Machu Picchu

November 3, 2010

Up at 5am to get ready for the tour. Got a taxi ride and then another taxi ride to Aqua Calliente to pick up the train. Were given Train tickets, but was supposed to meet the guide at the Machu Picchu train station. There was no guide, no bus tickets to the top and no entrance fee tickets. Had to call the tour guide who was no help and then talked to some handler who got us the required tickets. All this took 2 hours. We arrive at Machu Picchu and had to wait for an hour for the tour guide (new one) Had a great tour of Machu Picchu and then went back down the mountain to the train station. Apparently there are 2 train companies and we had to wait another 2 hours for ours, who was broken down, so we were piggy backed on the main train company (PeruRail). Our train car had no lights, so we got to watch the fireflies outside. Once off the train, we were to pick up a taxi and they would get paid from our tour operator. He didn't know our tour operator and we had to pay him. We will be going back to the tour operator tomorrow morning for our taxi cab money and also to complain. We could have done this ourselves, saved the hassles and saved time and saved money. Not impressed. The tour company name is "Promotur's" Do yourself a favor and DO NOT USE THEM.

Enough with my rants, I got my taxi fare back this morning. Machu Picchu was very impressive. There are many different types of tours that can be done, from 1 day tours to 11 day hiking tours following the Inka trail. Many people choose a 2 day tour. Our tour guide was very good. We enjoyed him very much. He conveyed that a lot of opinions heard on TV has been disproven and that MAch Picchu was just a regular town with regular people who wanted to farm that area. No gold or silver was found (a sign of royalty) and that only bronze was found which is a sign of the working class. Being perched high in the mountains, this town was very protected from the Spanish, but the town folk left and the Spanish never found Machu Picchu, thats why its so important, because much of the original buildings and history was not taken and or destroyed by the Spanish. It is a very well preserved site and 70% of the sight was still intact after 500 years of earthquakes and looters. Machu Picchu is on the Amazonous side of the mountains and is actually in tropical weather. As we were taking the train from Ollanteybamba to Aqua Calliente, we saw a huge climate and vegetation change. All in all, we enjoyed the day.  

November 2, 2010

Arranged our Machu Picchu tour for tomorrow, then got my rear tire patched from the inside. Went for a ride out to Urubamba and back. Had to dodge rain clouds, but never got wet.

November 1, 2010

Got our riding gear cleaned and found a few bike shops that open. Bought some more chain oil and then washed the bikes. Adrienne showed up about 5:30pm to the same hotel as us without checking out her emails. How lucky! About an hour before Adrienne arrived, JD and Jean from Arizona showed up, so the group of us went the Norton Rat's Tavern for dinner and beer and lots to catch up on.

October 31, 2010

Halloween, A lazy day, said good-bye to a number of bikers that were leaving from the hotel and helped move Dean's sidecar out and hook it up. Had laundry done and took a ride around town to get our bearings and check where the bike shops are. Worked on my blog most of the day.

Cusco

October 30,  2010

We had had to have our bikes out of the restaurant by 7am, so we were up early again, but this appears to be a normal thing cause we go to bed early. We don't like to be out after dark to much. Anyways, we are off down the road with 120kms to Cusco. The first thing to greet us is more heavenly paved twists for about 1/2 hour, then road repairs due to many washouts from there winter weather. More twists, more little towns to slow down for and then before we knew it, Cusco. Wow, 375,000 population. We motored into town and the drivers are the usual crazy. Martina Had warned us that they have helped many people ship there bikes from here because of accidents, so we are on high alert. followed the road into Historic Central and parked to find a internet cafe. We needed to find the Norton Rats Pub because it is owned by and American biker that came down years ago and stayed. He is a mender of Horizons Unlimited and has been in contact with Adrienne. Funny thing, the internet cafe that we stopped at was 4 blocks from the Pub. The pub overlooks the Plaza De Armas central plaza and easy to find. We end up stopping to a a police where to park and he gives us a police escort to a hotel not a block away from the pub. We are here now. The Casa Grande Lodging is rustic, but has been updated. When one is so close to the center of everything, the prices always are reflected for the convenience. At the Hotel , there are 6 other bikes with riders from France, Brazil and Australia. We arrange to meet at the Norton Rats for 6pm. After beer and Hamburgers, Good conversation in English, Michael and I  leave our follow travelers and head to the plaza to watch Halloween Fireworks. Our fireworks displays pail in comparison tho these. They shoot projectiles past the church into the air and massive explosions of light and sound, at t he same time they have these willow racks with fireworks attached going off with things going round and round and up and down and shapes and and and… Thats the day, good night.

Cruise finished, now bike riding

October 29, 2010
 
In the morning, the young lady matron of the hotel informs me of road construction, but I am unable to understand and learn to appreciate what she was trying to convey to me earlier. Man, road construction or what, it took us 2 hours to go 50 kms and once we get through Andahuaylas, there is a road block which I understand to be for about 1/4 hour but Michael informs me 4 hours. Then a driver says the a moto can get through, so I squeeze by and rub  few cars with my side bags but carry on, Micheal watching this makes sure to be more careful than I. Then around another corner is a police manning a road block and detour sign. Again, Spanish no good I tell him Cusco and he points to the other fork in the road, so we take it. Lot more rough rough dusty gravel in 2 wheel track roads. For hours. Lucky we had lots of gas, that was on thing we didn't need to worry about. Finally we merge back with the new road, that is now open, and can see Abancay on a hill off to the left of us and pavement and the patch that I installed 500 kms earlier, started to leak with only 2 kms to pavement. After patching the tire again, with 2 plugs we are on nice smooth pavement. Thank god. Abancay was having some sort of parade through main street so we cut off and went around, expecting to get totally lost, but we didn't. then up the road with about 200 kms to Cusco. We found heavenly twisties. Stuff to drag pegs on, over and over again and again. Switchback after switchback. Michael and I are drooling, grinning and have almost forgotten the dust earlier in the day except for it on the visors and they need cleaning. We arrive in a little farming town of Curahuasi and find a hotel. Looks good but no hot water and the water stinks.

October 28, 2010

Fueled up, we continue down gravel road. Finally, we hit some great pavement but its short lived. We have to go over another pass and there is major road construction for about 100km. But we preserver and arrive in Chincheros. We stay in a nice hotel here and the little lady is wonderful with help. Costs us $44 soles ($18) with secure parking. It appears that the Peruvians like to put road on top of mountains and ride the ridges. We were up at 4200 meters a few times today. Then they wind the roads down to the valleys below, and I mean wind. More road construction. As we are heading south, we are noticing more water (creeks and rivers) and more vegetation. Becoming more beautiful. Hit a chicken crossing the road, Michael said it survived. Begs the question, Why did the chicken cross the road? Another question, why was a chicken playing chicken? Food for thought, Maybe it just could have been food?

October 27, 2010

We head out of La Oraya and south west towards Cusco. La Oraya is a mining town and we didn't find much to like about it. We rode for a while and after finding our way through  Hauncayo, we were stopped at a road block and was bribed out of our first $25. Eventually we found our turn off and proceeded onto dirt, gravel roads, another first. Down the road a few hours and I get our first flat tire. The plug kit worked great and we finally ended up in a little town of Churcampa. Now this hostel is the worst we found, with cold showers and small room, but the lady was nice. I have to say that I am amazed at the altitude that people are farming and the pitch of the land they farm on. Amazing where they will plant a crop and it will grow. More amazing is how they are turning the soil and preparing the soil. I saw one man on a 45 degree incline plowing the soil with a pick ax and shovel. Then all the people tending their herds. Drove through herds of cows , pigs, goats, Llamas and I  don't know what else, but they walk along the roads and aren't afraid of vehicles. The farmers tend them religiously. Amazing existence farming.

October 26, 2010

Up early to catch our last flight back to Lima, Peru and our bikes that we left in a parking garage for 10 days. They had not been touched. The day before, Michael and I decided that we wanted to get on our bikes and ride. After figuring out how to get out of Lima (7 million inhabitants) we headed to the east. Drove down a main road that is under construction with the added crazy Lima drivers and after a few hours, the traffic thinned out. Then we started heading into the hills. Wonderful road that climbs and winds its way up to 4830 meters (16,200 feet). We were supposed to start to take our altitude sickness pills 12 hours before ascending and we didn't, so we took a double dose at about 12,000 ft and carried on. We arrived in La Oraya and found a hostel. Probably the worst place we stayed in yet, but I didn't care. I felt like I was dying. Dizzy and nauseous from the altitude of over  3700 meters and I think I poisoned myself with the extra dose, but I'm not sure. All I know is that I was in bed by 5:30pm and had a splitting headache, nauseous and couldn't stop peeing. As the night wore on I felt much better.

October 25, 2010

Got up early to catch our flight to Guayaquil. The flight was routine. Hurry up and wait. We landed about 12:30pm and got a taxi to downtown. After checking in, we did some emails and then went to find something to eat down on the Malecon 2000. They have revitalized the boardwalk along the river and have done a wonderful job of it. The Malecon goes for miles. Reminds me of New Westminster's boardwalk, just much much larger. After we got back to the hotel, Michael and I talked to Julie and a few friends for over an hour. Talked to Adrienne who we met in Nakusp at the Horizons Unlimited Meeting in August. She flew her bike to Bogota in September and has been riding since. Sound like we can meet up in Cusco, so another push is on. So nice to hear everybody and I miss Julie so much. Then I updated pics while waiting for Tony to arrive. Tony and Ana-karina took us up to a mountain in the middle of Guayaquil for pics. Wow, what a large city.

Galapagos 2

October 24, 2010

During the night, we cruised to near our beginning point on the Isle of Baltra where the airport is. Michael and I are staying an extra night because we were informed that it was difficult to get us to the airport for our flight. Apparently not. We were at the airport for 8am for the rest of the people on the boat and got our tickets for tomorrow. Lam Airlines were willing to exchange our ticket and we could have flown out today, but we had already arranged hotel here on the island and a hotel in Guayaquil tomorrow. So We waited for the buses to take us from the airport to Peurto Ayora for the night and back to the airport tomorrow. 1 hour each way. We got to go over the top and only road on Isle Santa Cruz. As I said, this is a beautiful little town, lots of dive shops, restaurants, tea-shirt shops and the likes. Had a great shower in a large one today without washing our clothes. They have been sent to the laundry. Knowing what I know now, you can pick up a cruise on the mainland on very short notice. A day or 2 ahead. Our co-passengers were able to save about $250 per person compared to what we paid. Maybe some would like a longer cruise, but I would recommend a 4-5 day cruise. Long enough to see many things without becoming boring. Just one man's opinion.

Oct 23, 2010

This morning we have arrived at Isle Floreana to check out beach, Flamingo nesting habitat and more beach with turtle nesting habitat. Then we went to "Post Office Bay". This place had the first barrel installed in 1792 and the idea is to put a post card in the box (without postage) and you go through the mail yourself to see if there is any mail addressed near your home. If there is, you take the mail and deliver it yourself. Michael and I found a postcard from someone in Everson Washington, so their postcard is going to get a ride of its life. These people will receive it in about 6 months. Now Michael and the others or out snorkeling. i didn't feel like joining them in the water. I have seen enough beach, fish, sea lions, boobies, turtles and ocean. I am looking forward to riding again. This has been relaxing and beautiful, but there are more sights to see and more places to visit and more people to meet. While the guide has done a good job, I feel his pace has been slow. Maybe the pace is good for much older people but slow for the current tourists on the cruise, given their ages are much younger. Michael is bored too… In hindsight, a 4 day cruise would have been a better timeframe. after another 4 hour trip across open ocean we arrived at Peurto Ayora. Beautiful little town, very clean, very Latin American. The largest town on the islands. We are here for 1.5 hours, then our last dinner on board, then another trip around the island to where we started. Dinner was good again as always. The ships chefs have cooked consistently good food that does not irritate the bowels. Good portions of meet, veggies, and fruit. Juice too, people down here like their juices, With every meal.

Galapagos Islands

Oct 22, 2010

Breakfast at 7 am as normal, but then we had to make sandwiches for our hike. He took us to a land Tortoise conservation post that has breeding stock and goes out and finds eggs because the introduced species like dog, rats, ants, goats, sheep, pigs and the likes will not allow eggs to hatch, unfortately.

Went ashore and got a bus up the parking lot of the Sierra Negra Volcano. It last irrupted in 2005, but the magma was contained within the caldera. About a 45 minute walk to the rim and then another 15-20 minutes around the rim to another vantage point. Diego say this is the second largest caldera in the world spanning 8 km across. We are at an altitude of about 1200 metres. Nice walk, we needed it as it was taking quite a while to find our land legs again. Then back down the mountain to the small seaside village of Puerto Villamil where we bought soap and batteries. After checking out this village, we hike back to the dock and get back to the boat for some snorkeling. I didn't want to but Michael did. I went for a nice shower with soap, and am getting my laundry done at the same time. I'm actually getting good at doing laundry in the shower, with the boat rocking and rolling. Couldn't bring very many cloths with us as limited space on the bikes and when we are around other people, they don't appreciate a subliminal essence of Mark or Michael, so washing one set of close and wearing another is becoming routine.

Oct 21, 2010

Breakfast at 6:30 am this morning so that we can go on another walk. Boy, have I seen a lot of boobies. I will never look at boobies the same way again. We saw big ones and small ones. All the mature ones have blue feet. Saw more sea iguanas and had some sea lions keep unto the panga. Walked around on lots of old lava. This lava looks like Elephant crap even though I have never seen it. Lots looks to be rolled into long 1 inch long turds. The lava we are walking on today I am told is about 800 years old. Looks like it happened yesterday. After getting back to the boat, they have a snorkeling expedition for us, but Michael and I decide to decline because the water is the coldest we have yet felt. I had a beer and downloaded my pics. Can't wait to show you all the boobies!!. Right now we have just finished lunch as we motor towards our next stop, 7 hours away. Lunch today was Ceviche because Suzanna asked for it. Ceviche is cold seafood soup with onions and lemon. It was quite good and they gave me seconds. I think they made lots.  Sea is getting rougher as we head to the south end of Island of Isabela. Well that was an understatement. Huge swells and then they started coming from the side. 7 hours on my back in our cabin. Anytime we thought we could stand, just about made you want to V. We arrived at Puerto Villamil as the sun was setting. Relatively calm bay, just swells to rock the boat, no pounding waves to make you dinner do strange things.

Oct 20, 2010

This morning was a dry landing and then snorkeling. Got to see a medium size land tortoise (aprox  100 kgs) and lots of land iguanas. Walked through some paths and got back out to the coast. This is the dry season Diego tells us. Normally lots of fog and mist, but this year is a La nina year. Warmer temperatures so less clouds. Great for us tourists. Rainy season comes in January and then the foliage grows. Right now the Balsa trees are dormant without leaves. Many pools are nearly dry.  From the ocean, the islands appear to me to be much flatter than I expected. After lunch was another Panga ride to tour some more bird colonies, then we started motoring to our nights moorage. Along the way, whales were spotted, so the captain took us to the area and got to see them breach a few times. Because they are fishing, numerous birds were to and we got to watch the boobies dive bomb the school of fish. Amazing how fast the hit the water. Just before they enter, the boobies put their wings back and become a narrow arrow entering the water. Quite cool.
The rest of the cruising was uneventful other than having a Pelican catch the boat's wind currents and follow us for a while.

Oct 19, 2010

Island Isabela, the largest of the islands with 5 volcanoes. Panga (dingy) ride to check out the locals. We saw penguins, blue footed boobies, flightless cormorants, and a couple of young sea lions put on quite a show for us along side our boats. Then a dry landing. We are taken up to Darwin Lake and past. Beautiful views of the area. After that snorkeling with penguins, sea turtles (Tortuga s) and lots more fish. Michael has the underwater camera so check out his pics. Water hear was colder and our energy was spent. After another great meal (The food is excellent and the crew looks after us extremely well). There are 11 paying passengers on the trip and (I think) 7 crew. They all know their jobs well and are constantly working. The boat was built in 1996 and has beautiful woodwork throughout. Nicely set up and very comfortable. Back to the day. After lunch another dry landing. Michael still getting over food poisoning from the mainland is tired and stays on the boat. We get to see a gaggle of sea iguanas. Probably, Diego says about 600. Watched them swim and fight. saw more sea lions, some in tidal pools playing and others just suntanning. Saw lots more sea turtles and the vertebrae of a large wale. Then another snorkelling trip. I chose to forgo this one and drink some rum. Got to share it with others but did the bottle justice. After another great dinner, I went to bed about 8pm.

 Oct 18, 2010

We were told to be up early because they have an interesting schedule to keep, so 7 am was breakfast and off to see a colony of sea lions. We got to walk between them, get close enough to smell them and were amazed that none were afraid of us. Back to the boat for more food and then our first snorkeling adventure. Water temp about 20c, we drifted along shore and a couple of sea lions, a shark, and massive amounts of fish swam past or we swam past them. the crew is treating us very well. In the afternoon, they took us for a dry landing where we got to walk around the Island and see local fauna and animals. Got pics of land iguanas, bigger than sea iguanas, they live longer too.

Oct 17,2010

Up at 5:30 am to get ready for our flight, Tony drove us to the airport. after checking in, paying our terminal fees and having our luggage scanned for what I expect to be food or bugs or contamination to the Galapagos's environment, we proceed through more screenings. I was amazed at the amount of security for a domestic flight. In my opinion, it appeared more tightly screened than international flights. Our flight was uneventful and when we got off the plane, I was again surprised by the temperature. Maybe 20-22c. Being that our flight was different than the others, we had to wait about 2 hours for the flight with the rest of the Angelito passengers to arrive. Diego, the guide was at the airport shortly after we arrived so we knew the waiting game. A short bus ride to the peer and onto the boat. Sustenance awaited and after our briefing,we were off. They took us to a beach to view crabs and sea iguanas and the remains of an old barge. Then back for dinner and more briefings about the next day. As we were both quite tired do to the noisy partying the night before, we both were in bed early.

Oct 16, 2010

Flight to Guayaquil

We got up early packed our bikes and took them over to a parking garage across the street from our hotel. With locks on both rotors, and 2 cable locks locking our bikes together, we installed the bike covers, to hopefully make them invisible to the people. As they are parked right next to the parking attendant booth, we pray the will be safe. Then off in a taxi to the airport.

We arrived in Guayaquil and Tony was there to pick us up, as promised. We spent a number of hours checking out his shop, home and then picked up his wife Anna-Karina. Lovely lady, then they take us to a mall for us to pick up supplies needed for our sunny adventure. Then back to the shop to wait to close up after the last job. While at his shop, a customer and neighbor finds out about our motorcycle journey from Tony and we start a labored conversation, his poor English and our poor Spanish. But with perseverance, we find out,he too ride and takes us to show his bike. 1996 nicely customized 1400cc Suzuki Intruder. Falto also informed us that the started a motorcycle club in Guayaquil called the "Iguana Riders" and produces a T-shirt for me as a gift. Falto also informed us that he is a local journalist. Then Tony and Ana-Karina took us to a great Colombian restaurant for a delicious dinner. After dinner they are ready to show us the town. but both Michael and I are under the influence of Montezuma. They took us back to their home and introduced us to Ana-karina's family who live next door and locally. Being Saturday night, parties abound, but we are tired and sore and retire to bed about 10 pm because we have another early morning to meet our flight to the Galapagos. In hindsight, it might have been more interesting partying with the locals as they didn't quiet down for us until nearly the time we got up, but that's another story.