Wow – for me it was a majestic day of riding! Finally the scenery changed into something more dramatic and interesting.
At the start of the day we ran into Jessie, a New Yorker riding a KLR who told us that Peru has been great so far for him – that’s because he did the mountain route, where we did the coastal/desert route.
There were a couple of points where the road was being repaved and the traffic was being held up. For some odd reason Marc asked how long it would take to let us through – odd because it was the first time that it has occurred to us to ever ask –
it usually is pretty fast. This time we were informed that it would take about 2 to 3 HOURS!! After some whining we convinced them to let us through! Uff!!
Up and down mountains, through valleys, amazing turns, lots of llamas and very little traffic.

Funnily enough I was noticing smells today – pleasant smells – the rain water vaporizing up from the asphalt, apple being baked in some hut, flowers, freshly cut grass, and some other smells I’d never encountered before… 
We didn’t make it all the way to Cuzco but got pretty close to a town called Abancay where we had some very good pizza while sharing travel stories with Jessie – very cool guy 🙂

From Motorcycle NY to SP

Mood is getting better but started out pretty bad today… the road was straight and dull… no colors… no distractions… but then arriving at Nazca everything changed… some turns on the road, we could see the sky again and the colors came out!
I think the video and the photos (or lack of them) says it all…

From Motorcycle NY to SP

Wow – I can’t believe it’s day 60!
Wierd day today. Was still not 100% this morning. The altitude, cold, fog, and potholes on the road did not help. Down from the mountains we got more desert until Lima… Got pulled over by some cops who caught us speeding 🙁
Lima is not pretty – well at least from the little I’ve seen – not realy fair but so far Peru is my lest favorite country so far. So barren. Very poor. Not too pretty.
Hoping Nazca and Machu Pichu will be worth it and change my opinion of the country.

And today’s video is almost not worth posting… the battery was low and I didn’t notice it throughout the day so I only got the first few seconds of each comment I’ve made… I decided to post just to get some of the scenery:

All day in bed but feeling better now. Took some Amodium and hydrated
oursleves well with Inka Kola – a nurse from the hotel came to see us
and said it has good amounts of electrolytes 🙂 At night we had some
consome and some more Inka Cola…
I think tomorrow we'll be fine to get back on the bikes and he's
towards Lima.

So the excellent food in Peru backfired – Marc and I are both with diarrhea 🙁
We are both exhausted from yesterday’s ride and beat up from this slight food poisoning… we figure it was some “carne seca” we both ate a couple of nights ago…
In bed watching TV.
No riding today…

Oh my god – absolutely exhausted, drained, but very happy!

Started at 11am and drove till 5pm through the desert with tiring
cross winds. We stopped for lunch in Trujillo where I ate too much.
Not good because we passed through a port town called Chimbote that
had an unbelievable stench that turned my stomach inside out, as well
as it’s contents 🙁
Around 5pm we took a left to start climbing up to Huaraz. The road was
absolutely stunning. Then The asphalt disappeared. Fun! 30 miles to
the town – no problem!
3 hours later, dark, exhausted, dizzy from the altitude (4,000m –
12,000ft), we arrived. We seriously considered camping on the side of
the road. As we entered town a cop pulled us over but didn’t even
bother asking for documents when he saw how tired we were 🙂
Now at the Andino Club hotel having dinner 🙂
Ufff!!

New videos for days 54, 55, 56 and 57 have been uploaded!!
New photos for days 55, 56, and 57 have been added!!

Questions for those avid readers of this blog:

1. Has the text become less interesting?
2. Have the videos become more interesting?
3. What would you change, add, remove?

Keep thinking of a better way to present this story once it is complete…

AND Marc’s compilation of the best moments so far! Really cool 🙂

It was great waking up with the ocean right at the doorstep of the room. Went out early in the morning to take some pictures and a quick dip in the ocean then the swimming pool – felt really good after such a long day yesterday.
After breakfast we hit the road and immediately saw that this region of Northern Peru along the coast is a big desert. The roads are quite good and quite scenic.
We took a quick break around 1pm and kept on heading south towards Chiclayo.
At one point we went by a gas station and Marc looked back to see if I needed to fill up. Judging by the frequency of gas stations we had seen so far I thought I’d be OK until the next one. Big mistake.
Yes – today I ran out of gas – the only complain I have about my KTM Adventure 990 – the tank is a little too small – 5.1 gallons.
We were in the middle of the desert and I just knew that I was going to run out of gas – we slowed down to see if we could make it but after 60km with the reserve light on the bike simply shut down.
We signaled a car and he stopped but unfortunately it was a diesel pick-up. He told us that there was gas half an hour down the road and would be glad to take one of us – the other should stay with the bikes watching them. We decided against that because it would be faster if Marc went on the bike and brought some fuel back.
Fortunately there was a lady selling gas 4km down the road! So Marc brought one gallon back and we then put another gallon each.
We arrived in Chiclayo pretty early during the day but the next town that had hotels was 3 hours away so we basically had to stay here.
Not a very attractive town but from we have seen along the road here it’s quite nice.
We attracted quite a crowd when we were unpacking the bikes – they are always amazed at the size of the bikes, how fast they go and always want to know how much they cost. They are also quite surprised when I start talking in Spanish to them… they always assume that we are language-deficient gringos 🙂

From Motorcycle NY to SP

LOOOOOONG day – started at 9am and ended at 9pm!
Good riding this morning along the mountains of Ecuador – quite chilly
– and high up – we could notice that the bikes had a lot less power
and consumed less gasoline at these altitudes.
Around noon we started the descent towards the coast – the sky was
gray the entire day but fortunately no rain.
We had around 300 miles to cover today since between Riobamba and
Mancora there isn't much in terms of tourism at all – it is quite a
rural area with poor villages along the way.
The border… well… I was expecting the worst since we never
officially left Colombia or entered Ecuador.
A pair of helpers aided us through the whole process. After about 3
hours and some expensive bribes we were able to get the exit stamp
from Ecuador to get into Peru and the documentation for the
motorcycles to enter Peru, which only came after the Ecuadorian
customs also got a bribe. We were at fault but some good negotiation
of the fees were necessary – their initial figures were always cut
down substantially…
In any case – we got to Mancora at night – well worth the trip!!
There were so many hotel options that we had a hard time deciding
which hotel to stay in. We finally decided on one and it turned out to
be the best in town – very nice.
Slow internet so you'll have to wait for the videos of the past two
days 🙂

From Motorcycle NY to SP