Coffee and Nuns

Sticking with the nun theme for one more post.

This cracked me up...  Cafe at a monastery turned museum in Peru.  

Lunch in Peru

Bigger glasses, more nuns.

This is actually chicha - kind of a like a really mild sweet corn beer.

Grande means grande in Peru.  

Borders

So close, yet so far away.

New country, new border experience.

Peru is curious.  Everyone is really nice.  They have a new building - and they even have a sign with the procedure.

Except the sign doesn´t reference reality.  It´s more of a brain teaser.  It goes something like this.

Immigration - check passport - stamp.

Where do I go next?

Next door.

Woman next door - No, not us.  You need to go to the guy over there.

Guy over there - No, not here.  Over there (in the booth saying the place to check in when you´re leaving Peru). 

Man in Booth - No, not here yet.  First, you need to go to that woman in the parking lot.

Woman in parking lot - No, I can´t stamp you yet.  Talk to the man sitting over there first.

Sitting man - Stamp (no words - still no idea what the stamp is for?)

Woman in parking lot - Now the other man.

Other man - Do you have any vegetables?

No.

Stamp.

Woman - What do you have in your motorcycle?  

Just stuff.

Open that case for me.

I open the case.

Ok, yeah just stuff.

Stamp.

Man in booth - Ok, this will take about an hour.  

One hour of waiting.  

Stamp.  This is permission for your vehicle in Peru, if the police ask.  Now go to customs.

Guy at customs - Why are you here?  You don´t need anything.  Just go.  

I go.

Success!

You have passed the test.  You may pass.

April 7/8/9 - Canyons and Ghost Towns - 300km

Moved up and out of Iquique pretty quick.

It´s a quirky city in the desert.  It used to be a hub for nitrate mining.  Before artificial fertilizer, the natural kind used to be worth a lot of money.

But then someone figured out how to make better fertilizer in a chemical plant, and Iquique faded away.

Now it´s been rejuvenated as a resort town, duty free area, fishing town, military base and mining camp.

Those things sit together uneasily at best - and the town has the feel of a 19th century port.  It´s a little messy, there´s a lot going on.   Sometimes the smell of fish hangs over the city when the wind blows the wrong way.

The highways here are strewn with ghost towns during the nitrate era.  It´s a monument to how times change and new discoveries can destroy fortunes and make entire cities obsolete.  Will folks look back at Dubai and wonder what the world was like when an oil field was worth billions of dollars?

Along that road,  I stopped for a sandwich and found myself watching the Discovery Channel in the desert with a quirky shopkeeper, listening to him describe how he liked George W because he was a ¨man´s man¨.  

The sandwich was actually really good.  I´m sure as a solo motorcycle traveler that guy thought I was pretty quirky too.

I spent a few days further north at the port of Arica with some friends from the Uyuni trip.  It´s a relaxed port town, but it´s a working city, not a tourist town.  It was good to catch some sun and have a few drinks before heading up into Peru.

Arica - the major port serving Western Bolivia and some regional mines.  A good place for work... but a little rough around the edges to chill out.

Will Dubai look like this one day?  This place used to print money, and now it´s a museum.

Tumbling power lines at one of the old factories.

I actually took this picture in Detroit.

Striking... a hat shop in the middle of the desert.

These little shrines are scattered everywhere.  Some have lots of trinkets and things... I don´t think they signify anything more than just a place to stop, take a picture, and say a prayer.

This rivals some national parks in the US for sheer awesomeness... but it´s not even marked on the map!

This one is 17km wide and 1,500m deep.

Careful about the sand... the wind can pick it up and blow it into your face.  At 70mph even a few grains can really sting!

April 6 - Ocean and Desert - 450km

The Atacama is the driest desert in the world.

Ok, but what does that mean?  It´s like saying Chuck Norris is the greatest man who ever lived.  Without some context it´s not helpful.

So here are a few facts to get your imagination jogging:

The Atacama is so dry that in some places it hasn´t rained in at least 500 years.

The Atacama is so dry the soil resembles the soil of Mars.  Nothing, not even bacteria, can survive.

The Atacama is so dry Hollywood studios use it as a stage for filming mars scenes.

The Atacama is so dry, there´s only one river that reaches the sea (think Boston to Richmond with no water).

The Atacama is so dry that NASA tested its mars landers there.

But, sunny and dry also means excellent biking.  The roads were great, the scenery spectacular, and as long as you don´t get lost it is a great trip.  It´s like a drier version of the Pac Highway in California, with bigger mountains.

Without the mines there wouldn´t be roads.  All those power lines run from stations on the coast to the copper mines in the interior.

The mountains run right to the sea... and if you drive just 100 miles inland they reach 15,000 feet.

Ironically, while the Atacama is lifeless, the waters off the coast are some of the most productive fisheries on the planet.  These ships are anchored offshore, probably waiting to unload their cargo..

Getting checked out and outfitted for Peru.  All the mining in the region means there are some great mechanics in the area.