To the End of the World

[jfink]

It’s a new day, no rain, clear, there is a promise. I make a pilgrimage to find an ATM for some Peruvian Sols. I gather this is pretty normal, first town get some local money. We were going to meet the Germans but for some reason the timing wasn’t right. We pack and by the time we get going the Germans have already left.



The roads out of San Ignacio where not bad, not the mud we had experienced the night before. But still dirt and winding back and forth. We had ridden about 15k when we saw some bikes stopped up ahead. It was the Germans. And they had stopped with the French guy in the RV. We visited for a while and then we took off. The Germans followed and we road with them until Jaen or about 50k, where they stopped for lunch.



From Jaen to Chachapoyas the road is paved. Not a lot of difficulty so there was some time to relax and enjoy the scenery. In Chachapoyas we went to the town square. There were several Hostels on the square and as we circled to pick on, I saw a couple who were obviously not Hispanic. I stopped and asked if they had advice for a place to stay. They said they were German, Stephan and Emma and driving a range rover. They had just arrived themselves. So we said we would keep looking but meet up with them later somewhere for a beer. They did ask if we had seen three German motorcycle riders on the road … small world eh?

We drove around some more and stopped off the square. Chuck said he would go look for a hostel if I would stay with the bikes. Everywhere we go we get people coming up to us, asking about the bikes, we try to explain the best we can with our limited vocabulary. This time, I think Chuck left me with the local drug dealers. There was a lot of money changing hands for what reason, I don’t know. At the same time they were trying to get information from me; size of bikes, how much they cost, where we were going, lots of laughing and hand slapping. Eventually Chuck returned from a hostel where he had booked a room, so we left, unloaded and parked the bikes.



As we were parking the bikes in a secure parking lot, Stephan came up. They were staying in the Range Rover in the same parking lot. We agreed to meet later for a beer and we went and finished unpacking. We got out and walked to a restaurant the owner of the Hostel had recommended. It didn’t open until 7p. As we walked around we ran into Stephan and Emma. We invited them to come along with us, back to the restaurant. We had a great meal, some beer and good conversation. We agreed to buy pastries if they made some GOOD coffee the next morning. We met them at the Range Rover where they had the coffee on.



After a while they came and used our shower, with the electric heater (death heater) in the head. It actually worked. We packed the bikes and left for Cajamarca (Ka ha mark a). Before we left, Emma mentioned she had heard from other friends that there was some road construction that had the road shut down all day between Chachapoyas and Cajamarca. Oh great!

[jfink]

Balza (Ball za)
The road from Chachapoysa to Leymebamba is actually a very nice ride. First pavement, then turning onto the road to Leymebamba it is dirt, but fairly smooth, no big ruts or rocks. Easily navigable, at a good pace and very scenic. It reminded me of a number of roads and scenes in Colorado. At this point it really was enjoyable and yes fun.



As we left Leymebamba, and climbed again to the top of the pass it began to rain.



This seems to be the theme. Nice in the morning, rain in the afternoon. We were stopped briefly for construction in the rain then on down the hill until we left the rain. The road was a bit muddy, but not bad. It was a little eerie though, the road wasn’t much wider then a single normal vehicle. And almost vertical up the hill and absolutely vertical down the mountain for 1000 feet or more. If you even just stepped off, you were going for a long way. You could see this at first, then the fog came. When the fog came it just filled in the valley so you couldn’t see anything below. It was like a giant bowl of fog. It was comforting not seeing this huge drop off, but by the same token a little weird knowing it was there only full of fog.



We rode out of the rain and the road got nicer again. Then we came to another construction stoppage. We were stopped for at least 3 and half hours. It went from sunny and warm to rainy and cold. While there we ran into Larry, a resident of Lima on vacation with his wife and 6 other friends. They had never traveled this road before and told us the girls were all screaming on the turns. He helped translate some of the conversations with the flag person.



Eventually we got moving again. This time because we had waited long enough the road had turned to mud. We could have easily made it to Cajamarca or at least Celendin had it not been for the construction, instead we were faced with riding mud all the way to the bottom of this mountain in dark AGAIN!

Larry and his crew were ahead of us in his van, but they stopped when we reached Balza to help us find a place to stay. We landed this place where it was only a single room and no bathroom (which was about 2 blocks away and was basically a hole in the ground). We had no choice; we could not go on in the dark.



We made our arrangements, pack the bikes in the room, and found Larry and his group having dinner a local restaurant. We joined them and had a really fun time. Even managing to crack a few jokes at different peoples expense.

Here’s a picture of the group. Notice the Los Gigantes in the back, on the right! That’s Larry next to me. I remember some of the names but forgive me my failing memory. Left to right; George, his wife Shiwa?, ?, Azul Blue (the only words he new in English J), Gina, Walter, Chuck, Joe, Larry, Larry’s wife Marisa.



The next morning, we were up early. Had breakfast of scrambled eggs, instant coffee and pan (bread). Packed and headed for Cajamarca.

Downtown Balza



The bridge across the river (Rio Maranon) leaving Balza. The night before there was a bar blocking the crossing, but it was lifted when we decided to leave.

[jfink]

The road from Balza to Celendin (See len din) was supposed to be more of the same that we had encountered from coming down into Balza. However, other than the climb and switchbacks it was not bad. However a number of kilometers before we reached Celendin the road turned really rough. Because of road construction, I think they had just let the road go. It looked like it had been made with large rocks as a base covered with gravel then sand. The sand and gravel had long disappeared and what was left was the ends of the large rocks sticking out of the mud. No way to avoid the rocks. It was rough.

By the time we reached Celendin we had decided to stop and clean the bikes. Mud had lodged into the radiator decreasing the ability to cool. The fans seemed to run all the time. We found a car wash and while there someone in the group looking on, noticed that Chuck had a leak from one of his front forks. We checked the others and all four forks were leaking, two on each bike. We did some quick checking on the internet and found the nearest KTM dealer with new seals was in Lima. We changed our plans and decided to spend the night in Cajamarca, and go from there to Lima.

We had heard the road from Celendin to Cajamarca was asphalt. That was mostly a lie. We beat more crap out of the bikes and the clean bikes we started with in Celendin was now again packed in mud. We stayed in a nice hotel on the square in Cajamarca and left the next day for Lima.

[jfink]

he road leading from Cajamarca was excellent asphalt, as good as any in the US. Folks who ride sports bikes would just love the accent and decent from Cajamarca. Nothing is straight, miles and miles of up, down, left and right. It was fun. Probably 30 or 40 miles of roads as crooked as the Dragon in Tennessee. Unfortunately I was having so much fun I forgot to take pictures.

However, when we finally reached the Panamerican highway along the coast it was windy, straight and pretty boring except for watching trucks and cars jockeying for position. This is a two way road!



We eventually reached our destination of Nuevo Chimbote (Chim’ bo tee). I had located a well referenced hotel there, that we put in the GPS. We turned off the Panamerican where the GPS indicated and drove through what seemed to be a very desperate neighborhood. We stopped at the Hotel Buenos Aires not knowing what to expect. There was a guard that opened the door and let us in on the bikes. What we found was much nicer than you could ever expect.



The rooms were great, the owner (Max) met us and we parked the bikes in the garage. Didn’t have to take everything off, which was very nice. The owner’s son (Maximilian) checked us in and ordered a pizza.



They had some beer in the back room. Max, Chuck and I talked for hours about everything. If anyone is looking for a place to stay on the way north from Lima or about a days ride to Lima, I highly recommend the Hotel Buenos Aires in Nuevo Chimbote.

[jfink]

The next morning we woke and Max was in front to help us with breakfast. We must of misunderstood about breakfast because we thought it was included, however as we left the clerk came out to ask for payment for Daysenuno. 12 Sol or about $5. No big deal.

The ride to Lima was uneventful, except to say, it was surprisingly cold, it was about 65 F. For being on or near sea level, near the equator, we ended up having to put on more layers to ward off the cold.

People here work very hard and are tolerate of conditions that we in the US probably would not understand. Here is a taxi that pulled up as we were sitting having a coke. The person in red just got out of the back, paid the driver and one of the others is actually climbing back in. There had to be 5 or 6 people packed into the back of this very small vehicle.



Lima is a very large city, I was told there are 20 million people in the metropolitan city. There are no real freeways like we know. There are roads with lights and intersections but it doesn’t flow like our freeways. There are also toll booths. Motorcycles get through free but you have to be in the right hand lane; which usually meant we had to cross four or five lanes of traffic, mostly trucks, bumper to bumper. We would weave at walking pace in front of cars, trucks, whatever to get right then have to get back across traffic to get left again.

When you came to a light, it is apparently ok to turn from any lane. You must watch out if you were going straight, anyone could turn in front of you. We had put the location of the KTM dealer in the GPS and followed the direction. The location that KTM lists in their web site is wrong, it shows it in the 2600 block of Av. Separadora Industrial where the location is actually closer to the city in the 600 block.(gps S12’ 4.300” and W76’ 59.125”). We don’t have a cell phone so we couldn’t call. Eventually we stopped and talked to a woman who looked like she might speak English. She was so helpful, even though she was having an open house for her business. She called KTM, got the address, gave us maps, and directions to lights to cross the freeway.

We finally made it to KTM, and met Jesus Parades Cantreras manager of marketing at the KTM shop.



The building is huge, bigger than anything I have seen in the states for any dealer. He gave us a quick rundown of what was needed asked us if there was anything else then began helping us find a hotel. It turned out that there were no available rooms for the evening so Jesus took us around to look at Hostels, which we picked from and then helped us the following day to find a better hotel. Thanks Jesus for your real southern Hospitality.

I just got a note from Jesus who said it was 631 Sols for repair or about $233 per bike. I am pretty sure we could not have had seals replaced with parts and labor in the US for that price.

Now we plan for our escape from Lima tomorrow.

[jfink]

A final word about Lima KTM. I know there are different experiences people have with services and a lot has to do with expectations and communication. We didn’t know what to expect when we went to Lima KTM having read about experiences from several different sources. All I can say is that I am glad that Lima KTM, and in particular, Jesus didn’t charge us for every hour they actually spent helping us, first with the service on the KTM’s and then trying to find a decent hotel in the area.

I highly recommend stopping in at the KTM dealership in Lima if there is anything you need done while on your adventure. Here is Jesus with my “Pretty”, clean and good as new Dakar.


After leaving the hotel and having a small adventure on it’s own with the Taxi cab driver, we arrived at the KTM shop. The Taxi cab driver didn’t seem to want to take directions from the two gringo’s in the back seat and we got to see some parts of Lima we did not expect to see.

When we got into the KTM shop, the bikes were ready, the bill was ready, we made payment, got our stuff packed and we were on our way, in about an hour. Leaving Lima wasn’t that big of a hassle either. Drove down the main road in front of the shop, made a right onto the freeway, dodging taxi’s, trucks and motorbikes and out of town we went. I am still struck by the desert sense from riding down the coastal highway.


There does also seem to be these places where for random reasons something has broken down. I don’t know what happened here, but it seems the trailer just lost a set of trucks. I worry sometimes that this will happen right in front of me.


We are in Pisco now, and made arrangements to see the Nazca Lines tomorrow from the air. Some of you may be aware that you really can’t get a sense of what these lines are unless you view them from the air. There are also theories about aliens visiting earth in ancient times and leaving these lines for others to follow. We will see them tomorrow, and will “phone home” if we are abducted.

[The Bruce]

Nazca by air? Cool!

[troyfromtexas]

Hola Gigantes,

Bienvenidos a America del Sul.

Well, you guys are off to a wonderful start. You've arrived during Spring to South America... the rainy season. Even with the rain and mud and a little bit of misdirection it seems like y'all are covering quite a bit of distance at a good pace. Keep it up!

Sorry to hear about the motorcycle issue. Motorcycle maintenance and repair are going to be a fact of life during your travels. However, I have had some of my best experiences meeting people when I've needed to seek out assistance for my motorcycle.

You'll soon figure out a good routine of riding, lodging, dinning, sight seeing that will make life on the road a little easier.

For me, It took me a few months to figure out this routine.
1. Signed up for hostelworld.com and paid the $10 member fee to avoid the service charges.
2. One or two days before I move to a new location I search for a place. I always sort the search by the ratings and try to stay at the highest rated hostel if they have over 20 reviews. I also try to find a place near the Plaza Central or Centro. And, I try to find a place with parking listed under the facilities. I do not mind sharing rooms, but if one wants to only stay in a private room one can click the Hotel or B&B option or Private Room option. 10 minutes online on hostelworld.com saves me about 1 hour of searching for a place upon arrival.
3. I book a bed, make note of the address, then mark in on my map, iPhone map and gps. This triangulation of data seems to help reduce the chances of wrong directions from a single source (gps). And, upon arrival I typically pull over and ask for directions as a forth data point.
4. Most towns have a Plaza Central (Centro). If you are ever in doubt, just ask for the Catedral (Cathedral)[Ka-tee-dral]. When I arrive into a town I head strait to the Catedral, there is usually a one way street into the Plaza Central and a road that circles the plaza. I circle the plaza, making not of which direction the Catedral is facing, just to get a sense of the town and to gain my bearings.
5. I then locate my hostel or hotel from this central location. Simple.

At first, I would simply ride into town, then try to find a place to stay. But I soon got tired on searching around. Especially when I would arrive late. So, I developed this method. Seems to work for me. But everyone has their own method and I'm sure that you'll soon figure one out. I believe that Nov and Dec are high tourist season in South America, so you may need to develop some strategy around it.

Once you are settled into your hotel... life is good... enjoy it.

Very nice write ups, by the way.

Que les vaya bien,

Troy

[jfink]

Originally Posted by troyfromtexas

Hola Gigantes,

Bienvenidos a America del Sul.

Well, you guys are off to a wonderful start. You've arrived during Spring to South America... the rainy season. Even with the rain and mud and a little bit of misdirection it seems like y'all are covering quite a bit of distance at a good pace. Keep it up!

Sorry to hear about the motorcycle issue. Motorcycle maintenance and repair are going to be a fact of life during your travels. However, I have had some of my best experiences meeting people when I've needed to seek out assistance for my motorcycle.

You'll soon figure out a good routine of riding, lodging, dinning, sight seeing that will make life on the road a little easier.

For me, It took me a few months to figure out this routine.
1. Signed up for hostelworld.com and paid the $10 member fee to avoid the service charges.
2. One or two days before I move to a new location I search for a place. I always sort the search by the ratings and try to stay at the highest rated hostel if they have over 20 reviews. I also try to find a place near the Plaza Central or Centro. And, I try to find a place with parking listed under the facilities. I do not mind sharing rooms, but if one wants to only stay in a private room one can click the Hotel or B&B option or Private Room option. 10 minutes online on hostelworld.com saves me about 1 hour of searching for a place upon arrival.
3. I book a bed, make note of the address, then mark in on my map, iPhone map and gps. This triangulation of data seems to help reduce the chances of wrong directions from a single source (gps). And, upon arrival I typically pull over and ask for directions as a forth data point.
4. Most towns have a Plaza Central (Centro). If you are ever in doubt, just ask for the Catedral (Cathedral)[Ka-tee-dral]. When I arrive into a town I head strait to the Catedral, there is usually a one way street into the Plaza Central and a road that circles the plaza. I circle the plaza, making not of which direction the Catedral is facing, just to get a sense of the town and to gain my bearings.
5. I then locate my hostel or hotel from this central location. Simple.

At first, I would simply ride into town, then try to find a place to stay. But I soon got tired on searching around. Especially when I would arrive late. So, I developed this method. Seems to work for me. But everyone has their own method and I'm sure that you'll soon figure one out. I believe that Nov and Dec are high tourist season in South America, so you may need to develop some strategy around it.

Once you are settled into your hotel... life is good... enjoy it.

Very nice write ups, by the way.

Que les vaya bien,

Troy

Thanks for the advice Troy, the one about driving to the Centro is especially helpful. It is rainy here but other than the mud up in northern Peru, we have been able to adapt. If we don't see you in Buenos Aires, let's make it a point to meet up after we are back. Ciao!

[jfink]

NASCA
One of the things on our list to visit on this trip was the Nasca Lines. We had decided to forgo the cheaper solution of paying for a climb to the top of the viewing tower and actually forked over enough for the flying tour.


Our Flight Plan


The tower from the air


I decided to try out my video capability, let's put it this way, the Amateur film makers have nothing to fear from my untapped talent. But, just to give you a feel for what we experienced here is a view of the "Parrot", also is a picture of the route we took from Nasca to visit the lines. All in all it was about a 35 minute flight and cost $110.00 US. Chuck was a little woozy from the flight so we took a break after we landed to let him get back his land legs.

Video of the Parrot

Video of the Parrot

PUQUIO
When we finished the tour of the Nasca lines, it was only around noon, so we took off for the next town towards Machu Picchu; Puquio, about 150 kms. It is just incredible to me the rise and fall as you cross west to east across Peru. In those 150kms we climbed to around 13,900 feet and back down again to just over 10,000 feet in Puquio. We found a nice little hotel on the plaza and parked the bikes. Asked the proprietor for a restaurant recommendation and he gave us a recommendation. It was really good food and the courtyard was a relaxing change from much of what we have experienced.


Below is the church viewed from the hotel in the town square. The bell tower on the left was actually rang by young parishioners who either had very good ear protection or came away with an extreme headache.





After dinner we turned in early, got up late, had deysayuno a the same restaurant, got packed and we were on our way again. It was a little exciting getting down from the parking garage, that emptied into a street with busy traffic. Many of the hotels / hostels have parking but it may be a small enclave in the hotel, which usually means steps and gutters to overcome. The owner of this hotel had obviously experienced this before because he had blocks and boards specifically sized to overcome the obstacles. However it was a good 20 degree incline with no place to put your feet. But no incidents, not even a bobble.

ABANCAY
As we left Puquio it was obvious there was going to be rain, in fact there was even hail. I stopped and put my rain gear on, and I was glad I did. But once I have my rain gear on, it is really hard to take pictures. The road actually began to accumulate hail and turned white like snow. But it wasn't slick and we had no problems with traction or slipping.

I did stop and take some pictures as we reached one of the high points, 14,960 feet. There aren't even mountain tops in Colorado that high. We reached this height several times and the lowest temperature we experienced was 38.8 deg as indicated on the bike.


These guys were very suspicious of this gringo on a motorcycle taking pictures of their charges.


On to Machu Picchu!

[Bob Dahringer]

'scribed.

[Rydah]

Great write up and pics, Joe. Sure sounds like you guys are having a ball, and it's great that we get to ride along with you. You guys be safe and have fun (wait, is that possible?).

[Desert Skies]

Joe, you know this makes me jealous. Great pics and write-up.

Now where are the pics of one of those big KTMs inside-down in a mud wallow?

[jfink]

After Abancay we set off towards Machu Picchu. Actually, you can drive to the town of Ollantaytambo (O’ yay tay tam bo), I know it’s a mouth full but you can’t drive to Machu Picchu. But on the way we found ourselves dodging a little bit of the scenic roadside debris. This is not uncommon in this part of the country.


I thought I would also add a video of Chuck riding through some of the canyon's going from Abancay to Ollantaytambo. I did it with my regular camera, not my GoPro, but Rob, please notice that no one fell down or was hurt in the filming.

http://youtu.be/8a7dRm8mYt4

http://youtu.be/8a7dRm8mYt4

We also decided to also stop at a little roadside store for a coke and a snack for lunch. While here I was bitten by these little flies on both elbows. As of this writing about six days later they still itch. Worse than any mosquito bites I have ever had!


Again the weather has been so variable. First starting it was cool, then we ran into rain, and by the time the picture above was taken it was over 90 degrees F. It is really hard to plan on what to wear. Chuck bought jacket and pants that are water proof. I on the other hand, felt we would know what to wear each day. At this point Chuck made the right choice. I find I have to stop at least once a day to add or remove rain gear.

We arrived at Ollantaytambo and began the ritual of looking for the Hotel we had planned to stay at. This has been a theme, the hotels are never where Mapsource or Google says they are. So Chuck stayed with the bikes while I hiked around the city. Finally, found it across towns and down an alley. That’s our bikes parked at the end of the alley at the Hotel Casa del Mama Valle.


It was Ollantaytambo’s 125th anniversary. They had plenty of celebration planned, children’s bands, speaches and in the evening a band. Chuck and I had perfect seats to hear the band and the music was honestly pretty good. The view however was sometimes blocked by semi-tractor trailers waiting in the middle of the concert crowd to pass a narrow entrance on the other side of the square. Imagine that, having a concert in the plaza while traffic still passes through. Crazy stuff, you would never see in the US.


We bought round trip tickets for the train that night down this road. Notice all the flowers. November and December is the prime blossoming time, flowers were blossoming everywhere.


So we traveled by train from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu City, which is also known as Aguas Caliente because of the hot spring. The train ride was very picturesque, but only if you sat on the side away from the train station. The other side was mostly looking at the side of the wall.


In Aguas Caliente, we expected to find not much in the way of a city. Were we wrong? The city was bustling, lots of shops, a market square and plenty of restaurants and bars. Everyone you past had a hawker trying to bring you in. Chuck met one who had a deal for a hostel. We followed her to her place and it was perfect for the night and the price was right, about $30.


We woke up the next morning BEFORE the crack of dawn and were down at the bus station before 5:30a. Chuck had read that only the first 400 of the day got to visit the temple of the high priest and we wanted to do that. We rode the bus up to the entrance gate. You can hike but it is about 3.5 km, and we saw some who did walk up, and I am glad we did ride the bus.

So here is where things got a little off. While in line with the collective, we began to notice they all had tickets to get into Machu Picchu.


We began to ask ourselves if we needed tickets, could we buy tickets here? Finally I asked a gate agent at the top of the stairs. She told me we needed tickets and that we could not buy tickets there, we had to go back to town. Or, maybe one of the guides could help us. I actually asked the guide closest to the us sort in the left center of the picture. She called, got our information and ordered some tickets to be delivered, but it took an extra hour and half. Chuck was pretty bummed that he had missed the requirement for tickets to be pre-purchased.


Ultimately it all worked out for the best. I don’t think we were prepared to make the trek to the temple of the high priest. It was a very long climb up narrow path and steps to the top of Wayna Picchu, the peak overlooking Machu Picchu. The path and stairs to the overlook from the other end of Machu Piccu was work enough. Here is the standard picture of Machu Piccu with me in it! J Wayna Picchu is the prominent peak in the middle and the Temple is near the top, although it is difficult to make out. The Wayna Picchu trail runs along the ridge along the the shadow line.


Here is a picture of our guide Ruth at the same point.


There were lots of pictures taken but I won’t post them here. It will have to wait until I have a better connection. But here is one I found quite funny. At first on the camera it looked perfect. The Llama had been munching on the grass all the time I walked by. When I turned she raised her head and I took the shot. When I finally looked at it on the computer I noticed an added character on the lower right. I really don’t know what Chuck was taking a picture of, but may be that’s why the Llama raised her head


After traveling with the guide for about 2 ½ hours and hearing about Machu Picchu, it was time for us to leave.

So, here is a piece of advice if you are planning on visiting Machu Picchu, you must take the train. Ollantaytambo is the furthest you can drive. You will be tempted to buy a round trip ticket at the Ollantaytambo station, DON’T! Buy only the one way. When you decide to leave from the other end, at Aquas Caliente; you can buy the return ticket then. The line to purchase there is non-existent.

Chuck and I wanted to leave a little early since we were finished with Machu Picchu. And even though the early return train was empty and the later train we were scheduled to take was practically full, but they would not exchange tickets. “Sorry sir, my system only allows me to sell tickets. I must have twenty four hour advanced notice to exchange.” Argggh! We sat around, drank beer, ate pizza, slept on the park bench and basically became derelict. I guess it could have been worse.

So here are some observations, from sitting around. These folks are industrious. I hear there is plenty of laziness but from watching I didn’t see much. I guess if the salary is structured correctly you will get what you need. I suspect they get paid for every load they deliver.

Here a person pulls a full trolley of drinks up to perspective stores, bars or restaurants. We calculated these things must weigh around 300 lbs and it is up a very steep incline.


These indigenous woman carry the loads on their back. I don’t know how much they weigh but they are large. We watched as she made at least 3 trips up and back this long incline carrying these bags.


Latter, Chuck was talking with an engineer from Korea managing a power project in the area. The engineer said getting locals to work was difficult, everything seemed to be “manjana”! Here is a definition I took from the Urban dictionary: “To take it slow; relax. Hey man, where were you? It's noon and we had an appointment at 9 o'clock sharp! Manjana, manjana!” I guess we should not expect to bring western (or eastern for that matter) cultural expectations to another culture and expect them to work. Getting paid on an hourly basis in this society apparently leads to unexpected results.

We finally got back to Casa del Mama, spent the night and the next day we were up and on our way to Puno, Peru.

[jfink]

Originally Posted by Desert Skies

Joe, you know this makes me jealous. Great pics and write-up.

Now where are the pics of one of those big KTMs inside-down in a mud wallow?

Tom; about the only 'accidents' we have had has been drops during turning or missing a foot hold. For example, I went to make a u-turn and the Katoom died. Not sure why, but as you know, when the engine dies while you're doing a slow turn there is only one place you are going. Probably did more damage carving turns and scraping the bag in one of the turns.

[Hellwig]

Woohoo! Cool adv

[Timbercat]

Peru's newest KTM. Hope you see one in your travels



Enjoy... You are doing my dream trip.


Timbercat
Tapatalk HD from my iPad

[jfink]

Thanks Hellwig and Lee;

I really believe that the most difficult part of this trip was leaving the driveway. Once on the road, relying on ones own wits and learning the social norms, you stop thinking about all the things that could potentially happen to you and start becoming an observer of what's going on around you.

Anyone who tells you, that you need to worry about bandito's or traffic accidents or political corruption, etc. has not done this trip. Don't get me wrong, once you experience it, you get frustrated by things we take for granted in the US, but you also realize there are a whole **** of a lot of other folks living here and dealing with life as it is. Then you start focusing on things that make them (and you) happy. Trip of a life time, nah! A real experience to open your mind, most definitely!

Thanks again for your comments.

Regards,

[jfink]

We met a group of folks touring Argentina, Chile and Bolivia tonight for dinner. The guides were from Salta, Argentina. We may change our plans to meet up with the guides next week in Salta. But, the group that was touring with them were from Germany, Switzerland and Austria. We have met so many from Europe (especially Germans and Swiss) it kind of makes me wonder what is wrong with us in the US? Come on, let's represent!!!

Now I realize that a six / seven / eight month tour is not everyone, but these guys were doing an organized tour with two company guides and have been out for a couple weeks on mostly paved roads riding BMW GS650's and GS800. And based on the conversations, it sounded like they were having a great time. They will then return home and go back to work.

In case anyone is thinking about tours in the Bolivian, Chilean and Argentinian area, you can contact Matias Villalba at villalba@horizonte-tours.com. But there are many other tour companies out there as well. I still hope to run into some Americans doing some touring, but so far it hasn't happened.

[jfink]

Nothing much to report for the trip to Puno. I was looking forward to seeing Lake Titicaca. During my high school years I was in the concert choir. We did a sort of rap song that included geographic locations including Lake Titicaca and of course that became a topic of conversation among us choir members. So this is for my very good friend Wayne Cowin who was also same the senior Concert Choir. And yes, I am wearing Harley Davidson rain gear. Me in front of Lake Titicaca.


Here’s the bike, nice picture eh! Good PR for KTM.


One thing I need to mention is we have traveled over 4,000 miles already and have had no trouble with law enforcement. After all the stories we heard, we had been concerned. If anything by now we had somewhat become complacent. Well, when we got near the city of Juliaca a police car pulled in front of us and began wand signaling us over.

When he came up he asked for our SOAT. SOAT for you who don’t know is the basic liability insurance. We had purchased SOAT in Colombia and had read that there was a treaty signed between Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile which allowed spanning coverage between countries. Honestly, the rules are so vague and confusing about insurance, I am not sure what we had, but at that moment it WAS the insurance that covered us in all those countries.

We had heard from another moto rider that he was shaken down in the exact location for a 110 peruvian, because he couldn’t produce a document. First we said we were from Texas and couldn’t speak a lick of Spanish, and they could not speak English. We told them about the agreement and produced our SOAT from Colombia. They argued it didn’t work for Peru. Eventually after 30 or 40 minutes of arguing back and forth, I believe we started cutting into the profits and they finally let us go, no charge.

We were again stopped at the edge of Puno, and they wanted the same thing, SOAT. I got off the bike, told him I didn’t speak Spanish, but “here we go again, with the SOAT.” He said something that I vaguely understood as “you have already been stopped?” and I said “si!” He just shook his head and waved us on.

Again, finding the hotel was a problem. It wasn’t where it said on Google or Mapsource. So we ended up stopping at another hotel we passed. It was a very nice hotel, it even had hot water. Not all do you know. But the WiFi left much to be desired.

Internet service in South America runs generally on Copper. You can see it strung everywhere. I imagine even some of the backbone is copper. Therefore, even if you have a strong wireless signal, everything gets bottlenecked into the main trunk. I have things to say about global competition and things that countries in South America that we have visited so far will need to change in order to be competitive. The internet backbone is one of them.

Everything is good.