life @ 13

an early hiatus from my hiatus

i had already planned to meet some friends in south peru and northern chile at the end of the month, so when things were not healing on their own, i decided to cheat a little, take a bus to northern peru (trujillo), and do whatever i could to get better. a couple weeks ago, my desire to keep going manifested itself in riding through being ill...now the desire manifests in rest. i look the last day riding into Loja with almost 8 hours on the bike and 2400m of climbing and wonder how i didn't collapse mid-ride

details would be a little off-topic, but i have found much, much better help here and expect to be in good shape in a week or two...but not back on the bike for almost a month. i'm worried about bike withrawl more than anything else.

the plan is to hang out here in Trujillo for about a week, then head down to Cusco, hang out for 10ish days around there, then down to the Atacama desert for a chunck of days, then back up to Trujillo to start cycling again, La Paz being the goal for completing leg 2.

i've learned not to speak for a country as a whole based on a few days and one part, but so far i'm very pleased with this border crossing. the peruvians have impressed me with the combination of energy and manyana that i enjoy about latin america. this part of peru seems both poorer and more developed than ecuador. shit is damn cheap. the 3.2:1 exchange rate highlights just how cheap...the number value of items in soles are similar to dollars. the weather in the northern peruvian desert is spectacular...dry, windy and 90 during the day, cooling off to the 60s at night. just a few miles from the ocean.