Missive #3, Tue, Feb 6th to Fri, Feb 16th, 2018

Missive #3, Tue, Feb 6th to Fri, Feb 16th, 2018

Day 10, Tue, Feb 6th

Holiday Inn Express, Quito, 0 km

We spent the day on a very interesting private tour of the old city and then a visit to the Equator. The evening was a special event at the top of the mountain at a restaurant right beside the "Iconic Virgin of Quito" . We celebrated Linda Cumming's 50th birthday and Debbie and Harrison Christian's 20th wedding anniversary; an amazing place to do it too.

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Spike at our restaurant overlooking the city of Quito

Three famous spires of the Bascilica just before dark

I do not like to spend too much time on non-motorbike adventure stuff but pass along this for general interest and/or skim through it:

-Quito is the 2nd highest capital city in the world at 8500 ASL next to La Paz, Bolivia;

-in 1978 it was the first major city to be declared a UNESCO world heritage site;

-population 2.4 mm and spread out on the side of a huge volcanic mountain 55 km long by 8 km wide;

-the whole country is a ring of fire with 7 active and 84 inactive volcanos;

-gas is $1.48 per gallon nearly as much as we pay per litre; oil from their Amazon portion drives this;

-20 years ago adopted US$ as their currency and this has really helped their country;

-Ecuador is a small, compact country about the size of Wyoming and has 24 provinces;

-up until 1822 they were part of Columbia, became independent 10 years later and a Republic in 1931;

-the old town is lovely and we visited...Bascilica of National Votes,..., Jesuit built Baroque Church of Gold...palaces

-the equator exhibition was well done and educational; the French had it 200 metres out due to inaccuracies in their measurements; the country name is a French takeoff of the equator word;

The Kingdom of Quito was an ancient tribe conquered by the Incas who held the area for 70 years;

Day 11, Wed, Feb 7th

Holiday Inn Express, Quito to Hotel Victoria, Cuenca, 471 km

Not much to report today. It was a longer ride on good roads at 10-11,000 ft ASL so we were in quite a bit of cloud cover with limited visibility and 4 way flashers going. It was colder too, 12-16 centigrade. All in all a very enjoyable day especially with my Dutch/Swiss friend Ron who is a very good rider.

Ron at a lunch stop

The cockpit!

Our hotel is exceptional befitting it's name(!), quaint, charming, just like the town it is situated in which deserves more than a one nighter.

Cuenca is a tourist town, a university town (4 advanced institutions), and a textile and rubber tire manufacturing town due to the abundance of rubber trees in the area. It is also known for its arts and crafts so there is quite a combination adding to its prosperity for a town of 500,000 people. We thoroughly enjoyed walking the streets and town squares.

It is a city with a distinctly European flair with its cobblestone streets and old stone buildings at the confluence of 4 river systems.

Day 12, Thur, Feb 8th

Hotel Victoria, Cuenca to Hotel Los Arrozales, Macara, 386 km

One of the best riding days a motorcyclist could ask for; beautiful, perfect asphalt, great meandering countryside, lovely sweeping turns in abundance. I won't try and explain further except to add a few pics which in no way can do it justice:

Lots of great twisties, see below

The day started cold at 10.5 Deg and finished about 26. We were at 11,000 feet then down closer to sea level to transition to Peru tomorrow. Along the way I filled up an empty tank for $21 about a third of the cost at home.

A bit of local traffic on the road 

Ecuador seems more prosperous somehow than Columbia even though its gdp is $6,000 versus $9,000 further north; the roads, the communities, the infrastructure all seems pretty advanced but I should hasten to add that we only see a tiny bit in our race through from north to south.

The main economic factors driving this country is oil in abundance. Second is flower exports to Russia and the US. They are grown in great large greenhouses, frozen and air freighted around the world. It looks like they have invested wisely in their roadways, some of the best anywhere.

Along the way I stopped to help with a flat tire repair, a nasty, rusty nail clean through the tough rear rubber tire.

Jairo our driver, Spike and Paul

We are now at this sketchy hotel in a sketchy town about to cross the border tomorrow.

Day 13, Fri, Feb, 9th

Hotel Los Arrozales, Macara, Ecuador to Hotel Casa Andina, Chiclayo, Peru, 348 km

We had a rather warm 3 hour border check with four stops but it all went well. The road south was dry, boring scrub as we descended from 1200 ASL to sea level.

Paperwork and more paperwork!

Transfer in to Peru

Riding a bit with Bob

Boring countryside here

In northern Peru you notice a lot of poverty, huge speed bumps that can knock you off your bike and lots and lots of roadside garbage. They really go in for these motorized rickshaws to get people around too.

We got to sea level but were inland, basically a hot Sandy desert, ancient underground sea; the temperature was as high as 35 Deg and we had quite a crosswind to combat.

Picnic lunch at a one horse stop with two of the local finest!

Nothing much else to observe except that our hotel was of the much nicer variety and the FIRST order of arrival is to grab a cold beer!

Outside hotel in Chicaylo

Day 14, Sat, Feb 10th

Hotel Casa Andina, Chiclayo to La Posada de Huarmey, Huarmey, 490 km

I logged 200 klics by 9:30 to get a head start on the traffic out of town as both the wind and the heat that was guaranteed later on. I am also way, way fresher all the way up to noon and then have to watch it after that so getting those klics behind me made good sense.

Another picnic lunch in Chimbote by the sea; I buy an ice cream and the guy takes my pic

The Peruvians don't care about traffic speed because there is little supervision beyond the interminable speed bumps; also, tons of little shrines near the roadway to signify fatalities give you something to think about.

We were led to believe that it would a be a long, boring run but far from it. The villages and towns are pretty dirty and tiresome but the desert countryside was wonderful, actually quite Palm Deserty in appearance with lots of scenic mountains scapes to photograph. 

A bit Palm Deserty

Having cruise control is a godsend. On the Pan Americana, the sky is the limit so I just set it on 120 klics and let fly. We had several nice glimpses of the Pacific Ocean but no birds anywhere (unlike Africa when you had to duck often to avoid collisions).

We noticed huge swaths of sugar cane farming and large trucks taking it to market; along with lots of huge double decker buses and little tuk tuk taxi's it kept us busy. I found myself doing lots of inside passing (right hand side passing) at slow speeds in towns as long as there was a bail out opportunity to work with.

Lots of big buses to attend to

Sugar cane to market

I had a little wake up call. In the middle of nowhere on the 4 lane divided highway there was a speed bump warning sign I missed. There, right in front of me were two small trucks side by side edging over the same rise; little time to react; I slammed on front and rear anti lock brakes from 120, went in to a skid straight ahead and stopped perfectly. It was a bit of a close one and I need to be honest with myself on this stuff. Also, hitting one of those speed bumps at speed can cause all sorts of problems like a cracked wheel which could end your trip. The bottom line was I tested my brakes to their max and they worked fine.

My forehead has been sore. My head gets hot and sweaty and very itchy under the helmet. To compensate I twitch my forehead for supposed relief. The problem is that it produces a rawness that makes things worse! Fortunately I have some excellent first aid cream provided by Dr. Attwell and the answer is to stop the bad habit!

As of completion tomorrow in Lima we will have had 12 total days with 11 of them riding to cover 3900 klics; that's about 350 odd klics per day in much varying conditions. I never argue with the boss but that is a lot of riding for all of us.
 

Day 15, Sun, Feb 11th

La Posada de Huarmey, Huarmey to Hotel Casa Adiana,  Lima, 314 km

Uneventful ride, 100 mph freeway most of way; met up with ex-roomy Bob Highdon who is a bit apprehensive about heavy traffic in big cities; I led him into Lima on a Sunday so reasonably light traffic in a notoriously snarly traffic city of 7-8 mm.

Northern Peru is a lot of desert

Quite a joke on Bob who likes to laugh at himself even more than I do! We got to a block of the hotel and stopped at a red light I said, 'you lead us in Bob, aw shucks, really'? So a bloody block from the hotel he misses the damn turn!! There was a bus in the way of his visibility but I won't let that get in the way of a good ribbing.

Waan is here! I arrive at the hotel (sans Bob who went to the wrong Casa Adiana and arrived 37 minutes later), get a very quick kiss and see ya later, Jennie (Franco's wife) and I are going to lunch. What a welcome!

Day 16, Mon, Feb 12th

Hotel Casa Adiana, Lima, 0 km

Today we were treated to a private tour of old downtown Lima. Compared to the crappy trip through dilapidated Mexico City or Bangkok  like suburbs, it was a real treat. Some brief observations of what we learned:

-Lima, with a population of 10 mm in a country of 32 mm has over 400 ancient pyramids; none are anything like Egypt
-there are 47 languages in the country
-there is zero rainfall in Lima, the coast is fed by 62 rivers from the Andes
-there is a major earthquake here every 40 years and we are 44 years since the last one!
-Peru is one of the few countries comfortable with their Spanish conquerors and was forced to become  independent in 1821; by an Argentinian called Martin no less hence the St. Martin Square originally founded in 1535 pictured below:

F    P

-Lima was the central capital of all of Spanish held territories in South America

-the chief economic benefactors are mining (copper and silver), steel, petroleum, fish processing and tourism (archeology exhibits); ie little agriculture due to poor soil here

-Women's suffrage did not occur until very late, 1955

-57% were classified as living in poverty 30 years ago; that number is 22% today; this compares to Mexico at 50% but not sure how the measurement is derived

-Lima is considered one of the worst driving cities in the world; they are slowly evolving into underground transit despite the earthquake risk

-Pedro Pablo Cuchinsky as president in this democratic country has a 13% approval rating due to a lot of corruption related issues; the guy beside me here is carrying a 9 mm Uzi to protect government public offices; lots of security noticed everywhere

     

Lisa (Helge)

Here is some very basic economic data below after visiting 3 of 6 countries:

                       Popn.  Gdp.       Gdp/Cap.    Size*

Columbia.     49mm   380 bb   $7800.     1142
Ecuador.      16.         98.          $5600         283
Peru.            32.        202          $6900.       1285
Bolivia.        11.         34.          $3400.       1100
Chile.           18.        277.         $15700.      757
Argentina.    45.       610.         $14700.      2767

Brazil.         208.      2250.       $11200.       8512
Canada.       36.      1830.        $52000.       9930

Size is in square kilometres

Day 17, Tue, Feb 13th

Hotel Casa Adiana, Lima to Hotel Casa Andina, Nasca, 432 km

No typo here just quite a few Casa Andina Hotels we are staying at and very adequate too. Today I had Waan on board and we made an early start at 6:15 to beat the horrendous and unfriendly Lima traffic. I was glad to follow Helge/Lisa and Vincent/Linda out of town.

  

It was hot then it got hotter, up to 34 Deg. It was a boring run through the desert and one horse towns strewn with garbage so nothing to report.

We stopped at a small but charming museum just outside of Nazca called the Maria Reiche Museum. She was a German mathematician who lived a long life (1903- 1997) and was considered a bit queer back in the 1940’s for undertaking the unenviable task of cleaning up the Nazca Lines which were falling in to disrepair. She was a visionary for sure.

Very glad to get to our digs, shower and rest up!

Day 18, Wed, Feb 14th

Hotel Casa Andina, Nasca, 0 km

Today I went on a violent half hour flight over the Unesco (1994) site called the Nazca Lines. There were 9 of us on two Cessa 206 flights. I was the only pilot of the group and the only one to get air sick although I didn't barf thank goodness, a bit embarrassing! The pilots flew continuous very steep turns left and right to give us important viewpoints of what we were seeing. Combined with some wind induced bumps I was soon sweating like a pig in discomfort.

  

The Nazca Lines are thought to be 500 AD to 500 BC in age although no one knows for sure.

They are large geoglyphs some up to 1200' in length. There are approx. 70 images of birds, fish, monkeys, whales etc. and 1700 simple lines and geometric shapes. They are shallow lines in the ground made by removing reddish volcanic pebbles and stones to expose the white/gray ground underneath, quite spectacular to look at until nausea overwhelmed me and I could think of nothing else but returning to Terra Firma. 

Waan wisely decided to stay home!

After a few hours of recovery we walked through the nice town square about 8 blocks to visit a local museum depicting some of this ancient culture.

Tomorrow we climb and the mountains beckon!

Day 19, Thur, Feb 15th

Hotel Casa Andina to Hotel to Hotel Tampumayo, Abancay 365 km

Today's ride was fraught with challenge and danger; two reasons, dramatic elevation change and foul weather.

We departed Nazca at 500 meters ASL in balmy conditions at 7 am. It quickly deteriorated. We were warned about adverse weather conditions involving rain, fog and cold. We were in pea soup drizzle and destined for over an hour of this. Waan on the back was a trooper and we just doubled down because there was no choice. The switchbacks as we rose to higher levels were nearly all in first gear, some in second. With wet and slippery roads, extremely tight turns and drop offs I couldn't see but didn't want to contemplate it was a bit white knuckle for sure. Luckily the traffic was light but what there was, was large tractor trailers to follow or take a risk to pass.

There were very few stop points, visibility was close to zero and our 4-ways were on all the way. It reminded me a lot of Ethiopia last year when we got in similar conditions. Eventually we found a spot to stop and add warmer clothing and wet gear. We were completely alone and had no idea how long this would take to drive out of.

Finally we got to higher elevation and came out of the cloud cover. It felt like the lights had finally been turned on, a welcome, welcome relief!

  

  
Cold and miserable with Franco, a snack needed

The next thing that snuck up on us was the lack of oxygen and the cold, about 7.5 degrees. We got up to a barren, rocky plateau that was much easier to drive on if you discounted the significant cross wind (at least it was dry!). We drove and drove and I watched my elevation get as high as 4598 metres which is over 15,000 feet! Things happen to people at this height, hallucinations, headaches etc. Finally I had to stop and take a 20 minute snooze break because I couldn't trust my driving anymore.

We got safely across the plateau, worked our way down to a lower elevation and witnessed 

some stunning, scenic countryside which was our one consolation for a brutal 7 hour day on the road.

  
With Paul for a rest and a viewpoint

Day 20, Fri, Feb 16th

Hotel Tampumayo, Abancay to Hotel José Antonio, Cusco 195 km

Everyone was pretty spaced out yesterday afternoon and evening. Our digs were a splendid countryside oasis that provided us with good food and a nice and deserved place to relax.

  
Debbie and Harrison get an early start

Much of the Peruvian way of life we saw along the way was desolate, subsistence living in the mountains. Most villages are dirty and hap hazard; tons of corrugated tin roofs flashing at you; lots and lot of dogs, grazing domestic animals on the roads and herds of semi-wild, long necked alpacas waiting to walk out on the road at a moments notice.

  
Traffic in dirty, grimy Abancay

We left in good time and enjoyed Peru's first class road system in a decidedly third world country. Starting at 2500 metres we rose to 4000 then back to 2500 up to 4000 again and completed the day in Cusco at their official height of 3399 metres (over 11,000 feet).

  

You might imagine the amount of turns, switchbacks etc. to ascend and descend must have been thousands. Fortunately, the weather was much more cooperative so it was enjoyable albeit still a lot of work.

The highlight of the day was a stop at the Cconcha Raymi Festival. This can best be described in the pics below but in no way can it convey the animal and people noises and smells. It was terrific to witness the locals in their element.

  

  

Last comment before pushing the send button, another clumsy effort by yours truly: we were parked at an uneven level at the Fair so Waan walked down the street to wait for me there. What to do with the camera? I placed it on the dash and wrapped the shoulder cord around the left side mirror so it wouldn’t fall. Not! Immediately after shoving off at ultra low speed there was nada steering due to the camer tying up the handle bars. Whammo, down went the bike in the middle of the street! No harm done except wounded pride and a couple of swarthy locals helped with the pick up. This is my diary so it needs to be documented warts and all.

G
Jairo, our very competent chase car man extraordinaire helped get my bent pannier fixed in a jiff. There were some sheet metal workers in the basement of our hotel. They went to work and in short order it now closes waterproof perfect, thanks Jairo!

Hope this 10 day Missive contains something of interest for you and that there are not too many pics! Best, NG