The Peruvian Way

Well, just over a week ago we made it into Peru. The border crossing was hilarious, after quite a ride from the last town of Zumba, Ecuador we rode on dirt, bumpy and muddy (it´s been raining every night all night and heavy!) road up and down hills, in high humidity (we´d dropped out of the mountains) and in the middle of nowhere. Marco got a flat, again, it was the tube splitting, not the tyre and we both had rack issues- our salsa racks have not held up to the conditions down here.
Anyway we ride into this area of three shops and the customs building, reward oursleves with a beer, wash myself off (I had a bad experience with a massive puddle and LOTS of mud!) and then head in to get our passports stamped. The ófficial´was shirtless, hanging out with his lady friend and listening to music! Needless to say, it was a very quick and painless crossing! Over to Peru, pretty chill there too, although this guy had his shirt on.
Now, I must say, I´d been quite concerned about Peru. We´d heard a few negative experiences such as rock throwing and theft and just not nice people...well, not 2minutes into the ride to the first town from the border, it started raining rocks!!!! I couldn´t believe it! We´re in the middle of nowhere and some people are throwing rocks at us from a bluff overhead. I yelled out some profanities in Italian (I figure it doesn´t matter what language I speak, they don´t understand me anyway!). Well, the rocks weren´t that big, and they had terrible aim and afterwards, I found the whole experience quite hilarious.
Our first night was spent in a tiny town, in a new hotel with a nice owner. The next day we opted to get a ride to San Ignacio after it rained all night, again, and the road was unpaved until there (or so we had been told!). We spent New Years in San Ignacio, where I decided that Peru wasn´t so bad after all. Everyone was super-friendly, we sat on the side of the road and watched all the antics of NYE and people just kept coming up to us to meet and talk with us and of course, share a few beers. Which, the act of drinking beer here deserves it´s own paragraph...
One 650ml beer is purchased, no matter how many people are drinking, and upon purchase, the group receives one small glass. You then take turns pouring yourself a couple of gulps, passing the bottle on, drinking your sips, pouring the dregs out of the glass and then passing the glass on to the next person. AND, they usually leave the last few sips in the bottle (or if you´re in a restaurant- you get a different cup to pour the last sips out into). It certainly creates a feeling of friendship and comeradery very quickly in the group. An interesting custom, but I must admit, I like it.
Well, NYE we hung out with a few people, had dinner, watched a parade and some traditional dancing  and then went to bed to the sounds of music blaring- which ended up going until 8am!!! Not a very good night´s sleep! We should have just stayed up and partied with everyone.
Anyway, the next morning we started off early only to find that the pavement doesn´t really start until another 60km down the road!! And it had rained again all night, so once again it was a soggy, muddy ride with some rain aswell, but it was warm, so we didn´t mind so much except for the potholes. We were in the land of rice paddy´s and tropical fruit- had some of the best bananas ever. Stopped for a break and shared a beer and christmas cake with some nice ladies and then made it to Perico where we heard there was a guy who took in bike tourists. Instead, we were merrily greeted by just about everyone on the main road (which was probably everyone in the town)- we rode thru, turned back and were stopped by a group of people hanging out the front of their house. First they wanted a photo with us, then they made us sit and drink beer (the Peruvian way) and then they took us inside, made us dance to their music and then ours and then they even fed us!!! One of them even took us to his grandmother´s house where we could sleep the night!
Marco and I were still hungry, so we went looking for more food only to run into another friendly guy who made us drink beer with him and then he took us to his house, where his mum cooked us another dinner! We were even invited back for breakfast the next day. Such friendly and generous people in Perico!
It was another beautiful ride thru a lush valley of rice paddy´s, a large winding river, birds chirping, friendly waves from locals and some crazy landscapes similar to the Owyhee River. Oh, and most importantly- we had pavement!!
Since Perico, we´ve been thru Jaen, a big ugly city. Hitched a ride into the mountains to Capilla, then rode dirt roads for many, many kilometres thru Cutervo, Chota, Bombamarca, Hualguyoc and to Cajamarca. I had a meltdown on one day- I was not feeling up to dealing with all the challenges- rain and muddy roads, cars honking at us, people staring or asking all sorts of questions, me not being able to understand people, having my lights stolen (karma will work it´s magic!) and the road we were on was supposed to be paved by now. When we had to cross one of the many streams flowing across the road, I ended up taking my shoes off and walking thru it (I fell on a previous occasion!), I had been crying too. Well we took a break, Marco gave me a big hug and after that we rode together and I started feeling better.
Well, the town we got to was small, and unfriendly, but we managed to find some really nice people who let us camp in their house. The next day we climbed to 4400m- our highest thus far! And then rode on a plateau up and down little hills in amazing countryside. We ended up putting in a lot of miles and made it to the city of Cajamarca for a well deserved break. The city is clean, safe, nice and friendly. Tomorrow we head off again...but with an everlooming question about our trip...Where to next??
You see, the rain is getting worse, it´s not fun riding in the rain and getting cold and February is more of the same. So we´re wondering if we just suck it up and keep going, or fly to our south point in Argentina and then ride north from there, or just turn around now and ride all the way back to Mt Shasta!!! It is proving to be a most difficult decision to make....stay tuned....