Wed 1/09/08
my first night at the hostel in Bogota i was talking with some other folks who were also staying there. we were chatting out on the hostel´s patio. there was a guy from Canada, one from Spain, one from Israel, and a gal from Denmark. We got to talking about my bike trip and the Israeli guy seemed really interested. I told him I was intending to sell the bike once I got done with the trip - hopefully in Argentina or Brazil. In fact, he was real interested in purchasing it. When I started telling him about all the "accessories" on the bike, the Canadian guy said I was wasting my time if I was trying to get a better price cause the guy I was talking to was jewish. It wouldn´t do me any good to try to justify a higher price (guess you had to have been there). My second day in Bogota, I walked up a mountain trail just outside the city with hundreds of Colombians to see the Montserrat Church - which looks out over the city. Beautiful view of most of the city. I was definitely sore the next day. The next morning I went out for coffee in downtown Bogota and on the way back to the hostel I ran into 4 of the 5 Canadians who were at the air freight depot back in Panama City shipping their bikes when I was shipping mine (their bikes are the same as mine). I though it was amazing that out of seven and half million people in Bogota, I would run into these same folks again in that city. They had already gotten their bikes out of customs the day before so were able to share with me the process. That put my mind at ease. I took a cab back out to the airport later and went to the freight service where the bike was located. The drill was for me to take the shipping papers across the boulevard to the customs office and get them signed which I did. Then bring the papers back to the shipper. In the customs office I saw two Americans with motorcycle helmets. They were there with a young American missionary, Jacob, who was helping them by translating. Jacob works at an orphanage in Bogota. So he agreed to help me as well. We got to talking and I found out that he and his fiance are getting married in July and are interested in coming to Prince of Wales Island for their honeymoon. I was able to get my bike released after only a couple of hours of dealing with the bureacracy. Not bad considering the time I´d previously spent in Central American border crossings. Two of the warehouse guys for the shipping company helped me reattach my battery and panniers. Then they told me to drive the bike through the company´s office lobby, out the front door and down about 10 steps to the pavement. That was exciting!! After that, I was free to roam Colombia. About a half a block from the freight warehouse, though, I ran out of gas on the busy avenue going past the airport. Luckily, I coasted right into a service station. So I filled up with petrol and had air added to the tires. I good way to start my journey in South America. Then I only got lost once on my way out of Bogota. I didn´t even have to backtrack more than a couple of miles to get back on track. The traffic was bumper to bumper and the city seemed to go on forever, but at last I made it out into the mountains surrounding the city and out in the rural areas. The road was very winding and was a steep incline DOWN in elevation. The bike seemed to be running better than it did in Panama. That surprised me because of the altitude. The colombian folks have been super friendly so far as I encounter them out on the road. I got a room in a town a couple of hours out of Bogota. The town seemed to be a tourist place for the locals. There were lots of services: hotels, restaurants, cyber cafes, etc. Did not see any other gringos. It rained on me most of this morning. First time that (rain) has happened since I was on Vancouver Island. Very steep mountain road with lots of truck traffic. Lots of locals on motorcycles as well. I went over 9000 miles today for the trip total. I´m at a town right now just north of Cali, Colombia - which is at a much lower altitude. Saw miles of coffee plantations today. The mountains were so steep that I can´t see how they can pick the coffee beans. I also thought I saw Juan Valdez several times today, ie, everal guys with donkeys, the Juan hat and the side bag. Donkeys and mules were being used extensively to work the steep patches of crops on the sides of the mountains. If I can keep up this pace of travel, I should be in Ecuador in 2 or 3 days. Another border crossing..... I can hardly wait!!
Mon 1/14/08
Hello from Ecuador!!!
I made it through southern Colombian with no problems whatsoever. this is supposedly the area that has had some security issues. i could not tell it though. after i last wrote, i splurged and stayed at a 4 star hotel in Buga, Colombia. upon entering the town square, i asked two guys on motos where a nice hotel was located. one guy simply said "follow me" and led me to the hotel a few blocks away. it was an old, old hotel right downtown near the colonial section. the cost was high by colombian standards but still cheaper than any hotel i´d ever stayed at in Alaska. and this lodging included a buffet supper AND breakfast. nice big rooms with high ceilings. GREAT! i asked another guy on a moto how to get out to the main highway the next day and he did the same thing as the other guy- he led me out to the road on his moto instead of just giving me directions. very nice folks here.
my two biggest fears on this trip have been passing through border crossings and navigating big cities. well, i decided to try to meet the latter fear head on by intentionally trying to locate a hostel in downtown Cali, Colombia - a city of 2.5 million folks. i found the place!!! that fact has given me more confidence in dealing with this particular fear of riding in big city traffic. the hostel had guests mostly in their 20´s, from several different countries. met a young man from ireland who walked around downtown cali with me. jack has been traveling for over a year now. he has degree in nutrition and use to work in quality control for the Guiness brewery and the Bailey´s Cream distillary in Ireland. Must have been a heck of a job..... That evening I was walking around downtown by myself when I heard somebody calling out, "Bill, Bill, Bill". Come to find out that a guy at a sidewalk cafe table was actually calling me by name. It was Wayne, a canadian guy I had met at the hostel in Bogota. So it happened again; i´m wandering around a huge city in a foreign country with millions of people and i run into somebody i know. amazing!! so, of course, i stop and have a beer with wayne. he, like me, is traveling independently around south america, only he is doing it via the public bus system. he may be just a little older than me and is an inspiration to me. turns out wayne had been in the same hostel in cali as me two days earilier but had moved out. i found out why that evening. it was like being in a frat house on a weekend (not that I have been in a frat house on a weekend). a bunch of drunk rowdy young folks having a good time. only problem was my room was just outside the lounge area. needless to say, i did not get much sleep that night. i did ask them to turn the tv off about 1 am. i only made one wrong turn on the way out of cali. lots of buses and taxis, but the drivers seemed more courteous than in central america. i only rode 3 or 4 hours that day as i was approaching the mountainous area of southern colombia and wanted to be sure i had plenty of daylight the next day while passing through that area of the country. and once again, i asked a guy on a moto in Popayan, Colombia where i could find a hotel with secure parking for the bike. instead of telling me (he probably figured I wouldn´t understand his directions anyway. true.), he led me to a hotel that had about 40 military guys staying there. yeah, i guess it should be secure there. the presence of so many army guys was probably an indication of the sensitive security issues for that region, but i was glad to see them. walked around this town. some of the buildings dated back to the late 1500´s. Old whitewashed walls and beautiful old churches. a bit of challenging walking along the narrow streets. had chicken stew and chicken rice for dinner at the hotel. very good. shared breakfast with the military guys the next morning before i headed out for the mountainous road toward the Ecuador border. the road immediately started rising right out of town. lots of curves and many cliffs that went straight down from the very edge of the road. but no sign of rebels. thanks very much to all who were praying for me during this part of my journey.
folks along the way continue to be very friendly. most anywhere i stop people will come over and start asking me questions about the trip, the bike, alaska, etc. i usually don´t understand the questions but have come up with pat answers that i spout off which seem to satisfy them: the size of the bike, how fast it will go, how long i have been traveling, how much the bike cost, how many kilometers i´ve travelled, etc. on the mountain roads i saw two little kids on the same bicycle "hitching" a ride on a truck. what they were doing was holding on to the trailer of the truck while it slowly lumbered uphill. then they would let go and turn around on their bike and ride back down the same hill.
got a room at the border town of Ipiales, Colombia the evening before crossing into Ecuador. Cost $8.00 for a decent room, cable tv, hot water and secure parking for the bike. no restaurant, tho, so the clerk ordered chinese delivery for me. was very good and cost $5.00 but it was enough to feed a family of 6. I shared it with the staff. watched the NFL playoff game - packers vs seattle - with spanish commentary. america has quite an influence all over the world it appears.
the next morning it was raining hard. packed up the bike and showed the hotel staff my Lonely Planet´s Colombia book. They were really interested in it. by the time i had finished packing up, the rain had stopped. got thru the border into equador with the help of a border facilitator, but i probably could have done it all by myself this time. no trucks at all at this border. maybe because it was a sunday morning. after I got my visa I rode right through the both checkpoints with no questions asked. made me think that these two countries have very lax controls in place. headed on down the Pan AM Hwy and was "Now Free to Travel About Equador". Shortly thereafter, there was a police road block that was diverting traffic down a secondary road. it was a beautiful road but no road signs which made me a bit nervous. a little later traffic was stopped high up on the side of a mountain. I looked down into the valley with my binocs where the road went and saw huge boulders that had rolled onto the road. Some military guys were trying to push them off by hand. Finally the line started up again and was we were stopped about 2 miles further up the road. No rocks this time. I guy behind me in line came up to talk and suggested that I could go on ahead and pass the cars on my moto if I wanted to. So I did. I passed the whole line of cars (about a mile of vehicles) and came to a police checkpoint in the middle of nowhere. I don´t know why both directions of traffic were stopped, but sure enough they waved me through just like the guy said they would. I had the whole road to myself after that for several miles. Stopped at a park along the way where statues of prehistoric animals were on display. the maintenance man and his young son came up to talk to me. I took their photo and the guy asked me to wait a minute. he came back with a handful of postcards and a poster of the park to give to me from the souvenire shop. i started seeing lots of indians, ladies with full skirts and the fedora hats. most did not want their photos taken though.
i'm in quito, ecuador now, where i spent the night. i passed the equator just north of here but can´t remember which direction the water went down the drain in the northern hemisphere. i figure i can find my way through this town as it is only 1.5 million pop. as i head south from Quito, i will be traveling through the Avenue of the Volcanos. One of these vulcanos has made international news in the last few days, i´ve heard. maybe i will get to see some lava......who knows ?¿?¿?¿ not too close i hope...
Fri 1/18/08
Right before I left the hostel in Quito, I discovered some computer terminals just off the lobby. Nobody was around so I checked emails. Then I packed up the bike. As I was just getting ready to take-off toward downtown Quito, a young man came running out and asked if I'd used the computers. Said I owed a dollar. We got to talking (he could speak some English) and he asked me where I was going. His name was Carlos. I told him my plan was to ride thru Quito in order to get back on the Panamericana Hwy as soon as I could. He said I would get lost in downtown Quito, to take the by-pass. Well, there was no by-pass on my map, so Carlos offered to show me how to get to the road with his car. He said just to follow him. So I did. Taking this road probably took off hours of frustration for me driving in city traffic on narrow congested roads. The hospitality of these folks is amazing! I could see the huge city down in the valley where it was situated up against the mountains - as I rode the bypass. The city is situated in a valley. I would guess it was longer than even Bogota because the only way for it to grow would be north and south (the direction I am heading).
Rode through the Andes to a little town called Baños, at the base of a volcano. It is below the volcano that made international news last week. The volcao has been acting up. Since this town was just off the main highway, I decided to give it a look. Perhaps see some lava. No lava, but I did see some ash clouds. The road I was gonna take out of there was closed due to volcanic debris so I had to backtrack a little. Guess this is as close as I have ever come to an active volcano.
When leaving the hotel in Baños, the owner came out and wanted to know all about Alaska and my trip so far. (he saw my plates) I showed him the Prince of Wales Island Visitors Guide as well as a photo album of POW Island with pictures taken by a lady from our church. He and two young men at the hotel were really interested in our Island. My moto panniers now sport two stickers from this gentleman wanting to advertise his hotel in rural Ecuador.
Rode on through rain and very dense fog that day. Probably a good thing that I could not see the sides of the road because I suspect that they were sheer drop-offs. Saw a lot of indigenous indians and a lot of sheep through the fog. Kind of surreal. Stopped and talked to a group of 6 BMW bike riders. Turned out they were all from Colombia and were doing a tour of Ecuador. Nice guys. Fancy bikes. Most of the ride that day was a steady descent. I probably could have coasted for miles and miles downhill. At sunset that day (at least it would have been sunset if I could have seen the sun) I pulled into a mid-size town and got a room at an old hotel downtown. These are my favorite places to spend the night, old hotels right in the old town. Had an excellent stir fry meal with my Ecuadorian beer. Just told the waitress to bring me the same thing as the guy at the next table since I understood very little of what the menu said. Turned out the guy had good taste.
The next morning I was checking emails at the only cyber cafe in town and ended up sitting next to a gringo guy who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. Stewart was about to finish up his assignment and was interested in both the idea of long distance cycle trips and driving through Central America. Gave him the trip blog website. He said that his supervisor was a P.C. volunteer in Zaire during the same period that Sarah and I lived there. Small world!! He said that this town was the starting point for a hair raising ride down a railroad section called "Nariz de Diablo" (the Devils Nose). You could book a seat on TOP of the rail car. I went down to the train station as the train was about to leave and saw the railcar-top seating. I will stick to motorcycle thrill rides down the side of mountains, I guess.
More rain that day as the road continued to go downhill (in more ways than one). At one point there was no road as it actually did slide downhill. The construction guys allowed me to test the trail that they made through the mud. Needless to say I was a bit nervous about that. A few miles later on there was a mud slide across the road where the mountain above had slid onto the road. Going through that was scary as well. Lots of rain and steep roads don't mix in Ecuador I guess. Rained all day with thick fog again. Guess my luck has finally ran out about staying dry and out of the rain. But the next section of road in Peru will be in desert so maybe these rainy days are helping me to appreciate the dry heat to come.
Spent that night in a rooming house in Giron, Eucuador. Rode into the downtown just at dark there and asked two ladies where a hotel was located. One lady said to follow her (sound familiar ?¿) and she walked in front of me for two blocks to the rooming house as I putted along behind her on my bike. Probably was a strange site to see for the locals. Felt like I was in a mini-parade.... but these folks are great!
I feel like I'm learning what it is like to be really hopspitable to strangers. The owner of the hotel spoke English (sigh of relief!) as he had lived in Toronto for 23 years. His son was visiting from Conn. Nice to be understood and to understand when talking to somebody. More rain and fog that day as I continued to descend toward the Peruvian border. Finally got down out of the mountains and had to peel off all my cold weather clothing: heated vest, long underwear, jacket liner, and gloves all had to go as it was sweltering. Only 30 minutes earlier I was cold. Was still almost on the equator now after all. Only now I was at sea level.
Rode on toward the border. Came to the border town there and a little guy came zooming past me on the road in the town indicating that I should pull over. Turned out his name was Anthony and he said I had passed up the Ecuadorian immigration office (not even a sign on the road). He knew I was traveling. It took him 4km to catch up with me on his 70cc Honda step-through scooter. Of course he offered to show me how to get through the border procedures on both the Ecuador and the Peru sides. (that was his job) My exit visa was no problem. Getting the bike ok´d to leave the country was another issue altogether. It seemed that I was only given a "provisional" authorization to import the bike only as far as Quito when I entered the country. The customs guys for Ecuador were gonna make me fill out all the paperwork for the bike but then decided to let me go if I promised not to come back into Ecuador. So I guess I am now a "persona non grata" in that country as well as in Nicaragua (where I gave the cops a fake drivers license and left) and in Costa Rica (where I fled from the uniformed airport police). Hope they do not have linked data bases. Anthony got me through the formalities for the bike with Peru customs. Peru is just on the other side of a little creek which serves at the official border. Nobody checking anything, though, so it appeared that the customs and immigration were mostly for touristas. Anthony "suggested" that I give the Peru customs guy $5.00. Also $2.00 to the guy at immigrations who was handing out the entry visas for Peru. So I am now in Peru on the coast highway.
Beautiful beaches with little fishing villages spaced 12-30km apart. The road runs through desert so I am definitely drying out from my time in the Andes. Those mountains are what make the desert here as they block all the rain. I am at a surfing town called Mäcora now. Peru is a large country so will be here awhile. Looks like Lima is right on the way. Oh boy, another big South American city. I can hardly wait.
1/22/08
I passed the 11,000 mile mark recently for this trip. For some reason it seems like it should be a lot more miles than that. It has been interesting noticing the different makes of automobile preferences as I go south. In Mexico, it was Volkswagons, both new ones and old ones. In central america it seemed to be toyotas. lots of old land cruisers as well as new passenger cars. Then in Colombia and Ecuador, chevrolets were in abundence. now in peru there are beaucoup 70´s era chrysler products being used as cabs. i first thought they were muscle cars by the way they were jacked up in the back. maybe it´s heavy duty suspension to handle the loads put on the taxis here. most of the in-town taxis are 3 wheeled motorcycles however, with bench seats in the back. another thing i´ve noticed, particularly in south america, is folks selling cell phone time by the minute. you can rent a cell phone from a corner vendor to make just one call. reminds me of when we were living in africa and they re-sold individual cigarettes taken from a pack.
driving on the highways continues to be interesting. folks are big into tailgating. when that vehicle behind me is a heavily loaded semi, that is a bit disconcerting. also, folks will pass me in my lane within inches of the bike (it seems) even when there is no oncoming traffic in the opposing lane - but especially when there is. and oncoming traffic will pass vehicles coming into my lane and expect me to move off onto the shoulder. i am getting use to these driving habits, but you really have to be alert when driving down here. i did see 3 wrecks yesterday out on the desert road where there are mostly wide open spaces. most are turnovers with trucks or a bus losing control. that is something else for me to think about.... trucks losing control.
my first night in peru was spent at a surfing beach resort (lots of ex-pat younger tourists). my bike was caked in ecuadorian mud from the previous day´s ride through the andes. the hotel maintenance guy suggested that it be washed and volunteered for the job. he did a great job! and even dried it off with a towel although the desert heat and low humidity would have taken care of that moisture in no time. got my laundry done in a laventeria so I was all ready to hit the desert coast road. there are cross winds blowing sand and sand dunes were the main landscape features. the vegetation finally gave up after a few miles (not even a blade of grass) and it became just blowing sand as far as the eye could see. periodically there would be an oasis of cultivated land along the coast but these areas were few and far between. and we´re talking great distances here. because of the cross winds from the right to left, it became safer for me to pass trucks and buses on the right hand shoulder. if i passed in the left lane, the cross wind would almost blow me off the road on that side once i made it around the truck.
the next night for lodging i decided to ask a 3 wheeled cycle taxi driver in the town to show me a hotel. i just paid him to lead me to a place. he brought me to a great place! should have been using this tactic all along. one thing i noticed about businesses here in peru is that they keep the entry doors locked for security. you have to knock to gain entrance to hotels, cyber cafes, stores, etc. interesting.
i got my oil changed the next day at a yamaha dealership. yamaha seems to be the motorcycle brand of choice down here. jorges, the maestro (head mechanic) would not let me pay for his time spent working on the bike. he mainly wanted to know about the trip and alaska. great guy. he is gonna look me up when he gets to alaska which is slim chance as he said there is practically no hope of him ever getting a visa. i got a lot of questions at the bike shop about the trip from others as well. again, the front door of the dealership was locked with two armed guards at the entrance. i´m talking about a motorcycle shop here.
on the way out of this town i got lost in the downtown streets (again). asked a taxi driver how to get back on the Pan AM Hwy. he said (and his passengers said as well) to just follow them. they led me for a couple of miles out of their way to be sure I found my way out of town. these peruvians are great people!!
stopped at a road side cafe for a beer. was brought a very good local dark beer. sweet but tasty. later, i stopped at a roadside cafe where all the trucks were stopped out in the middle of nowhere in the desert. had chicken rice in a great sauce with olives and very HOT peppers. again, i just told the waitress to bring me what the trucker at the next table was eating. had to get an Inca Cola to quinch the fire from the peppers tho.
passed thru some cultivated areas growning rice. later, it was taters. to me that means these micro climates can be very different in nature. at another place it was olive trees and vineyards.
the roads here continue to be good. maybe some of the best since Mexico. and good shoulders on the roads which has been important for me - in my defensive driving status. got a room at another surfing resort town. this particular place was mainly patronized by folks from peru. not many gringos here. and do they like to party!! my neighbors were up til past 2am playing music.
They have great coffee here but it is "presented" in a way that i have yet to see before. you get hot water and a very thick espresso syrup that you mix together to taste. i made the mistake of mixing half and half the first time. took a few hours for the caffeine shakes to subside.
The next night I was in a fairly good size town by the time to quit for the day to find a room. i wrote down a name of a hotel from my lonely planet book and gave it to a taxi driver. the place was right downtown but he did the navigating, not me. i did have to try to keep up with him in traffic tho. at dinner in the hotel restaurant i saw 4 guys who appeared to be gringos. asked the waiter and he confirmed that they were speaking english so i went over and introduced myself. turned out to be 3 canadians and one yanqui. they invited me to sit down and i found out that they were there in peru to build an oil refinery - fish oil. the company doing it will market the oil as a nutritional supplement for 3-omega fish oil capsules. i told Dave, the main guy, that i thought that the fish oil capsules in our pharmacy were salmon oil. he said most likely not. all 4 guys were about my age and we had a great conversation about travel, cultures (both south american and north american) and philosophy of life. one of the guys had ridden a bicycle across the U.S., floated from the head waters of the Miss River to New Orleans and hiked the Appalachian Trail. They gave me advice on riding thru Lima and told me to watch my speed in a certain town on the way.
Well, I got stopped at that town by the two local cops anyway and I was not exceeding the speed limit. that did not seem to matter. My "fine" was $110.00 U.S. - preferably paid in u.s. currency. The main cop took my AK drivers license (another fake license). I was tempted to just leave it and take off again like in Nicaragua but didn´t. We settled on the equivalent of $10.00 in Salés, the local currency. I was also tempted to give the cop a counterfeit bill that I had acquired upon entering the country. Decided not to, but sort of wish I had. What would he do....?¿ Report me for using fake money while paying his bribe?¿ The money changer at the border ripped me off when coming into peru. Good thing I did not exchange much $ with him then. A gas station attendent recognized the fake bill Recommendation: don´t except large, new, uncirculated bills from a money changer at the border. Live and learn. Man, i wish i had given the cop that bill.
rode thru Lima. fortunately the highway was 4 to 6 lanes through town. i would not call it an expressway though. traffic was often stopped. i clocked the length of the town on my odometer - the metro area was 38 miles long filled with blaring taxis, buses, and trucks mostly. i had a blues harmonica CD playing in my mp3 player and was grooving with the traffic. maybe i could get a job as a taxi driver here...?¿ you have to drive both agressively and defensively. I felt like I was in some kind of demented NASCAR race, but enjoyed it. Of course, i could ride between the vehicles except when there were 5 taxis abreast in the 3 lanes. then it became a bit more challenging to try to get by them. hardly anybody passed me. don´t know if that is something to be proud of or not.
saw the ghetto areas north and east of town. on the southern end, it was mostly the beach houses of the very wealthy. quite a contrast. Hope to head back toward the Andes today on the way to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. I asked two guys at the hotel where I am at now for road advice. One guy said not to stop for anything or anybody - especially if somebody tries to flag me down. And the other guy said he was driving in the same direction. He gave me his business card with his cell phone on it in case i ran into trouble. So it should be an interesting day. the journey continues......
Tue 1/29/08
Hello from Juliaca, Peru near Lake Titicaca - which also means I am getting near to the Bolivian border. I left off in my last message where two peruvians at my hotel were warning me about the road from there (in the desert) up to Cuzco (in the Andes). I rode thru more blowing sand in cross winds. My face had now been sand blasted for several days. Doesn´t seem to affect the wrinkles tho. I started passing more areas of cultivation as i got futher from the coast. Saw fields of asparagus, onions (which you could smell for miles), more taters, rice and vineyards as well as citrus groves. All under irrigation. I started passing several rivers coming out of the Andes.
In the area of Paipa and Nasca there were these strange lines dug into the surface of the sand out in the middle of nowhwere. Line drawings as big as football fields, maybe even bigger. They had been there for centuries. I went up into a couple of viewing stands because the only way to see them was from a high vantage point. Interesting and strange all at the same time.
Rode into Nasca at about sunset and got a room in a hostel right on the main square. A tour group of kiwis (from NZ) were there and I tried to talk to 2 or 3 of them. Could not understand anything they said. Two countries separated by a common language. Their accent and rapid speech was too much for my brain to handle at that point. I have had more success communicating with native Spanish speakers in their own language.
Had a meal in a cafe off the square and then had a nice visit with the elderly owner of the place. He wanted to know about Alaska. The next morning I left as early as possible, as I had a LONG way to go thru mountain passes to get to the next town with accomadations. Talked with two truck drivers at breakfast and they explained to me (sort of) what the road would be like. Their pantomiming included gestures of twists and turns with straight up hand signals. They were correct in what it was they were trying to tell me. The road immedialy started climbing right out of town with many tight switchbacks. Had to stop to put on the my heated vest, gloves, baclava, and more layers of clothes. It was chilly!! Hell, it was freezing cold. There was hardly any traffic up on the high plateau which I drove thru when I got to the top. I started seeing an animal called a vicuña on the road. This is a relative to the llama. The first one I saw I almost hit it! I was just not expecting to see any animals in that environment. Then I started to see herds of llamas and alpacas, again many of them were on the road. I could see snow on the mountains - which were not that far away in the distance. The sun was very bright and the air was extremely clear. Amazing! Then I started to see high rain clouds way off on the horizon toward the direction I was headed. I could see the rain coming down from miles away. Within a few miles I was in it - rain, that turned to sleet, then to hail and finally to snow. And to think, just a few hours previously I was sweltering in the dry desert. It started to thunder and lightning as well. There were no trees up on this high flat country rimmed by mountains. No place to take shelter. No traffic at this time of day either. What a lonely feeling to be there in such weather in such a place all by myself.
After a few hours the road started steadily to descend into a deep river valley. I think I went downhill for over 100 miles once I started the descent. It gradually got warmer on the decline. The river valley opened up a bit and I started to see people and small villages again. What a constrast from the high plateau of a few hours earlier. I was now on a gradually winding road along side a fast flowing river with gentle curves in the road - all while going downhill. This was absolutely the BEST motorcycle riding road I have ever been on. And the rain had stopped. The sun came out again. I could not ask for anything more. I think the sleet on top of the pass had helped me more appreciate the sunshine down in the valley. Also, folks were waving at me now as I went by. Even the police were waving! (and not just to get me to stop) Boy, was that a switch from the police of the previous days. I felt like I was in a parade made up of only my vehicle of one.
The valley was along side the Pachachaca River. If you have a motorcycle or bicycle, you need to ride this road. I highly recommend it.
I arrived in Abancay, Peru just at sunset. This was my longest distance to go in one day on the trip so far. About 325 miles. I asked around for directions to an old hotel I had read about in my Peru Lonley Planet guide book. Got a very nice room on the upper floor with a balcony looking out on three sides over the town and the Andes - which completely surrounded the town. There was some kind of public health conference going on in the hotel´s meeting room. I think it was of an international nature because I heard some of the participants speaking portuguese, which makes me think folks from Brazil where there. I thought about trying to crash the meeting and listen in on the presentations, but they were in Spanish. My vocabulary in that language is limited to: fill ér up, where is the baño, or I´ll have what he is having.
The road thru the town reminded me of either downtown San Francisco or Seattle - as it was straight UP. Riding on wet/slick cobbleston roads up steep hills on two wheels in city traffic should be an olympic extreme sport. Especially difficult were the times I had to stop at intersections. My chain had started to make noises as well. I am finding that I am having to tighten it almost daily while before an interval of every 5 or 6 days was sufficient. I am also a bit anxious about the state of my rear brake pads. Riding a motorbike up and down the Andes mountains can put a bit of a strain on even the best built motorcycles. And my rear tire tread is starting to wear thin as well. Just "normal" wear and tear.
The road up and out toward Cuzco was again a series of winding, climbing switch backs. Parts of the road were dirt or mud where the original road has slid down the mountain side. I tried not to look off the edge when my lane was on the downhill side of the mountain. Guardrails were few and far between. I have no idea how they were able to build such a road up these mountains. I finally topped out at a pass above the tree line and then started descending toward Cuzco. Went 40 miles on a winding road in a constant descent. Again, I got warmer as the altitude dropped toward the city (and Cuzco is about 11,000 ft in elevation - so you know I was previously pretty high up on that mountain pass).
When I got to the outskirts of Cuzco, I flagged down a taxi and paid him to take me to a specific hotel just off the main square in the old town. It had been recommended to me by another traveler. The old town of Cuzco reminded me of one of those mazes they use to experiment with rats. The streets were narrow, the walls and houses on either side were high. And tourists were wandering around disoriented ... The hotel was great. Again, I was put on an upper floor in the hotel with a view right down on the main square of the city. Awsome! This town is built on ancient Inca ruins. The breakfast room of my hotel had the original Inca stones as the back wall. Huge stones with no joint spaces. I have no idea how they did that. Coca leaf tea was included in the breakfast. I want to bring some of that back with me. Wonder if the U.S. customs would allow it.....?¿
The next morning I took a cab to the train station to buy my ticket to head "toward" Michu Picchu. There was no way I was gonna ride my bike through town again to purchase the train ticket. Taxis are cheap and fast, very fast. Anyway, the hotel staff had me put the bike into a storage room at the hotel where it was safe and secure. The round trip train ticket cost $86.00. And I was taking the train from a village half way to the site from Cuzco, not from Cuzco itself. Later I went by the offices of the South American Explorers Club looking for books and maps on Bolivia and Chile. They had neither to sell but did direct me to some bookstores where I could later purchase them. A young man in the office was from South Africa and he wanted to test some quizz questions out on me. He was gonna be the "quiz master" for a "pub quizz" at a British pub in town. Once a week they have a trivia quizz competition at the pub. He said this was all the rage in Enland. Maybe this is something we could try on POW Island....?¿
Anyway, I was able to trade my Colombia and Equador travel guides for one used Chile guide. Found a Bolivia book and map at another store. Lots of English speaking tourists in Cuzco. For once I was glad of that fact as these book were in English.
The next day I had to get the help of 3 hotel staff members to get my bike out of the storage room at the hotel. We half carried it down the steps and out onto the narrow cobblestoned street. Again, the road was slick and went uphill, as this was the only way to get out of there. I engaged another taxi driver to show me the way out of this ´rabbits den´ of a city. And he was not slowing down for anything´on his way out. So now I had to negotiate a slick uphill cobblestone road while trying to keep up with a kamakazi peruvian city taxi driver. And to add to that, some of the streets had drainage trenches in the middle of the road; which left two tracks of "cobbles" for 4 wheeled vehicles to drive on. Not good for motos. This was a whole new added challenge for somebody on two wheels. Boy was I ever glad to get on the main highway and back with the big trucks and the tourist buses again.
I rode that morning thru an area called the "Sacred Valley" toward a village NW of Cuzco where I was to catch the train to Machu Picchu the next morning. Nobody said it was easy getting to this historical Inca site. Beautiful ride thru little towns with lots of Inca ruins abounding in the area. Great vistas of snow capped mountains as well. I got to the village of Ollantaybambo where I was to spend the night then catch the train the next morning. This town was still a one and a half hour train ride to another village at the base of the mountain where Machu was located. Spent the night at Ollantaybambo (say that fast 3 times) at a hostel just up from the train station. There were Inca ruins above this little town as well. I found a walled lot to leave the bike at for 2 nights after some intense negotiations. Most people get to this town either by bus or train, so not a lot of private tourist vehicles. I guess there are not many private tourist vehicles in all of Peru, come to think about it. Stopped at a buffet place on the way to the town. All of the food was local cuisine and much of it I could not identify. But all of it tasted good. I washed it down with a cold Inca Cola (it only seemed appropriate, eh?¿). There was a peruvian wedding reception going on at the restaurant and they let me take some photos. They invited me to dance with them but I did not really want to do that in my cycle riding gear, you understand. I guess I should have.
Caught the train the next morning to Aqua Caliente, which is the village below Machu Picchu. Like I said it was a 1 and 1/2 hour ride thru a beautiful river valley from where I spent the night. I sat across from 2 Japanese girls. At the village, I had to buy an entry ticket to the historic site ($41.00) and then I had to buy a round trip bus ticket for the ride from the village up to the site (another $12.00). I think Machu Picchu must provide a sizeable portion of the nation´s operating budget. Anyway, the bus ride was 30 minutes up a constant series of uphill switchbacks on a one lane road -which was interesting since there were buses going in both directions. Another awsome ride! Adrenaline going and coming.
Machu Picchu looks down on the river valley from a tall, tall mountain. One of the most beautiful sites on earth. There is still about a 20 minute hike to the site from where the bus drops you off.
I will write about Machu Picchu in my next posting. Also, I need to tell you about the Peruvian moto mechanic I met, Biker Bob from AZ, the Italian guy I met at the train station, and the young Argentinian lawyer I sat next to on the train ride back. Just wanted to get you current to Machu Picchu site.
I will be on Lake Titicaca this afternoon, the Lord willing.