It was a cold night but I slept better than expected given the altitude. I woke a little after six to the sound of rain. Damn! Aaron and I walked across the street to have coffee and some breakfast. The weather looked completely ugly with cold rain and dense fog. We decided to tough it out and head for lower elevations. We loaded the bikes and then, right on cue, the sun broke through. The roads were wet but the skies were clearing up. We had to take it pretty easy for the first hour as there were many hairpins and the road was a little slippery. Before we knew it we were back on the arid costal plain.

We pulled into the town of Barranca to have the bikes washed. They looked good after being delayered of their muddy crust. Backing up out of the bike wash, I caught a brick under my front tire at an awkward angle and dropped my nice clean bike in the dust.

Aaron and I decided that this is where our paths diverge. I'm planning on heading to Cusco and visiting Machu Picchu. Arron is planning on meeting some friends in Lima for a couple days and then taking the desert route through southern Peru. We agreed to stay in touch and maybe reconnect in La Paz, Bolivia.

As we accelerated onto the Panamerican Highway, I waved goodbye and soon Aaron's headlight disappeared from my rearview mirror. It was hard to get used to riding at 60+mph again. It was also hard to get used to so much traffic. The air quality along the coast is terrible. There is a heavy haze of pollution and dust the builds up on my face shield. So much that I have to stop and clean it every 30-40 minutes so that I can see properly.

There is no way to avoid Lima as it is the hub of this region. I cut right through the center of the massively dense city. With over 11 million people, you can imagine the traffic. Peruvian drivers are aggressive and the lanes narrow. I kept the lane-spitting to a minimum. Not that my bike would have fit between the lanes anyway. I saw every manner of bad driving. Cars would literally crowd me out of my lane causing me to brake heavily to avoid being pushed into other vehicles. Other motorbikes, often carrying passengers, cleaved between lanes at breakneck speeds. I could not believe the speeds that they were carrying as they split the narrow gap between moving cars, trucks and busses. It took me about one and half hours to navigate from one end of Lima to the other.

Once clear of the city, I headed south along the coastline. The traffic remained intensely tight and fast. My concentration started to feel the strain so I pulled off to have a cold drink. As I dismounted, a tall middle-aged security guard walked up to me. He smiled and extended his hand. When I reached out to shake his hand he abruptly pulled me in for a bro hug. He said "Estados Unitos! Welcome!". I was taken a bit by surprise but I recovered. Soon a few other security guards gathered to get a closer look at the bike. One man told me his son was living in Iowa. They wished me happy travels and I was finally able to slip away to find a bottle of cold water. I got on my phone and booked a hotel that was another 30 minutes down the road. I looked both ways to be sure I wasn't going to get ambushed by any more security guards and then made a run for it.

The hot shower in my hotel felt really nice.