From pyramid schemes and drug barons to 3am starts, Ben Cunninghamdescribes the latest stage of his Panamerican Cycle Test
AFTER THE frustration of shipping our support vehicle out of Panama as Panamerican Cycle Test, our charity bike ride, headed for South America, the delays started again when we tried to collect it in Guayaquil, in Ecuador.
After learning our lessons in Panama it became very clear that unless you pay to speed things up in these ports, you might have to wait for weeks to collect your vehicle. The port in Guayaquil, one of the biggest in South America, is also reported to be one of the most corrupt. You're left feeling that you have no choice but to pay extra to get out of there as quickly as possible.
We managed to contact a local who called himself a customs official. This basically meant he skipped queues and bribed officials so our documents would be processed much faster than if we had done it alone.
Although we did not cycle through Colombia, we were reluctant to completely bypass the country. When at last our support vehicle was in its way to Ecuador we had time to check out Colombia for a few days before we got back on our bikes.
We flew into Medellin, previous home of the drugs cartel headed by Pablo Escobar. The main tourist attraction of the town, which nestles high in the mountains and has no real centre, is the drug baron's grave.
Our decision not to cycle through Colombia ultimately proved to be a wise one. As we travelled by bus towards the Ecuadorian border we were held up and forced to stop amid a riot in the town of Pasto, two hours north of the Ecuadorian border. A pyramid scheme that many Colombians had invested in had failed, and thousands took to the streets in protest. We were ushered into a bus terminal that was surrounded by riot police who fired tear gas into the crowd, only metres away. Despite the drama we managed to get to the Ecuadorian border safely that night.
When we got back on the bikes we soon found that the early stages of South America presented a different challenge to Central America. The humidity of Central America had been replaced by drier, more comfortable heat.
On December 6th we crossed into the desert of northern Peru, a country with a Pacific coastline in excess of 2,500km, nearly the same length as the west coast of the US. The country is vast and has been a stern test. The wind presents the biggest challenge. It blows from the south, meaning we are constantly cycling into it. As the day goes on the sun gets hotter and the wind gets stronger, with gusts of up to 80km/h. Progress is frustratingly slow.
After sitting around the campfire one night, about 90km from Chiclayo, we realised that after sunset the wind disappeared. With this in mind we have started to get up at 3am every day and ride until dawn, getting most of the cycling done before the strong winds set in.
The landscape in Peru is as barren as we have encountered. With such huge distances between towns, we have found ourselves stranded in the desert at the end of some days. Despite the worry that we would find nowhere suitable to camp or stay, we have stumbled on some amazingly friendly hospitality. On December 15th, amid sand dunes 350km north of Lima, we were taken in for the night by a local restaurant owner named Clemente. He has taken in many travellers who found themselves at his doorstep at the end of a hard day. His guest books, dating from 1997, record the cyclists, walkers and bikers who have passed along the route. We were the first Irish group to leave our mark.
Out here one could easily have forgotten that Christmas was just around the corner.
After a brief stop with friends and family, just south of Lima, we will continue into Chile, where the road leads us through the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth.
For updates and to donate to Aidlink, see www.pacycletest.com