Stephen Dam, This Cold One's For You - Rob

I promised I would dedicated this post to my best and most dedicated fan Stephen Dam. Everytime I come online, he jumps at his keyboard and CAPS LOCKS' "When's next post!?!??!?!" followed by "Your grammar and punctuation are disgusting". Well SORRY 4.0 GPA, it's always 11pm-12am when I write these, following a full day of relentless full-awareness, heightened attention, risk adverse riding; following a really bad nights sleep the night before because the beds are unique and the noise is mucho. I do try, and will try harder because you are my bestest fan!! So this ones for you, a post of coldness, as I still thaw my frozen fingers and feet from the highest altitude + rain filled day.

Also another comment before I begin the post::!!:: Dan I saw the camping equipment lying in one of the Nazca lines from the lookout!! But some quick fingered Peruvians snatched it! In all seriousness if I would've known it was there, I wouldn't even think twice about grabbing it, I hate camping and the only gear I have with me is my 30.00 cdn tire tent and a sleeping bag in case we can't find a hotel. No room for camping stuff, camping is nasty, I mean no offense haha. Not that I'll point fingers, but if I'm clean, that leaves a few sticky fingers at the wine station, but I won't point fingers because they all read this too haha. Serious though, hope you can find it or it pops up somewhere.

Onto the daily news!

We left Lima knowing we had a long drive to get to Nazca. Luckily its all more straight desert highway, which means easy riding, easy on the bikes, and no problem covering a lot of distance. The ride out was very interesting. Long gone was the hustling traffic of the city, but the two lane highway remained, lined with massive billboards, tourist attractions, and fancy resorts. So it looks as if south Lima is where all the richy's go for fun in the sun. The billboards alone kept us entirely entertained most of the morning, I wish I had pictures of how creative, intricate or big they could make them.  Along the way somehow we managed to see 8 other riders. That's a TON, almost as many as we've seen this entire trip so far. Most were riding BMW's, all were outfitted to the maximum in the desert. Which brings me to a funny point. If you're a rider and you're reading this, you have probably asked yourself why the hell these idiots dress down, or don't have the proper gear. We sometimes ask ourselves the same thing, but at the same time, so far so good, its good on the budget, and at the same time, we're amateur, and we enjoy riding as if it's a normal ride. Of course, its important to have the right gear on the way down to the asphalt, but we have found it really nice to be riding in tshirts etc. in the brutal desert. Its nice to take the break.

Anyway, so we get to Paracas, Nik's recommended spot to eat some lunch. Its a bit more expensive here, and really nothing to do unless you want to stay at an all-inclusive or ultra-luxury resort. I had a budget lunch of 2.00, of which the order was only placed after Nik finished eating, and it was the wrong item, the other item I ordered never even came. BUT, the next part made up for the lackluster experience. We decide to go see the Paracas National Park as it supposedly had some nice views etc. I'll let the pictures do the explaining....

The tiny tourist town of Paracas (bad picture I apologize but everyone at this point was unnerving me, everyone tugs and pulls you in directions to do things and buy stuff)

Here comes the most adventure-some park we've experienced so far!!

There's roads here....but because the whole thing is hard sand dunes, you can ride anywhere and everywhere...here we are 400 feet above the ocean on top of a dune

We're that happy!!!

Its hard keeping the bike from not rolling down all the hills, I might use a zoom of this picture to sell the bike in the next few weeks lol

This sorta shows you how high we are; the dunes in the distance are rideable too!

Nik contemplating life, or something like it, sitting 400 feet above the ocean

I just like folding my arms because it looks like I mean business, that and I'm a little scared a chunk might fall off and send me into the surf below

This is me hill climbing, to put in perspective Nik's standing almost half a kilometre back. I wasn't sure at first on doing it, but no regrets now, its one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done, no rollercoaster can ever top this. Gunning it 120 kph 60 degrees up a hill

And of course 150kph on the way down

Nik's turn, me from half way up the hill. We loved this park so much, for 5.00 soles, we could've spent the whole day here riding around the dunes,

But unfortunately we had a time constraint, and not to mention needing gas. Again, a gas scare, when traveling through Peru you really have to watch your fuel expenditures, the distances between towns are quite decent, and many of the towns either don't have a gas station, or are fresh out. So when traveling, even half way through a tank, I'd recommend checking and topping up just to be on the safe side. So we made the rest of the drive no problem to Nazca. The lines that everyone stops for are, I suppose, worth a stop, but for no more than a few minutes to see a few lines and maybe a shape or two in the sand. We wouldn't pay the money to climb the miserable tower set up along the highway, so we climbed a dune a few hundred feet further. We didn't get to see much, but no one really raves about the sites anyway, they are more impressive in aerial shots found on google maps.

A few of the lines here are really all we got to see. The more impressive scene was the flipped car just down the road..which of course I didn't get a picture of (the winds here are ridiculous, and make it difficult to take out the camera for some good quick shots on the run).

Nazca itself is in my opinion a pretty neat little town. Perhaps it was the fancy hotel we lucked into, or the awesome food we got, but I liked it. Nestled in between some massive sand dunes and archeological sites, the towns people have a humbleness to them unlike most of the rest of Peru. We found this little place:

Hotel Alegria

..for 7 bucks a piece. Can't really go wrong there now can we. Since the hotel was so cheap, we spoiled ourselves with a massive dinner at Roky's, a Peruvian chicken chain. We ordered a BBQ meal, they bring you you're own grill, stacked with a half chicken, two hot dogs, sausage (watch it, undercooked), pork roins, two huge salads, a 1.5 litre inca cola, a massive mound of fries and two pieces of cheesecake, all for 8.00 a piece.

After a massive run on sentence of a meal, we settled down and had a bad nights sleep (one guys car alarm went off so consistently we went out to deflate his tires). I had some mangoes for breakfast this morning picked from the tree at the hotel, and we headed off to get as close to Cuzco as possible. We made it to Abancay, about 3/4 - 4/5 the way there. People have said that the road to here is dirt, which makes no sense, its the nicest road in Peru to date. No rough patches, just solid, smooth, tight handling asphalt. We made it quicker than most people do, partly because we drive like maniacs. The ride took 6 hours, for which most was scenic and enjoyable, but at the highest point, which puts you close to 15000 feet, we hit 8 degrees Celcius and pouring rain for a good 70 kilometres. You basically get to the point of screaming words to your music, not even looking at the road, or trying to sleep conciously to avoide the pain of the bitter cold. To sum it up, it feels very similar to having completely numbed hands in the snow, then putting them under hot hot water. That scolding feeling is the same feeling for 70 kilometres.

Luckily it broke up as we went back down the hill and because Abancay is lower altitude its a little more manageable here. The ride close to town had some massive washouts, every so often you'd pull up to a waterfall in the road or a river crossing, literally. If you go too slow, the water rushes so much it'll take your bike into the river. You also get completely drenched through these, not as fun as it sounds.

The town itself is a little shady, but we found a decent place to eat and a decent place to stay with a nice hot shower, which I used to scold my hands properly!! We could've made it to Cuzco if we left a little earlier, but its nice to break early and have a decently easy ride tomorrow. From there we plan on riding around the back of Machu Picchu and doing it the cheap way through Santa Teresa and walking the railroad tracks. It'll save a couple hundred bucks, and if I don't post before then, the next time I'll post is in three-four days. Until then, much love to all my fans!! And give Dan back his damn camping equipment guys, or you'll get it when I come back....

The plaza of Nazca, I FINALLY LEARNED how to use my camera....found some useful settings that make pictures a little more vibrant, figures...trips almost over too.

Nik way up ahead of me on the curvy roads leading away from Nazca (beautiful scenery!)

There are a ton of crosses along roads like these...either from people driving like complete idiots (we run by a lot of people using the wrong side of the road) or from distracting themselves by the scenery. Either way, a bit of a wakeup call to pay attention.

Look! Vicunas!! South American llamas living in damn cold climates

There's some more of that camera magic I learned today

And more, in the mountains

Their fur is the warmest material you can wear

I wasn't kidding when I said waterfalls on the road

And damned big ones at that

Must...Escape....Peru.... -Rob

Ive gone from loving it to hating it. The problem is there´s no escaping it. Its a big country. Thousands of miles big, and its draining my funds faster than Charlie Sheen drains a bottle of JD. The more we encounter Peru, the more I seem to have problems with it, but I have to try and enjoy what is left of the trip. More importantly, I have to figure out how and who to sell the bike to. Thats the biggest concern now, and the closer I get to Buenos Aires, the more tense I feel about the whole situation. I guess as a last reason I´ll have to fly the bike somewhere to the U.S., as long as I have the money, and then ride it home from there and sell it for whatever its worth when it gets home.....worse comes to worse.

So we left Trujillo early in the morning to see if we could make it to Huaraz by, at the latest early afternoon. Nik continues to bump-start his motorcycle..in traffic, in garages, or wherever else might be necessary to keep the bugger going. The plan was to get to the shortcut (HAH) and gun it up from there to the pass into the Andes, just for a short detour and a beautiful scenic ride. Well, one can never receive both wishes. The shortcut we took looked a little like this on Google maps:

We were told it was a mining shortcut that would cut across the river a little ways up. Problem was it wasnt quite the perfect pavement we were used to. The rocky dirt led us through some pretty unique dry rocky mountain terrain, far enough until Niks tire bit the dust, pardon pun. At least this time it was his front one. I fretted, thinking he had a tubeless tire, but thank god its so much easier to pry off. An hour in the desert and we had his bike good to go (thankfully we carried a spare tube). Minor problem, we´ll still make it to Huaraz today!

The road continued along the river for a good 40 kilometres. It was scenic, but so was the other side....that had the perfect pavement. So much for shortcut, as I watched cars vanish into the horizon on the other side as we steadily paced along at 50 kph. FINALLY! A BRIDGE!

So on the other side we were, zipping along as speedily as ever, when I gunned through a checkpoint. Oops. They kept us there for 20 minutes checking all our documents, and told us Huaraz was 5 hours away. Lots of dirt. Yikes, its 11:20.

This is the shitty part.

We took a left, following the nice pavement, instead of off'roading it. Theres no way a main road to Huaraz can be really badly unpaved dirt..right?

40 kilometres up the hill later, we realize the mistake. However...40 kilometres in a straight line, up a hill is one thing. This was 2 and a half..almost 3 hours. It was 120 kilometres of winding road until we realized our mistake with my shitty map and whoever stole my damn compass can go to hell.

Disappointment at its maximum. Realizing were in Cabanas instead of Huaraz, and what looks so short on the map is so far in reality. I swear the people in these mountains had never seen a tourist or passer'by before, we were in no mans land. This..my friends is  when I instinctively knew it was more straight through canyons:

OK, so the ride wasnt too bad, it had its fun parts, but back down we were...at 4 o clock, ready to fly through this mountain pass to as close to Huaraz as possible.

Get to the cut off, and left turn. Dirt road shouldnt be too bad. DO NOT GO TO HUARAZ!!! I BEG YOU!! Unless you kill your bike or have some reason to be there, don´t rush through it like we did. If your stopping to see some sites good for you, otherwise, stick desert. This road is pure hell, from Santa to Huallanca and Casca. Mind you, take a look at the pics and it is magnificent. Nik says it was one of his favourite scenic drives. But the road took its toll on our bikes. My chain strecthed continually, fell off at one point. But at least they survived. It began getting dark and after 3 hours of 30'40 kph and covered head to toe in dust and dirt, we had to call it quits in a tiny little town in the mountains. Cant remember what its called, it didn´t have a hotel, so we stayed in someones house for 2.50 american each. Dinner was another 2.50, a welcoming present after the damned price of gas empties our wallets as fast as the klr´s empty their tanks. The room was scary though, no bathroom, no nothing. Slept in our dirty clothes and got up super early to finish the ride. So the day started with more dirt, more dogs chasing us, and more bumpy roads. After an eternity of tunnels and chasms and gorges, we crept back onto pavement and gunned it to Huaraz. Once the speeds reached 90 again, we made it to Huaraz in no time. We wanted to see one of the great Lagunas on the mountaintop, but after so much dirt, we couldnt take anymore. We ate lunch in Huaraz, started feeling the high altitude effects, and decided to try and make it as far as possible to Lima.

The road side fix, without a distraction in the world

The only thing bigger than me in Peru is a cactus!

You hope there isn't traffic on the other side of these tunnels

This is how the locals get their exercise...everyday

This is how we test our skills...unwillingly

Even though it was sharp rocky dirt, the views made it 1/10th worth the drive

Case in point! Uh oh something else bigger than me :(

Escuintla Guatemala has nothing on this place

Sadness with a beautiful view

DO NOT FALL! Watch the roads at all times...because its an 8 second free fall, tested.

More fantastic views

Seriously, must pay full attention to the roads at all times...Bolivia death road has nothing on this!

There were tons of these super cool tunnels

I took a chance and made it off alive

Here come the white caps and the frozen fingers

Our only pic of a local and it cost me a soles....and she still nearly refused a picture...I'm telling you, everyones out to rip you off

The highest point we've been to so far! Even though it doesn't look like it

A huge rush across the Andes and back down led us back to the desert and right into Lima!!!! We actually made it 580 kilometres that day. Another run in with the police, under false pretenses...Nik running a toll booth when the tolls are free for us anyway, proceeded to bring a cop over to us and fail an attempt to extort 50 from Nik. Also another scarcity of gasoline. Peru, you have to put more gas stations around in the desert, or at least fill up the ones that are there, instead of getting our hopes up and making us worry about the next 15 kilometres. I expect more of this.


So anyway, were in Lima, at sunset. Dammit, we did it again, NO BIG CITIES IN THE DARK. No big deal, we´ll stick to the highway and hit up a hotel on the side. Lima is huge....when I say huge...imagine riding around for 3 HOURS LOOKING FOR A HOTEL. There is little I can say for Lima expect that I hate it. It has also made me pretty much hate Peru overall. Big words, but Lima is nasty. The traffic is nasty, the people are nasty (rude, unfriendly), the cars attempt to run you over at all times, Ive bumped two already cutting me off, and the scamming begins.

We were tired, we were nearly arguing looking for a hotel, and we´re a few blocks short of pitching tent on the side of the road. After passing and stopping at countless "hostals" which are nothing more than sex hotels (I suppose the prostitution in Lima is extravagant, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE) we decided to get to the airport...they had to have a hotel there. The Ramada, Costa Del Sol. Cool. Very nice. 200 Soles. Expensive, but well take it. "No sir, thats American". Are you kidding me. Its a airport hotel with nothing more to offer than a normal one. Forget it. Onwards we travel, aimlessly. No ones willing to point us in the right direction, we finally make it to Centro Historico, and find a hotel. Full. More directions leading nowhere. We FINALLY found a hotel, a rather nice one, a few minutes later tucked into a street, for 70 soles, 13.00 a piece each.
Ok, ok, complain more Rob. Then comes today.

The food is cheap, thankfully. 2.50 will get you breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So less than 10.00 a day on food. We eat, and rush to hit up the dealership to change my chain and get Niks bike running. An hour and a bit later.....lost again, this city is too massive and oddly shaped, and we get to the Sales centre. The new chain. 400 soles. WHAT THE HELL. Thats over 120.00. WHATEVER, it has to be done, bite the bullet. We get over to the mechanic without getting lost, they take the chain off and somehow before I didn´t realize the teeth in the sprocket were completely bent. Mustve been the dirt...with the weight. Another 250 soles. PLUS 70 SOLES LABOUR. Now I´m getting completely ripped off. Thats 300.00 to change a chain and sprocket. El Salvador did it for 80.00. Colombia never charged me labour. These places were kind, considerate, helpful. Lima is none of that. Im not fond of Limians, not one bit. And they took 5 hours to put it on. 5 hours of waiting, I get my bike, and my chain is taught to its maximum. Not even put on right. I had to take it back to hotel, and properly fit it. What am I paying for. For more spending fun, I broke down and bought an external hard drive to back up all the pics ands vids as me and Nik are splitting soon. Another 200 soles. And finally, my camera charger blew on me again, so I bought a universal charger that hopefully is doing its job right now. All in all, 400.00 spent today. Today is a bad day.

So all in all, I have two pleasant things to say about Lima.
1. The sunsets are the most beautiful Ive seen in my life.
2. The prosperous parts of Lima and historical sections are really well put together, beautiful structures, reminds me of New Orleans.

The Lima sunset

But other than that, Im outta here first thing. Lets get to Nazca, hopefully well find some nice people not trying to take all my money.

Left High and Dry in the Desert - Rob

It seems like longer time periods between posts, but the reality is we're doing so many miles so quickly, there's just so many things going on, its hard to keep up. The longer we're on the road, the more I feel the brainrot. Days meld together and it becomes harder and harder to remember what we've done days past, or where we've been. There's a few unforgettable memories however, which I will keep with me forever, and which might make you laugh a bit.

Starting at the border, if you leave through Huanquillas, don't make the same mistake we did. It's a bit of a weird border town, there's a bridge right in the middle of town thats Zona Libre, free travel back and forth between countries to visit the markets. We avoided this because the Pan-American passes around the town on a double laned highway.

- We first ride looking for gas, sucking the remainder of our reserve tanks because border towns have a problem getting petroleum trucks to deliver daily, 4 kilometres out of town
- Back halfway to take the border exit, ride another 4 km to the border post, and no Ecuador exit?
- Peru turns us back because we didn't exit, the Migracion is actually in the town at a small post on the side of the road, 5km
- Exit, aduana is back near Peru border entrance, 3km
- This one is closed, the other one is 9 kilometres out of town going northbound
- FINALLY BACK TO PERU border, which was a tad long, hot, but easy, we were the only ones there

Enough goofing around, thankfully we were only going 130 km that day to a little awesome town called Mancora.

The unfinished border of Peru, looks like tis been that way for quite some time

The temporary SUNAT office to sign in, where they make YOU do all the work

We drove through the border town of Tumbes, a lot larger than we originally thought, but an enlightenment to the Peru that I've heard about. From all the tales, people have said that Peru is not a great ride. Depends on what you like I suppose. I like to keep the bike in good shape, but flat, straight roads every so often is a welcoming break for my bike. Sure theres a lot of garbage on the roads, but the towns are nice, the people are super friendly, we have not had any rough in's with ANY cops, which are EVERYWHERE, and riding through deserts are something neither me and Nik have done, so it's a real cool treat for us. Plus we like the dead heat.

The humble town of Tumbes, everyone is friendly here / wants a green card :O

Niks impressed with his new stickers, trophy helmet!!

We arrived in Mancora expecting just a little bit, and we were surprised at this amazing little beach town. Its touristy, but filled with locals, so it doesn't have that expensive, cheapy feel that some other places do. There are some nice hotels, some not to nice, we managed to find the Loki Hostel, which is both well known and enoorrrmous compared to most places we stay. It was really cheap, food and drinks and lodging for both days ended up being 60.00 each. And we splurged, eating tuna steaks (two each on the second night) and many many beers. The ocean here at first seemed tame, but soon we found out its the roughest tide we've seen so far. A nice surprise, since it will be the last ocean we'll see on the trip, and we love getting thrashed. The current would pull you out and sideways at a rate faster than the pace of walking, the waves would curl and throw you into the sand headfirst, but if you timed it right, a decent body surf would put you right on top of the wave (usually it puts us in front of it or just under the surface) 200 feet to shore. Brilliant. It was the sunset, the vibe, the music, the waves, that made us instantly decide to stay another day, no question. The hostel was the nicest we've seen so far, everyone's english as that's a nice break on the brain not having to translate everything. We basically chilled the night away playing ping pong, cards, pool, swimming, watching X-games.

The bikes enjoying the view and the ocean breeze

Lonely Nik calling out to the waves, "Doug!! I miss you!!!"

Seeing Peru coastline!!

The hill climbs here are dual sport heaven

Now they're enjoying a better view!

This is my ideal view...no not myself...but our first balcony!!

How can you go wrong for 23 bucks a night

Mancora Loki Hostel

Sunset was almost over the ocean, but the desert aura makes the orange hue unbelieveable

This picture makes the hostel look more like a resort

As does this one...

And finally this one...

The following day would become one of the most momentous days for us; action packed and full of adventure. After a half-assed breakfast we walked around town and around the beach looking for touristy things, fancy places, places to eat and one of the sites of Mancora, the Pilares de la Quebrada Fernandez, three "exotic pools" with cascades. Couldn't find them. So after a crazy moto-taxi ride through the city for a Sole (always take taxis in Peru as the most they have cost us so far is a dollar), we took out the bikes for a spin in the desert. Awesome idea. We found ourselves riding around in a dry riverbed, then 150 metres above the city, then deep into a canyon trail. After riding under the desert sun for a good couple hours, we took it to the beach, took some pics, then went off to find the water pools near the river.Instead we ended up in one of the many many dumps, following the water (we knew now we could not swim here...even though there were people bathing) but the trail here was quite unique. You see, Peru is very fond of meals with chicken. You cannot go past any restaurants without prominently seeing chicken on the menu. Deep into the dump, we stumbled across chicken feathers; feathers that would blanket the ground for as far as you can see. I guess they have to pluck them somewhere. Regardless, it made a soft ride, and fun slides, minding the smell. Sop we finally get to the water pools, and what the hell do we see? Flamingos. This I was not expecting by any means, and it definitely made our day. They are easily scared and a hundred or so quickly took off all at once, so we headed further on the beach. We dangerously rode down through the surf for a kilometer or so (which is extremely hard on motorcycles in white sand...especially when the water comes because the bikes sink QUICKLY), and back to town we went.

The view of the city from the very top

Nik and his ruling dominance over Mancora

Canyon riding at its finest

This is the best of dual sporting....thus far

We had to take another moto-taxi to take a video of it, helmets are most certainly required

In the taxi:

The chicken feathers and the vultures that love to bathe in them

Wild horses could not drag me away....from here

Flamingos!!! Who'd guess!

Deep dune riding is the most difficult ride to be had on a motorcycle

But we enjoyed it completely

This doesn't really show it, but I got stung by some bee taking a video, my whole wrist swelled up and pussed, couldn't figure out what was going on. So itchy now.

Now the fun part.

So after lounging around and beaching it up, we decide to take the bikes back out (big shits on the town drag) looking for a place to eat. After zipping around for a bit, the best bet was the hostel food, where we can't ever go wrong, so we try heading down some back streets that turn into back paths, and its getting dark. We're not afraid of being out in the dark, but now we have a new fear. The fear of the lack of septic and sewer systems. Niks ahead of me, I try crossing this one narrow part of the path, and the next thing I know I topple 4-5 feet into what I thought was a grassy ditch. "Plunk"...my helmet then started filling with water, I'm almost submerged in what I thought was water, but then the smell hit me. My helmet was not filling up with aqua, rather feces and other awesomeness. As I tried prying the bike off of me and back up the slope, yelling for Nik's help, I look over and in the darkness I see his bike submerged in what looks like solid ground. He runs over, his bike flops over, my bike back up, we run over to get his back up. But its dug deep into....again, what we thought was mud. Not mud....The only way to get it out is for him to stand behind while I give it gas.....heres the result:

And the shirt looks even worse

The shower definitely got its use that night

So....after two good half hour showers, we felt..sort of clean. Thank god the hostel had a hose and we showered off the bikes that night. Adventure-some day. The beers went down smooth that night.

In the morning, we had to get a big day in, to get to Trujillo. Its 600 km, and all desert. For the first part of the ride, beautiful desert mountain vistas. Then it got flat, and REALLY hot. In  Piura, which is a hell town to get lost in, Nik's bike started overheating. We decided since it was awhile since we did an oil change, we would find a gas station and buy some oil. 47.00 U.S. EACH later....we were doing our oil, with some help! We forgot to fill up with gas, and entered the Sechura Desert. About 35 kilometers in and I realized the mistake. Nik finally got rid of his Zebra box, traded it in for a new backpacker bag strapped to the back. This means with the strong desert winds, my bike goes through a lot more mileage with the panniers. I knew I might be in trouble. It was 230 kilometres to the other side, which means I would probably be 40 kilometers short of a tank. Well, besides the awesome riding (we loved it), I was in constantly thinking about how many more kilometres I'd last.

Well I didn't, and thirty kilometres outside of thankfully the closest town I ran out. Damn good thing we carry a gallon extra, because without that, or without the town being there, surely we'd be towing mine. Nik wasn't even on his reserve tank, must be his tires and less resistance.

No cars and perfectly straight roads as far as you can see in both directions, times 20....

Running out of gas:

Our friendly oil changer helpers, helping us take only 10 minutes to do an oil change

Thats a desert....missing the sand dunes but I didn't want to stop more than I had to

Oceans have nice sunsets, but nothing beats a desert one

As the sun set over the desert plain........my chain fell off. Usual business, was a tad bit too loose, I just popped it back on and tightened it, and off we went again. Trujillo wasn't far from here, so we gunned it through the dark towards one of the biggest cities in Peru. If there's nothing worse than arriving in a busy city, its arriving at one in the dark. With no direction, we just went to the centre of town, being cut off, cut down and honked at from all angles. Most cities are like this, but for some reason Trujillo seems to take the cake. The drivers make WAY too excessive use of their horns, most of the time for no reason, and the lack of street lights means gogogo, all the time. We quickly stopped at a half decent hotel, 100 soles a night, but has everything we need. Poop washing taken care of, Warner Bros. channel, comfy beds, and the noise of some couple doing their thing out the window. Its alright though, because the minute man does his work speedily.

When we got to town, Nik's bike started heating up again...bad sign. It spewed a bunch of coolant, and we pushed it to our hotel, the Le Mans. Looked at it this morning, ended up being the fuse being disconnected causing the fan not to kick in. Easy fix. When we took it out today, his battery died and he had to jump start it everywhere we went.. strange, another thing to look at tomorrow, shouldn't be a big deal. Every dog has its day I suppose.

Today we went to the Chan Chan ruins, our first ruin site, which kind of tainted the historical aspects of the trip for me. I wasn't expecting Macchu Picchu because after all we are in the desert, but most of the site is replicated or refurbished. Barely anything is original, not cool. The best part of it was the riding afterwards. Since the ocean is close we decided to try to get to it through the trails between the uncovered arch. sites. This was the only dual sport riding so far that beats the canyon riding. Rolling sandy hills, going anywhere you want to go, and pretty fun jumps to be had all over. Ocean on one side, mountains on the other.

The Peruvian desert dog...you don't want to get too close to this thing...

Nik's "is this fake" face

Looks impressive, but up close its all plaster :P

Mind you, they did a real good point replicating the ancient ruins.

My "is this fake?" face haha

The lattice-style they constructed their walls from

Or should I say Trujillo's labour workers constructed

Where they got their water supply from

Nik loves showing off his helmet now

The best dual sport riding to date

We did get pulled over by the pollice finally when we got back on the main road. Since Peru is known more for corruption we did not fool around and instantly played the no espagnol card. He seemed to be just cehcking our documents, but we gave him the least we could. I was all good to go, but Nik's insurance card is expired. So after bugging him he decided to shake our hands and let us go.

I terms of news thats about it for this update. We're off super early tomorrow to get to Huaraz and maybe see some glaciers. Time will tell, onwards we ride.

This is just a funny video I want to post of Nik doing something crazy, then me dropping my damn bike trying to get it on film.



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