Motorcycle TransportationThe Los Angeles to Lima Ride – September 2009
Follow this link to download full report with pictures http://www.jamescargo.com/documents/la_to_lima.pdf
Date:2009-10-16 12:43:14
Author:Geoff Sadler
The Los Angeles to Lima Ride – September 2009 Riders: Andrew Mitchell, age 52, specialising in border crossings, brake testing and cervichi. Max Hale, age 53, specialising in Zumo operation, interesting detours and currency exchange, Aaron Joos, age 41, specialising in windscreen testing and balloon hats, Geoff Sadler, age 53 and a 1/2, specialising in cultivating Peruvian amoebic diseases and ordering cervesa and the trip scribe. Support Crew: Jacqui Hale specialising in radio-controlled overtaking on blind corners, Peruvian pottery and fridge magnets, Oksana Drozdova specialising in mid-night swimming and photography, Nastia Zhizhinkina specialising in pisco sours, chicken bones and alpaca products. Thursday 3rd Sept. The squad was finally drinking beer together shortly after 23.00 in the Best Western Hotel in Sunset Beach CA. Max and Jacqui, Aaron and Oksana flying in from Sakhalin, Andy from Holland and me from Qatar. The delights of Coors Light and beef jerky after a 16 hour flight, US Customs and a 100 Dollar taxi ride! Friday 4th Sept. Found that my bike had not arrived but was assured it was on the Virgin flight ETA later that day and would be available for pick-up in the afternoon - not the news we wanted! We went to LAX Cargo Terminal and found the Virgin door. Was sent to US Customs to get the release forms and joined the queue. It was interesting to read the US Customs Service Charter and compare it with reality. Still no complaints as the process was relatively painless and it's not the most inspiring place to work. Had great fun ripping into the packaging so carefully assembled by the people at James Cargo - it was like Christmas. Even the warehouse people joined in. Got the other bikes from storage and even managed to fit in a visit to REI, surely the best store in the whole world? We all bought kit and essentials and with our discount didn't have to pay any money. Surely the ultimate in customer satisfaction. Went to Mothers Bar for the start-of ride drink (last year's end of ride) to find Vanessa was not on-duty but her back to back was more than capable and there was no detrimental effect on the supply of beer! Saturday 5th Sept. Los Angeles - Sonoya, Mexico - 430 miles. Riding out of LA, soon hit the freeway through southern California. Made good progress to the Mexican border. Decided to cross early and take the Mexican 'A' road that shadows the US border rather the main freeway. This was the first 'proper' border crossing so we didn't really know what to expect. We crossed the US border without even stopping, surely it couldn't be this easy? It wasn't but it wasn't too bad. Took us a couple of hours to wade through the paperwork for the bikes and riders. We set off just as a sandstorm started to blow, it was the front end of a weather system that had hit the Baja Peninsula and was heading our way. We were soon out of town but were getting well and truly sand blasted with the cross-wind plus the occasional off-road roadwork excursion to add to the fun! We rode out of the blast area after an hour and could start to appreciate the scenery. Lots of proper cowboy cacti and desert. We found a decent motel in Sonoya and sat down drinking a beer and watching an Impressive electrical storm. The town was typical Mexican, complete with topes, dogs, lots of people and NOISE! Sunday 6th Sept. Yecora - 430 miles. Rode through the desert, lots of big cacti and good roads. Hit the first military check-point, a regular feature of the Mexican road system along with topes (speed humps) and road kill! At one point we approached a number of police cars and on slowing down saw the reason, somebody was laying at the side of the road, obviously dead. Also overtook a snake and a tarantula, not dead! Decent roads saw us making good progress into the Sierra Madres, we climbed steadily out of the desert then all of a sudden a huge canyon opened in front of us and we spent the next few hours navigating switch backs and then climbing back into the clouds. We overnighted at a Mexican cowboy town motel. They opened the restaurant for us and we enjoyed a good meal and local beer. A local and his daughter availed themselves of the opportunity to use the restaurant, and exchanged pleasantries with us. The gringos were proving to be quite an attraction, lots of pick-ups cruised by with music blasting. We were nearly as popular as the security guard who had a constant stream of visitors. Monday 7th Sept. Parral - 430 miles. Maximum Altitude - 8,600ft. Woke up to find a couple of horses wandering in the street and the smell of fresh bread from the local bakery. After a breakfast of Ranchero Webos (Mexican style fried eggs) we were off into the mountains. The scenery was breathtaking, the road winding through the Sierra Madre tracing a canyon three times bigger than the Grand Canyon. The views are spectacular: deep canyons, high bluffs, lots of trees and greenery. We saw many eagles. Hardly any traffic on the road and with corners and hairpins heavily cambered it was turning out to be some of the best riding we had encountered. The weather turned a bit wet but fortunately we were on the central plateau and only had reasonably straight roads to contend with. This was proving to be a fairly predicable weather pattern, high temps leading to clouds building and heavy downpours. Quite spectacular at the heights we were riding. Early evening, we had an unsuccessful attempt to check in at a motel that looked more than acceptable: outskirts of town, big perimeter wall, each room had an attached garage and a security guard at the entrance and none of the rooms appeared to be taken. On trying to check-in we found that it was only possible to rent rooms by the hour? We beat a hasty retreat, I guess the name 'The Heaven Motel' and its pink walls should have alerted us, but it was dark and we were tired! Turns out that these motels are a regular feature of Central and South American life to the extent that ladies of night are virtually absent from the streets. Tuesday 8th Sept. Mazatalan - 450 miles, Max Alt 9,800ft. A hot and fairly straight ride through the Sierra Madre central plateau region. None of us had appreciated the size of Mexico, it is a big place! The ride through to Durango was fairly straight and then we started to climb as we started to head west to the coast and the Devil's Backbone. Any descent from 9,800ft to sea level is going to be interesting and so it proved. The Devil's Backbone road traces abutments where possible but much is blasted out the side of the mountains. The hairpin corners are heavily cambered with some of the drop-offs spectacular for those that get it a bit wrong! Riding it is a challenge: manic overtaking followed by stretches of clear road where the next hairpin corner might be filled by an oncoming truck covering both lanes. Certainly cures any midafternoon drowsiness, everybody had a moment or three! The truck and bus drivers are the stars of the show. They will signal when it's clear but beware once they are trucking - they will not back-off! It took us 5 hours of continual switch backs before we reached the coast. We found a nice hotel right on the beach front and finished off the day with a few well earned beers and dinner at the Shrimp Bucket restaurant. Wednesday 9th Sept. Manzanillo - 430 miles. After the altitudes of the previous couple of days it was proving a pleasant change to be near to sea level although we did encounter some rolling hills and fast car drivers! Good roads and local traffic saw us making rapid progress. We rode past some superb beaches with hardly any tourist activity. Palm trees and the occasional tequila cactus plantation added to the scenery. The blue/green iridescent tequila cactus leaves are particularly memorable. We even tried the occasional glass or three of it's produce. Armadillos were an interesting addition to the road kill list mainly populated by dogs, with cows making an occasional but smelly contribution. Thursday 10th Sept. Acapulco - 420 miles. The coastal, rolling hills and desert provided good riding conditions. Buses and pick-ups provide the main form of transportation. Most pick-ups have tubular frames to allow them to carry increased loads and prevent the contents from spilling out, this includes passengers. It can be quite alarming to be overtaken by a pick-up traveling at 80 plus mph with people standing up in the back, faces screwed up into a grimace against the windblast. Families and children tend to sit down but machismo runs strong through the veins of the Mexican male so standing up with his machete by his side is seen a badge of honour. Wonder what toothpaste they use? Must be good to remove all the flies! Arrived on the outskirts of Acapulco at 5pm, hot, sticky and the roads were crowded with aggressive drivers only interested in getting home. We eventually made it to the tourist hotels and were lucky at the first attempt. Don't think I like this place very much...(even though the view from the hotel was great) Friday 11 Sept. Acapulco R&R day and I don't mean Rock and Roll! First impressions confirmed - this place is so focused on taking money from tourists it’s lost its identity and any charm it may once have had. The best example I can give is that after traveling over 2000 miles through (real) Mexico we saw our first sombrero just outside the hotel. Everybody is on the make, surely there can't be anybody who makes a repeat visit to Acapulc-hole? In general terms Mexico is impressive, this place isn't. Enough said. We did however manage to have good night out at the Argentina Steak House and then a beer or 2 (and some funny hats) at the Bungee Bar. Saturday 12 Sept. Arriaga - 505 miles. Zumo-ed out of town with only one small diversion via the airport, the delights of tw*tnav. Soon back into rural Mexico and one and two tope towns, even passed through a couple of no-topers! Now only three bikes with Aaron and Oksana heading back north to the US and Jacqui flying down to Panama. The roads are good and the verges well maintained by gangs of machete wielding workers. The back swings and follow throughs would grace any centre court, the main concern being that we didn't distract them mid-stroke as we sped by. Would not like to see the consequences of a mis-directed slash. Everybody seems happy even though obviously poor. The kids are well looked after and must receive basic education judging by the number of schools we passed. The military checkpoints continued, even more so as we neared the border, the occasional one even had a small cannon in addition to the small arms. We always created much interest and were always pulled over if they weren't searching somebody else. But a smile and a brief exchange of pleasantries always saw us through without too much delay. Checked in to the family run Mission Inn Motel and after a meal and a couple of beers we were soon tucked up in bed fast asleep. A big riding day, the first time we had covered over 500 miles in a day this leg of the trip. Sunday 13 Sept. Guatemala - 270 miles. An early start saw us at the border mid-morning, 'hired' a fixer to help us through the pain. Had to make a 60 mile detour to get the required exit stamp on our USD 2000 Vehicle bonds or we would have risked losing the money! Took us about 4 hours to complete the exit/entry process. Guatemala is a poor country with a big American influence evident. The roads are packed with ex-US vehicles with lots of gaudily coloured American school buses spewing out thick acrid exhaust fumes providing the main form of public transport. The roads deteriorated and were quite badly pocked and scabbed in many places. We saw poor standards of driving with lots of aggressive overtaking and school-yard bully bus drivers forcing anybody in a smaller vehicle out of the way. Had an interesting diversion around one town in trying to avoid a parade. Confirmed the poverty is endemic. This country has not many saving graces, I was glad we would be leaving tomorrow! Just before rain set in for the night, we found a good little family run courtyard hotel with secure parking which is always an essential. The son spoke good English and dropped us off at a decent restaurant. Maybe I was being a little bit harsh with my first impressions? Woke up early and went to the bathroom to find a finger-sized cockroach taking an un-natural interest in the bristles of my toothbrush. Not the best start to the day, surely this place couldn't get any worse? Monday 14th Sept. (Black Monday) Honduras - 370 miles. Made an early start but hit heavy traffic. At one point had a bus come steaming by at about 70 mph, it all made for some hairy riding. Then it happened, Andy leading with me tucked in behind and Max following when the driver in front of the line of traffic in which we were entrained decided to brake. The knock-back effect was not good, Andy managed to brake in time but the car following him didn't and ran into the back of him knocking the bike into my path and Andy into the ditch. The only option I had was to steer into the car in front of me which had ploughed into the car in front of it. Fortunately Max was able to pick a way through the carnage before coming to a halt. My bike was now on its side in the middle of the road, with me still sitting on it, unscathed but vulnerable to traffic from both directions and these people do not take prisoners! I was shouting for help to lift my bike which is not far short of half a ton fully loaded. Fortunately Andy had soon sorted himself out and was able to assist along with the driver who had caused the carnage. The damage to both bikes was mainly superficial but more importantly both bikes were rideable. Andy's bike suffered brake servo problems for the rest of the trip and he had to replace the rear light cover. The engine protection bars on my bike had absorbed most of the impact but the front sub-frame had been knocked out of alignment which meant the instrument cluster and lights were a little bit askew! But we were riding again within an hour much to the relief of the police. We crossed into El Salvador, a country perhaps even poorer than Guatemala although not as crowded. It is very much dependant on agriculture and the occasional revolution! Andy had a chilling conversation with a local waiting at a bus stop who wanted to know if we had been shot at yet and he was not joking! On reflection, we did get the occasional knowing glance when we had mentioned our route to folk in Mexico. There looked to be some very nice places along the coast so obviously there is some money in the system, not that the locals will ever see it. It was getting late but we had decided to push on to Honduras and we had arranged with our fixer on entering the country for his ' friend' to help us with the exit. Our fixer had even faxed our details plus the thought of spending a night here and trying to find a hotel was not appealing. It was dark as we approached the border, we were met by our pre-arranged fixer and some of his friends including a more than useful heavy. We handed over our entry papers and copies of documents etc. and waited alongside our bikes in some kind of nether world. Nearest comparison would be like a place out of Mad Max. Accepting the facts that these places are inhabited by people determined to scam money by whatever means possible and we were targets, it was turning decidedly uncomfortable. A drunk tried to manhandle the bikes and then a drunken prostitute confronted us looking for business - this was scary! Our heavy saw the problem and dealt with the situation. She lashed out and hit the peak of my crash helmet and then came out with a torrent of abuse directed at the heavy and the gringos! Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long for our signed papers and after being duly ripped off by the scam of the day by our fixer, we were on our way. After 30 minutes riding, we came across a modern, USA standard hotel. We felt a whole lot better after a couple beers and a good meal. It had been an interesting day. Tuesday 15th Sept. Costa Rica - 351 Miles. Made an early start and we were soon making yet another border crossing, this time into Nicaragua. I'm sure it's the same set of fixers and cambios (money changers) with their calculators and wads of money. In the spirit of free enterprise perhaps they shouldn't be criticised too much but unless they are closely scrutinised they will scam or steal from anybody, they just cannot be trusted. Nicaragua is a very poor country, the locals depending on handouts and what they can grow. We came across some street urchins on one fuel stop. Angels with dirty faces and one had no shoes. They looked healthy but what future do they have? Maybe as a fixer or cambio? The Pacific rim never fails to disappoint and this time it was a magnificent volcano just off the coast. We went down a track from the main road for a photograph and came upon a father and his young son. They went about their business ignoring us but we could see they were desperate to come over and find out what we were about. They didn't. Can't help thinking that years of war and strife had even driven out basic curiosity. A sad price to pay, their leaders have much to answer come the day of reckoning! Crossed into Costa Rica. The quality of the roads improved along with the standard of living. This was obviously a country more focused on its people than politics and war. One of the downsides of the increased GDP was the number of cars on the road, but at least the general standard of driving was reasonably good. Wednesday 16th Sept David, Panama - 366 miles. Max Altitude - 11,000ft The good roads led us to the capital San Jose and its 3-lane ring-road where we were well and truly caught up in the lunchtime traffic jam. We stayed in line for a time but the bikes and us were getting hotter. Max was the first to follow the local riders lead and start weaving between the lines of traffic then we were all at it! Low speed maneuvering is an interesting proposition at anytime even more so on a fully laden BMW. The drivers were reasonably sympathetic and shuffled over to make room. It seemed like hours but we soon cleared the main jam and decided to stop at a MacDonalds for a pit-stop and skype. Turned out to be a bit of an eye-opener. The staff were all slim, not a pimple in sight and the place was clean and smelled fresh. There can't be many acne-free MacDonalds in the world. We were soon back on the road and heading for the mountains. It doesn't look much on the map but the climb and the views were spectacular. The temperature contrast was noticeable, from 37+ deg C on th erring-road we soon hit single figures and rain. We eventually stopped for fuel and a dry and were told to take the coast road, anything to get away from the rain! Well not quite, it did clear for a while but then came down in epic portions! But at least on the coast it was warmer! It got so wet that my diary entries for the 13th - 16th were washed out. It should be mentioned that most vehicles in central America have worn tyres which must make for an interesting drive when it rains. We saw a number of examples of vehicles in fields and one recent head-on impact that anybody would have been fortunate to survive. We crossed into Panama and had to ride another 30 miles in the rain and dark before we reach David. We were rewarded with a very up market hotel and friendly staff who disappeared off with our wet riding gear and returned them a couple of hours later all washed and dried. Thursday 17th Sept. Panama City 270 Miles. Another early start for the push to Panama City and a day without border crossings. We rode through mile after mile of banana plantations in the early morning rain. The rain cleared and we were soon opening jacket vents. We rode into the mountains surrounding Panama City and crossed the canal over an impressive bridge. Andy had pre-arranged servicing at the one and only BMW bike service centre in Central America so we rode straight to the shop. We made some essential running repairs as we waited for the bikes to be serviced. We had asked them weeks ago to get tyres for us, they hadn't and didn't carry any stock! But a call around the local distributors saw 3 sets of Maxxis road tyres delivered within an hour or two - panic over! We spent most of the afternoon at the workshop and were impressed by the mechanic and staff who were all friendly. On arriving at the hotel we were told by the receptionist that she had let Andy and my rooms go! This despite the fact that Jacqui, who had flown down from Acapulco to meet us was in the hotel and had confirmed we would arrive later that day. After the friendly efficiency of the BM Garage, the off-hand treatment we received from the receptionist was a disappointment. Andy was incandescent, even Jacqui was lost for words! We managed to find a hotel with a vacant room just up the road. It meant sharing, but what the hell, Andy's coughing and my alleged snoring would cancel out each other and I always win the sleep race. All was forgotten after a few beers and good meal at a local Peruvian theme restaurant. Friday 18th Sept. Bogotá. It's not possible to cross from Panama to Columbia by road, there is a section of just about impenetrable jungle and serious bandit country called the Darian Gap that frightened off even the Pan-American highway builders. The quickest option is flying from Panama City to Bogotá. We found the freight forwarders office. It was next door to Max and Jacqui's hotel, paid the fee in cash, the preferred method in Central America and rode the bikes to the airport to the freight packagers. An interesting office complete with 50's style typewriters, a spotty youth playing games on his pc and young lady social networking on her pc. Obviously ran-off their feet. We gave clear instructions on how to strap the bikes to the pallets, on centre-stands and where to tie-down at the back and front. We then were taken to the passenger terminal and checked-in for our flights and went for a beer! We were met in Bogotá by Mr. Bean, the hotel pickup taxi driver and taken to a good quality hotel where we sampled the local cervesa and polished off the bottle of Rum Andy had brought at the duty free, before having some dinner and heading off for a not so early night. Saturday 19th Sept. Bogotá Off to the freight handlers early to make sure we got the bikes before everything closed down at lunchtime for the weekend. To say it was a close run thing would be an understatement, we were riding the bikes out of the warehouse at 5 minutes to 12 after a series of minor delays and petty officialdom that even made the Panama City forwarders look industrious. But it mattered not one jot as we had the bikes. The fact that they had parked the bikes on the side-stands and lashed them down with two straps, one tied-off at the exhaust pipe didn't matter, we had them back in one piece and nothing broken or missing. Dian are the just about as far removed from James Cargo as is possible. Our hotel, Los Andes was in a good part of the city that looked almost Dutch in build and layout. There was Ducati garage just around the corner and a supermarket nearby that was as good as having a Marks and Spencer on your doorstep. It really was that good. Andy spent the afternoon at the Ducati garage trying to sort out his brakes, I carried out some running repairs and stripped off some plastic to see if I could straighten the front sub-frame with an inquisitive hotel security guard for company. Max and Jacqui went touristing. In the evening we went to Zona Rosa, it came well recommended and we weren't disappointed. Pavement cafes, bars, restaurants and party buses. A very lively place, ringing with life and full of people having a good time. Not at all like the Colombia we expected. We ate in a big 'themed' restaurant with swing chairs and lots of candles. The waiter had to lend us a torch to read the menu! Sunday 20th Sept. Popayan - 367 miles. Max Altitude - 10,986ft. The next leg of the trip down to Quito normally takes three days and we were planning to do it in two . After the essential early start, we were soon Zumo-ed (lost) in one of the more unsavory areas of Bogotá. This was the dark side, glad we saw it, it put Zona Rosa into perspective. We eventually found the road east and cut our way through the traffic into the mountains. Colombia has two mountain ranges and we would cross both, the first was the Cordillera Orienta. Most of the mountains are covered in trees and vegetation and are massive. For a number of miles we had an unwelcome travel companion, a yellow, local bus. As Andy was nursing his un-servo-ed brakes, we were not as quick as usual on the down-hills. We would put some significant distance between us on the climbs but downhill was a different matter. To have a bus filling your rear view mirrors when steaming into a an un-barriered corner with massive drop-offs proved to be a little unsettling. Some of the drivers were superb, their car control and cornering on narrow mountain roads is truly impressive. It's surprising what even run of the mill family cars can do in the right hands, never mind buses! We saw two trucks buried into the mountain at the side of the road, obviously brake failures and the only available option open to the driver. Some of the drop-offs are spectacular, guarded by foot square concrete blocks, it makes for interesting riding. The locals are extremely resourceful and cultivate just about every square foot of land available to them even if it is at the top of a mountain. The basic rule appears to be if it can support growth it does. Even cows graze on the sides of mountains, they must be born with crampons, it really is that steep. After a few hours of mountain riding we found ourselves on the central plateau and its verdant pastures complete with forests of giant bamboo, coffee and sugar cane plantations etc.. Rural Columbia is smattered with many small villages, the number of Afro-Colombians was noticeable. The slave trade had obviously extended into the Colombian coffee plantations. Monday 21st Sept. Quito - 370 miles. Max Altitude 10,900ft. We were now in the Cordillera Central, this range extends down and becomes the Andes. It is almost impossible to describe magnificence of these mountains, the scale is awesome. How they ever managed to build the roads we were riding is a mystery. Defying gravity, they cling to the sides of near vertical mountains. Definitely amongst the engineering wonders of the world. We crossed into Ecuador, this time it was pretty straight forward there was no need for fixers or extra admin fees and the cambios where pretty tame. We had a missionary experience and were offered roadside prayers complete with a bullhorn to mark the occasion. We declined the kind offer. At some stage we crossed the equator, but didn't see any roadside signs to mark the point. We did see a couple of locals by the side of the road carrying massive bundles of alfalfa(?). They were no more than 5ft tall, the bundles were at least twice that in diameter. We had to complete the ride into Quito in the dark and in heavy traffic. The unlit road proved to be a challenge, especially with traffic backing up on inclines and then all hell letting loose in a frenzy of manic overtaking. It was like Guatemala only in the dark, we all had moments! We rode into downtown Quito and then flagged a taxi driver and followed him to the hotel which fortunately was not too far. Tuesday 22nd Sept. Quito - R&R. After yesterday's 14 hour ride, we had a welcome day off. The hotel had magnificent views of the surrounding mountains. Quito wraps itself around a number of them and is a interesting mixture of old and new buildings. I concentrated on 'persuading' my bike's twisted subframe back to a position where my headlight actually illuminated the road and not air traffic! Using a metal post from the hotel's car park, I eventually managed to coax it back into something resembling its original position. Now I would not have to rely on following the others, suffer constant headlight flashing from oncoming motorists and blinding passing pilots. Nastya made a welcome addition to the squad and would be riding with Andy. Had an interesting little episode trying to find an ATM that would accept my card. Eventually found a LloydsTSB, but they couldn't give me any money as they had no reciprocal arrangements with the parent bank back in the UK. The teller directed me to an nearby ATM that fortunately worked. Wednesday 23rd Sept. Machala - 232 miles. Max altitude - 12,800ft. We followed a taxi out of the city, he was quite enthusiastic and kept on driving, well past the outskirts. Eventually we flagged him to a stop, thanked and paid him and sent him on his way back to join the traffic jams entering the city. Riding in the high Andes with some spectacular back drops is just about the ultimate riding experience. We hit a section of road construction with sections of gravel giving way to newly laid concrete and then back to scabbed and breaking up tarmac. Made it interesting in a couple of corners. Came down to the coastal plain early afternoon. Not as spectacular as the Devil's Backbone but descending from over 12,000ft to sea level made for an entertaining couple of hours. Had a pit-stop at a roadside restaurant complete with a hummingbird and butterflies. Rode through mile after mile of banana and sugar cane plantations. The poverty is noticeable. We decided to stop in Machala and look for a hotel. Got caught up in the town's one-way system and after a number of attempts eventually managed to find a hotel with some space for us and the bikes. Thursday 24th Sept. Puira - 240 miles. An early start in light rain saw us heading for the border up a brand new road, that brand new it was even opened! Retraced our route and soon arrived at the border. It was early so took a while for things to happen. Eventually passed into Peru after 3 hours of form filling and waiting for offices to open. We were well and truly scammed by the cambios: I questioned when my cambio’s calculator showed 150 x 2.9 = 310 and then was given a counterfeit 100 Soles note for pointing out the obviously unintentional error, Max was similarly rewarded with a somewhat less than favourable exchange rate. We traced the coast passing through many poor but beautiful villages. A mainly desert and rock area, many fish farms helping provide income. Pit-stopped for lunch at one with some kids heavily involved in a scratch game of volleyball. In their own little world they never even cast a glance towards the bikes or the gringos. The chicken soup and Incacola was good. We had 150 miles of desert to cross when we had a Zumo moment, with Max going in one direction and the rest unable to follow through the heavy traffic. Took about an hour and a half to get back together again so we decided to call it a day and find a hotel for the night. A couple of beers and mega-meat meal saw the team in harmony once again. Not at all sure that Zumo's are good feng shui! Friday 25th Sept. Chimbote - 320 miles. The ride across the Sechura desert proved an interesting diversion from the mountains, a little cold in the early morning but soon warming up as the sun rose higher. Road conditions were good with light traffic and a smooth surface. As we were nearing civilisation once again we saw a group of people heading out into the desert with one guy carrying/pulling a large wooden cross. Obviously Zumo users, hope they realised their error and the Zumo re-calculated a more favourable route. The temperature was already mid-30's and it wasn't even 9 o'clock. We followed the coast road and rode through more sugar cane and banana plantations. We called in at a holiday resort called Huanchacha complete with reed fishing boats and fridge magnets. We hit Chimbote late afternoon and found an old seafront hotel, a little careworn but full of character complete with its own shipwreck on the doorstep. There was even musica en vivo provided by a local band in the town square next to the hotel. A restaurant recommendation a couple of blocks away gave use the opportunity for an evening stroll around the town. There was nothing of particular note except the ever present smell of the sea and the many moored fishing boats. Saturday 26th Sept. Lima - 417 miles. Max altitude - 13,500ft The last day's riding was always going to be an adventure, it saw us heading out of Chimbote at about 6am. Even at this time the roads were v.busy. Heading for the mountains for what we thought would be an interesting excursion using some of the B roads. We were soon riding through the farming communities and started encountering some serious lumps of rock. We traced the Rio Santa as it cuts it's path through the mountains and soon ended up at a crossroads. We stopped for breakfast of bread and bananas at the end of the seal while we contemplated the police check point and the decidedly 'off-road' looking way ahead. Not what we wanted with our Maxxis road tyres, but what the hell, the map showed it was only 40+ kilometers of 'orange' before we were back on the 'good stuff'. In the true spirit of adventure, we decided to give it a go. It took 5 hours before we saw tarmac again! Another testament to the Peruvian road builders, the trail was hewn out of the side of mountains and at times through them. Never less than spectacular, we met just about every surface possible from rocks to fine dust with landslides and water thrown in to help concentration! The longer of the 30+ tunnels were a challenge as they are heavily rutted, choked with dust and we were never sure if we were sharing it with another on-coming vehicle or animal. We later learned that the road was a haunt of the Shining Path Guerillas and tourists are strongly advised to check that the road is open for use. Apparently kidnapping is a popular activity with tourists providing an easy target. The road eventually improved and we started riding on tarmac with the occasional stretch of rock. We pitstopped for lunch at Huarez at a cowboy restaurant and enjoyed our normal bowl of chicken soup. We were still climbing and as we were close to the snow line it was decidedly fresh. We rode for a time on a plateau of rolling hills broken up by occasional snow covered peaks. The decent was marked by a couple of accidents, one involved a bus, wonder why we weren't surprised! The road through the foot hills was superb, newly laid tarmac and light traffic saw us making good time. We hit the main coast road and heavier traffic in the late afternoon. Max made the save of the day when he was forced off the road into the gravel by a car attempting a three-abreast overtaking maneuver. It had blackened out windows so it is doubtful if the driver saw Max's heroic efforts to control his bike as it scrambled for grip in the heavily cambered run-off. An impressive piece of sphincter control! We hit the Peru ring road and relying on Andy's knowledge of the place, worked our way to the south of the city. We had some difficulty maintaining our protective '3-bike bubble' but in the main we survived relatively unscathed. Again we hired a taxi to show the way to the hotel and were there within 10 minutes. It had been 14+ hours of some of the best riding of the trip. We had rode the equivalent of halfway up Mount Everest and back. Beer never tasted so good! The Daniel Hotel was excellent, mainly used by long stay guests, the rooms were the size of El Salvador and we were made to feel very welcome by a more than accommodating owner and staff. Sunday 27th Sept. Lima R&R. Lima is worth visiting, a cosmopolitan if not wealthy city it manages to embrace its Inca heritage without too much compromise to the tourists. We had a shopping trip to buy our Inca silver and alpaca products. Must say we were impressed by the range of products and the friendliness of the market people who actually gave you space to look at their goods. We made some final repairs to the bikes and cleaned our kit before gathering for the customary end-of-ride photo outside the hotel before we took them for storage at a warehouse owned by Gerardo, one of Andy's friends. Once we had the bikes all packed away we head off for lunch with Gerardo, followed by a leisurely afternoon at the Banjos and Turkish bath to have beards scrapped off and a haircut. Later that evening we all went out for dinner to a swanky restaurant overlooking some Inca ruins. Everyone was looking dapper with their unbelievably close shaves and well groomed hair cuts Bottom-note: It was on this day that I caught a stomach bug, it was either the raw fish starter we had for lunch or the tap water I had used to brush my teeth. Either way, breakfast was the last meal that I managed for the next week or more. Losing over a stone in weight, I think the bug's effect was concentrated and multiplied by the 22 hours flying back to Doha. I was quite severely dehydrated and remember little of the flights apart from many repeat visits to the aeroplane's smallest room! Oh the joys of foreign travel! Footnote: The trip had taken 18 days of riding, during which time we had traveled nearly 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) visiting 10 countries. We crossed 5 major mountain ranges reaching a maximum elevation of 13,500 feet. We met many people, some more generous than others and some that we would prefer not to meet again. But they all have lives to lead and mouths to feed by whatever means open to them so it is perhaps too easy to criticise. We all had a few aching muscles and joints, various bumps and bruises and sore bits and everybody had at least one challenging riding moment or three, that is the nature of the game. Here’s hoping we can all make the start-line for next year’s ride down to Tierra del Fuego.
World Time
