A little down time.

Well as always, things happen for a reason. This time we were meant to stay put and let the thunder storm move off, plus we had to support the “juice lady” at the corner by buying 3 or 4 fresh coconuts and 2 or 3 glassed of fresh pineapple juice, per day.

It is nice to see that she is very busy selling natural drinks instead of people drinking sodas. The to-go cups are 500ml plastic bags with a straw and the “dine in” glasses are old milkshake glasses. She washes them in between customers and keeps busy squeezing pineapples, swatting at flies, prepping coconuts, and of course talking with customers. 

I am sure that if we were to return in 10yrs she would still be there as this seems to be her corner. She is not alone in this as there are numerous vendors around town that all seem to have their spot. Some sell “street meat”, others sell popcorn, candies, juices, fried sweet dough with honey, and numerous other tempting treats.

The evenings are spent in the park watching and being watched by the locals. One lady we refer to as Grandma told us all about everyone in the park. She seemed to be very well informed and also seemed to think that we could understand everything she said. Mixed in with her stories was her snacking on whatever the vendors presented. She ate a small plate of food, a fried bread with honey, and a few candies. Some of it remained on her face and dress which didn’t seem to bother her and certainly added to the entertainment value. 

The other entertaining individual was Diego, the grandson of the Hostal owner. He assisted me with the bike repairs, and showed me around the backyard full of chickens and other treasures, but he mostly just wanted to hang around with us and/or go visiting the neighbors. On our final day of waiting for the battery we noticed that Diego had a blue neck, like he had found some  paint or something, turns out it is to treat a heat rash and his whole upper body is blue. His Mom laughs when we ask why he is blue, Diego is 18months old so he can’t tell us.

My little helper.

As all thing that need delivery in SA, the battery is late and instead of a 2pm arrival it is 5pm which means one more night before we can move on.

Tocache is arranged a little strange in the fact that the highway enters the city then turns into a one way going South, the route if you are proceeding North is a side street that is not maintained and in sections not even paved. Once we made our way out to the North edge of the town we reconnected with the highway and finally Tocache was in our rear view mirrors.

The road from here to Tarapoto is only partially paved and we are expecting about 120km of gravel at some point along the way, but for now we are enjoying a nicely paved road that climbs up the valley passing through small villages and providing access to numerous natural attractions and parks in the area. There are waterfalls, hiking trails, bird watching, jungle tours, and other activities to keep tourists busy.

It is not surprising that there is lots of truck traffic on this route as it is the main artery of the region. This makes the mountain curves interesting as the trucks  plug along slowly uphill as they have no power and just as slow downhill as they have to work against gravity to keep the trucks under control in the curves. For the most part they stay on their side of the road but occasionally they need the whole road to navigate a tight corner or switchback.

We noticed an increase in Police checkpoints today as well, they usually just wave us through but more than once we are stopped and asked for paperwork. We attribute this to our general proximity to the border or just boredom on the part of the officers.

There are also these security guards who try to stop us and basically just ask for a donation. They say their purpose is to keep the route safe from bandits although I am unsure how they are going to accomplish this when they have no vehicle. Maybe the bandits are cooperative and commit crimes within walking distance from the security people, that way they can protect us from said bandits. Otherwise they are just guys standing on the side of the road in nice clothes asking for money, so of course we try hard not to get mixed up with cars stopping and when we do; we never show them any documents.

One of the small villages is in the orange growing region and this means fresh orange juice. We see a nice stand under a big shade tree and decide it is time for a break. Well the family was more than eager to help us out, we barely had the bikes turned off and Mama was shoving a baggie of OJ into my face. I asked her for a moment then removed my helmet and earplugs, then grabbed the baggie and bit a hole into it and drank it down. She looked a bit surprised but it was fresh squeezed OJ and it was cold. 

Brenda spotted the watermelon and decided that was for her and I had a second OJ. The family seemed just over the top with excitement about these big bikes and blonde people. The teenage daughter was the most outgoing and asked a bunch of questions. She wanted a picture of the bikes so we told her to get on and have her sister take a picture. I think she peed her pants with excitement.

They asked if we had any kids and when the father heard we had none offer us the two youngest, laughing the whole time. This exchange went on the whole time we are drinking and eating, but now it is time to move on. We put on our helmets and the teenage girl runs across the road to her house and returns with a large bag of oranges as a gift for us. I have to politely refuse as we have no way to transport a 15lb bag of oranges, plus the oranges make good juice but are not great for eating. She looks sad and confused as I refuse so I do my best to explain that there is just too many for us to transport. She seems to understand and the smile returns to her face as we wave goodbye and thank them for the juice.

The gravel section is in pretty good shape and the reported 6hr travel time is reduced to 4hrs so we arrive into Tarapota mid-afternoon. This gives us a chance to escape the heat of the day and then go for a bite to eat. We are in the transition area from city to suburbs so take a tuc-tuc taxi back into an area of town where there are restaurants and such. There is a lady setting up tables outside a hole in the wall restaurant and we decide this is the spot today. She sets up a bunch of small folding tables along the sidewalk and then proceeds to cover them with big aluminum pots full of food, the patrons then load up a plate and the cost is per plate, not by weight or menu item. There is a good variety of dishes, all would fall into the comfort food category. Hearty stews, pasta with chicken, rice dishes and soups. A rather unique buffet.

 

Did I mention it is very hot here, even into early evening the temperature is still hanging in the high twenties. We try to get as early a start as possible in the morning but it seems 8:30 is about as early as manageable. Breakfast, fuel stop, checking tire pressure, and morning bathroom breaks all chew up time and by the time we are rolling we are already sweating. Not complaining, just sayin’ that low thirties in full riding gear is a bit warm.