Friendly Townsters

When the sun rose, so did I. Since I didn’t have breakfast with me, I rode through the sand back to the highway and traveled further south until I found some food.

Hours passed and the desert became mountainous and eventually all vegetation was gone. Occasionally I would ride by a settlement where irrigated fields were growing rice. It seemed to be funny to be growing rice in the dessert. Rice is served with every meal here, however, so it must work well.

I was headed to the town of Huraz and late in the day, the road left the coast and headed north west into the mountains. I followed a river and a broad valley that was settled by the farmers who worked the land. The valley was green with banana trees, sugar cane and other edibles. The hills were void of any vegetation at all.
As I got higher it started raining and darkness settled in. I was led to ask some people if there was a hotel nearby. There wasn’t going to be any camping here. They were two older men, a young man and an older woman. They were very happy to see me, though they were also drunk. It was a very pleasant exchange. They pointed me in the right direction.

I found my hotel/restaurant and smiled to be invited in by gracious people. I had dinner, sewed the broken zipper on my rain jacket and eventually put the bike in the restaurant after most customers had gone to bed. I was tired and slept deeply, but woke still tired.

I’ll go on to Huraz today.