October 17-20, 2016
After a couple of days rest in Zumba, we arrived in Peru and our first impressions were great. Lowers costs, no more dealing with the American dollar and tons of smiles and ‘gringo calls’.
Cycling Stats
October 17, 2016
Start Point: Zumba, Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador
End Point: Namballe, San Ignacio, Peru
33.3 km distance, 3:09 time on bikes, 47.6 km/h maximum speed, 8.8 km/h average speed
October 18, 2016
Start Point: Namballe, San Ignacio, Peru
End Point: San Ignacio, San Ignacio, Peru
41.8 km distance, 4:50 time on bikes, 52.9 km/h maximum speed, 8.6 km/h average speed
October 20, 2016
Start Point: San Ignacio, San Ignacio, Peru
End Point: Tamborapa, San Ignacio, Peru
77.1 km distance, 4:25 time on bikes, 54.4 km/h maximum speed, 17.4 km/h average speed
Accommodations & Route Information
October 17, 2016
After 13 kilometres of riding there is a small town called El Chorro that has a store and a covered area to put a tent. There are lots of ups and downs on the gravel road on this day. The last descent into Peru is very steep. Leaving Ecuador is very easy. Once you’re in Peru the road is paved and mostly flat into the town of Namballe. There are at least 2 hostels and a hotel. We stayed at a clean nice hotel for 20 soles per room for two people. Dinner was 5 soles per person and beer is 3 soles per can.
October 18, 2016
Again on this day the ride includes lots of ups and downs which total about 1500 meters in climbing. There are towns about every 15 kilometres with food. The road is good quality. Arriving in San Ignacio there are lots of hotels, stores and restaurants. We paid 20 soles for a room for 2 with a private bathroom.
October 20, 2016
You start the day with a small climb out of the city. Then it’s a big paved downhill for about 20 kilometres in which you drop 1000 meters in elevation. The road continues to be paved and then it is small undulating hills following the river. There are a few towns with food along the way. Arriving in Tamborapa there are two hospedajes but both said they didn’t have room so we slept in the field behind the police station with their permission.
What happened…
Amanda writes: After riding for three days with rain, we decided to take an extra day off in Zumba. We still had one extra day to spare on our VISA’s so decided to dry out and play music. Philip pulled out his wind instruments and combined with our guitar, we made music for hours. I learned more about Philip and Nici including that they sing in choirs at home in Austria when they’re not traveling. It was a great extra day off the bikes.
Zumba had a local market each day including fish. I was left wondering from where?
A look across at what is likely Peru.
As we loaded our bikes on the street to leave the last town in Ecuador, the locals stopped and pointed and called out “Gringos Locos” which means crazy gringos. It made us smile and reminded us how unique we are for them to see. Off we went and while it did rain some, we were able to take cover and enjoy some hot chocolate to avoid some of it. During the steep and rough descent into Peru I managed to break a spoke on my front wheel but we just wrapped it around another one and kept going. The border crossing was nothing more than a river and a rope. We got our exit stamps and then had a bit of a wait on the Peru side. Turns out there was a bit of computer glitch but the wait was worth it as we were granted a 6-month visa – yahoo! It was getting dark by the time we got out of customs and completed the short ride with the help of Philip and Nici’s lights. We were pleasantly surprised with prices in Peru and the locals all seemed very nice.
Andrew carefully navigating the steep descent into Peru.
Back to paved roads as soon as we crossed the border.
Over the next couple of days we continued riding through some beautiful country and stayed a couple of days in San Ignacio. We enjoyed the little big city and the comforts of a hotel with access to stores and restaurants. After we left San Ignacio we had a great big downhill on a nicely paved road and then we got to follow a river on mostly flat roads. It was great to see some new landscape with rice patty fields and farmers. Something I’ve noticed in Peru is that women seem to be doing more physical labour than in other Latin America countries.
Peru keeps their costs down by using the same sign for up and down hills. They just mount it on the pole accordingly.
Welcome to San Ignacio!
We’ve seen lots of coffee beans and rice drying on the road, but popcorn is a first for me.
Back to cycling through areas with an abundance of fresh fruit.
The owner of the fruit stand had this parakeet who enjoyed fresh pineapple with us.
When we arrived in the town of Tamborapa we stopped at the first hostel only to be told that it was hot in the rooms and she didn’t have water. We decided against that and moved onto the next one. We were told it was full. We had already ridden pretty far and the next town was out of reach. We asked the local police for recommendations and they said we could pitch our tent behind their offices in the field. So after a couple of hours of reading in the shade we headed off to find some dinner and then came back and set up our tents on the football pitch behind the station.