It looks like it's been about a week since I last wrote, from Guaranda, which I called Guarara.  I brought my notebook with me this time so that I won't butcher the names of the various places we've been quite so badly.  A lot has happened in the last week, and a lot of miles covered - approximately 1500 miles.

From Guaranda we headed back to Riobamba via the low road, and the less improved road that was just a thin line on the map.  It was pretty bumpy and rocky, though they were making some improvements on the road even as we rode along it - there were a couple of places where road crews were grading out some of the rocks.  The scenery was spectacular, as usual, though we didn't get any views of the Chimborazo Volcano (who's name I couldn't remember in the last entry).  From Riobamba we headed south to Cuenca, which had been described as the motorcross capital of Ecuador.  We spent the next day there looking of motorcycle parts, specifically rear tires and a battery for me.  I never found a battery, but I got an ok rear tire by Vee Rubber.  They had two kinds, but only one of the second kind, which seemed better, so we flipped coins for it.  Dick won it, so now he has earned the title of Tire Poacher even though he won it fair and square.  The tire I got matches my old one fairly close, and might be more compatible with my front tire, which is doing fine.

From Cuenca we made a marathon run of trying to ride to Piura, Peru in one day.  We left about 8 in the morning, and bee-lined through the usual amazingly spectacular scenery.  As we descended towards the border crossing we got into more and more arid terrain.  Fortunately the border crossing was about the easiest yet, and entirely free.  Nothing could have been more cashual, which was good because we still had a long ways to go to get to Pïura.  The terrain quickly turned to straight up desert in Peru, and the roads were pretty fast, so we made it into the bustling town of Piura just before dark - but during rush hour.  It was crazy!  There we were riding through some pretty bleak desert and all of the sudden we are in a really busy city.  This was the first city the Spanish settled in Peru, and for the life of me I can't figure out why they chose this spot.  There must be a water source nearby, or somehow it is a strategic location out there in the middle of the desert.  Our hotel room quickly filled with mosquitos.  Consulting the Lonely Planet disease section the following morning I learned that this is the last place on the west coast heading south where you can get malaria.  The malaria section has this cute little branch that somehow extends from the Amazon across the Andes to just this little section of Peru.  Great.  Hopefully no more on this subject later.  The following morning we started out on another big mileage day.  I wanted to ride through the Desierto de Sechuin and stop for the night in Trujillo, so I could go to some ruins in the evening or following morning when the light is good for photography.  The ancient city of Chan Chan was built here approximately 1300AD, and was the largest city in the Americas, and also the largest mud brick city ever constructed anywhere in the world.  Also in the area are some Moche pyramids.  We got to Trujillo around 1pm, and found Chan Chan right off.  Eric had no interest, and wanted to go eat lunch and meet up with us later.  "Have you know sense of history?"  I said, as there was no realistic way of meeting up later.  So instead I took a quick American Tourist view of the place, quickly snapped a few photos in bad midday light, and was ready to saddle up and continue on.  We went another 100 or more miles down to Chimbote, a wanna be coastal resort town that is currently a fishing port, and stayed there for the night.

Chimbote was a good place to start the following day's ride, which was up to Huarez in the valley between the Cordillera Negra and the Cordillera Blanca, which has Peru's highest mountain peaks.  We took the north way in, which showed as an Improved Secondary Road on the map, though these routes are almost inevitably dirt.  It was.  Well, it was when it was good, the rest of the time it was rock.  And a little mud.  And spectacular, but you must be getting bored of my saying this all the time.  It was though!  Just unbelievable, starting in coastal desert, going up through a river valley where there was farming in the middle but desert mountains rising steeply from the sides, and then going into high mountain country through a canyon so narrow and steep that in many places they couldn't make a road stick so they tunnelled along the side.  Just amazing.  Once we got into the valley between the two Cordillera ranges we couldn't see the high peaks through the clouds, but they came out for a while the following morning, and the view from the hostal in Huarez was, well, spectacular.  Do I need to come up with some new adjectives?  I'll eventually get some photos up and then you can see for yourself.

Eric decided he wanted to see more of the Cordillera Blanca, and also wants to take a rugged inland route to Cuzco, so he stayed there.  (It apparently rained non-stop later that day)  Dick decided he wanted to see the Nazca Lines, which involved a coastal route, which is what I wanted to do, so for the time being the group is split.  Dick and I started out in the morning heading south out of Huarez, which is 10,000 feet, and up and up until we crossed a pass that seemed almost level with the snow line.  I have no idea high it was, now I'm missing my GPS, but it had to be 14000, maybe 15000 feet.  Maybe the highest I've ever been on the ground, and on a good road doing 70 mph to boot.  Crossing over the pass down to the coastal desert is when we started having issues.  Police issues.  The police from here to Lima are assholes.  It's like we had neon signs hanging over the bikes saying PULL US OVER.  Before this section we could do no wrong, it didn't matter how fast we were going, who we were passing (including cops) or where we were passing them, it was all cool.  Suddenly we were doing nothing wrong at all (as far as we could tell) and the cops are pulling us over and trying to tell us that they are going to take our licenses and we can get them back when we pay our "multas."  The first one we just shook our heads and said "no entiendo" until he let us go, and we really didn't understand what he wanted.  The second pulled us over for going more then 30 kph, 18 mph on a deserted stretch of road leading up to a toll booth, Dick had to pay him a US$20 bribe to get his license back.  The third cop kind of raised his hand and we each raised our hands and waved back and took off.  A few miles later a cop pickup came up behind us and pulled us over.  We couldn't understand the infracione but he said something about 5 kilometers and I assumed he must have been the one we waved to.  The 4th time we got pulled over they had a real reason, we were on a truck and bus only road.  We didn't understand the sign telling us this, BUT, we went through a toll both to get on this road and the toll people waved us happily through.  (motorcycles don't have to pay tolls)  This cop wanted to fine us US$100 EACH and take our licenses and we could pay the fine in Lima, the following day.  He wouldn't take $20, but he finally took $40.  Ouch, $60 in bribes in one day.  We rode real slow after, but I felt marked.  We managed to get to Pucusana without further incident, and here to Nazca also - I think the cops may be cooler again in this section.  Well, there's more to say, but I haven't eaten anything more than a candybar since this morning, so I'm going to go get some food.  More later, perhaps from Cuzco, where we will be by Saturday night, hopefully, as long as the plane we're taking over the Nazca Lines tomorrow doesn't crash!

Wednesday January 18, 2006 - 04:34pm (PST)