So much has happened since my last blog on Machu Picchu I’m not too sure where to start… We have seen so much more of Peru and it has been a pure delight. From the glaciers to the desert to the mountains to the amazon, we have seen it all. I have also settled into the journey and have found myself enjoying things so much more, finally!! I am so much happier and able to deal with the day-to-day challenges and changes allot better, that I used to find difficult.
After leaving Santa Teresa, Machu Picchu we started heading towards Abancay where David was asked to park the bike in the hotel foyer and we ended up staying for two nights as I wasn’t feeling the best and in need of good toilet facilities. From there we made it to Nasca and stayed for about four days in a Hostel with amazing WIFI as the Australian Footy Grand Final was going to be on back home and both our teams where playing so we had to watch it. Pity my team didn’t win….. I still haven’t forgiven them, but I guess there’s always next year.
Then Paracas here we come. Camping on the beautiful beach at http://www.kangarookite.net/en/home/ was just magical. The staff, the complex and off course the fact that it is owned by an Aussie… The beach was a relaxing haven and probably rates as one of my favorite places we have been to so far in Peru. There isn’t anything better than camping right on the beach listening to the waves roll in. Not to mention the flamingos in the morning bathing in the ocean and the fact that our campsite was for free. BINGO!!!
Then after many days of relaxing and meeting good people we made a move to Lima, the capital of Peru. We had been told mixed things about Lima. So, we really didn’t know what to expect. Once we arrived the one thing we noticed immediately was how crazy the traffic was. I take my hat off to David and anyone else who has ridden through Lima as it is one very busy and mind concentrating place. We stayed in an Airbnb place in a good part of town, Barranco, very Fitzroy like if you know Melbourne, Australia. We loved it. It was close to cafes, cocktail bars and restaurants and It was so great to be in a city that had everything!! I mean shopping malls so big I couldn’t believe it. Great coffee and the icing on the cake for me was a French cheese, meats and produce store. I was literally in heaven…
We had allot to do while in Lima, the bike was due for an oil change and its 20,000km service and the Neutrino Black Box was playing up so we had ordered a new one from the States to be delivered to our Airbnb accommodation. After getting all that done we were able to relax a little and catch up with some great people we had met. We were invited to a biker’s party and had drinks with a fellow David had met, who put us on a riding route when leaving Lima, we would never forget… ????
After many days of waiting for the Neutrino Black Box to arrive with no avail we decided to leave Lima and grab it on our way back. The plan was to ride back through Lima for a couple of days while heading down to Ushuaia The back tyre was nearly due for replacement and I was about to run out of Chanel Number 5 perfume ???? So we left Lima and the wonderful shopping malls and the amazing French cheese and produce store and I sadly said goodbye to the big city.
We then proceeded to start our crazy route heading through Canta and then on to Cerrode De Pasco where we were going to camp for the night but couldn’t get over the massive man holes in the middle of the road without covers on them. We nearly lost the front of the bike in one of them!! We decided to push on and we stopped for a couple of nights in Huanuco. I was again feeling pretty crook with the flu this time!! I didn’t really like this place, the hotel we stayed in was so noisy and the town was a complete dust bomb. Then after Huanuco we rode through La Union and asked a Peruvian family if we could camp on their land by the river. It was beautiful, the perfect spot so we ended up camping there for two nights.
Then we hit the road again but this time heading for the Pastoruri Glacier. It was amazing seeing all the ice on the mountains as we rod in. The temperature dropped to 10 degrees and we started feeling the cold. Out came the beanies and puffer jackets as we walked up the mountain to see the Glacier. When we got there, it was better than I had imagined it to be. David got the drone out and started videoing the area and I took about a million photos. As we walked down closer to the Glacier David was busy playing with the drone and then suddenly, I heard this noise from David and he said to me “I’ve stacked the drone and I need to go over to the other side of the Glacier to get it”. I couldn’t believe what he was saying to me and all I was thinking was I hoped that this expensive drone we had only just purchased was okay and still in one piece. About an hour later he returned with the drone, a little battered but okay. I sighed with relief and then gave David a smack across the head!! ???? The clouds had started building up by this time and we hurried back to the bike. As we were going to camp here the night we wanted to get the tent up and our campsite prepared before the rain had set in. We managed to get this done just in time and then we got hammered with rain, snow and hail. It was ace!!! The tent flooded a little, but we kept dry in our sleeping area of the tent taking it in turns to push all the snow and hail off the roof of the tent. It was one cold night, getting down to -2 degrees. I didn’t get much sleep, but David slept like a baby… The next morning our tent was nearly snowed in. With a few pegs missing….
After slowly packing up our campsite we left the Glacier for Huaraz. The ride to Huaraz was half way through the mountains and the rest of the way on bitumen. It was a great ride, passing sheep, goats, and where the ancient Puya Raimondii plants grow. We stayed here for a couple of days and did day trips on the bike out through the mountains and attempted to go to San Marco. The Garmin had us all over the place, even riding through one of the biggest mining sites in Peru. Needless to say, we gave up and went home through hail and lightning. Then we ventured through Carhauaz, Chacas and did the mountain loop around to Yungay.
The mountain loop to Yungay was hard and very mind challenging. The roads where muddy and slippery in some parts and hard, big stones with hairpin corners in the others. It took us about eight hours to get through it. I was completely over it and just wanted to go home to Melbourne… We stacked the bike twice, broke the front screen of the motorbike and I was covered in bruises and mud. It was not a fun day!! By the time we reached the bottom of the mountain we were both over it and just wanted a glass of wine or three!!
We met up with our friend from Lima who also had a BMW GSA and was traveling around with his mate on their bikes for the weekend. He took us to the place that they were staying at in Caraz, about an hour away. I think David felt a little sorry for me and the day we had so we stayed here for two nights. It was pure luxury and I loved every second of it. The sheets where white, crisp and soft. The bed felt perfect and the pillows where so much better that my blow-up camping pillow. The bathroom was clean, the water was hot, and I didn’t feel I was going to get a foot infection in the shower!! It was bliss and a welcoming surprise.
When we left Caraz and the amazing accommodation we took the road that lead us through the Cannon del Parto. WOW!!! The tunnels, the curved roads and the river where just spectacular. And it was all bitumen….. ???? Heading towards Huanchaco and Trujillo we picked up a Peruvian motorbike traveler who was heading home, Huanchaco. Exactly where we were going so we rode all the way together stopping for lunch and fruit snacks along the way. It was nice to have some other company even if we couldn’t communicate that well with him! He took us to his house to meet his wife, fed us and then took us to the hotel we had booked. How generous and kind of him I thought, especially seeing as though we had only just met him. But that’s how it rolls here in Peru. The people are so kind and helpful. Its something quite new yet wonderful to both David and myself. Our hotel accommodation was expensive for us, a treat!! After getting them down slightly in price and having a few issues with our room (the lack of hot water) we moved to a better room, things settled down and we started to enjoy the place allot more. After staying there for two nights and doing some sightseeing we began to get ourselves organised to move on to Chochapoyas.
It was going to be a long journey, so we had decided to break it up and stay at Chiclayo for a night at a zoo and do some wild camping at two different spots throughout the mountains. The first wild camping night was in a small town consisting of about 100 people just off the main road of the mountains and through some stony flats. We asked some of the locals if we could camp in their main square, it was all dirt with houses surrounding it. We had everyone come visit. I guess to make sure we were good people and not going to cause any issues during the night. The kids also found us intriguing, trying to communicate with us and calling us “Gringo’s”. That word is used regularly to describe us foreigners. It makes me laugh. The night was interesting!! After being given fruit by one of the locals the music started and didn’t stop till late. I must have been so tired as I went to sleep early and didn’t hear a thing till the morning. That’s another thing about Peru, everyone gets up early and I mean early, like 5 or 6am… Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not a morning person… So, after many early morning visits by the locals and questions asked about our religion we packed up our campsite. As David and I aren’t very religious I think we causes a little stir with our answers. The second place we camped at was on a soccer field still in the mountains, it was so humid and hot and the mozzies where out in full force. Again, we asked permission, had some visitors along with the whole local soccer team and spent most of the night in the sleeping part of our tent. Hiding from the insects. The experiences we are having throughout this travel journey are priceless and it is something I will never forget.
Then we continued through this maze of Amazonian mountains I thought was never going to end in 30+ degree temperatures with humidity so high I was sweating like a pig in my helmet. It took us three days to get to Chochapoyas, meeting three very dodgy cops along the way. They stopped us all very friendly at first, then asked us where we were going and that we had to pay a fee of ten soles each. We laughed at them thinking they were joking but then realized they were serious. While David was playing the good and happy guy one of the police officers looked at me probably thinking that because I was a female I would cave and had over the bribe. He shook his head at me and said that he wanted the money. I looked at him and told him no, said goodbye and then said to David through our Bluetooth helmets to just go. The police officer looked surprised! We left thinking things could have gone so terribly wrong and I wondered how many others they had stopped. Not these to Aussies that’s for sure..
It was a big last day of traveling through the heat and humidity to Chochapoyas. It was getting late and about 3kms to our campsite destination the back tyre blew, and we were stuck. David flagged down a local Peruvian on his tiny 125cc motorbike and asked him to take me to our camping accommodation. The guy agreed, and I got on the back. It was so weird being on such a tiny bike. He dropped me off at Estancia Chillo and I proceeded to tell the owners in my broken Spanish what had happened. They were so lovely and understanding. The men jumped on their bikes and when to help David who had by this stage had lost the bike keys….. Typical David!! ????
We stayed here for a week waiting for the new tyre to arrive from Lima. Sightseeing the area and using the local mini buses to get around. Things could have been worse, I mean we were camping at the most peaceful, tranquil place in the amazons of Peru. We had the place all to ourselves with our very own bathroom and hot water shower. The owners where just so friendly and kind. Feeding us local Peruvian cuisine and helping David with the whole tyre issue. It was sad to say goodbye after all they had done for us. But we had to push on as our Peruvian Visas were about to run out and we still had a little more of Peru to see before entering Ecuador.
We are thoroughly enjoying our time here in Peru. It’s such a beautiful country. And now that the weather is starting to get warmer and wetter things will start to get interesting for the both of us…..
Hello hot and humid Tarapoto!!
