Macapa was not too bad a city, it is supposed to be very dangerous but didn’t feel that way.  Since it was a Sunday when we arrived we went down to the waterfront and it was teeming with people and dogs. There seemed to be some kind of pets on show thing going on, plus people were kit surfing, picnicking, walking, jogging, you name it they were out there having fun. The street vendors were also in full force and we had a fantastic meal on the street consisting of meat skewers and savoury rice.

The next day I just walked around a bit and went to visit the old fort, nothing special but something to do.

Early on the morning of the 15^th we headed out to Amapa. One of those shitty little one horse towns, and nothing to write home about.  However on the way we did see a few interesting lizards.

they grow critters big in this pert of the world

 blue tailed lizard

 gadgets new handle since the last one got wrecked begin tied to the trailer.

The following day we headed to Oiapoque this is another good dirt road and I enjoyed it tremendously.  It did not start out that way however, we started in a cluster of bikes and dust with some people doing 30/40km/hr. It was physically painful to ride so slow on dirt as you hit every single corrugations, you need a little speed and to put your weight a little back which slightly raised the front wheel and the bike just glides over the corrugations. I was getting a tad frustrated so overtook. We then pulled over for a break and Pete and I took one look at each other and I said I can’t do this and he said this is painful and dangerous all these bike clustered together in this dust. He spoke to the guide who said it’s one straight road and we can just go ahead. We took off and for 75kms had the most awesome ride 🙂 just being able to ride at one’s own pace with no other riders. The next minute the guide passes us and slows down and we end up in another cluster. We get stopped for a few minutes as there has been an accident and a large digger is trying to get an overturned bus upright. Pete said again he’s going to lose it if Roberto does not ride faster or let him pass. So we all head off and the dust is horrific so I slow right down to let these guys and their dust disappear. Things start looking good and I’m enjoying the road and the next minute I come across Pete, Brian and Henry stopped on the side of the road and it is obvious that Henry has had another accident, his third. Fortunately this one was not as bad as the last and he does not need stitches he just has a couple of very deep scrapes and a very big bruise on his head where he hit the dirt. His front wheel hit a rut and he went over the handlebars. Damn poor Henry, we bundle him up as best we can and put him in the temporary support truck (our support truck is still in Belem getting fixed, so Mike hired a driver and van).  We finally arrive at Oiapoque, Henry gets taken to the Dr and fixed up, he does not have concussion, and just takes a couple of days off riding.

one horse shitty town with beautiful people restaurant kitchen

I have to say though that I’d rather stay on one of these one horse shity places with character and giving you a good idea of how the average person lives than in Belem.  We had yet another good meal but this one came accompanied by the local prostitute who attached herself to Rob and then demanded money from a couple of people. She followed us back to the hotel and the landlady a lovely and stunning young woman called Laura had to call the cops.

After one night we finally headed to the ferry and French Guyana, another extremely easy border crossing.

Reunited with the group we find out about the things that happened to them. The most sever being Pete’s accident. Pete t-boned a guy on a small 125 bike, the guy got back up and just rode away apparently he was quite young so I guess just scared. Pete damaged his bike quite a bit but it was repaired and Pete himself hurt his foot. Initially he thought he may have broken it but the next morning realised that it could not be broken and was just badly bruised and swollen, he was able to ride though as it was his rear brake foot and not his gear lever foot which would have been more difficult.

Rand also had a couple of accident he bumped into an army ambulance twice and also came off his bike in the bull dust a couple of times. His bike was fairly badly damaged the stabilizer arm was wrecked, his panniers came off and he damaged his lights. However lucky for him the hotel in Belem was 400m from a BMW dealer and they did wonders fixing his bike. He was also not hurt in any of the falls.

The group also had a number of flat tires over the two days. Jules had a flat one afternoon and the two guides were way behind the group. Not knowing how far they were behind, not having any way to fix the flat without them and being sick and tired of riding the bad dirt roads and waiting Jules left the bike with the keys and got a lift with Pete. It sounded like the group had a tough 2 days and were a bit, to say the least, fed up and ready to mutiny, plus they had not had luggage for 4 days which added to their discomfort. Roberto and Rick however got them back on track and to Belem safely, where they spent 2 nights waiting for us.

The original plan was for us to arrive in Belem and catch the ferry to Macapa the following day. However Mike vetoed that idea as he needed time to sort a number of things out with the truck and Venezuela so we stayed one more day. I was relieved as I needed to get to my luggage and do some washing as well as get my bike battery issue resolved, I was also exhausted after the truck trip and need to just gather myself and feel normal again. That done and the bike fixed with a new battery and Mike and Peter staying in Belem to get the truck fixed the rest of us headed out of Belem on the ferry.

testing Henrys hammock on deck of the ferry to Macapa hammocks on the top deck

cheers Belem

sunset

enjoying an ice-cream on deck

sunrise

 I just cannot believe how huge the Amazon River is

The ferry ride was uneventful even boring, we had 3 cabins supplied with free cockroaches and plenty of them (6 beds, for the 4 ladies and Rob & Pete the 2 injured riders) and the rest of the group stayed in hammocks on the deck.  We mostly just slept, ate and chatted. Except for Rand, Rob and Pete who had a cigar and rum party in the one cabin. I joined them for a few hours and spend the night highly entertained by these 3 funny guys, you had to be there but trust me it was one of the most fun evenings I had on the trip. The following day after zero sleep in my cabin as the captain had his music blaring full ball all night. I sleep with very good ear plugs as am very sensitive to noise at night and could not sleep a wink with this cacophony and Jules would not close the cabin door as she said she needed the fresh air, but would not put the cabin aircon on instead as it was then too cold. How she slept through that noise is beyond me, but let’s just say I woke up in a less favourable mood.  I tried to sleep later that morning but to no avail so just gave up, at least I don’t need to get off the ferry onto a bike so I’ll live.

5 hours later we arrived in Macapa.

At 3 am we got up and put the bikes on the trailer and left at 4 am heading to Altamira and then on to Tucurui to pick up Rick and his bike that has completely seized. So bikes on the trailer and off we go the journey is hmm what can I say hell on wheels. Riding bad dirt roads is one thing but try doing it in a 4×4 man oh man you get bumped around like washing in a tumble drier, and then things got worse.

The truck started struggling and choking and I could just see Mikes face drop, the problem had returned and we’d only gone about 200kms and had 1100 more to go. We pulled into this smallish town and Mike managed to find a really good mechanic, what luck. We spend 4 hours sitting in the mechanic shop while they remove the fuel filter and tank and clean them out, added good fuel and put the whole lot back together again. Finally we set off with a truck that sounds and felt great…for 250kms that is. The minute the choking and struggling started all our hearts sank, it is now 4pm and we’d been on the road for 12 hours (including 4 at the mechanic) and had only gone about 450kms.

We pulled over and Mike hoped on his bike to go find a town with a tow truck. Fortunately we were now off the dirt road but it is hot and I mean hot that is one thing I can say about Brazil. So we sit and we wait and we wait and we wait, I take a short walk to see the trees, and the lovely little purple orchids that grow everywhere, and then go back to the truck and sit and wait some more, almost 2 hours later Mike arrives with the news that he has a huge flatbed that is used to transport diggers and construction machinery, and we can put the truck and trailer with the 2 bikes all the way to Belem, awesome. The truck driver was fantastic, only 23 and a really good driver and very responsible. We load the truck and trailer, Mike sits up front with the driver and the 3 of us sit in the truck on the truck. It was not so bad on the tar road sections but the minute we hit dirt OMG the bumps and shakes were incredibly intensified, I have never experienced anything like that before.

To make matters worse I needed to pee OMG so bad, I was really in pain. Peter and Henry were fast asleep in the 2 front seats and I had no way of communicating with the flat bed driver to ask him to pull over. I was counting the minutes hoping we’d stop but to no avail. Eventually I could not take it anymore and decided I needed to pee in a bottle. So I took my penknife and cut the top off an empty water bottle of which we had plenty in the truck. Then the fun began. I was so conscious of not wanting to wake Peter and Henry up so I tried putting the bottle down my trousers, but nope that did not work. I gave up on the idea and thought I just need to hold it in…well that lasted about 10 minutes and I knew I had no choice. So I had to kneel on the back seat and take my trousers down, phew what a relief, this had to be the best feeling in the world. But there I was kneeling on the seat, pants down with a bottleful of pee in my hand hmmm I was a bit stuck but somehow managed with one hand to pull my pants up while balancing the bottle with the other. Job done I now sat in the truck with this bottle in hand not knowing quite what to do. I hate to litter but honesty had no choice I had to open the door and lob the pee grenade as far out as possible. Of course this completely foiled my plans of not waking Henry and Peter as this stupid damn truck has this alarm system that goes off if the doors are opened without pushing the unlock switch on the key, even from the inside.  Alarm going I dive back down on the back seat and feign sleep while with one eye open see Peter wake up, find the key and press the alarm … sorry Peter.

About an hour later, now midnight and we’ve been driving since just after 6pm the truck pulls over. The driver says to Mike he needs to sleep for 6 hours, fair enough. So we find another really good trucker hotel for 6 hours, heading off just after 6am. Another 12 hours in the truck and I’m just getting sick of it, damn I wanted so badly to be on my bike but with the battery issue and having to jump start it every time I stopped (even push starting it did not work) that was not an option.  I must say poor Rick was far worse off as he is about 7 foot tall and had very long legs so being cramped in the truck on top of a truck was just hell for him. Eventually we reach Belem. I have never been that happy for a journey to end 🙂 we are reunited with the group at last and get a chance to catch up on all their news.

 one of the many pics Peter took from the truck on the roadthe trees in the Amazon are truly magnificent

 there is so much water around it is incredible, we take barges / ferries across rivers at least once a day and they are huge, and we haven’t even hit the Amazon river yet these are just tributaries but I have never seen such huge river sin my life

 some of the many many hundreds of small ugly black vultures we have seen everywhere. I’m keen to see a documentary on them as I am convinced there are so many because we have destroyed so much of the Amazon and brought in domestic animals and loads of people which means loads of garbage. They are like rats all over the place and all over the garbage heaps and road kill.

Another day spent waiting in a hotel lobby for the truck to be fixed. However this time they have the right diesel mechanic and they are going to fix it, it’s taking a lot longer than expected. Once it is done we’ll put both bikes on the truck (so as to avoid riding at night) and just drive straight though night and day to catch up with the group.

So the day dragged on and on and eventually at about 8pm Mike arrives saying we’re spending another night in the hotel as the truck is going to take a lot longer to fix. The plan is then to leave at about 3 / 4 am with the bikes on the back and try catch up with the group. The next morning however the mechanics (after working until 11pm) still need a couple of hours on the truck.

On a better note my bike seems to be fixed, I spoke to Joern the night before and he said carbon build up on top of the piston (Skip from Moto discovery said the same). So he suggested I open the air filter and run the engine very hot and shake a bottle of carbonated water and let that mist into the air intake valve. wow genius, you should have seen the black smoke that billowed out the exhaust after that.

Plus I cleaned the air filter which was seriously clogged up. Then I changed the sparkplug which had some major carbon build up. The bike is now running great. So the plan is now that Peter and I head off on the 2 bikes and Mike and Henry catch up to us when it gets dark, put the bikes on the trailer and carry on through the night to catch the group.

… Famous last words. My bike was running great until all of a sudden the battery died. The worry is that it is not an  actual battery issue but something causing the battery to discharge.  Peter and I decide we’d still carry on as the longer the bikes are off the trailer on the dirt roads the better for the bikes, and the better speed the truck will make.

SO off we go and wow it was great to be back on my bike riding in the dirt again. I had to keep the bike running all day even when we filled up, as it needed to be jump started if it stopped. Peter and I made some great time. I took it easy as we couldn’t afford to have a flat or an accident or anything. I really enjoyed the day, until the bull dust. OMG I have never encountered this stuff it is like brown talcum powder and nothing like riding river sand at all. If the layer is very thin you can ride it by just getting your weight slightly back and accelerating just a touch. So no problem I’m doing well and enjoying myself until I hit a huge patch of this stuff and my bike just starts snaking all over the road, I’m standing up so almost go over the handlebars and end up on the opposite side of the road thinking ‘’WOW what a ride man. What great riding, damn why isn’t there someone with a go pro filming this’’ I was so proud of myself so patted gadget and headed off again. Not 300m later and the same thing again, this time the bull dust if up to my axel and the next minute I’m on the ground. I have to say it was very slow motion gently fall as no one guns it through bull dust. The worst outcome is that gadget stalls.

Peter arrive a minute mater and we man handle the bike out of the dust and push it to a place about 50m up where the road surface is harder. There we go through the motions of pulling off the side panels and seats and jump starting my bike. All sounded good we put everything back on, I get on the bike and stall it … no friggin way I kid you now uuuggghhh … I hear Peter cursing loudly for the first time ever, this man has the patience, positive attitude and sense of humour of an angel. Fortunately a car pulls up and offers to help so we decide to jump start from his battery which is easier to get to than the one on Peter’s bike.

Eventually we’re ready and off we go. We are heading to Altamire but due to the later 11am start and 35 min crash delay it starts getting dark so we decided to stop the night in a small town about 50kms outside Altamire. I head to a bike shop to see if they have a new battery for me but no joy. So Peter says get some electric cable which we can attach to the battery and take down so we can jump start the bike without having to get to the battery itself.  What a laugh trying to explain this to the guys in the bike shop who don’t speak a word of English, and of course I don’t speak a word of Portuguese but eventually and far too many Brazilian Reals later I get what I want and spend some time making up the little battery attachment gadgets (which we didn’t need in the end anyway)

 the funnies bunch of Brazilian bike shop assistants ever encountered.

Peter found us a great little trucker stop hotel, I can assure you the trucker stop hotels in Brazil are fantastic compared to those in Russia, really nice, cosy and clean. Hater later goes out on the road and flags Mike down (he’d been tracking him on Mikes SPOT so knew when they’d pass by. Mike decides to spend the night with us and we all get up at 3am, put the bikes on the truck and head off for Belem, and so the great truck journey starts but more on the later…

Dirt Finally 🙂 Today we hit the first dirt road and I feel awesome. This is what I have been waiting for, anything off tarmac makes me happy, I just find it interesting and fun to ride bad dirt roads and feel that this is what adventure biking is about … to me anyway.

 a welcome watermelon break

Day 1 on the dirt: 450kms, Gadget and I took off like the devil himself was behind us. Sand, ruts, corrugations and potholes we did this wonderful dirt dance around them and tried to miss (unsuccessfully) as many as possible.  The only thing that wasn’t great were the trucks, they bulleted down these roads swerving to miss the big potholes and not giving a damn who or what was in the way, we had quite a few near misses. Riding behind them was impossible as the dust was so thick you were completely blinded. I have experienced a lot of dist riding / driving but this is crazy you literally  cannot see a thing not the sky above or the road below. It is truly scary. The only option was to pass but that was a challenge in itself. I was at one point behind this truck racing at phenomenal speed (for a huge truck) causing masses of thick yellow dust to billow out behind it. I realised that I must pass this truck since even if I dropped back out of the dust I’d be stuck behind it all day. So I tried to go left to see if I could see past it. Next minute I heard him slam on breaks and skid along the gravel (no break lights) the next second there was a truck inches from gadgets front wheel, I swerved right slammed on breaks locked the back wheel and went sliding all the way along the whole length of the truck to end up millimetres from a bridge rail. My heart stooped, phew that was far far too close for comfort. Fortunately since the damn truck slammed on brakes for the bridge, my guess is the driver was sleeping and did not see it earlier, I could at least think quickly and get past him after the bridge before he sped up again.

One good thing is that there were very few trucks on the road. The other really cool thing is that I saw and otter.  It was running along the side of the road and then crossed right in front of me but before I could get my camera out it was gone. We had seen 2 dead otters the day before which was very sad as they had been run over. The other sad thing is still no jungle. I enjoyed the day thoroughly though as gadget is an awesome off road little monster 🙂

 dirt glorious dirt, this is what we came for, lovely brown and sticky stuff, what we we do without it. Oh dirt glorious dirt wonderful dirt magnificeeeeeent diiiiiiirt  – sung to the tune of food glorious food 🙂

a few interesting but good bridges

on and off the ferry, we did quite a few of these little ferries

 lovely early morning misty start

 sunrise from the ferry

Day 2 on the dirt: 680kms, I have to say I do think this was bad planning as no one knew in advance what the road would-be like except that it is a dirt road. We were really lucky as it was in very good condition and most of it had been freshly graded, plus there seemed to be far fewer trucks. It there had been rain it would have been one big mud bath. I think planning a 680km day on dirt is not very good.  As bad luck would have it this was the day we’d have multiple issues.

We got up at 5am and were on the road by 6am. I rolled in at 20:30 14.5 hrs later in the pitch dark, on a very very sick bike. Everyone arrive in the dark … as I said bad planning as it is not at all fun to ride these pitch black dirt roads in the dark and it was the last 50kms of the road which just happened to be really bad.

So what can I say, corrugations will test the hardiest of bikes, as will bad fuel. Gadget sounds like a popcorn machine, but the sound is quite metallic and coming from the engine. The last 100kms were a killer I had to keep the revs very high and he crawled along at 40 – 50km/h it was a tough ride, plus he is only getting 5kms to the litres so he is drinking petrol like it is cool aid. However no smoke and no leaking fuel. The prognosis from the support team is that it is valves, worst case scenario the top needs to be taken off and valves or valve spring or something like that replaced. Best case scenario older model KLRs get a carbon build up on the top of the piston and then can be blown off by running the engine very hot and spraying water into the air intake valve. We’re going to try that since if it does not work the top needs to be taken off anyway. If the water trick does not work and the top needs to come off for the valves this can only be done by a mechanic in a mechanic shop so only in Belem (if we find someone, during our rest day there)

Now the bad news, Mike basically just told me that if we can’t sort the bike out there he can’t keep it on the truck and me in the truck all the way back to Colombia as he may need the space for another rider/bike in an emergency. Frack ( I will cross that bridge when I come to it IF gadget cannot be fixed)

The very bad news was that Henry hit a bridge and ripped the skin right up his arm to the bone OMG it was unbelievable the skin was pushed up like a rolled up sleeve and you could see the bone. With a stroke of luck this was 20kms outside a fairly large village with a Dr, talk about luck. Mike and all of us were convinced he would need to be flown home. However the Dr stitched him up and gave him a ton of antibiotics. Said he needs to keep it clean and try and bandage to be changed every day. In 8 to 10 days if all is good he can ride again. Henry refuses to go home and will sit in the truck for 10 days and then ride the rest of the trip as long as his arm is okay. In 2 days we are in Belem and Mike will take him to a Dr there for a check-up and if all is not good (since infection could be fatal) he is sending him home.

The next bit of very bad news is that the truck is fried they only got in at 3am on the back of a flatbed truck. The team have been working on it all day, it is Sunday and no mechanic will work today. Tomorrow is a public holiday but they managed to find a mechanic to work tomorrow so they will meet him at am (since it is a very catholic area so the reason for not working is religious) The rest of the group went on to the next town and we, me, Henry, Pete (the driver) and Mike will stay over one more night and then catch up driving the truck and riding Mikes bike (mine will be on the truck) day and night between the 4 of us (Henry can drive a little but not ride) This way we hope to catch the group in 2 days, the day before Belem where we will have a rest day (and I will try find a Mechanic for gadget)

So gadget was one issue, plus Henry’s arm, plus the truck, then we had 1 flat (thank goodness no more or things could have got even worse, I’ve lost count as to how many flats we’ve had) but then the radiator on Mikes bike also got damaged but he managed to get it back and fixed it today.

So the good part, yup there is always a good part, is that this is what adventures are made of 🙂 I hate that my bike is stuffed ESPECIALLY on the ONLY part of the trip worth anything i.e. 4 days of dirt riding (and nothing as fun as the BAM, just dirt roads but I’ll take what I can get) in 45 days of highway … seriously this trip should be called the Trans Highway Challenge.

Okay back to the good stuff … I saw and Otter 🙂 the day before yesterday it was running along the side of the road and then crossed in front of me, sadly it was gone before I could get the camera out.

I also say a HUGH really pretty black and emerald green shiny snake lying across the road, I swerved and missed it and then stopped and ran back to take a pic and the rider behind me almost ran over it which then frightened it and it turned and slithered off DAMN another animal picture missed.

Also while I was stopped once again on the side of the road while Mike went to fetch more petrol, it was pitch dark I mean as black as anything no lights anywhere and just the sounds of the jungle (yes we finally found a little bit of jungle) I looked up and saw the most amazing stars WOW I was in awe and just sat and stared for ages. Then I turned the bike lights back on as it was pretty dangerous sitting on the side of the road not illuminated.

So I am fine healthy, almost happy, still seeing the bright side, but gutted about my bike and trying not to think about what may happen if we don’t get it fixed.

and yet another flat Rick ?

  if you’re not dirty you’re not having fun

 little bits of jungle a welcome sight 🙂

 a flock of small black vulture we see them everywhere, loads of them … I am beginning to wonder if they are following me.

The border crossing into Brazil was the easiest we’ve had so far, and one of the easiest I’ve ever experienced (other than in Europe where they are almost non-existent).  I think it took an hour to exit Peru and enter Brazil. The best thing is that there are no vehicle customs controls in Brazil for private vehicles, this is the process that takes so long usually. Plus the border was empty so no long queues. The best part of the border crossing is that Lee and Cathy got into Brazil. They changed from there Canadian to British passports and no other border crossing would allow this so we were all waiting on tender hooks to see if the Brazilians would allow it and they did, it was an issue as no visa is required for the British passport but one is needed for the Canadians.

Now that we’ve entered the Amazon basin I cannot wait to get into the thick of things, this is the part of the trip I am most looking forward to, it will be challenging and good.  So far a couple of things I’ve seen on the Peruvian side of the Amazon basin.

1. The parrots. It is so strange and amazing to see parrots flying overheard. Back home I am used to seeing crows, pigeons or birds of prey but here parrots, how cool is that.
2. The butterflies OMG just gorgeous and so many … I really do love butterflies, we’ve ridden throw swarms of them (question: are groups of butterflies called swarms)
3. The amount of small towns. I am really shocked to see so many small towns and small holdings. It is quite sad but there are many hectares of the jungle that have been chopped down and burned to make farmlands. They are not big commercial farms and the ground is not very fertile for crops so cattle farms are the thing (I’ve been told but don’t know if this is true) , but there are a few banana plantations and many small sheep, horse and cattle farms. I’m curious to see if this changes as we get further into Brazil
4. The garbage is not left littering the streets but put up in box like cages away from animals that dig in it and spread it around
5. The dogs are reed thin and very skittish, clearly not well looked after or treated very well which is in direct contrast to those in Peru where even the street dogs look well fed and in good condition with some fantastic looking dogs just running around. There is garbage all over the place in Peru though and maybe that is why the dogs are well fed, many (not all) are also very friendly or at least not terrified
6. The people in Brazil are very helpful and friendly

We’ve come through Assis Brazil, Rio Branco, Porto Velho and Humaita and still no jungle, only dead straight tar roads and unbelievable heat.  The road itself almost seems to cook and this fiery heat just emanates upwards from it hitting you like an oven. Today we had 2 very brief but very welcome thunder storms, no rain jacket needed as every drop of rain was welcome to cool us down.

 tar tar and more tar … and a few potholes

 stopped to feed some turtles at lunch

 I want one of these for Gadget

 loving the butterflies

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 😦

We arrived into Cusco at 3pm and the support truck and the two inured riders arrived at 10pm, tough ride for them in the dark but fortunately they are okay.

I was starving when we arrived so Jules and I went to grab a bite and wow once again were rewarded with great food. I’m enjoying the food in S America it suits me. In Abancaya, since I don’t read Spanish, I decided not to even try figure out the menu or order chicken / pollo again so just opened the menu pointed at a dish and ordered it. What a great choice the meal was similar to Chinese fried rice full of vegetables with medallions of beef which had been marinade, totally delicious.

After dinner we coincidentally came across a ceremony of some sorts with some kind of shaman blessing food and lots of dancing and singing, it was fascinating but I wished I knew what it was all about.

Today, the group went off to see Machu Pichu however I did not join them. The last time I was in Peru I hiked the Inca trail to Machu Pichu plus I will be back here with Joern in November. So today was my ”me” day J I like me days. I chilled, did my laundry, blogged, wrote emails while sitting in Nortons pub, skyped for 2 hours with Joern and walked Cusco flat.

What an awesome day. There was a big police parade in the centre of town which was fantastic, all the department we represented, the police, the dog unit, the horse units, the bike units and all of the rescue units, it was simply fantastic. I asked one police lady what the parade was for and as far as I can understand it is a big annual important police day for the police that have graduated (not sure if I understood it correctly but I think that was the just of it)

 This policeman was so nice, he was guarding the roads keeping the crowds back from the parade. Those two little boys crossed right in front of the parade and the small one stopped and burst into tears. The police went and picked him up and shushed him to calm him down, took the other boys and walked them across the street to behind where the crowds were standing. Just so nice…. Policemen rock

  Part of the parade were some demos from the swat team. They staged a couple of hijackings and the swat team swooped in guns blazing to save the day, it was actually super cool.

I felt so sorry for these guys they must have been burning up in those wetsuits in the sun, I was sweltering just watching them.

 The dog squad was my favourite they had some of the most gorgeous dogs.

After Manaco we headed down to Huanchaco, the road was long, boring and dusty so the pool was especially welcoming. In Huanchaco we also celebrated Rands birthday the second birthday on the trip.

Then back on the long Pan Am highway for another dusty hot boring day but finally we made it to Lima, fortunately in the light as no one wants to ride into Lima in the dark. We didn’t get to see much of Lima though but from what I saw it was very modern, but I believe there is a small old city that is worth seeing. I’m looking forward to exploring more of it when I come back to meet up with Joern.

From Lima we had a shortish ride to Nazca where the guys were hoping to hop a plane to see the Nazca lines but sadly there was a sandstorm so the planes were grounded.

        Relaxing in Nazca

After Nazca we were in for a real treat. The road out of Nazca is stunning by far the best landscape we have seen so far.  We started off in a chilly overcast day but soon broke through the clouds to mountains that seemed to go on forever. At the top were some crystal clear lakes and many lamas and alpacas. The roads were pristine and there was no traffic. I really got into the twisties this time and enjoyed them more than any other day, this is all due to them being traffic less 🙂

There are a few tiny flea bitten towns along the way and I cannot figure out what the people in them do. The very remote settlements are farms which is evident from the amount of Lamas and Alpacas and the herdsmen that you see watching over them. However in these tiny towns life seems quite dismal… but who am I to judge. I do know that I would hate to spend a winter up there

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Heading out of Abancaya we another story. The group got split in two amongst the windy confusing roads. So Roberto decided to carry on, after trying to find the missing 4 riders,  as he knew Rick (the 2^nd sweeper guide plus the support vehicle were still in town) There is only one road out of Abancaya to Cusco so we thought we’d meet the other riders on the road. When we stopped for a break,  Rand rode up to us to let Roberto know that the reason the second group was not there was because 2 of the riders had had an accident. They were stopped at a red light and a 16 seated white taxi van had simply ploughed straight into them.  Steve was hit by the van and hurt his foot as well as getting a few nasty bruises. His bike then hit Robert who also suffered a few bruises. Fortunately both riders are okay and can carry on riding and the bikes received a lot of superficial damage so are okay to carry on. A very close call and 100% the drivers fault, what can you say the drivers in Peru suck, nothing like in Colombia.

This was the first big accident we have had, other than this we’ve had bikes in ditches on the side of the road 4 times and once in the gravel on the opposite side of the road. We’ve also had 7 flat tires. Let’s hope the bad incidents are behind us as we will soon enter the Amazon 10 days of real challenging roads.

The border crossing from Ecuador to Peru was another story. The road to the border had some of the best views so far and far less traffic so I really enjoyed the twisties J I may convert to a twisitie rider yet…not. The border took forever not only did we need to wait in long lines to do the passport control but getting 13 bikes and a truck though customs took 5 hours.  This meant spending half the ride to Mancora in the dark, not fun. There are no street lights and when I say dark I meant dark. I have really bad eyesight at night as I see halos around all the lights. When I could see the back lights of the bikes in front of me it was ok as I just followed them but when they took off at 120km/hr I slowed down to 80 as you literally couldn’t see a thing. If a dog ran across the road or if there was a pot hole there would have been no chance of me seeing it in time to do anything, so I just went slow and tried hard to see how the road twisted in front of me, but finally we arrived in Mancora.

Mancora is a little back packers super town and quite cute. We have a rest day today and are all enjoying it.  I did my laundry, checked Gadget out thoroughly. For the last 3 days Gadget has not started in the morning or after lunch, the start switch is just dead and the only thing we can think of is that there is a contact issue since it is dead easy to push start and he’ll start within 2 meters . So I took the starter switch off and spraying it with some contact spray. The really strange thing is that Gadget started perfectly today, very unusual, I still took the button off anyway and am hoping the problem will not return as that could indicate something more serious. I hate electrical problems and I hate intermittent problems even more.

Other thank looking over the bike I had ample time to explore Mancora, swim, eat and just relax.

exploring the local market with Rand and Henry  fresh fruit for lunch

 this is what I looked like for most of the day

Tonight we’re all going out to dinner and will be celebrating Leigh’s 71^st birthday.  Leigh and Cathy, who also rides but is riding pillion this trip have been married for 51 years and ridden all over  the world.  They are the most awesome couple I have ever met, they are Cleary still in love but also just seem to get on flawlessly and are good friends. I hope  Joern and I are the same when we are in our 70s (I suspect we will be)