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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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Old 22 Nov 2011
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Location: Everettt, Washington, USA
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story continued...

That night, I spent in the small town of Chala, Peru. The next day would have me riding the coast further south, and heading across the mountains to Puno, Peru. It would turn out to be one of the best days of riding in my entire adventure thus far.



With the coast line on my right side, I knew I was headed in the right direction.



Somewhere down the road, I got hungry, and stopped to have a snack of lays potato chips that I bought at the store the night before. There was a nice area that looked like it was just for locals to hang out at. It could have been a bus stop as well, but there were no buses to be seen.



This sign told me that Arequipa was 265km away. A local woman had told me that it was 5 hours. 160 miles in 5 hours? I’d have to average 32mph. Could the roads be that terrible? I decided to wait and see.



From across the street, a woman rolling a cart of fish tamales crossed the street and took advantage of a possible sale. I should have bought two of the damn things, but by the time I had opened the first and realized how damn good it was, she was across the street and down the road a ways.

They wrap them well in a type of local leave, and then tie them with strips of inner bamboo material.


It was so damn good!



As it turned out, the woman that told me it would take 5 hours to Arequipa was off her rocker. That, or she wasn’t able to look at my massive (for the area) motorcycle and realize I wasn’t driving an overloaded jalopy of a bus. It would be 3 hours of riding to Arequipa, with another hour on the side of the road either taking pictures or eating food.

The winding Pan-American Highway was kick ass. Here is a view from “whence I came”.



And a view down the road and around the corner.



Kick ass riding in 3rd and 4th gear, at about 45-55mph most of the time.



It was like that for well over 30 miles. Aaaaaawesome.



At one view point the ocean was putting up a good fight to beat down the rocks. I’m sure that some day it will win.



One of my favorite photos from the past 7.5 months. While riding this section, I was reminded of the ride that Tom and I took on our way into Cuernavaca, Mexico. We rode through Lagunas de Zampoala, and had tight windy mountain roads through a lush green temperate forest that reminded both of us of home. At the end of that ride, we had both remarked to each other that it was the best road that the last 3k+ miles had had to offer us yet. Even just thinking back on that day over 6 months ago makes me smile and feel happy. THAT is what this adventure is all about!



Near the end of my coastline run, I began to turn inland, headed east. Around at least three bends in the highway would bring me to a verdant green valley that housed a small farming town.



The farms make use of the valley rivers that run out to the ocean and form fertile deltas in an otherwise quite arid part of the nation.



Heading inland, it was more dust and dirt and rocks and sand. And, another tunnel.



Soon, I was riding around a nature preserve that claimed to be the home of Vicunas, Alpacas, and Llamas. And just like the sign said, I found myself staring at alpacas. Coooool.



After a couple of hours of inland riding, I found myself stopping every 30 minutes to adjust my fuel mixture screw, turning it clockwise to close off the fuel supply as I gained altitude. As I climbed into the mountains, the bike would begin to bog down at 85-90% throttle. The fuel wasn’t burning, as the air supply became thinner.

Then, I passed this sign. I had to double back to get a photo with it. The highest point my bike has yet been too! 4528 meters. 14,855 feet.



Believe it or not, it was still 52*F outside (11*C)



Nearly immediately after this sign, I came across an alpine lake with Flamingo’s standing in it and flying around. Cool!



I decided to take a path off the highway and go down to get a closer photo. Which is what you saw above. However… I got stuck!



Shiiiiiiiiit.

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