Hi Andi and Ellen,

Fantastic pics and journal. Thanks for taking the time, I know on my recent round Oz trip, it's often easier to keep going than to stop and get those shots, and for each shot taken, there are 100 missed!

I'm following in your footsteps soon, just organising flights for me and the bike from OZ to LA before heading into Mexico. I'll scour your earlier posts for route ideas!!

Happy Travels

PN

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When you come to a fork in the road…take it!

BLOG: paulnomad.blogspot.com.au

FaceBook: www.facebook.com/PaulNomadRTW

Heya Paul

You are welcome and I envy you at the start ..... the excitement and thrill is great and only gets better!!

PMed you with info and stuff, just sing out if you want more info or have a question.

Then, let us know we you are into it so we can follow you.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Spending two nights having a break was great, Chacas was a nice place to kick back.

Pretty epic view of hanging glacial basins



From the town square, beautiful buildings as well



Time to head on we rode up and over the national park on different road seeing us get up into the snow line with ease.



Picture of IDNA



The tunnel



Near the top there was a turnoff which we took only to get a wee ways along and find a showstopper rock fall which we could not fit through and rocks I could not move without dynamite ... which we didn’t have.





Having been stopped at this point the camera came out and the most was made of the top shelf scenery in front of us, behind us the weather was crapping out very quickly with snow laden cloud and rain so it was time to move, a slight backtrack was required.



Again up at 4780 meters this is the second highest point we have been on our trip so far and only 100 meters below Chimborazo in Ecuador.:clap

The valley was long with the usual Peruvian style zig zag and of course right hand drive bus and cars????!!!!!

Look closely at the picture you can see there are about 10 - 12 tiers of the zig zag down



Ellen and I have decided to start an import business in Peru with right hand drive cars and buses as the Peruvians really don’t like driving on their side of the road, so we should make it easier for them buying the right hand drives!! :rofl

The other thing we have found is Peruvians seem to send their dogs to “chase the moto skool” with some of them really going hard, I bought a stainless steel cup which is attached to my tank bag on the left, it is full of rocks and everyday requires a reload....some dogs make rethink their attack mode afterwards.:evil

See the zig zag in between the sign posts above Maya



Great place to relax and laziboy it to take in the valley



Down to humanville we hooked a lefty to Huaraz which was destination for two nights.

We had a failed attempt to go to Lake Llaron but with weather and track condition turning us around and we headed back to town, the weather caved in badly which means we would not be able to see a thing anything ... bumma but never mind.



The hostel was nice run by a friendly girl who was helpful, we provided the entertainment getting Maya in and out of the front door which was narrower than our handle bars.

http://youtu.be/XGSJbQdx4z4



From here we decided to head to the coast ..... warmer yes .... back to the sandpit.

Here is the little summary for our little ride from Chacas to Huaraz

http://youtu.be/jeEPtTNDkjc

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Fantastic!love the video .House prices crashing here all bad news may have to cut my own throat to get the house sold.Glad you have been talking with Paul Nomad ,he stayed with me on his OZ trip ,very nice bloke.Those mountains are spectacular.
Y.D.F Noel

Thank you sir

Well shit that is bad about the house prices mate, is it worth renting to ride out the monsoon? .... just a thought rather than taking a bath on the price

Yeah been in contact with Paul and hopefully helping him with things we can anyway, up to date info is always great

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Back to the lowlands

South, well, south west up an over 4200 meters, freezing cold and drizzly, to top it off I was slightly off shade.





The food poisoning in Cajamarca has left my stomach tender and easily upset and today I was suffering I suspect from less than ideal water, not sure.

Easy trip down seeing us drop from 4200 meters to sea level in less than an hour ...wee change.

We arrived at Ceasers shop way ahead of time as the road was totally sealed and great condition ...unlike my bum!!!! :rofl

I chose to die for the afternoon and rest under the sheets while Ellen entertained our hosts.

The following day Ceaser and family took the day of work and took us to the playa (beach) then on to a swimming pool which we all made the most off being a hot day.



We played silly games that the lifeguards at any western pool would throw you out for.:rofl



Some other travellers who were there, our small waterproof camera is playing up too :evil



Again really cool being on the ground with locals.



The ride home in a mototaxi



Taking in Barranca it was a bustling town with moto taxi overload, these things were thicker than blow flies in Australia .... we even watched one get shortened by a truck when the trucks brakes failed at the intersection.:eek1

The last night we had Cuy (Guinea Pig) ... take like chicken but ya haf ta fight to get much meat



We were then ordered to sit down and have a few drinks with a birthday party ... awesome!! :clap



Plans to head back to the highlands saw us go back up the road we came down on as we left later than usual with a few photos with some local lads.

The sand dunes I dearly wanted to play on I did and Maya took us to the Elephant cliffs.

That next......:evil

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

A step up in time

Before leaving Barranca we headed down and out to the Elephants head sand dunes .....excorted by our host Ceaser, it was stinkin hot.



Sand...hot



This shows where we were parked on top of the elephants head



So photo shoot over we headed back to where our hearts were calling, not having finished with Huascaran we headed to Cataz, this time 3/4 up the mount the weather dealt to us with heavy rain and thick fog.

Towering above was massive vertical cliffs



Yes that is a bus that when off the road and remains a solemn reminder



The fog saw us down to first gear in places due to not being able to see more than a few meters in front of us, we nearly hit a cow and a (white) bus parked parked in the middle of the road....damn....kept on my toes.

No pics of the thick fog and rain, if you want the real deal jump in the shower and turn the cold water on, place a tuperware container over your face but allow cold water to hit and trickle down your face, add appropriate engine noise ... done!!

Ominous cloud met us at the top



Cresting the top of the valley the fog cleared as we “out elevated” it leaving us with just heavy rain so things were on the improve, getting to Cataz we had made good time despite the pea soup slowing us down, with Chavin in our sights we decided to get there as it was only 2.30 pm and an hour and a half to get there.

Yeah ....




So ......the weather, getting a good way up the valley the rain stopped which was great .... but it started snowing and the temperature dropped quicker than a led ballon.

Snow ...cold





The last 5km to the tunnel saw snow settling on Maya and us, heated grips on full felt useless!!!

Luckily we had prepped earlier with our full wet gear on which was a great move but the chill still let us know with authority .... bearing in mind an hour and a half prior we were at 35 degrees and wet from the inside out.

The tunnel was a short reprieve as we dived off down the valley with freezing winds tossing snow in all directions which made for hard riding, my visor was fogging on the inside and the snow packing on the outside.

As we descended down it slowly turned to rain again .... cool ..... at least warmer.

The road at this point is a combo of potholes, dirt and destroyed tar and the mix of lime and clay making a concrete like mix that is very abrasive ... as we found out getting only 1600 km our of the rear disc pads.

Something was going wrong with our rear brake and on exiting the tunnel we had nothing with the pedal going straight to the bottom with no effect ..... think we need to bleed it, again this just added to the riding level of attention using engine braking and front brake only on the greasy surface ... interesting.

Arriving in Chavin in one piece we had intentions of staying two nights but only two of the 10 - 12 hostels/hotels were open and were blindly ripping it.

We ended up paying 50% more for pretty scrubby accom THEN no toilet paper, no soap and one towel between two people saying because of the rain there were no more towels.

At that point we were in and only discovered this miserable anomaly when we went to have a shower, be fair to say I lost my cool, it was the one towel between two people which was an insult and I let them know, they then offered a tea towel .... NUP, full size or a fight. , they opened the door to a room which had towels on the shelves and lots of them .... wankers.

My hard line came about when more people turned up and they gave them towels(s) so they lied through their teeth to us

So with her miserable stupidity we decided to leave the next morning instead of staying the next night with food etc, great business tactics guys, the place is called Hostel Las Casana, DON’T bother going there as she will stick it to you after you get in the door, not impressed with them at all, this would have to be the worst that someone has stuck it too us in a “professional way‘ and is nothing short of an insult.

On a better note the ruins provided some entertainment as did the tea boxes or at least some photos.

Read the labels with your twisted mind



We also discovered the perfect RTW cookset for travellers, eco sized



The ruins



The ruins at dusk



Lastly, our video of the day

Snow In Huascaran National Park, Peru - YouTube

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

G'day Andi and Ellen ,renting is not an option as i have an Acre and a management nightmare,and there are now about 300 houses for rent in town.no i will have to find a buyer.great lot of photo's ,i appreciate the effort you guy's go to as i can see it's miserable in places still you take the time to capture the shots.I had a similar problem with my rear brake ,think the fluid was too old and it ate the bucketts in the slave cylinder ,as its a combined brake system so gave it to the local honda dealer ,flushed the system new kits in the front and rear slave cylinders $975 latter ,they will NEVER get business from me EVER again.Done nearly 600 km the last two weekends ,trying to scratch the itch.Until next time take care,Noel

Well bum that is not good, was just a thought.

Is OZ going through harder times now after reasonably well weathering the main storm?

Good shit getting out on the bike, always clears the head and allows for some thinking time, your stealership needs their nuts kicked for $975 that is robbery!!

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

This was an easy day, only 70 km to do however mum nature had been crying all night and rivers were swollen and muddy, given our trip was mostly gravel roads we decided to hit the main drag being an easier option as there were a number of slips down.

We ended up heading to San Marcos up and over, turns out mum natures tears had just as much input this way and we had just doubled our mileage to “make it easier” whose dumb idea was that.

Regretting my decision to take this way we were committed so we slowly climbed up the greasy mucky hills laded with ruts and rocks.

This soon cleared out after about 25 km to a better gravel road, the clouds started dispersing and the temperature climbing despite us climbing in elevation.



For a few brief moments the sun even made an appearance before hiding back behind the fluffy sheets but this was enough to liven our inspiration and dry the road out to no mud ...and no dust .... WOH HOH.



More cool glacial cuts



With the tables turning in our favour thing were looks up, and up .... and up which took us to the beginning of the mining scheme 4000 meters above normality, I will add at this point all regrets were long gone and safely thrown out as we would not need them again.



Taking a few wrong turns through the myriad of roading a mining grader driver flags us down and says.....no pase (no way through) and kindly directed us to a road on the opposite side of the valley ...... oooops, but the road in the distance was way better than the one we were on so that was cool.





Getting to the summit at 4600 meters the whole place opened up and there is a monster mine sitting there at 4500 meters, there were massive trucks, D9 hitrack bulldozers and massive excavators shifting Peru from side of the valley to the other.





Look in the picture you will see the small trucks





These are the beasties



Each load from the dump trucks would be a house lot by volume sending rocks 1 meter in diameter racing down the slops ... just incredible to watch.

Our road continued right through the mining area, we had to stop twice at the cross roads which were wide enough to land a 747 on, given the size of the vehicle here we gave them right of way.





Finishing our impromptu and unexpected mine tour we finally hit the super highway, a well maintained tarseal road leading to the mine wide enough for the big machinery to pass no problem .... what a treat.



The rain had set in again big time so was a timely wash for Maya who was doing her dirty girl appearance ... well sortof.

Just a little further down the road the rain momentarily stopped so we stopped beside a lake which took away and gave back in the one place.

Breath taking scenery and a snack stop .... what a location, we were joined by some mining guys in a 4x4 water tanker, their interest in Maya and our travels sparking a great conversation.

New Zealand ..... no one would know the difference in this pic.



How cool is this!!!





See the cool wave effect on the rock



After filling our minds with scenic overload and our faces with food we hit the road again as the rain crept back in, intermission was over ... back to the movie at hand ... riding to La Union.

Reaching nearer the base of the valley we spotted a small waterfall so we detoured and had a nosy.



Beautiful wee valley



Finally making it into La Union almost dry we settled in for the day.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Andi, Ellen great story , fantastic pix thx for sharing. all the best to you both

Heya miles4smiles, thank you very much for the props and best to you to sir

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

This morning we hit the hot pools for a soak before hitting the road, this was a very local place and cost $1 sole ..... about $.35 cents.

There was genuine lime scale over everything which was perfect for graffiti which everyone had been doing so not to be outdone ....



The hot pool was so hot it involved gently lowering in the boys so as not to create a public disturbance, there was another smaller cooler pool to chill off in when the going got too hot in the main pool.

We had the place to ourselves for a while then a crowd of deaf people joined us, there were three teenage girls, all very self conscious with long shirts and shorts etc on in the pool, one girl had omitted her togs or bikini top and only had a white T shirt on ..... there was not much left to the imagination here and we found this unusual given their level of self consciousness ..... I didn’t mind tho.

We took a mototaxi out there as the people in town said 5 km, it would be no more than 1.5 km so we just walked back enjoying the setting of the river and hills.

Heading towards town and turn around this is the thermals, hard to see and not sign posted



Nice walking back into town



Getting back into town we packed up knowing we had plenty of time for the near lunchtime getaway being all paved and 124 km however mum nature had set too and virtually ever creek had blown our across the road creating greasy mudbaths everywhere which really slowed things down.

The road out from La Union is famously narrow and requires attention and a good horn



This was very typical, although the rain had almost stopped the creeks were all still high



Stopping for lunch we ordered almuerzo (lunch .. funny enough) which was the usual drink, soup and chicken with rice, we ordered one between us per usual as this is plenty for the two of us.

She mucked up our order a little providing two soups rather than the full almeurzo however we didn’t really mind ....until we came to pay, although she had shortcut us on our serving she then wanted to charge us twice as much???? because we shared or something????

This created a bad atmosphere, she did give us a coffee each so we paid extra for this but for only one lunch, another classic of the Peruvians trying to stick it to us, they try it everywhere and to be fair it wears you down and takes the shine off the place .

A small town ... with a tarseal road and a rock hat looking down over the town



Arriving in Huanuco we went to the wrong place so Toby came a picked us up, he was on one of his hire bikes a XR650L ... very cool machine.

We followed him back to their B&B headquarters and got setup, the next day a jungle ride to Pucallpa in the Amazonas was on the cards.

Just a short vid today of the narrow road and mud slicks

La Union To Huanuco - YouTube

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Midnight Moto Mayhem ... read on

Heading to Pucallpa.... well, that was the plan.

An early start was in order as we had been invited to a barb que ... we set off with gusto, Ellen in the truck with Toby, Sara and Heidi.

The original plan was Toby and Sara were riding two up on the KLR650 and Heidi on a 250, us on Maya however Sara had a foot injury and Heidi had just had dental work done so the truck was a better option, I still rode Maya, we put Ellen and the cases in the back of the truck so I was solo.

About 70 km out of Huanuco we were stopped by an epic landslide that came down at 5.00am, traffic backed up 3 km plus on either side.





One rock, check out the impact mark ... a hard hat won't help here



With one digger in action it was slowly clearing a way through, there were rocks the size of footballs rolling down the slope and an ominously perched boulder the size of a car just waiting to take out anything in front of it.

An executive decision was made to abandon the day and head back to home base, such is life ... but the bar b que

The following day was plan B, we heard the road had been reopened but to one lane only so game on, quick pack down, fuel up and off we went, again stopping at the slip but this time some three km back in the traffic.



Me being on Maya I rode to the the queue to suss things out, it was mayhem to say to the least, I managed to spot a break for Toby and told him of the secret passage through which saw us through the slip in just on two hours.



It was slow with the Peruvians all two and three abreast impatiently trying to push everyone else out of the way causing blockages on the corners for the big trucks again slowing things down to a snail pace, they are their own worst enemy on the road.

Finally getting moving further down the valley the ferocity and anger from mum nature was realized with a demolition zone to drive through including rocks the size of house to go around and river crossings nearly axle deep ... on the road.





One house had the entire ground floor full of debris including a car size rock that wanted to come in and sit on the couch.



.... come on in ... everything else has , note the holes in the roof too from flying debris ....woulda been scary times



Through this section we thought easy as from here, through Tingo Maria and out the other side all paved and nice road, a bridge had been blown out day prior and had been reopened.

On approaching this area we came upon a line of traffic with no end ... two km away from the bridge.

Toby and I jumped on Maya to suss it out again, mayhem x 10 this time, it was 6.30 pm at this stage and getting dark, huge front end loader trying to do its thing and people blocking it every which way ... just stupid.

Typical Peruvian patience blocking everyone else, they were four wide at one point on a two lane gravel road so blocked any chance of flow for the opposite direction total sensible. .... even I created a shadow which there wasn't room for



After 4 hours of trickling along and having people push in etc we finally made it across the bog, many cars and trucks had been through slowly taking mud out with them, some cars donating bumpers and indicators to the earth too.

Many cars got towed through crunching and banging their undersides lots of it loud enough to know damage was being done but they don’t care.



The rest of the trip was easy, all tar seal from there and at that hour most sensible people had gone to bed.

We finally arrived in Pucallpa at 1.30 am in the morning ... long and exciting day out, spent and ready for bed.

A short vid, not entirely clear due to being filmed from 9.30 pm to 10.30 pm.

Huanuco To Pucallpa .... Stuck - YouTube

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Yeap

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere