Lobsters to Llamas, Maritimes to Argentina

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by Scottishman

Hey Dwight, your pictures of MP were incredible!!!

I have seen the high level pics from a distance, but your close ups of the details and workmanship were incredible. Were there originally wooden roofs on the gabled houses? Any sense as to how old the construction was, and have you seen any books that describe the history?

I am very happy that you have had a few great days, and are really enjoying yourself again. I AM SOOOOO MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO REPEATING MUCH OF YOUR RIDE IN THE FALL.

keep up the great work, you're an inspiration to older Canucks everywhere. I can say that because I'm 65.

Cheers

From what I could see they used wooden poles to support a grass roof. i don't know much about the Inca, why they left, where they went, nothing. There were thousands of books for sale in Agua Caliente, and i sure they are available at bookstores across North America. As I was wandering around i heard a guide say to a group that when they left they took their idols ( Gods) and went to a hidden city. He said there were high hopes for finding the hidden city when the trees in the Amazon were being cut at a tremendous rate, but now that the Amazon is not being cut so much there are fears that the hidden city will never be found. That's all I know. I intend to Google the Inca as as soon as I have time.

Kedgi

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by eddyturn

FN sweet Dwight!!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the pics

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by Hevy Kevy

Hey Dwight: I've been lurking right along, totally with you during the "low". Years ago on the Tibetan Plateau in China, thousands of miles from....anywhere really after several months of solo travel, I faced an almost crushing low. I endured, as did you and continued my travels. It's hard for people who haven't been that alone to really fathom the depths of it, but I was right there with you. By the way, I think your photography has reached stellar status!! PS How did you photoshop all the tourists out of the piccies at MP?

You are my #1 RR, thanks for the enjoyment.

I'm glad you've "been there" and understand. It is impossible to describe how hard it is to be by yourself for months on end. people will just have to imagine if they, themselves could start out on a moto for SA by themselves. What would they do after months alone? Being alone is good, I like it. It sharpens you up. No one does anything for you, you do it yourself. All you guys and gals reading this need to ride for a week or two alone. I'll bet you like it. I love it. There is a limit however, your words (That alone) touch the feeling, and the Peruvian Desert can push you there. That's all, nothing more, nothing less, It's all good.

Thanks for the comments about my photos. I love photography and have a good SLR which I left home. I'm pleased with my "point and shoot" MP photos.

Kedgi

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by riverman

Wow ! What can I say. Dwight, I am so glad, for a couple of reasons, that you changed your mind and went to MP. Firstly, I think you would have regretted it later had you not gone. Secondly, a selfish reason on my part, but that has been one of my dream sites to visit and I must say that your photos were the most extensive that I have seen. Most people just post the money shot view and a couple more but you took the time to share with us many more that really detailled the site. Thank you, thank you!

It's going to be mighty hard to impress you with some neat trails south and west of Moncton after all that you have seen. Un gros merci encore!

I find it interesting that all of us, not just ADVrider readers like different things. That's what makes the world go round. My favorite place in the world is the Green Parrot Bar in Key West Florida...I mean, bar none, if you asked me any time any day (not everyday, just when i can) where I'd like to be..that's it! It's my "Happy Place" There is nothing I like better than going in there and shooting the shit with the characters that show up there, and many years ago, Angele and i were adopted as a couple of those characters. There is a reason they call the Parrot a "Sunny Place for Shady People"

My "dream" would be to see a Nascar race at Talledega

Machu Picchu was cool, I liked it. I'm glad i went. But in all honesty, not on my hit list. Don't know why, it's just not. I saw lots of Granolies ( a word Angele and I made up) facing the sun at MP yesterday morning at sunrise....PLEASE! Not my thing. If I had a dollar for every dreadlock I saw at MP I could buy a new Super Tenere and Angele and I could ride Europe, two up, for years.

I like South and west of Moncton and south and east of Moncton, when i did my big "get off" this July I was riding home from an excellent day down Dorchester way. I love riding down to Martin Head too and I love blasting around Albert County just for fun. I've gone for day trips in NB and done over 700kms, just for fun, and never left the Province.

I love riding the St. John River Valley. My buddy Tom and I went to Ft Kent Maine not long ago searching for the northernmost bar on US1, because My favorite place is the southernmost bar on US1

I just love riding my bike, any excuse. I truly think though that you only experience "freedom" real freedom when you go by yourself and go somewhere beyond where you normally travel. Just go somewhere you have never been, doesn't have to be far, just somewhere you have never been.

I am so glad people liked my pictures. No photoshop, just carefully selected shots combined with getting up early to beat the crowds, and believe me by the time I left there were huge crowds. Cool place and if any of you dream of going there I say, GO! That's what life's about.

Kedgi

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by shirtman

Nice pics now we want to see MP absolutely beautiful thanks for sharing Dwight!

It is an amazing place. I liked Agua Caliente too, which is MP's supporting town. I enjoyed myself there. I had an interesting ride out today. I have pictures I'll post and stories i'll tell tomorrow.

Kedgi

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by SparkyL

Great stuff Dwight! MP looks so awesome. Glad to see you're back in the groove.

Thanks

I went to Nortons tonight for yet another great hamburger, watched another exciting Peru, under 20 soccer game which Peru won, and got some excellent tips from a French guy, who's been living here for ten years about where to go and what to see next. I am back in the groove.

Kedgi

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by KLRJRS

Fantastic pictures Dwight ! Keeps the rest of us Dreamers in touch with your trip of a lifetime ! Glad you have adjusted to the altitude and have had a few days to rest up , keep going and enjoy each day the best you can..looks like the food has gotten a little better as well . And I agree the KLR is no ordinary bike ....it's a great all around bike, good value,as one guy stated....it's not great at any one particular thing...but it's good at everything you throw at it ...sort of like a multi tool Swiss Army knife..does what you need it to do!!! And Your Trusty is like a pack mule. Or should I say. A packed LLAMA,,
Jim

A KLR is an excellent bike, and with the money I saved over a BMW, I rode to Peru. hehe

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by agent of orange

Ah ha a llama!! is this the elusive lobsters to llamas llama?? I love the inca looking balaclavas!! imagine the looks you get blowing the driveway back in Shediac Oh wait they may not be colorful enough for the acadians Glad to here you feel more like yourself again.. seems like you need a little vacation from your vacation. Altitude sickness sucks. last week i was above 16000 feet on a test flight for a bit.. there was finger issues with the pressurization controller and the pilots fingers lol it thought it funny i was feeling like i needed to hurl or fall over. it messed me up for the rest of the day. but hey by the sounds of it you may not be blowing snow next winter as you are dreaming of Africa!

Just a word of caution, all my in-laws are Acadian! hehe. I actually thought of buying one of those masks for snow blowing. Angele and I know Sophie, however who can knit anything and I'll bet she can duplicate those masks.

I was up over 14000 in snow today on the way back from MP. FN cold. I could see the slush building up in the tire tracks of the opposite direction vehicles. My toes and thumbs are still stinging. Damn near frostbite. Almost overshot a couple hairpins in the Sacred Valley in the descent. it was like a power dive, or a space shuttle re-entry, trying to get down where it was warm.

I'd love to ride Africa. I mean really love to, but currently the political situation in the north won't allow it. I can easily see spending months in Mexico however, Mexico is an outstanding country. there is so much to see in Mexico it is mind boggling. SA is a big trip, but Mexico is a dream trip too.

Kedgi

[Kedgi]

I want to say thanks to all my readers. I find it hard to believe i have had over 100,000 hits on this forum. It makes it worth spending time on this RR

I think I need a sponsor so i can keep riding, and writing, Know anyone?

Kedgi

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by Digasi

Great reports as usual :) I have really enjoyed following your reports. Glad things are getting better for you.

Things are better. I'm actually trying to decide what's next instead of dreaming of being beamed up to Miami

Kedgi

[eddyturn]

You are so close, you must finish the trip. Maybe quicker but get it done.

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by eddyturn

You are so close, you must finish the trip. Maybe quicker but get it done.

No worries, I'll finish. I want to see Buenos Aries

Less than 4000 kms to BA and then about 3000 home from Miami via Key West, that's nothing compared to the 20,000 I've done.

Kedgi

[Kedgi]

After visiting MP, walking all over Agua Caliente,, having a good supper, and working on my ride report I went for a beer. This big bug flew in the window. Nobody else saw him come in, so I pointed at him and said Que Es? Loosely translated from my limited Spanish it means WTF is that????

The girl behind the bar thought I was asking about the bottle of 1800 and reached for that, then she saw the bug and man did she ever jump!

He's called an Allecate. (sp) I'm not sure of the spelling but it sounds like (alley CAT eh). It's the Spanish word for pliers because I guess he can put on a tremendous bite.

Never know what your going to see, I never heard of one before.



The next morning I was up early, as always, waiting for the train to run me back down to Hidroelectrica to get my bike.

The way things worked out I spent two nights at Agua Caliente. There are two trains that go down to Hidroelectrica. 6:44 and 12:35. It is an all day ride from Hidroelectrica to Cusco, the 12:35 train, the day I went to MP was too late to make it in daylight so I stayed a second night and took the next morning's train.

Here I am at 6am waiting for the train.



By the way, on my ride back to Cusco, I noticed that the days are already getting shorter here.


Turns out I was the only passenger going down the hill. Of course, I was the only one that had left a vehicle there. Most people take the train or the mini buses. You have to be a certain kind of nut to ride your bike there.

So, since I was the only passenger the conductor, a nice young Peruvian girl, named Nora sat and talked to me for the 35 minute trip. She speaks English very well and she tells me she speaks German too. It was a pleasure to have a chat with someone. We talked about my trip, her work, which she loves, her travels to Germany on her vacation, it was fun. She told me she works 9 days and gets 2 days off. Here is Nora



The ride out was slippery, we'd had quite a bit of rain since I rode in two days earlier. Slippery and this road ar not a good thing. It's a dangerous road. This marker was on one of the steep cliffs



As you leave Hidroelectrica you see this amazing flow of water blasting out of the rock. It must be 40 or 50 feet in diameter. The Hydro project must work something like Churchill Falls in Labrador with deep tunnels bored in bedrock. In, fact where i parked my bike there was a tunnel, with the big yellow construction type dump trucks coming in and out. They must be expanding the project and no wonder. I have never seen such a powerful, violent river. Class 6 whitewater for miles and miles.




It was shortly after I took this picture, I dropped the bike. I went down a power company road instead of the road out to the pavement and quickly realized my mistake. I turned around and had to wait to turn onto the right road for an opposite direction bus. The turn back to the main road was steep and rocky and when I attempted it the rear wheel climbed high enough over a big rock I couldn't reach with my right foot, because of the slope, to steady the bike before it had reached the point of no return and over it went.

I looked at it laying there for a while, had some thoughts about riding back roads solo in Peru. Then decided I would have to unload it to pick it up (never thought of taking a picture) then a truck from the power company came along with four guys in it. I flagged them down and they helped pick up the bike and I was on my way in two minutes.

I had taken a bunch of pictures at MP, the better ones I showed you of course, and I forgot to charge my camera battery. It was nearly dead, or was dead and came back to life a couple times for these shots. They are the last ones I got yesterday. I didn't feel too bad because I had traveled this road on the way in.

This little bridge the van is on, is an emergency bridge for when the road is flooded. That's the road, that big pool beyond the bridge. We did have a lot of rain. It has a sign that say 3 ton weight limit. I wonder how much a 15 passenger van full of tourists and luggage weighs. Obviously these drivers think it weighs less than 3 tons. I also wonder if an engineer ever calculated the load bearing ability of that bridge and I wonder if he or she made that calculation before about a third of the boards broke out of the deck.





Peru





I finally made it back to the pavement without further incident and this is the town of Santa Maria where the pavement begins.



Santa Maria offers basic accommodation, Santa Teresa, which is halfway in the dirt road looks better, and Agua Caliente has all types of accommodation.

Just before I climbed the pass into the Sacred valley I stopped and put more layers on at a construction site and talked to Patty, the flag person in Spanglish. She was very nice, I actually got her to laugh a few times. It is amazing how you can communicate if you both want to talk. She was amazed by my trip "Solito" Nice girl, she was worried about me riding the pass, she said it was Mucho Freole up there today. She had that right! It was very cold.

Here's Patty, at least that's what I understood, but every time I said it, she corrected me but it still sounded like Patty to me.



So after a bone chilling ride back from MP, I arrived at my same hostal in Cusco. They were happy to see me back. I had a cold shower Yikes I was filthy. Santa Maria and Santa Teresa offer tropical heat, the pass is freezing cold, the rest of the ride was in rain on and off, so today I'm chillin' in Cusco before I decide where to go next.

I'm off to McDonalds for a coffee and breakfast

Kedgi

[Kedgi]

The fall yesterday din't do me any good. \\hurtin" for certain

Ouch!

[RexBuck]

Sorry to hear your hurtin. Those rocky corners like that are always a PITA.

Thanks again for all the help with the MP roads. Really appreciate it. I expect I'm still a good 3 weeks behind you. Just leaving Quito tomorrow. Oh, and great MP pics also. Glad you found your llama - your life is now complete.

Party on Garth