Day 63/164: Paracas to Santiago Ica – 93 kilometres

900 meters climbing, and 900 meters down.

It was very cold this morning, 8 degrees, I was wearing warm gear.

The ride was pretty much rolling hills with long stretches, with a slight gradient, but with a head wind. The kind of riding I do really well. I was riding in a peloton with Shirley and Dan.

All of a sudden I heard a really weird noise from the back of my bike, and stopped to look. I had a screw stuck from one side to the other. In the time that I stopped the tyre went flat. Dan helped change it, he is really fast at changing tyres.

While we were there a bunch of riders going the other way stopped for a chat. A group of youngish guys (late 20’s?) from USA, UK, Italy and France. The one from Italy had been riding for two years. They were all self-supporting and heading to Pisco, and enjoying the tail wind.

Tyre changed, we set off again and soon came to the lunch stop.

After lunch I rode with Michelle and Tony from lunch to camp. At only 93 kilometres and no real climbing it was like a day off. We were at camp by midday. We are saying at Santiago Ica Camp.

After setting up the tents we sat around the pool chatting, and having a couple of cold beers.

I packed about 11 pairs of reading glasses to take on this trip – not expensive ones, just the two dollar shop ones, and would you believe I have none left? The arm fell off one yesterday, and could not be fixed, and today I knelt on my last good pair in my tent. Now I have one lens and sticking tape in the middle. Fingers crossed I can buy some in Nazca on our next rest day!

Dinner tonight was chicken, rice and asparagus.

Day 62/164: Cerru Azul to Paracas – 130km

1,000 meters climbing and 1,000 meters down.

We were going to be staying at Reserva national de Paracas at 135 kilometres (bush camping in a National Park) but instead this was changed at lunch to 115 kilometres in Paracas.

Today is a non-race day, instead it is a team challenge day. We had to get into teams of approximately 5, with at least one team member who joined in Lima, and team members from at least two continents.

The challenges were
1. Form a human pyramid with a scenic backdrop
2. Have a photo of each team member doing what they like to do
3. A tasteful picture of a Catholic icon
4. The team enjoying grapes
5. The team enjoying something sweet and sour
6. The team interacting with the locals.

We had a great day getting the challenges completed. We had a dog in our pyramid with a backdrop of the beach.

My photo of what I like to do was feeding a dog.

Feeding the dog in Pisco

Our sweet and sour was Piscos in Pisco – I abstained. We had the Piscos in Pisco as we figured there should be bonus points attached to that. Thankfully not everyone had to have one, and Pisco was only 25 kilometres from where we were staying.

For interacting with the locals we did wine tasting, and then took a picture at a road side shop of a grandmother and her grandson (who was 3 like my grandson).  Ray from Missouri who was in the team speaks reasonably good Spanish, and was able to have a conversation with the grandmother. As we rode away from the shop I could not help thinking how different this grandmother’s life is than the grandmother at the shop.

With having to do 20 kilometres less than expected we did not even mind the unexpected 5 kilometre dirt road. The riding today was pretty easy going, as we were taking our time.

We got to camp in time to air the tent and do some washing. Dinner tonight was steak! First time that has appeared for dinner, big pieces and cooked medium or well done and salad.