Nasca

Sunday April 28th                                                            

Before getting on the bikes we took a walking tour of some Inca ruins. The center of the Inca Empire was in Cusco, 400 miles up in the Andes. They had a seaport however right where our hotel is. They would carry fresh fish to the king with relay runners in two days. For everyone else they cured and dried fish. Their drying structures are still there. It gave me a chance to take more photos too.

We only have 100 miles to go today but a good detour too. We followed the coast with some curves for awhile and then headed straight north toward Nasca. It was all hills and sand dunes. None of us could think of a place that we had been that was more barren. There is not even a weed.

W turned off onto a dirt and sandy road to go visit some Nasca Indian ruins. Some people were not used to riding dirt and sand but they all made it. Jan and I did great. The F800GS, even with the two of us, on it handled the sand fine. We just had to keep the speed up. I really like the bike.

The ruins were over 2000 years old. It was an Indian burial grounds. It is incredibly desolate, hot and dusty. How and why they lived there is a real question. It must have been home.

We checked into a hotel right in Nasca. It is quite nice. We then went to the airport to board small single planes to look at the Nasca Lines. These are mysterious lines that had been drawn in the hills of figures, people, animals and birds over 2000 years ago. They say that for 500 years it never rained here. A few years ago they had a rain storm and damaged some of the lines. People had gone their whole lives without seeing rain.

Jan didn’t take the flight. I thought it was okay but not worth $100 for 30 minutes of flight time.

We went to a local restaurant by ourselves tonight. I had a baby goat stew and Jan had pizza. While we were there a bus load of about 50 toourists came in. Scary. I hope we never have to do that.

One thing about the trip that is very different than I planned. I expected that we could ride alone. We have ridden in the pack all the time. That is the way they want it. It has worked out okay. In the twisties I get up front with the guide and two of the fast Canadians. When it straightens out or there are good photo ops we go to the back and stop to take photos.

Puerto Inca

Saturday April 27th

                                                                  

At 8 am we all got our keys to our bikes. I mounted my tank bag and figured a way to put a back pack on the rear fender. We got one last orientation on driving in the traffic and the system for not losing anyone. Then we were off. The traffic was not bad. It was Saturday morning. We stopped for gas and headed out of  town.

The terrain is steep sand and rock hills with volcanoes in the background.  The roads were a mixture of straight roads and then some really nice twisties.  We went through small very poor villages. They look much like Mexican towns, with a lot of old beat up buildings but no trash. After about 60 miles we started north on the Pan-American Highway. There were some straight stretches but some long, like 40 mile, sections of great curves. Our leader keeps a fast pace and 2 other riders and Jan and I kept pace with him. It is much like the coast of California if you take away the motor homes and the trees and add trucks going 30 MPH. They are really no problem. The road goes down to the shore and then up over the hills and back down.

After a 400 km day we turned off the highway down a two mile dirt road to our hotel. It is very unusual with an outside dining room and very rustic rooms. In the summer it is a beach hideaway for people from Lima. The water in the shower, toilet and sink is ocean salt water. We all had drinks and watched the sun go down. They served a great dinner. We left the windows open to hear the waves breaking on the shore. 

Arequipa

Friday April 26th

                                                                 

We flew to Arequipa this morning. This is an unusual place. It is at about 7500 feet elevation. The town has 1 million people. It is a barren landscape in a large bowl of a valley with 3 large volcanoes surrounding the city. It is fall here but the volcanoes have snow on them.

A cab met us at the airport. Driving into town it looks a lot like Mexico with people walking everywhere and things looking old and in disarray. However everything is clean. You see people sweeping streets and sidewalks and there is no trash anywhere. The traffic here is as crazy as Lima with the person with the most guts getting the right of way. Pedestrians have no right of way at all.

I love this kind of place but Jan made it clear this is her LAST 3^rd world country. She has said that before.

The room in nice but simple. We have a patio that leads onto a beautiful garden. The garden plants are tropical. We meet the group at 5 pm today.

We met the whole group. There are four guys from British Columbia. They all have fast bikes at home and have made it clear they “will not hold us up”. They have been everywhere; Thailand 3 times, Argentina, Africa, Switzerland and others. A couple is from central BC as well. A guy from Oklahoma came by himself, a couple from New Zealand. The two women are riding solo on Honda 400s. The others are on KLRs or BMW F650s. We have the only F800GS.

Our leader laid out the rules. We will ride in a group through towns and spread out outside of towns. We can stop anytime we want for photos but will gather for lunch and gas stops. Gas is $8 a gallon but it is included in our tour price. We stay on track by using a system similar to what we use at home. One rider stops whenever there is a change of direction at an intersection. I have a GPS which will be interesting. I might need it to find a Starbucks.

Jan and I walked to the main plaza tonight and had a great dinner. I might turn into a beer drinker here. Coming home it was uphill and we could tell the air is thin. On Monday we will be riding at 16,000 feet. We are glad we are not walking, 

                                

We leave in the morning. Our first day is a long one and takes us over to the coast and north. It is supposed to be similar to highway 1 through Big Sur. We stay in a small place on the beach. No internet. My next update will be Sunday night.

Our Day in Lima

Friday April 25th

                                                                                  

We took a taxi into the Lima historic district. There are a lot of old buildings that date back until almost 1535 when the Spanish conquered Peru. They established Lima as the capital of the Spanish empire in South America. There are several large squares. Around the Plaza Major are government buildings and the cathedral. A military band had a concert and the soldiers marched in all their fancy uniforms. The kids were visiting from their schools and having the best time.

We paid to go into the cathedral. (La Catedral) The area has seen many revolutions as well as earthquakes. They are all remembered with squares and statues as well as national holidays.

We enjoy talking with the guys on the sidewalks trying to convince us to eat in their restaurants. We decided on one and spent a couple of hours at lunch eating traditional Lima food and talking to the waiters. We won’t need dinner tonight.

We took another taxi to the newer business part of town. The traffic was terrible. It is fun trying out our Spanish on the taxi drivers. They like trying out their English as well. He took us to Parque Kennedy. It is a nice park with flowers and trees and people enjoying the beautiful day.



From there we walked to the cliffs overlooking the sea. There is a park for lovers, a bike and walking trail and several other parks overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We love searching out lighthouses and there a real nice one in one of the parks.

We were pretty tired by now. We hailed another cab back to the airport and our hotel. There are no freeways and the traffic made it real slow going. I like driving in crazy foreign traffic but this town would be no fun at all. It is so jammed that you can hardly move. Everyone, going at a crawl, tries to force their way ahead. Jan was glad we were not on the motorcycle.

We are catching a plane to Arequipa in the morning. 

Arriving in Lima

Thursday April 24th

                                                                     

We had a great flight. Tucson to Dallas to Lima. Delays were threatened but everything was on time. Lima is on US Central time. It is great traveling for 12 hours and no jet lag.  

Our hotel is at the airport. We loaded up a cart with our bags and pushed the cart 100 yards to the lobby. It was 1 am and we were in bed within an hour. It is expensive but worth it. We are taking a taxi into town this morning.

This is the view from our room through a dirty window. That is the arrival gate.

Getting Ready to Leave

                                                                                           

Roger is taking us to the airport on Wednesday morning, April 24th. We fly through Dallas arriving in Lima at 12:30 that night. We will stay there two nights. We will spend one day touring Lima. 

The next morning we fly to Arequipa. There, if all goes as planned, the tour leader will meet us at the airport, take us to our hotel and introduce us to our F800GS. We start riding the next morning.

Here is a link describing our tour

Here is our agenda

Click the hotel for their website

Day	Date	City	Hotel	Miles
1	4/24/2013	Fly to Lima	Hotel Costa Del Sol Ramada
2	4/25/2013	Lima	Hotel Costa Del Sol Ramada
3	4/26/2013	Arequipa	Hotel La Gruta
4	4/27/2013	Puerto Incia	Hotel Puerto Inka             234
5	4/28/2013	Nasca	Hotel Oro Vejo	120
6	4/29/2013	Chalhuanca	Hotel Tampumayu	189
7	4/30/2013	Ollantaytambo	Hotel Ccopac Inka Ollanta	203
8	5/1/2013	Machu Picchu Ollantaytambo	Hotel Ccopac Inka Ollanta
9	5/2/2013	Cusco	Hotel Jose Antonio	41
10	5/3/2013	Cusco	Hotel Jose Antonio
11	5/4/2013	QuinceMil	Hotel Casona	130
12	5/5/2013	Puerto Maldonada	Hotel Eco Amazonia	139
13	5/6/2013	Jungle Camp Puerto Maldonada	Hotel Eco Amazonia
14	5/7/2013	Puerto Maldonada	Hotel Eco Amazonia
15	5/8/2013	Macusani	No reservation yet	195
16	5/9/2013	Puno	Hotel Eco Inn Puno	154
17	5/10/2013	Moquegua	Hotel Maison Plaza	154
18	5/11/2013	Arequipa	Hotel La Gruta	66
19	5/12/2013	Fly to Lima and home
20	5/13/2013	Arrive home
				1624

 Here is a map and the link to Google Maps.

leaving on April 24, 2013

We will be leaving on April 24, 2013. Stay tuned for more information