Cerro Azul To Paracas And The National Park
 

Sand ... but friendly ...well mostly:clap

Down the Pan Am .... not a lot of fun and certainly nothing worth writing home about ... until Paracas

Paracas is a cool settlement on the beach ....lotsa white faces there.. gringos !!, the place was spendie for what it was nonetheless it was nice.

It’s gem the Reserva National De Paracas which is only 5 minutes from town, this opens up into an unusual place laden with sand dunes and cliffs and colours beyond belief.

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So we have seen some pretty cool stuff thus far in Peru and for me this was chart topping stuff, although we have stunning scenery like in Huascaran National Park we do not have stuff like this in New Zealand ... or at least not where we live.

The atmosphere is very lite here too :rofl

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While in Cerro Azul we met some french overlanders in a cool truck and we met them again in Paracas after chatting with them about the park.

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In the park there are several main drags to go down then you can branch off from there to the various coves, hills, cliffs, sea, sand and spectacular vistas

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Now we struck it right with the weather knowing that others had hit fog taking away the breathtaking views, we can now show what is there.

We also spent the evening out and caught the sunset :clap

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This stuff was soft tho :eek1

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A few pics and not much more writing on this report but you can see why.

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Paracas - The Town
 

Not all cool things were in the desert, while in Paracas having lunch a 1200 GS rumbled into town, being nosy I had to have a look and duly met Nick and Kanchan an Indian born couple who live in Texas been travelling the world for three years.

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Needless to say we had lots to chat about, very cool couple indeed.

The beach was also a lure water the water fairly cool even by Ellens standards, there was some nice boats parked in the bay.

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There was a cool Russian truck too with Argentinian plates, we didn't get to find the owners tho, would have interesting talking with them.

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Surprisingly there was a bit of pussy at our hostel ..... :lol3 and some kitten that provided a lt of entertainment hooning around in reception.

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Nice place to hang out for a few days, pretty laid back and friendly.:clap

G'day Andi and Ellen ,love the shot of the lamas,such wonderful country you are currently riding through.Photography up to your usual standard.So pleased the off was not a bad one.Did you give some thought to giving old mate a think lip ?
So glad you are helping Paul ,very nice bloke,i wish him well on his travels.Any hoo until next time YDF Noel.:D

Heya Noel

Sold that bloody house yet bro?

Yeap the off was lucky with no real damage to people or bikes, to be honest I wasn't really angry at him and even more so when we all picked up, dusted off, no real damage and everyone able to ride away there was an airy calm.

Yes few chats with Paul, help others any way we can ...all good, knowin he is a very nice bloke that is three of us I know of now :smartass:.

YDP

Andi

Paracas To Areaquipa ... Going Coastal
 

Muchas arenas (lots of sand)

Sand ....hmmmm

The coast, main drag, Pan Am ... sand ... wind .....wind .... wind.... at least it was sunny.

We struck some horrific head/side winds which saw us riding 45 degrees on the straight, to say it was hard work was an understatement, good training for Patagonia I guess. :lol3

See the horizontal branches :huh

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Parts of the coastline were fantastic and other parts were Peru's dumping ground laden with rubbish, at one point we were hit by flying plastic bags and stuff :eek1

Nazca lines, we had good hopes with this and arrived at the viewing stand, they were ok but to be fair I thought it was a lot more than what it was, we believe google images will give you a far better impression of what is there, you can take a plane ride too but google images are cheaper, it was still good to see.

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Arriving in Nazca the township we were not really taken by it and decided to carry on to the coast in search of another Paracas, San Juan De Marcona on the map looked ok so off we set.

The wind got stronger and the sand storm got worse, so heavy was the cross wind we were down to third gear and battling to stay on the road, adding to that the windswept marbles blasting us and flying around inside our helmets .... whose dumb idea was it to come here!!

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Finally getting to San Juan De Marcona there was a Miss beach contest on the next day so EVERYTHING was booked out completely, also the place didn’t give us “the feeling” onwards we go.

This was part of a subdivision, not sure if been used or ready to be used?

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We took a shortcut rather than going all the way back, this proved a little interesting, wind swept sand covered the road in places and was up to 300 mm deep and softer than a rotten mango.

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At one point we tried to avoid the rotten mango and dropped halfway to China, this required removal of the water bottles and top case to lighten the stranded whale, with me operating the throttle and pushing the bars and Ellen pushing the back we finally got Maya back on solid ground.

Yeah..

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This time I was not waiting to see how soft it was so I feed it the message clearing the sandpit from under the tires ... gotta love 100 hp!!:clap

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The evening closing in saw us stop at a little place that was not a tourist trap.

Heading away to Arequipa the next morning was a long haul by our standards, tanking up at the local gas station a treat because we got a free cup of coca cola.

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The winds soon picked up tossing us around a lot and being constantly sandblasted including sand right up inside our helmets ... noice.

This was pretty much the ride for the coastal section with only a few minor reprieves

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Then there are these small oasis's carefully tucked amidst towering sand dunes

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Turning inland was a gift and the wind started dropping quickly but the traffic started increasing quickly and with one bus coming up behind us then beside us trying to push us off the road ....nice guy.

Arriving in Arequipa Ellen starting looking for a hostal, Maya and I waiting on the street side minding our own business when a local lady stopped and asked, Australia? .. there was nearly a fight. :D :evil

I replied neighbours but no we are from New Zealand, discussion was had about the differing flags, next thing another lady rocks up and we are talking about hostals so they want to help us, Ellen turns up to find me talking to these two ladies and soon I was left on the street alone again while they went off and sorted it all out.

After getting sorted we were invited for tea (dinner for you imperialists) and an awesome welcome evening was had in Arequipa .... we like this place even tho it is Perus second biggest city.

There are some truly beautiful people in this world and Anna Maria is right up there with the best of them, very warm and welcoming :clap:clap:clap:clap

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Great Pics!
 

Truly great pics and tales Andi and Ellen!!

The Peruvian coastal desert is an amazing place
Keep them coming and keep an eye out for the nutter Peruvian drivers !!

Have great time
Cheers
Dom

gives new meaning to "fill 'er up, please"

Simplicity rules the roads ....
 

That's a bummer with the knees, they are the one thing that are hard to fix, but technology on the knee is progressing slowly but surely. I'm more lucky, just got gammy lower left leg, badly broken by a 4x4 in India who wanted my & yeti the yak, my trusty enfield's, bit of road end 2007 :censored:. Cold & wet makes it play up. Have you tried nordic walking sticks, not sure if they fold down small enough. Many years ago I had a cotton tent. The poles were different thickness, they disconnected & by reversing 'em around they slid into each other making an extremely small packet. When erected they were really stable. Have a look in camping shops to see if you can find summit like that, you could fit a lanyard on to 'em to make them more easy to use. I kept the poles after dumping the tent, so may give it a go. Or a bamboo pole cut into smaller lengths, fitted with metal screw & threaded sockets on each end. Not sure if you can get big enough screw & socket joining pieces, would have to look up hardware stores en route. But good idea doing that you get two birds with the one stone :oops2:

DR 650 doesn't seem to be imported to Holland, Belgium or Germany. I want to buy locally, take my time set her up nicely etc etc & ship to anchorage. Reading reports of people & looking at what they say about their bikes, helps with the choice :thumbup1: KTM get good reviews though. How is the seat, comfortable on long stints, also what does Ellen say about the buddy??? I will be riding mostly solo but will be taking a passenger on certain stints bier

Mmmmnnnnn so the Peruvian drivers are keeping your barber costs down ... jeeeeezzzz :rofl: Andy Ellen have fun stay safe & keep the rubber side down :D

Heya Dom

Yeah it is pretty cool ... apart from their stunt drivers :rofl:

You are a naughty man... but yes, thank Ellen for the pic, I was busy filling Maya up, not quite the same hit :innocent:

Heya Vince, hopefully by the time it IS time to really fixem then technology will take the lead.

Sorry to here of yours too, never fun when trying to climb down a hill, looking at some longer sticks here in Cusco cos mine are a little short to use as tarp poles.

All bikes have shortfalls and good bits, all are a compromise, to be fair our KTM has out-reliabled our DRs but we got two bad DRs, all new DRs come out with a countershaft retainer clip.

Our seat is good, I have chopped and shaped it to my bum, comfy seat is more about shape than thickness, we also modded her back part of the seat which help too.

Don't be afraid to cut open a seat and shape it to your bum cos it will make a huge difference.

Arequipa .. Peru’s Second Largest City
 

And a nice city it was, we ended up staying 5 days, relaxing and taking the place in.

We are not normally city dwellers but Arequipa had a very welcoming feel including having some nice things like a propa coffee shop, it also has starbucks. :rofl

An alleyway in town

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Anna Maria invited us for a Sunday breakfast setting us up for a city tour walking and looking around, very nice indeed.

While in town we were lucky enough to watch a festival parade

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This girl was very into it, nice to see the youngs ones involved

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While in Arequipa we had the pleasure of meeting Ben (Breechi) who rocked into town for a day while we were there, coffees all round, awesome.

The plaza at night

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Some industrious thinking here

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Road 34 C was in the middle, see next report so the next day was a relaxing one again.

Time to leave, Colca Canyon calling with Condors to see.

Great report. Thanks for the great read. I know riding 2 up in off road conditions is a challenge but I was concerned that Ellen was going to get seriously injured. How has she adapted to riding double? I have a klr and after reading your report I have been looking at ktm's. If you get back to LA and need a place to stay pm me.

Re your earlier comments
 

feeling confronted ,since i'm half Aussie and Half Kiwi ,should i be happy to know i'm wrong ?haha nice shots looks like the sand was a real challenge .Seams to be no shortage of nice looking ladies in peru.No bloody house not sold yet two more lookers today.see what the week brings.happy travels until next time,regards YDF Noel.
:D:D

Heya Dcparks

Yeah a little more challenging two up for sure, we are pretty much sticky with gravel roads and back road with small amount of off road as two up with house and contents is more of a mission.

Ellen has adapted easily, she has been a loyal passenger for years at home so no worries there, good to have someone to push to when the going get tough :thumbup1:

Yeah Maya has outreliabled our DR 650s x 2 by mileage now, we are very very happy with the bike and very happy to just be wearing stuff out from mileage :thumbup1:

Anything mechanical will take some effort when you torture it most days but the SE has been everything and more for us.

Thanks for the offer for accom, as goes for New Zealand, you are welcome at our place.

Cheers Andi