olmos

leaving ecuador and entering into peru, i cycled through a "dry tropical forest". these kapok trees are totally crazy looking. they are completely neon green all over, even their trunks. i was really enjoying the riding, which was mostly flat, but then i took a smaller road into chulucanas, and i had about 25 miles of dirt road at the end of an 80 mile day. it was definately challenging. what was cool though was i got to ride throught some really interesting small towns. i usually aviod taking pictures of people or their houses because i feel like it's sending a message that their poverty is a tourist attraction to me. people here in peru have constructed some really crazy looking houses out of nothing more than mud and sticks. this is a photo of the cemetary in one of these little towns. while i was taking this photo, there were probably like five people sitting outside their mud houses watching me. dry tropical forests only exist between really specific latitudes, so now i think i'm cycling through some kind of desert. last night in the hotel room there was a sign on the door that says they've been having a severe draught since 1998 and that out of the cities 9 wells, only one remains operational. there's not a lot out here, and today i stopped at the first place i saw for lunch. there were some old ladies in black sitting outside their mud hut, and some guys playing cards. the old ladies told me there was goat for lunch. after i ate my goat, i asked them if there was a bathroom. they took me back through the kitchen. it was a total nightmare. flies everywhere, animal carcases, insane cast iron cookware that looked as if it was from another century. i wanted to scream at the old lady and say, "you fed me food that came out of here? no wonder i am sick all the time!" at that point she grabbed this skinless animal leg hanging from the ceiling and cackled, "el cabrocito!" which mean "the little goat". with out getting into detail, the bathroom was so insane that i just ended up peeing by the side of the highway. i literally couldn't pee there.
as i got into town this evening, this woman beckoned me over from the side of the road. she was super excited to talk to me and i ended up hanging out with her and her extended family for a while. you can kind of see one of those mud houses behind us with political slogans painted on the side. her kids ended up taking me around the town to find a hotel. they were so awesome. also today a bus driver going in the opposite direction slowed down to hand me a mango out the bus window. it was a really good mango. love,
-jessie