| Location: | Chiclayo |
We have plenty of people wanting to help and as Kev does the paperwork, I am left guarding the bike and drawing an ever increasing crowd of blokes, asking questions, pointing and pushing. I have also two policemen who stand close by, who smile and seem to keep the crowd at bay a little.
Crossing to Peru is a simple case of crossing the bridge and under a huge blue sign saying "Bienvenidos al Peru". We cross quickly and easily and ride off down the Pan American and into our twelth country. It is a huge boost.
We have left the mountains long behing until we need to cross them again in Santiago and after some miles of coast road with a clear blue sea, we head inland. From now on we run more or less the Pacific Coast (though not always on the coast), through mostly desert terrains. It never ceases to amaze me how people live insome of the places we see, with no facilities, makeshift shelters of sticks and black plastic, with desert and scrubland stretching as far as you can see.
It is a cloudy day and the whole place is grey. Dark grey skies, grey desert with dead grey grasses, cut by a black road running straight straight as far as they eye can see for miles. The ride is tedious, broken up by the odd goat or dog wandering at the side of the road, shanty towns and a few traffic police who seem to be sleeping at the side of the road.
The positive is that we make good progress and so far we have no more problems with the back wheel. However the bike feels tired. It clocked over 22,000 miles yesterday on the mileometer (some 12,000 miles of which are the wolrd record ride). We have decided that in Santiago the bike needs a good overhaul. Kevin is half minded to fly Steve out from Balderstons - the only person he trusts with the bike!
We have four days to get to Santiago for the service. We have to make it - the next three days are a public holiday in Chile to celebrate Independence and BMW is closed.
