARD