Distance: 87.98 km
Ride time: 5:24:43
Average: 16.25 km/h
Max speed: 44.73 km/h
Total: 29927 km
After half an hour of cycling it was time for a 7:30 am breakfast on the Panamerican Highway. The meat was already cooking. When I ordered an egg sandwich instead, the conversation went like “You don’t want any meat?”, “no thanks, I prefer eggs”, “Ahhh, so you are vegetarian?”, “Not really, but meat for breakfast is a bit early for me”, “But you like eggs, that is proteins as well”…
Otherwise the goal today was to cycle right into the center of Lima. People had warned me about the traffic and it did indeed get worse and worse as I got closer. Luckily the shoulder on the highway was reasonable wide, so I could just fit in between all the buses and trucks.
Since leaving Arequipa two weeks ago I had passed more than a thousand kilometer stones. Now there was only a few left before reaching the capital.
At some stage the traffic on the highway simply got too crazy, so I took the next turnoff and looked for an alternative route. In the morning I had had a quick look at Google Maps, but I still got somewhat lost riding towards el centro. After asking a few people for directions I was quickly on my right way again.
A steep downhill took me towards the beaches, and finally I could see the skyline of Lima up there above the cliffs. I had made it, and in one piece!
What a change from the vast barren deserts I have been cycling thought lately, and now suddenly staying in the middle of this 9 million metropolis – double the amount of inhabitants of my whole country.
I’m now looking forward to rest the legs and enjoy some civilization here for a while.
