Dakar 2013

We rolled into Lima in the early afternoon, on one of the craziest roads of the trip. A giant mountain of sand that fell hundreds of feet in to the rocky ocean below, had a road carved into the side of it. No guardrails in place most of the way, I have no idea how the whole road didn't just slide down the dune! We stopped for gas on the out skirts of town. The road was dirt and sand into town, it twisted and rolled past hills filled with one room shanties. The city unfolded before us in a cloud of dust and we rode along the beach searching for the Dakar Village. It was hard to find and the information on the web was completely inadequate, but we managed to find the road to it only to encounter a road block. The guard must have thought we looked like competitors or something because they waived us through and right into the entrance to the scrutineering tents to be checked in for the race, past countless spectators! It was a cool feeling, and I'm not gonna lie, I went along with it for a bit. People kept asking if we were in the race and we had to tell them no. My dad said we should just pay the entrance fee and hit the podium. Seriously considered for a while, until we watched some footage of the course. The trucks and bikes and other vehicles were very impressive, but the organization of the event is lacking something for sure. The info tent was vacant all day, everything is in Spanish which I think is strange for such an international rally. No information is clearly defined for the location of the start and merchandising is a joke. You would think something like this would have motorcycle stuff for sale everywhere! We are going to just watch from a distance tomorrow as they take off. After we had our fill of the village we started to search for a hotel. Place after place sent us packing until I found a room online and we went in to book it and she said that they didn't have one. I said that I saw online that here was one available, she said she had to check to see if she could sell it and asked if I could just wait. After way too long without any word this way or that I took a different tack. I booked it online and walked back up to the desk and told her I now had a reservation. She handed me he keys. Strange! I have been laid up all day today with some sort of illness. Hopefully I beat it for the start tomorrow, so we can get moving again. Sitting still is hard to do on this trip. We had the privilege of checking out a KTM that was in the race up close, as he was staying at our hotel. The city is buzzing with anticipation!