10. Beaches, Beaches and more Beaches
Day 135
Getting out of Mollendo in the morning was short and sweet. I wanted to leave early as there is no point to waste time on this end. I will try to get to my today’s destination early. I collected my bike from the secure garage across the street and quickly pack my bike. I should teach a University course on how to pack, I think I have enough experience by now.
I stopped to get gas as I don’t know what’s ahead in terms of services. I am going today to Tacna which is the last big town before Chilean border. Roughly 260km. I’ve decided tom take a coastal route. My hope is that this route will be more scenic with less traffic than Panamerican Highway.
It is a beautiful sunny day with he temps in low 20s. Perfect! I am riding out of town in no time. The road is beautiful with countless sweeping turns and perfect surface. There is a photo opportunity at every turn. This will take longer then expected … I follow a deserted coastline with pristine beaches with nobody within 100 km radius. Cliff and beaches on one side, big mountain range on the other. Awesome. I take MANY pictures. The scenery is stunning as I become accustomed in the last few days here in Peru. Very rugged, though. No towns or houses, nada. I like it. There is almost no traffic on this road which makes this road even more perfect. It is all sand and rocks here, there is almost no vegetation here. Pure desert. The road climbs high on the cliff only to descent down to the beaches. I can’t get enough and I am stopping constantly.
Then right in front of me comes int he view an even nicer beach. A looooong one with lots of waves crashing into the sandy beach. I am looking for a perfect spot to take a nice picture of it when I see a car right on the beach. How did it get there? I ride further and find a road heading to the beach. Of course I can take a detour! It looks like there are some marshlands between the beach and the land with some inland lake. I see some birds on the water and when I look closer I see they are pink flamingos. Hundreds of them! I stop and grab my camera and start taking pics. Oh boy, this will be lots of pics. After awhile I get on the bike and ride to the beach. What a sight! It is a beach side place with palaces, washrooms, etc. But there is nobody there! Obviously it is not a high season. That what I like. I have the place all by myself. After many beach photos I return to the lagoon with flamingos. I park my bike a walk around. I can’t get enough of those birds. They are so beautiful and there are so many of them. And when they fly they reveal even nice colours on their wings. I am taking lots of photos. It is easy to get carried away when I have my camera settings on 20 frames/second. Well, with hundred of flamingos in my camera I say goodbye to them and get back on the road. That was an awesome surprise. I hope some of those pics will turn out well.
The rest of the coastline was the same. Simply stunning. There was only one town on entire 250 stretch of the coast. Ilo seems to be nicer than “normal” Peruvian town. And I could spot some murals depicted some surfing motives. Well, if not here then when. I haven’t see anybody on or near the beaches here anyway.
Well, this goes all the way south till the road makes a sharp turn inland towards east. It is about 40 km to Tacna and there are some villages along the road. But there is still a desert all around me. I get to the town and it its very easy to find my hotel today. It doesn’t look like there are too many guests here. It looks fairly new and the rooms are very nice and clean with big window and a desk! Wow, 95% of the hotel have no desk in their rooms. Writing on your computer in your bed is not something I like. The only thing is, my room is on the 4th floor! I have to haul all my gear all the way up … I take it is my daily gym routine. I check the internet and it is one of the fastest connections I’ve had on this trip. I need to take advantage of it and I quickly find a place for tomorrow. It will be (I hope) in Iquieque, Chile. And while I am at it, I book a place in Atacama desert. I will stay there for 18 days, over xmas. But, more when I get there. I need to work on my pics so I can post them tonight.
See ya in Chile!