Peru....Part Three....Twenty Two Hours To Lima...

And so the day came...to leave Chachapoyas. It was quite emotional and we were sorry to go, I'd been looked after so well by Otto and Ingrid when Chris had been out.

It was a surprise when the van arrived. After Otto, Walter and Julio had sorted out all the measurements, they'd taken out the back seats of a tour van to fit the bikes in but left the immediate seats behind the driver, making me a bed on it so I'd be comfy travelling to Lima.They'd really thought about it. I can't thank them enough.

Teary farewells said, we waved goodbye to Otto, Irene. Walter and the staff from Casa Kuelap and off we went. It was going to be a long drive, most of the locals reckoned up to 24 hrs to get to Lima from Chachapoyas.

We had two drivers, Julio and Nau. They were going to 'kill two birds with one stone' so to speak as Julio's van had a small issue with the air con, that could be fixed in Lima.

Interestingly for us we did not leave Chachapoyas the way we'd come in on the 8B. This time we left on the 5N linking up to the 3N, a much faster way than our original route but just as stunning. It was actually quite nice to be 'driven' and just gaze out of the window. A quick stop early on to pick up some fruit at one of the many stalls at the side of the road. Nau shared his oranges round later. It's great to eat such fresh fruit.

Along the way Chris also managed to get a shot of bricks....ha,ha...what.....well he is in construction....'mud bricks' we're on about. They're still widely used in Peru. We'd seen loads of stacks of them before but had always just been 'riding' past.

Further along the road after having sat in a few roadworks.....yep.....every country has them.....Julio pulled in for lunch. As we pulled away we noticed children holding bags of what looked like tortilla chips on long sticks. Wondering what the sticks were for we watched for a moment......ingenious...the sticks.....they were for selling the chips/crisps to people on the top decks of buses and any other vehicle they couldn't reach......no school ???......I don't know but they were certainly learning how to make money.

As the day starts turning to evening, Julio hands over to Nau for the nightshift and bless.....makes up a bed on some cardboard with blankets in the back of the van behind the bikes. 589 km to go.....

I drifted off after this, I'm not sure if Chris slept, he was in the front with Nau. When I woke the drivers had swapped again and we had arrived on the outskirts of Lima. It was manic, noisy, dusty. Oh my gosh, what have we let ourselves in for. Not far into the city limits Julio pulled over and collected Nacho, a very muscular man who was a taxi driver in Lima. Nacho had been called upon to help unload the bikes at this end and then help Julio find the way to the air con repair center. It was quite early, around 8am ish I think. I gave Julio our host's telephone number to see how early we could actually check in. After a couple of tries our host finally replied and a time was agreed. We all had about an hour to kill so breakfast in Lima it was then.

Fed and watered we all climbed back into the van and set about the task of finding the apartment we'd rented. It was in a good area, Miraflores.After a few times circling we finally arrived. Julio also our host's name was waiting. I hobbled into the reception area of the building and Julio,Julio,Nau, Nacho and Chris got to work unloading the bikes and luggage. More goodbyes and we were in.......22 hrs from leaving Chachapoyas and delivered straight to the door, fantastic job guys ☺💕