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but getting from the top of Peru to the bottom as quickly as I can, and
that is on the Pan-American Highway, which lines the west coast. I've
ticked off Peru as another place I'll return to one day to get to know it,
and its people, food, music and sights, properly.
october 28
Today has been a disaster: I didn't even come close to reaching 90 kilo-
metres. I was continuing through the Sechura desert, making good
time in spite of a ripping headwind that was powering in off the Pacific,
when a police car drove up and motioned for me and our vans to stop.
The officer, conversing in Spanish with Gustavo and Juan, asked where
we thought we'd be camping, and the boys told them we planned to
stop by the side of the road. The policeman said that was out of the
question. Apparently, in this part of Peru, there are criminals with guns
who don't mind using them, and we'll be setting ourselves up for a
robbery or something much worse if we camp in the open. It's far too
dangerous. He told us that there have been numerous cases of ban-
dits opening fire on and ramming passing motor vehicles and even
bicycles. Many people have been robbed at gunpoint.
The officer ordered us to follow him, and we drove to the next
town, Paiján, and are spending the night in a guarded garage. For the
equivalent of $4, security men are keeping an eye on our vehicle, as
well as other trucks, buses and travellers' cars whose owners have cho-
sen not to court calamity. We may survive the night, but I was only able
to run 76 kilometres, not nearly enough. The pressure to reach Tierra
del Fuego in time to make it to the Antarctic mounts.
october 29
The weather is mild, around the mid-20s. Apart from llamas and
anteaters wandering everywhere, there wasn't much to see today, to
be frank. There were no more crops growing on the west side of the
highway; instead, there were sandy flats on either side of the road.
The Pan-American Highway has brought us to the flat, brown Sechura
desert. Early this evening it was a pleasure to run out of the desert for
a while and into the town of Trujillo, about 550 kilometres north of
the Peruvian capital of Lima. Somehow, a number of the old colonial
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