Left Cusco this morning to a little bit of drama. Steve has decided to drop off the tour. He was one of the riders in the taxi accident but was not injured. However he just said he’s had enough which is his prerogative so he is flying home. Rob the other rider in the accident went to the hospital for an x-ray as he is in a lot of pain. He has a cracked rib so will be spending a few days in the support vehicle but will be able to ride soon and finish the tour. I had a minor panic as well as I needed to change the back brake pads and walked down to the bikes with Rick only to find I had the front brake pads. I then clearly remembered that my back brake pads are in my panniers in Medellin. Uuugghh I panicked as my KLR is a different model to the others and so are the breaks. SO Mike said no option we need to put your bike on the trailer you cannot ride it like that safely. I was devastated but said let me just check my bag once more and there at the bottom were my back brake pads phew … gadget’s on the road again.

The road out of Cusco to Puerto Maldona is unbelievably stunning. We went up to 4724m and it was COLD but only because I didn’t put the lining in my jacket. After a couple of hours of very steep downhill twisties, great views and interesting Peruvian villages and animal markets we entered the Amazonian basin and were instantly warmer. In fact it got hot and humid within a few km’s plus the scenery changed instantly from high mountains with very little and shot vegetation to lush green Amazon.

Our first night in the Amazon was in the loveliest bungalows, but the last luxury we’ll have for awhile. The one thing we are all suffering from is insect bites, and this started in Cusco. We are covered in small red bits that are as itchy as hell, and suspect it is some kind of flea…and we haven’t even encountered the Amazon mosquitoes yet 😦