Two cyclists who had been presumed lost while riding across Peru were surprised to learn that they were considered missing.
The joke, it appears, is on us. All the hand-wringing about how dangerous Peru was from the media, including from Cyclists International–and the couple were sitting snug as two bugs on a slow boat in South America.
The couple was found on a slow-moving boat and are expected to arrive at the Ecuador and Peru border Wednesday where they will have access to a phone, according to Miguel Antezana, the communications director of Peru’s Foreign Commerce and Tourism Ministry.
The families and friends of Garrett Hand and Jamie Neal, both 25, had been concerned because they had not heard from them in over a month.
But the couple was found by Peruvian authorities at the Napo River , near Angoteros. There, they spoke to the police and and were surprised to learn they were missing persons.
To add to the clown-like atmosphere of this story which has reached international proportions, the Peruvian ministry is sending people with video cameras to the location where the boat is going to dock to show that they are alive and well.
Miguel Antezana, the communications director of Peru’s Foreign Commerce and Tourism Ministry, said that it appears that the couple simply did not want to communicate with their families.
