I was curious what the situation in Paijan would be like, a town some 60 km north of Trujillo, where attacks of bicyclists have been reported. Lucho from the Casa de Ciclistas had kindly offered me to accompany me through Paijan, but since I had missed him yesterday, I had to rely on my own judgment.
It turned out that a police checkpoint was set up at the southern end of Paijan (this seems quite common, though, as I have noticed those at almost all major intersections and town entrances) and one of the officers immediately asked me to stop when he saw me approaching. I asked him what the situation in Paijan is like and told him that I had heard of problems there. He explained that there is quite a bit of crime, but he added that I should be fine as long as I kept going and didn't stop. The tailwind then helped me to breeze through Paijan, while staying close to the center of the road and keeping an eye on any mototaxis that might be getting to close to feel comfortable. After today's impression, Paijan isn't exactly on top of my list of friendly places, but I guess I would have stopped for water or a snack if I had not known about the problems.
Paijan is part of a cluster of towns surrounded by sugarcane plantations. As I was heading north, the irrigated areas became sparser and the desert reappeared. Past Pacasmayo, the sugarcane was back along with rice fields, which form an interesting contrast to the desert landscape. After a little bit more than 200 km, the tailwind then literally blew me into Chiclayo, where I had fun navigating New York-style traffic:
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