Peru .... a real adventure

Saturday 24th October
Puno to Chivay

Well 200 or so miles do not seem too bad, but I started this day early not knowing what was to come. I wanted to see the Inca funeral towers at Sillustani which was a official short detour so I started an hour and a half earlier than the others so as not to be behind. The road out of town was a bad, rutted, compacted mud road swinging up the steep hillside, I stopped in the station to fill with the only gas available 84 grade. After this a tricky run through the road works got me onto the main road out, and shortly to the turn off for the Inca ruins. I spent a little over 40 minutes in the historic site and the amazing scenery of the lake and surroundings explains why the Incas would use this area.

I started back on the main road probably just 10 minutes behind the support van, but in the next small city Juliaca, I was held up by police stop checks, then by the parades and the closure of the central plaza. As most towns in Peru have little or no signs and no logic to lay-out, it took me a while to get to the other side, I had asked some police the way out, when another turned up on his motorbike and offered to lead me out to the correct road. After thanking him I got going on the road to try to catch up the others who were by now at least an hour ahead.

30 miles down the road on this 4000 metre high plateau in the middle of “no where” I had a puncture on the rear wheel, at first it looked not too bad, a small nail was sticking out of the tyre. As the tyres on this bike are tubed I had to take the wheel off and remove the tyre to check the inner tube, once off I could see the nail had not just punctured the tube but cut a long 20 cm gash in it. As best I could I tried to patch this tear, after putting the wheel back on and using my small portable compressor it was clear I was not going to be able to fix this. A police 4x4 appeared, I flagged them down and asked to use their mobile to call the support van back, but they had no signal. I was about to negotiate a lift to the nearest small village 20 miles away when three bikes appeared on the horizon. They were Argentinean bikers, on tour, with a mixture of bikes. After explaining as best I could the problem, in Spanglish, they then to my relief magically produced a spare inner tube of the correct size. I bought this from them and after being helped to fit it, I got the bike back onto the road. With much thanking the police and bikers for their help, was off on the rest of the days ride again. Further on this plateau I encountered, first a sand storm, then a full thunder storm with hail and snow which continued for half an hour. The route then took a turn off the main road onto the worst road I have ridden on, to say it was potholed is an understatement, there were more potholes than tarmac. It continued for 30 miles of boneshaking, before taking a fork left where it became, thankfully, new tarmac.

This road took me up to the highest pass I’ve been to, 4910 metres (16108 feet) and the rarefied air, even making getting off the bike to take pictures a real effort, but worth it for the stunning views of the high Andean mountains. After this the road wound its way through a series of switch-backs back down to 3800 metres to arrive at the hotel 5 hours late, much to the relief of the group and myself!

Miles
Today : 213
Total : 15418
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Sunday 25th October
Chivay to Arequipa

After an early start we rode out on Colca Canyon for 30 miles to the Mirador Del Condor, a viewing point for Condors. After some 20 minutes we spotted two condors circling in the distance, where they stayed for a while. We then had to ride out on the same dirt road bac to the village again and then. back up over the 4910 metre high pass. Back along the very pot holed road we had ridden yesterday to the main road. From here on in it was nice sweeping smooth road all the rest of the way into the large city of Arequipa


Miles
Today 162
Total 15580
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Peru

Monday 12th October
Macara to Chiclayo


Today we cross the boarder into Peru, it seems the trip is going too fast as we enter another country, a short 2 mile ride to the boarder and the now familiar procedure to cross, book ourselves out then the bike, book ourselves in then the bike. As usual the procedure to book the bike in (temporary import) takes the longest, but as there are n computers involved and this is a quiet boarder crossing it only took a couple of hours. Once out of the boarder town the scenery changed after 120 miles there was a very long straight road, almost 100 miles through a desert area, the scenery of a desert is not that spectacular, but I have never ridden or been to a desert and it is still an interesting experience.

As the ride continued in a small group of 5 of us, with no petrol stations in sight two of the bikes got very low, I slowed to 40 mph to reduce the fuel consumption and had only 15 miles of fuel left when we found a petrol station. There had, un-usually been no money changers at the boarder and the station did not accept US dollars, so most of us could not pay for fuel, luckily Julia had 10 Sols local currency, just enough to top up the other bikes, I then used my increasingly useful spare fuel can this got me the 30 miles to the city, but it was close for some of us.


Miles
Today : 269
Total : 13666
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Tuesday 13th October
Chiclayo to Huanchaco


Before riding on a number of the group took the morning to visit Lord of Sipan Museum, lots of the gold artefacts on display from the tombs of this pre-Inca civilisation, which had escaped the grave robbers and been properly excavated. From here a shorter run continued in the deserts of north west Peru despite 10 miles out the city’s rubbish was being dumped here and burned, it still was a new experience riding in the desert with very long straight runs of road surrounded by a military firing range then out of the blue suddenly cultivated fields of sugar cane and other crops appeared. The desert continued all the way to the coastal fishing town of Huanchaco, with it’s reed boat fishing fleet.

Miles
Today : 133
Total : 13799
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Wednesday 14th October
Huanchaco to Caraz

I got up early to see the fishing boats come in but they hadn’t gone out this day. Desert runs 100 miles straight roads. Tuned off some more tarmac before Canyon del Pato 60 miles of dirt road, supposed to be easy. Turned out to be very stony bouncing the bike around had to watch out for stones sticking out of the ground , spectacular scenery, very few places like this, had 34 tunnels, with trucks careering through very difficult, some places sand and deep gravel 5 bikes fell no serious damage, Richard fell for the first time on trip. This was a real test of the bikes and some had bolts and other bits fall off, one bike had a severe buckle in the wheel rim requiring the judicious use of the hammer to stop the tyre coming off! He ride took us through the small mountain villages only giving us an impression of how hard people’s lives must be.

Miles
Today : 190
Total : 13989
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Thursday 15th October
Caraz to Barranca

Started about 8.30 riding easy though the tarmac was not good mid morning, lots of deep pot holes. Road through the Andes we got to 13000 foot at places with a back-drop of snow capped mountains, it got very cold and put warm gear on. Later the road turned into an amazing series of switch backs taking us back down to sea level very quickly, a short run to join the pan-am. I went to visit the chimu fortress a pre-Inca civilisation, and then back down the pan-am to the town, which was a very basic working town with little to remark on, except the continuous use of the horns from cars and taxis. This continued through the night without rest.

Miles
Today : 181
Total : 14170
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Frday 16th October
Barranca to Nazca

Started very early with no breakfast to get past Lima, 9.30 before we got to Lima 90 or so miles down the road. The traffic was very heavy despite them having built a fly over through the central part of the city, it took us almost an hour to negotiate our ay out of this big city. The run took us to lunch at a road side café then I was riding alone using the simple compass to navigate the sometime complicated road system with little in the way of signs. Another 150 miles down the road another ride came alongside and pointed to a garage, turned out this was Peter a German riding another F800GS joining us in Nasca. He then joined me for the rest of the ride, stopping at the viewing tower for the Nasca lines and then made our way to the hotel in the town some 15 miles on

Miles
Today : 403
Total : 14573
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Saturday 17th October
Nazcar
Day Off

Went on a flying trip around the Nasca lines in the morning and did some essential bike maintenance. In the afternoon went to visit the ancient mummies of the desert here. These had been well preserved by the lack of rainfall (30mm per 2 years) and the mummification process of covering the bodies with salt and wrapping them in cotton. We all stopped taking photos as this site was very macabre.

Miles
Today : 0
Total : 14573
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Sunday 18th October
Nascar to Abancay
A very nice run up and over the Andes, we reached 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) and one of the group started to suffer symptoms of altitude sickness. The road was potholes badly at first but still good fun to ride as it swept through some fantastic scenery. After a break 90 miles in the road improved increasing the pace a sweeping though the high Andes. Near the highest point a weather front moved in we were subjected to hail, not small hail but larger marble sized hail. Moving at speed resulted in some stinging blows even through the armoured bike jacket so I had to slow until it passed. We also encountered packs of vicunas and lamas which have a habit of jumping into the road, one of the group had a glancing blow leaving fur on his boot, a very lucky escape as in other years people have ended up being medi-vac'd due to just such encounters.

Miles
Today : 289
Total : 14862
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Monday 19th October
Abancay to Cusco

More great riding in the high Andes, climbing up above Abancay on 25 miles of switch backs which took nearly an hour, we were still only about 5 miles from the town but had climbed a couple of thousand metres again reaching well over 4000 meters. The views here of the snow capped Andes was superb and continued for the rest of the ride even though we started to descend. A short turn off on the way took me to the Inca Fortress of Ollantaytammbo I stopped for a late lunch here then went to visit the fortress climbing all the way to the top having spectacular views of the Ina Sacred Valley. This fortress was the last stand of the Incas against the Spanish, though they stood little chance against the superior weapons.

Miles
Today : 98
Total : 14960
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Tuesday 20th October
Cusco
Visit Machu Picchu


Cusco is at 3400 metres and some of the group were feeling this but we were up early to catch a bus and then a train, unfortunately the Peruvian authorities do not allow any motor vehicles to use the road to the modern village below Machu Picchu The train (backpacker) took about 3 hours to get to the village where we then took the official buss up to winding road to the entrance to Machu Picchu. The place is now normally packed with tourists, we were lucky as it was a light day and the views of the site and surrounding mountains were spectacular. After a 2 hour guided tour the heavens opened up and we made our way back down to the village below to catch the train back to Cusco, eventually arriving 9.30 pm.


Miles
Today : 0
Total : 14960
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Wednesday 21st October
Cusco
Day Off

Visited the historic Cathedral built upon the original Inca temple. The Spanish demolished the temples and used the stone to build the cathedral.


Miles
Today : 0
Total : 14960
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Thursday 22nd October
Cusco to Puno

Riding out of the very nice city of Cusco I looked for any Petrol station selling 95 octane fuel, but could only find 90, this becoming the norm for Peru and even some stations having no 90 and only 84 (probably equivalent to 75 by our standards). The run out of the city was straight forward, the road becoming very good with lots of sweeping bends as I climbed up to 4300 metres from the cities 3400 metres, at the top I was on a plateau and the roads became long and straight, the scenery was again spectacular with the plain surrounded by the Andean mountain tops, some snow capped. The temperature dropped and I found myself using my warm under jacket again, I haven’t needed this since Canada and have acclimatised to the higher temperatures so am now feeling the cold. Although roads where long and straight here, there was still plenty to look at as we passed though the numerous villages where the kept Llamas, cattle, sheep and pigs, all roaming around free and occasionally a hazard on the road. The final part of the days ride was on the lookout for a petrol station, I had had no petrol since Cusco, but no stations had anything other than “84” the bike performed well and I got to Puno on the 16 litre in the tank with 20 miles still showing.

Miles
Today : 245
Total : 15205
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Friday 23 October
Puno
Day Off

Miles
Today : 0
Total : 15205
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Ecuador

Thursday 8th October
Popayan to Otovalo

A border crossing, long run to get there nice twisty roads though took some time, got to the boarder 2.30pm then had a very long wait till got through as the computer was very slow. In the last group we didn’t get out of the boarder till 6.45 pm. Rode in the dark in Ecuador, border town did not have any petrol stations open due to petrol smuggling the next station 60 miles away, put my spare in jims bike, Julia and Mac running on reserve just as they were about to run out we found an open station, had dinner (rice and meat balls) then on to the hotel. As we had rode at night I didn’t get any impression of Ecuador.

Miles
Today :301
Total : 12771
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Friday 9th October
Otovalo to Quito
Cross the Equator

Very short day, we took a relaxed ride to the Equator where of course we stopped to take pictures, we were allowed to take the bikes right on to the area around the monument marker. Although the roads seem to be good at the moment the short ride still has not allowed me to get any real impression of the country.

Miles
Today :69
Total : 12840
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Saturday 10th October
Quito to Cuenca

Negotiating our way out of this large bustling city was not easy, it’s a complex maze of busy streets and traffic. The ride took us into the mountains past small villages and farms. Although the scenery was impressive there was an impression that life here high up is very hard, with people ploughing the fields using oxen and hand guided ploughs. A number of times I saw people carrying large loads of wood on their backs, most of whom were wearing traditional clothes associated with Peru. Riding along the plateau I came across a development in the middle of nowhere, incredibly the sign said it was a Golf course, and I could not believe that money was being spent on this and not to improve the infrastructure for the people here. Later in the ride we hit fog and rain with badly potholed roads this slowed us to a crawl, after coming out of the fog stopped at a petrol station and found the top hose on my bike about to come off. I spent some time resetting the hose and the stainless steel jubilee clip even though the system was still very hot, using a socket to tighten it this time. Hopefully this will sort this issue that has been plaguing me for some time.

Miles
Today : 288
Total : 13128
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Sunday 11th October
Cuenca to Macara

Today we ride to the border town of Macara in preparation to cross into Peru. Again we rode through the mountains of Ecuador with its twisty potholed roads and great views of the mountains. Riding high we hit some substantial rain and put the wet weather gear on, as the road was difficult and twisty the ride continued into the dark, when we descended the temperature rose but wanting to get there, kept the wet weather gear on slowly boiling, but eventually reaching the small boarder town of Macara. This town is very basic with little facilities basically a stop over point for the boarder crossing, it was when we arrived that we found out there had been two bad crashes, one required the bike transported to the hotel on the back of a pick-up, Nigel had been going around a bend when a pickup had appeared, hitting the brakes he fell hard, the bike suffered damage to the screen and top end and he had severe bruising to his shoulder. The other accident occurred to Simon (he joined us in Bogotá) he had a flat tyre at 50 mph and could not control the bike. Luckily he had little damage to the bike or himself, the luggage (metal mules) simply had scratches on them, and a broken clutch lever mount. It was lucky both bikes were patched up and rideable the next day as we did not have our support van it was still in customs.

Miles
Today : 269
Total : 13397
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Columbia

Thursday 1st October
Panama City to Bogotá City (Columbia)
Flight

The bikes, we had heard had arrived in Bogotá yesterday, so we were on our way to Bogotá. It took a short flight of 1 ½ hours to get to our Third section of our trip South America, as always the airports of all countries look the same and operate the same, only the different language on the signs denotes the country you are in. Once out of the air port the change was apparent, the temperature had dropped considerably and the humidity had gone as Bogotá is at altitude. Once we had collected our baggage, we left this in the taxi van and went to the customs to collect the bikes, this took about 3 hours to get the paperwork sorted and go collect the bikes from the warehouse. However once there we find we have to drive the bikes through an office and down a set of steep steps outside, the warehouse is only geared up to load lorries with their high, drive in bays. Once out of this the drive to the hotel was interesting to say the least, wacky races would be mild compared to this, well when in Rome …. So last minute lane changing, squeezing the bikes into any gap and forcing your way through the traffic is all par for the course, and a lot of fun! Later most of s decided to eat in town, it was very surprising, looking for all intents and purposes like any European café culture area, bar clubs and restaurants.

Miles
Today : 0
Total : 11763
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Friday 2 October
Bogotá
Bike servicing

I spent the day servicing my bike, we had been allowed the use of the local BMW dealer’s workshop, and this turned out to be a very large dealership, as large as any back in the UK. The workshop was kitted out with all the specialist tools and we were given the run of the workshop.

Miles
Today : 0
Total : 11763
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Saturday 3 October
Bogotá

I spent the morning unpacking the kit from the flight ready to load onto the bike, in the afternoon was a presentation in the dealership, as we were the first large group to go to Columbia, we were a big event, and many guests had been invited. Our bikes were put on display in the showroom still covered in dirt as they wanted them displayed like that. After a presentation we answered questions from guests and hosts about our bikes, as best we could, my Spanish is poor, but I muddled though and think some of them understood me!

Miles
Today : o
Total : 11763
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Sunday 4th October
Bogotá to Medellin

An early start for our first ride in Columbia as we joined some Columbian bikers as escorts to ride north to the city of Medellin. The first section started with miles of mountain twisty road getting warmer at first then cooler again as we wended our ay through the mountains. Although the mileage was not too long, but because the road was twisty we could not make good progress, after the lunch stop, the road became more a little quicker, it still took us into the darkness to get to the city a total of 12 hours of riding.

Miles
Today : 313
Total : 12076
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Monday 5th October
Medellin
Day off

Spent the day wandering around the city, being in a valley it’s easy to navigate and as a modern metro system, this again is very surprising and its very like many European cities. I like this city it appears to be a very nice and pleasant place to be.

Miles
Today : 0
Total : 12076
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Tuesday 6th October
Medellin to Cerritos

Again the riding in this country is superb, the hills and mountains very green as I climbed the temperature dropped and these roads were good with lots of bends. Later I dropped out of the mountains on to a flat plain with an increase in temperature I could see lots of sugar cane fields.

Miles
Today : 172
Total : 12248
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Wednesday 7th October
Cerritos to Popayan

Miles
Today : 222
Total 12470