Sorry, lost a chunk of the RR somehow. One day, I endeavor to fix the RR.

This cactus looked like a koala.



Then, we came across salt flats. So, took a few silly photos. I think every salt-flat photo has already been done.







On we go.



We climbed a final hill, then began a large decent.



It was lovely.




And it just kept going. As we went down, the weather became noticeably warmer, which was nice.





Until we reached a town where we stopped for the night; Purmamarca – the town of 7 coloured rocks.



We were setting up camp, and annoyingly saw a guy on a BMW 1100 roll in; a guy Kath met in San Pedro de Atacama. Now, it had taken us 2 days to get here, and this *bastard had left that morning and arrived a mere 20 minutes after us.
* I called him a bastard but he certainly wasn’t, we were just pissed at how far, and fast, he could do the same distance. Turns out he generally sat around 130 – 140km/h and didn’t usually stop for lunch; just ate a snack and kept on riding.
Anyway, his name was Luis, a Brazilian, and he was kind enough to take us out for dinner that evening; not allowing us to pay for anything. A true gentleman. Greatly appreciated, Luis!



The next day, we didn’t make it far. Instead stopping at a town with a ‘peach harvest festival’, even though a frost had meant there were no peaches to harvest. We headed out in the evening, but it seemed to have ended early. So, we looked around town.





WTF.



We said goodbye to the local street dogs……



And, crossed, slowly, into Bolivia…….

We did the black route, then the blue; Google Maps said ‘no’ to our route.



Our entry to Bolivia was marked with seeing a common feature; people working hard. Trucks park just shy of the border, in Argentina, and people of all ages and sexes run all of the trucks’ goods into Bolivia using trolleys made from two bicycle wheels (like a large wheel barrow). Everyone runs their loads over, the kids, and even the older ladies (I estimate some are 60+) then runs back for another giant load. We could only assume that they were getting paid by the load, and work isn’t always available. In our bike gear, we had began to grumble about the heat, though upon looking behind us at old ladies pushing carts in multiple petticoats, we quit our complaining.
No photos sorry; borders, cameras and an average grasp of the language had the possibility of trouble.



At our first ‘checkpoint’, we paid the road toll, not realising motorcycles were free on all roads in Bolivia. However, a military dude stopped us and asked us for our paperwork. I provided, he took it away and gave it a stamp. He then asked for Kath’s, and 20 Bolivianos (around $3), which she declined. After a couple of no, no, no, no’s, he said ok, and we went on our way.

We had booked accommodation, in Tupiza, but the maps on my phone don’t contain street names in Bolivia, as well as many streets. This led us to getting lost, and riding literally through a busy market with only pedestrians. Eventually, we found our place, went into town, and enjoyed cheap Bolivian food (around 10-15 Bolivianos gets you a hamburger and chips – $1.60 – $2.40). We also played a few old arcade games (Street Fighter, Tekken etc) which are priced well here, around 16c a play.

Next day we went out for a look in the local canyons.





That day, we had been on the road 3 months.



Next day, we left towards Uyuni; the town nearest Bolivia’s famous salt flats.



The road started well, following a train track, but then the road dipped into the creek.



Water became more frequent, and gradually deeper.





Until it was getting silly. The bikes were already slow (over 3000m), and the water would try to pull them to a halt. But, my phone’s GPS had us in the right location, so we kept going.



When we would try to leave the river bed, we would ride alongside the train tracks.





But then, we came upon a lot of obstacles:

Landslides.





Railway bridges with dodgy little parts to cross.



Railway bridges which would force you to turn around and go back into the river bed.





Tunnels where you really, really, really hope a train doesn’t come.



Little rough routes which skirt bridges.



And, some bridges where we literally had to go over the spaced sleepers and have Kath pull the wheel out of the holes. Also, we were busy pulling fencing wire out of our sprockets. By around 6pm, we were still 20kms short of our goal. By now, we knew we weren’t on the right track, but knew the railway went through the next town. So, we set up camp, by the train tracks.





A train scared the shit out of me during the night. Dickhead train drivers tooted their super-loud horn as they passed us. Did a full sit up in bed. That said, if I were the driver I would have done it too.
*
Mighty fresh in the AM, but we hit the road (creek). Unfortunately, about 1km up the road the train track rose to an impossible height, and then through a tunnel with an uncrossable bridge. This left the only option as the creek bed. Unfortunately, the creek bed got thinner, and the rocks got bigger and more plentiful. After about 10k, we had the shits. We were hitting the point of no return, in regards to food and water. As there was no one around, and the riding was pretty dodgy (Kath had a couple of minor tumbles), we decided to turn back.



Back we go……




*
We soon cooked up all of our available food as energy for the trip back.



The legends on this bike (family – 3 people) showed us a few shortcuts on the way back. At one stage, me and this guy (and his family) hit a puddle while next to each other. We both looked at each other with big silly grins. We spoke the same language without words.



Another example of clever ingenuity, and a lack of waste culture; a fence built entirely out of water bottles.



Annoyingly, Kath got a front flat nearing town. But, we got back.



Finally, we made it back to town, where we were left about 36 hours ago. We didn’t even go find accommodation first; and burgers were first on the hit-list. The next day, we would try again…………

Rushed update......The next day, we decided to ask directions; turns out we weren't on the right track (but we already sussed that; usually rivers and railroads aren't roads).



Past the giant dong.



The trip again, was mighty slow. Lots of hills, which meant 10km/h. I also had the runs, so many a urgent stops were made.



We were beginning to think we chose the wrong bikes for the trip. 100k took us almost an entire day.



The next day, the road became worse. Our worst corrugations we've encountered, and some good stretches of sand.



Even the smallest of towns often have a soccer/football pitch. We watched from afar for a short while - looked like the whole town had come to watch.





Then, we made it to Uyuni - a town pretty much built on tourists wanting to see the salt flats. Having our own wheels, we ducked out to see them for ourselves.



It was quite wet in parts; 4x4s chew it up pretty good.



Couple of photos, and we were done. Having seen massive flats in Argentina, we simply didn't get all that excited about them.





Next, we went to Potosi. Home of (I think) the largest silver mine.



The city is a nightmare to navigate on moto (many 1 way streets and a lack of signs). In the end, we just had to ride down 1 way streets on the footpaths and apologise to the pedestrians.



That large hill on the left is where all of the silver is extracted from.


I did a mine tour, and went inside. Life expectancy for the workers is short, and safety isn't like it is in the West. The shops in this town sell dynamite, as there are so many miners. I bought two sticks, one as a gift to a miner and one for me to play with later.

Getting fuel in Bolivia is interesting. For locals, it's 3.75 Bolivianos per litre (around 60c AUD), for foreigners it's around 8.5 Bolivianos ($1.35). Being tightarses, we bought a jerry-can and then either asked people to buy fuel for us, or catch cabs to the petrol station and get the driver to fill it. We then give him a few Bolivianos, and everyone's a winner!

These farmers' walls are everywhere. They're usually just stacked rocks, with no binding materials.



There are kilometres upon kilometres of them; often on incredibly steep inclines. They are everywhere in this shot.



We went to Oruro, ere we stayed a few days while I did uni work. Ate lots of street food; burgers here were 30 cents AUD. Awesome. Kath washed her bike, then it rained and hailed almost immediately.

The next day we left town (to La Paz), and rode through wet clay, and Kath's bike got filthy. Then, we got lightly snowed on. We did 200k in a day, with our top speed being 40km/h. It is not fun when trucks fly by you, but you simply try to enter a Zen state and imagine being on a push bike, going slower and instantly feel fast and clever.



Unfortunately, the road to La Paz was also one of the worst for road kill. We saw around 10 dead dogs which had been recently hit by cars/trucks, and even saw one 'live' hit. As massive dog fans, this made the journey a little sad.


To cheer us up (well, actually just me), I set off the dynamite.



Most concerning, was the fact we were told that the wick lasts 6 minutes. After about 2 minutes, there was a mighty boom in a big hole by the road. When we went back to see what impact it made, there was a road worker snooping around where it exploded, so we twisted our throttles.

Stayed in La Paz for a few days. Saw an unknown animal - rabbit with tail.



Saw a double rainbow.



Some good vistas.



Also, hired a few bikes for a play. It's only $30 AUD for two hours, all inclusive to hire real bikes. It was amazing to ride a bike with a little grunt and decent suspension.





We then, on a whim, decided to see a small portion of Bolivia's Amazon. Here are a few pics.



Giant snail.









Old bird.



This guy would follow us on our walks.







Closest we came to seeing a Jaguar was a footprint; it was about 40m from our room.



Sloth, doing what it does.



What we realised from our time walking the jungle (around 5 hours a day for 3 days) is how hard it is to see/find animals. The majority of animals are timid, and even if you hear them, they soon disappear once they hear you.
*
*
To be continued.....

Back in La Paz, we had a motorcycle revelation. We had been trying a few different jets (parts in the carburetor), to get our bikes to run well, and had only failed. However, when dropping 20(!) sized on the main jet, our bikes boogied. We couldn't find another that small, but got as close as we could and relative speed was restored (could do 70km/h on a good day).

While there, there was a street festival in town with pretty amazing costumes. We asked multiple people who lived there what it was celebrating, and no one knew. Bizzare. Oh, and in the second people, check out the truck - a normal occurrence.











With that, we left La Paz.

The weather was pretty grumpy for most of the day, then as we approached Lake Titicaca, the sun arrived and changed the colour of the water to a lovely blue. We knew it was a big lake, but it really surpassed our expectations.



Below, we had to catch a 'ferry'. I was going to take a picture when we were on it, but there was no chance. We needed both feet (and hands) to balance across the stretch of water. We were glad we weren't on big beasts.



We were on one of these things - they look like they're just made out of railway sleepers, and a motor bunged on the back.





An amazing amount of time and effort has been put into making 'levels', for agriculture, in all the mountains. Again, just rocks stacked up make all the fences.



We stayed the night in Copocabanca, where we watched the sun set from a roof.



When we went to bed that night, Kath noticed a big itch. Turns out one of the bed springs had seen better days and stuck through the mattress when any weight was placed on it. But, for around 30 Soles ($12 AUD), you can't have it all.

Next day, we got the border where we had been told it could be tricky and there's a 30 Sole, per person 'donation' to use the crossing. However, we saw none of that and breezed through.

We met a mob of people on a Globebusters tour, at the border. Good people - they arrived first but let us enter Peru first as going behind them (15 people of varying nationalities and bikes bearing all sorts of plates), could have been a few hours. Cheers.


Into Peru – the country of motortaxis/rickshaw taxis. These awesome beasts are everywhere. And, judging by the drivers, you only need to be around 14 to become a taxi driver.



We immediately to a liking to these things and enjoyed seeing how many people they can hold (5 is easily done) and what sort of things. They can tow cement mixers, tow car trailers (really), hold sheep in the back etc etc all from their 125cc engines. And we thought we were giving our bikes a hard time; ha!

Our googling of these beasts even lead to finding that people do charity runs in these things, through Peru in India. http://www.theadventurists.com/ricks...e-rickshaw-run – we hope to do one in the future….

We were remaining in the Andes, heading north and skipping Lima altogether; roughly along this route.



The weather for the first few days was pretty average; cold, cloudy with sporadic rain. The scenery was still nice, and it was great to be able to go at a reasonable clip – 75km/h was sometimes achievable! Also, Peru has lots and lots of speed humps. I don’t blame them; they seem to be the only thing which actually works for slowing vehicles down.

We rode through an excellent channel between two mountains for numerous kilometres.





Also past, arguably, the world’s smallest volcano!

Then, we were along a river, with mountains – all was good and we felt like we could ride all day.



Until, we got to Cusco, whose narrow, busy, one way, sometimes cobblestone streets took all of our concentration. After many u-turns, getting caught going the wrong way down streets and asking other hostels to call our hostel to find out where it is, we found it.



Cusco’s a pretty place, but when we went out we forgot to bring our camera. I can also inform you that the brewery, on the main square, has some cool motorcycle paraphernalia, though the motorcycle & loving owner passed away last year. Still, a great place to plonk yourself, read the overlanders’ ‘comments book and do some people watching from the balcony while enjoying craft .

While in Cusco, we bought our tickets in Cusco, to attend the ultimate gringo haunt, Machu Picchu (MP). The cheapest way we could work out how to get there was to ride to Santa Teresa, catch a $2 bus a short distance then walk to*Aguas Calientes which is a town just about at the base of MP. Our stingy intentions were rewarded with an outstanding road. It was in excellent condition, and rose from around 2500m, up and over to a freezing 4200m, then down to a tropical 1800m.



The road goes past many ruins, and it isn’t just MP in the area.





Roads, great.





Just as we crested the 4200m pass, the weather changed to rain and almost no visibility.



But, as we dropped a few kilometres, the rain passed.



Before the final 30kms into town along a cliff side road.






We grossly underestimated the day’s distance, and night had fallen before we arrived.



We got to our accommodation via a guy showing us where it was on his motorbike, which was a cool way to end the day. He asked for nothing in return.

Next day, we began the 12k walk along the train lines, to save $25 USD each. Nice walk.







Stayed at a real cheap place, ready to walk up to MP at around 4am. We woke up the street dogs, who sleep on the steps. They kept us company on the steep walk.



Reached the top, before the sun had come over the mountain, only to find heaps of bus-catchers already waiting.



Entry was actually fast, and MP’s big enough for it not to seem crowded. Here are a bunch of pics.







Dog in MP.



I pretty much spent the entire time wondering:

How big was the rock they made these rocks from? Where did they get it from? How did they transport it? And, how did they shape them so accurately? No bonding materials in the un-restored areas.



So flush……

Who could lift those suckers?



It was a considerable effort to see MP, and whilst in transit I was unsure if it would be worth the around 3 days of transit. Was it just another over-hyped tourist trap? In the end, we thought not.



Walked back to town, having seen MP, got a cheap pizza and had a , then began the 12km walk again. About halfway, I began to feel a funny. By the end, my sight was a little funny, and I was wobbly. I assumed exhaustion (very little exercise in the last few months), and had to lay down as soon as I got to our accomm.

Before long, I woke, and had instant need to vomit. Vomited from our upstairs room, down into the garden, while folks ate their dinner about 10m away. This happened multiple times, and it's fair to say I ruined some meals. But, it got better. Later, came the explosive diarrhoea. On more than one occasion, I was faced with the ultimate dilemma; need to shit and need to vomit, but the bathroom's design doesn't allow for vomiting in the sink while on the throne. It was a lose lose situation; I lost.....

Had to stay another day - still couldn't hold anything down. Next day, we retraced our steps back towards Cusco, but stopped in Ollantaytambo. On the way, the road was wet. This section was deep deep mud.



On the rise again from 1800m to 4200m we saw heaps of cyclists coming down. There's a 60km+ section where you wouldn't even need pedals.



On the way back, we got the shit scared out of us. We were parked, having a snack and toilet break on the side of the road, when a truck, going way too fast for a corner, under-steered, and wound up with its outside front wheel in the sloping gutter. The road was wet, and this caused the truck to get into a slow, sideways slide. The truck's headlights swung to at us, which was enough of a sign to realise 'oh ****'. I yelled at Kath to run, and we both sprinted away from the road at full pelt. As we turned around, we saw the driver catch the slide, and continued on as if nothing had happened.....

This is one side of the pass.



Here's the other.



We both got record economy. 350kms each before reserve (8 litres). Then, stayed in Ollantaytambo a few days while I recovered and pretended to do uni work. The town has two sets of ruins, the one on the RHS of this pic, and the one's we're taking the photo from. The ones we're up are free, and the others were dear.



This building's only entry is a tiny dog-sized hole. No idea what its purpose was.



Built into the steep hills.









After a few days, energy had returned and we left. Sometimes slow bikes are a blessing when you round corners and there are animals everywhere.



The roads were pretty amazing.






Not a bad spot for lunch.



It was a day of dirt roads, and again my chain came off. I tried to put it back on without loosening the nut, but it didn't quite work.



At least the view was nice where it happened. This was right next to where it happened. Wound up eating there too.



And, into a town where a man walks his ducks through the market.....

Markets are always interesting; many food experiences eating unknown things. I ate a whole bag of something before I worked out it was coconut cooked and coated in something. The meat section is always eye opening, with no fridges and tonnes of meat. Pretty sure you can buy cow's jaw too, but I'm not sure what you do with it.

The road to Ayacucho was a good one. Really, any road through the Andes in good weather is pleasurable.







Every town warns you to slow down for speed humps....



Then we got to Ayacucho, where we stayed a couple of days. I finished my final uni assignment here, which was exciting. In the meantime, we drank copious amounts of fresh juice. A decent sized glass of freshly squeezed orange juice is 40c, and available on most corners. The lady who stayed outside our place loved us; I put away 5, one day.
*
Once the assignment was finished, we were ready to leave when we found out, just before leaving, that the university students were stopping all traffic, as they were unhappy with something. We then noticed every business was closed, all vehicles were off the streets and even the juice ladies weren't out. Then, we saw why.



The students armed with sticks and paint were throwing paint on any vehicle which dared to use the road, and sometimes whacked the cars with sticks. We saw a brand new Toyota Echo get its rear lights smashed and many families taking their kids to school on motorbikes getting covered in paint. Cleverly, they stood at the end of one-way streets.

Later, there was a massive march with groups marching for numerous agendas........so you know they're serious, they're led by a donkey.







We stayed put that day, and left the following when everything was back to normal.





There was a different type of corn farmed, which made for good gazing.



More great passes. On one, my hands were freezing (with gloves and thin 'overgloves'), then I saw a local cruising on his bike without gloves and felt like a pink, frilly blouse. It was certainly less than 5 degrees Celsius.






A town we rode through had what looked like a religious festival



And the street half-blocked with all sorts of games and entertainment (dodgems, throwing balls in mouths sorta stuff).



We found a bridge which was around 3m wide (a truck had to pull in both mirrors as it crossed), and must of had a maximum weight capacity. Some trucks would have to cross in the river. I felt sorry for this one; had done the right thing crossing the river but was now stuck halfway. Trucks of similar size were using the bridge.....



On the way to Huancayo, the road follows a river for a long time. We had tried to cover only around 250km in a day, but it was too much. We were stopped by roadworks constantly, one of which informed us we would be there for 3 hours until we could get through, yet cyclists were allowed through. Using terrible Spanglish, I tried to convince the lady that we're just like bicycles but it was someone else's decision who kept denying us via radio......After perhaps an hour, we were suddenly hurried through.



Most of the road was only one vehicle wide, so lots of horn honking was happening around most corners. The few times we did come across buses/trucks, it was a little hairy.







Did you know you can put 7 people on the roof-racks of a Toyota Liteace? A van of this size would usually have at least 3 rows of seats in the back, so this is at least a 17 seater.



The sun was disappearing and we were still short of any town, so we decided to camp by the road. It was an average spot, but we didn't want to risk the never-ending search for a better camp and run out of light, so we took it.



Healthy dinner of ramen noodles, followed by breakfast of crackers with peanut butter.



All through the night we would hear trucks rumbling past, and their headlights would generally wake me up. A couple of trucks, for an unknown reason, at night, drove past without headlights, and only switched them on when another vehicle was approaching. We've seen this strategy done by motorcycles too, but are still none-the-wiser.

On we go.....

A really good, inspiring thread, keep up the good work
All the best
Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Been enjoying the thread, great stuff. Peru, my least favourite country for riding in, they are all maniacs as soon as they get in a vehicle!
Take care out there

And, eventually, into Huancayo. We booked a hostel with parking, but had no luck finding it, so went searching through the city after the other street with the same name. Eventually, we got there and couldn't find it either. We asked a stranger where it was, and were informed it wasn't where we were. He made a call for us, and then him and his wife hopped in their car and told us to follow them. He took us to the street we were originally at, but found it. Turns out we just didn't see it. Doh. When I asked him 'how much', he laughed and said gratis/free. We shook hands, and expressed our thanks.

These 'vehicles' are possibly the dodgiest we've encountered and make a mototaxi look like a feature packed Volvo.



North, we continue.







We picniced on them there rocks.



The town we stopped in that night had a wedding in the main square. We watched as they had rice thrown on them, then walk a block of the main square dancing with a band in tow. It was nice to see, even the real oldies were still dancing.

Had a real cool wedding car.



A rural Peruvian town.



In these parts the children are cheeky, mostly confident and seem very happy. They're able to play outside all day, without any obvious societal concern. Kids as young as 5 are wondering the streets, yet have the street smarts to not to walk on the road. None of them are locked away with an Xbox. Sometimes, they pretend to throw things at you as your ride past, and then laugh with their friends as you pass by, duck or swerve. It's also the first time on the trip I've really felt 'noticed'. Kids and adults alike like to stare at me; but then again I don't see any other white folks with beards nor blue eyes. Kids do it shamelessly, whereas adults tend to try to sneak a peek. Also, I'm not sure why, but often when we're in supermarkets we get tailed by staff, or over-friendly service. Whatever the case, we're generally never left in an aisle without a set of eyes on us.



Here's a pic of the other type of motortaxi.





These ones aren't a motorcycle with a frame welded on the back, they're purpose built. They have their engine in the rear, just above the driving wheels and are two-wheel drive.



People hire these things when they need something to move, or some people. We caught a ride in one of these once, and you often see 10+ people in the back as the drivers moonlight as taxi drivers.



Mobile food van.



Honda CTX200. I bought one of these before the trip, thinking we would use 2 of them and ship them over. In the end, shipping was pretty dear and finding another one fairly priced was difficult. There have been many, many times where we wish we did. A little more speed, and suspension on the off-road sections would have made many days easier. That said, there still hasn't been a day in over 15,000k where anything has been too much for our little bikes.



Enough jabber; check out the riding.





Even the mud looked nice.

This kid works the fuel station, and pumped our gas. I asked Kath to take a pic when he returned with our change. 7-8 years old, maybe?



The following day there was a couple of stunning 4000m + passes.











I had 'The Kaiser Chiefs' blasting through the headphones as we went over and bopped away to try to stay warm.





The final run into Huarez was excellent. For the final 60km+ you always have snowy peaks and glaciers in sight and you follow nice pavement along the river. In these moments we both get an internal contentment work has never provided.....







Our approx 2500kms through the Peruivian Andes was coming to an end; we were one day from the coast.




Soon I hope to finish off the South American part of the trip, as soon we fly to the US to do it all again. I'm going to be brave and look at how much we've spent thus far too (haven't looked yet), in case anyone's planning a remotely similar trip.

From Huarez, we rose to 4000m, and by the end of the day would be at sea level. The road out of town was, again, stunning. Huarez has plenty of tourists who climb the peaks, but they're good enough for us from a distance.





Trees can't even handle Kath's speed and thrust!



Once at around 4000m, there's a big downhill......the road it weaves its way through the bottom left of the picture.





As you get closer to the coast, and sea level, the scenery changes drastically.





Much like northern Chile, there's just desolation and sand. For a short period, we were along the Pan-American. Our bikes, now at sea level, actually felt fast!
We even overtook this guy:



Into Trujillo, where we stayed a couple of days and saw some impressive structures.



Amazingly, these were unknown until the 1980s. According to our guide, the buildings were covered in sand and found by a combination of local kids playing soccer with sculls and sandboarders sliding down the hill and finding solid objects. It's pre-Inca (built approximately 500 AD), and used more blocks than the Egyptian pyramids.
It was build in stages, with each generation or so building another external layer to the structure. In all, there are 9 'stages' to the building, with still unknown tombs etc lurking within. It was pretty fascinating, especially considering the weather it's been subjected to and the condition of the carvings (it still has the original licks of paint). It's called 'The Temple of The Moon', in English.













Hairless pre-Inca dog breed.

From here, we headed north. According to my phone's maps, there was a map right along the shore which got us off the Pan-American. I should have known by now that my phone likes to lead me astray, but I took it at face value. We entered a little town, looked for the road and all there was was sand. Just outside of the town, was covered in litter, yet only perhaps 100m from the ocean. We saw a lady take a rickshaw/mototaxi about 1km out of town and throw all her rubbish on the sand. It's a tricky scenario; no councils collect the rubbish, they don't want the rubbish outside their house and possibly can't afford to catch a taxi to the tip (if it exists) every week to dump their rubbish.

Back to the sand, we figured it was only 20kms up the beach to the next town, so maybe we could ride it?


Yes!



Woohoo!



Until the first sand dune.....




*
Doh. So, I just had a play. Well, as much as you can on a 125 roadbike.







Until, my chain fell off.



We backtracked into Chiclayo and found a cheap bed. Our South American journey was, by now, drawing to a close and we were beginning the thoughts of selling the bikes. While in Chiclayo, we visited a few shops to see there was any interest. One shop told us they would buy them, tomorrow. We returned, and asked about a dozen different other shops, but it seemed the Chilean registration was a big issue. One guy, we couldn't comprehend took us on an extended taxi ride to, as we found out, a lawyer and registration place but it was without success. We were only asking around $350 US dollars for each bike, but still the paperwork part was the hassle (frown upon people skipping import taxes).
*
We bumped into a guy at our accommodation who informed us to 'go to the jungle', where we would be able to sell the bikes where rules are more 'manipulative'.
So, off we went. 400kms of nice riding, to Chachapoyas.





The road goes under the rock here.




Here too.





Good stuff.



After much mucking around, we eventually sold the bikes. In the end though, we sold them to a jerk, who pretty much was the worst buyer.
1. Doesn't turn up when he says he would. Twice.
2. Turns up late.
3. Turns up smelling of .
2. Tries to undercut the agreed upon price. Yet, tells you money isn't an issue.
4. Tries to pay partially in coins.
*
Despite him being a jerk, we were glad we sold them.
*
We now had a few weeks being bikeless. How would we cope? Tell you soon.