Tuesday, 1st December, Lima: 12 hours on the road
Brush ins with the police (Mike overtaking where it’s forbidden, twice), sandstorms and ceviche: we burn it down the coast from the glorious Huanchaco where I managed to convince my beloved husband to take a day off, down to Miraflores in Lima.
The whole thing takes 12 hours. Thick thick fog (typical of Lima – the Humboldt current delivers it to the city with glee) and some of the worse traffic we have seen so far. We sit for 2 hours in the rush hour darkness trying to navigate the huge metropolis, as polution coats our faces in a thick black layer. But we’re here now.
One wonderful thing happens during the day. We pull up to say hello to two bikers (there is a kind of unspoken code between the biker community, always an interest with each other) doing a similar route to us, Garry and Ron. 
While we are talking, a woman from the car repair shop we have stopped beside walks over to me and hands me a small, black carving of a head. She explains to me that it is Inca in its style and she’d like me to have it. I say, “how much?” to which she replies, “nothing, it’s a present, I’d like you to have it.” Extraordinary. I’m baffled at first – this doesn’t happen, ever – but then so so grateful. So we now have a very grumpy looking Inca travelling with us too, which I’ll always treasure. Until, of course, I realise I’m being used unwittingly as a mule…
Oh, and one other thing. We tend to be brutally heathen on driving days, ignoring all landmarks of any form in the name of getting to our destination – which mean that we miss out on cultural, archeological and geographical marvels. But we did have a quick peep at Chan Chan, the largest remains of an Adobe settlement anywhere in the world. We didn’t get out of the bike though, don’t be fooled…
