The almost empty lanes of Sullana

It costed US$ 187,500 but its users prefer going to Chira Valley.

 

By Nelson Peñaherrera Castillo

 

The sunset between Districts Marcavelica (first) and Salitral (second) as one of our producers took while he was running along Chira Valley. (Photo by Luis Correa / FACTORTIERRA)

 

SULLANA, Peru – The papers say bikeway. For real, it may be called free community car parking. In Santa Rosa Urbanization, West Sullana City, some neighbors use the lane for bikers like a parking for their cars, pick-ups, or motorcycles – it apparently has not been hard to get it.

The cement of conntention bumps has pulverized quite easily – there aren’t today, already. Add to this, the paint marking the signs from, on, and toward the bikeway is practically vanished.

 

Damaged accessories of the bikeway in West Sullana City and the use the neighbors really give it. (Photos by Luis Enrique Curay, especial to Semana and distributedd by FACTORTIERRA)

 

Initially, the work costed around US$ 143,000 invested by Peru’s Ministry of Transport and Communications, purposed to promote sports, to care environment, and to prevent contagions from Covid-19 in urban transportation… or that said the press release published on December 2^nd, 2020.

Its building started beginning 2022 and US$ 44,500 were added to the budget, according to the mandatory sign. Critics came because of the amount and the difficulty of work. The most recurrent one was it made the road narrower for engine vehicles.

 

Let’s run along the bikeway of Sullana City and its condition updated on June 28^th, 2022 (All photos by Luis Enrique Curay, special to Semana and distributed by FACTORTIERRA).

 

Santa Cruz Avenue, south side of the city.

 

Champagnat Avenue, between Sullana Downtown and West Sullana City.

 

Bolognesi Square, West Sullana City.

 

Around Santa Ursula School, West Sullana City.

 

Jose de Lama avenue, Sullana Downtown

 

Pedaling in a labyrinth

In practical terms, the bikeway goes up and down around Sullana Downtown for 4.5 miles. Then, branches without apparent connection appear. One pass near La Selva (The Jungle), a bourgh tagged as very dangerous, especially in the bridge over Cieneguillo Creek that divides Sullana Metro Area in two halves. It’s 1.5 miles additional to the count.

“I don’t know if any biker wishes to pass through there at eight in the evening,” the physical trainer and community activist Luis Enrique Curay criticizes, “unless you go in doing biking, then go out doing speed jogging.” In english: it’s probable somebody steals your bike.

At Parqé de los Leonés (Lions Park), just between Sullana Downtown and West sullana City, the bikeway is interrupted forcing the biker to carry up the vehicle on the shoulder. It’s a good exercise for biceps but it’s not supposed this is the idea.

 

The real routes the bikers of Sullana use to work out (All photos by Luis Enrique Curay, special to Semana and distributed by FACTORTIERRA).

 

Las Palmeras Circuit (Marcavelica District).

 

Cruising Chira

Most bikers work out across the valley, in Marcavelica, at a circuit that was traditionally dedicated to cycling. It begins in the emigmatic Nariz del Diablo (debil’s Nose) Hill, 5 miles away Sullana Downtown, and it continues toward Las Palmeras (The Palms). At least, it’s one mile of clay soil.

“we use it there because we are away the cars and trucks going on the road,” explains Mario Arias Mena, companies manager who has been dedicated to competition biking since he was a high-school student. Inclusive, the circuit extends to La Noria  (The Fair Ferris wheel), a village of Marcavelica, 27 miles away Sullana Downtown, almost the same distance from this point to Piura Downtown.

Mr Arias adds they use another one amid the hills of Querecotillo District, located somewhere at 11 miles to the northwest of Sullana Downtown. And what about the bikeway in Metro Area? “It’s useless for us,” he stresses.

 

The amazing postcards some bikers and runners get when they trail along Chira Valley (All photos by Luis Enrique Curay, special to Semana and distributed by FACTORTIERRA).

 

A path beside Chira River, Marcavelica District.

 

Urban threat

Bikers are not the only ones who benefit from this circuit they use between Marcavelica and Querecotillo – runners trail the paths, trekkers hike amid the hills. The evergreen view of Chira Valley, the abundant river, and the skyline of Sullana are worthy, they say.

And just for the record, Turicarami Boulevard, at the Chira bank running through Sullana City, is a kind of huge outdoor gym – almost 3300 feet length, a 100-feet-height stair, viewing the valley.

The problem they fase is that the urbanization today could leave them without natural spaces for working out. Nariz del Diablo, where it’s supposed the Tallans worshipped a golden alligator, suffers from predation a couple of years ago. Houses are already getting to it. Let’s add the trash left by exportation banana agriculture, and some lovers who dare to use the site for having duty-free sex.

Similar happens in Las Palmeras where the old cycling lane almost has been deleted from the map by the houses, when it was able for camping or organizing sport competitions until mid-1990s.

Meanwhile, the bikeway of Sullana bothers the drivers and some pedestrians as well as business owners along its trail, especially when an accident happens, something that has turned frequent. “The people crowds, they don’t let the clients get into the stores,” complains Angelo Azabache who today manages a restaurant on Santa Rosa Avenue,near one of the lanes. Crash warns, the block’s clown would say.

 

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