Ride South from Lima - Beaches and Desert

Looking north from Punta Hermosa

I was beginning to question the whole idea of having a bike with me. I had not biked since Cuenca, Ecuador. Instead I had been taking buses, primarily due to the distances being too great between towns and the fact that most of these gaps were legitimate deserts. I first intended to take a bus out of Lima. After seeing the bike lanes throughout the city and the distance to the Pan-American Highway from the beaches was not so great, I decided to bike it instead of my original plan to bus out of the city. It turned out to be a good decision.

Lima to Punta Hermosa

I got my first flat tire less than two blocks from where I started. Other than this, the bike ride was nice all the way to Punta Hermosa. I biked towards the beach on the bike lanes and then headed south. The Pan-American had good shoulder. There were a fair number of cars, but seemed pretty safe.  Going south, the desert continues, but the distance between towns is much less.

Punta Hermosa is my favorite beach so far in Peru. It is pretty close to the city. The area is clean. The water looks nice; much more inviting than any of the other beaches I have seen in Peru. The waves looked good for surf. It seemed to be a family beach primarily, although I do not know for certain as I was only there for one day. It looked like most people either owned or rented family cottages and would make the trip here on the weekends.

Punta Hermosa Beach

Punta Hermosa to Asia

I rode down a mix of the old and new Panamerican Highway. The old had a little bit more character and fewer cars, but was not as good as the new highway. I rode the old highway until it ended at the new one. The ride had some very low grade climbs and descents. It was a nice ride to Asia.

Asia is kind of like Lima’s answer to Palm Springs. Most hotels and condominiums are in private walled off locations. Most of the beaches are private to the owners of the condominiums adjacent to the beach. It seems like people from Lima come down for the weekends with family and stay in their private homes. They then go out to a place called Boulevard de Asia, which is essentially an outdoor mall with restaurants, bars and clubs. It was pleasant, but I preferred Punta Hermosa. I might enjoy it more if I came with people from Lima. I really think this is a place that you need to know people.

Asia to Cañete and Chincha Alta

I continued riding south from Asia to Cañete and then on to Chincha Alta. There was nothing out of the ordinary. The ride covered primarily desert. The only thing out of the ordinary was that the food was really good. I have generally not liked the food in smaller towns as much as the cities, but I ate really well in both places. The following two pictures pretty much summarize everything I saw:

Common Scene: walled beach communities

Another common scene: desert

Warmer inland air meeting cooler ocean air creates a fog which is common here.

Chincha Alta to Paracas

I really disliked this ride. Not for the usual reasons of poor roads or bad conditions. There was an awful lot of trash along the road. On multiple occasions it felt like I was riding through a garbage dump. It was never "clean" the whole way. Even for most of the area along the beach from Pisco to Paracas. Only when I got to Paracas itself did the smell give way. This was not a fun ride, but now I am in Paracas.

The one interesting thing I saw on the ride: arable land. It appears to me that much of this land is arable if there is water. If someone invents high volume, low energy consuming, low cost water desalination, consider buying land south of Lima. It will be worth something.

Crop land just south of Chincha Alta