Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Peru
october 24
I'm over 100 kilometres into Peru, at a place called Piura, the capital of
the Piura region. It was founded by the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro in
1532. The coast of Piura has some good surfing beaches. The seafood
is the best in Peru, the locals say, and after trying some I'll take them
at their word. I've been joined by a good mate, Tony Collins, who is
running with me for a few days. He can keep up, too, because Tony
is an ultramarathon runner, and we competed in Westfield Sydney to
Melbourne runs years ago. These days, Tony's a dentist on the central
coast of New South Wales, and to support me he has detoured to Peru
during a trip over here.
Piura is nice, but so far my impressions of Peru are mixed. The
road I'm running along, the Pan-American Highway, was bounded
today on the east by a vast barren desert with not even a cactus grow-
ing there, and on the west by green, fertile agricultural land. The reason
for this is that the Peruvian government drilled bores on the west side
of the road, and now sugar cane and rice grow thickly in the lush green
fields. What a contrast. Again, it made me realise how water can magi-
cally transform the most unproductive land. Water, after all, is what
my run is all about.
Sadly, people in this region are poor. They live in shanty towns as
impoverished as any I saw in Soweto. Poverty, I'm sure, is the reason our
Winnebago was robbed yesterday. They say bad luck comes in threes,
and if so we should be fine for the rest of the run. Bernie returned from
getting the Winnebago repaired after the prang, the burned brakes and
the blown tyres, and he and Gustavo drove into a town called Tumbes,
just 30 kilometres over the border, and stopped to do our washing at a
laundromat. While they were inside, someone jimmied the lock on the
van's driver's door and broke in. They stole all the cash from my wallet,
