Arequipa is another vibrant city in the south of Peru.
It has a great centre square called the Plaza de Armas with old colonial buildings and walking streets lined with shops. I preferred Arequipa over Cusco as it was far less tourist centred with people trying to sell you tours.
As always the extremes in the difference of one day in my travels is crazy. One night I am sleeping in a sheep herders house in the Andes and the next day I am sipping coffee at a Starbucks. I realize that I enjoy the contrast, but I can only take each one for a short period then I long for the other.
I set out again to find the local mercado and was not disappointed. The colours and liveliness of the market is exciting. This is where the action happens and it is usually divided into sections of produce, clothing, meats and seafood etc.
For my more sensitive readers I opted out of taking pictures of the meat section where you can find such things as Alpaca, llama and other no describable meats.
One of the other best reasons to go to the local mercado is the food. In the food section there are always vendors selling fresh food and drink. Here I had a great plate of roasted pork with potatoes and salad for $4.
As with the other sections the food section is divided into food and drink. There are rows of stalls where they will blend you fresh fruit drinks.
It seems that I have a deep buried need to take shortcuts across the country. Just like earlier in Peru when four of us found ourselves on the road to nowhere, it seems I found another.
This time it was during my travels from Cusco to Colca Canyon to see the giant Condors. As I hit a town called Yuri I looked at my GPS and it said I had about another five hours to go if I followed the paved highway (boring). But when I look at my paper map there it was a shortcut running across to the next supposed highway.
Surely this would save me time!
So just to make sure I talked to some locals about my plan. Now here are a few things you need to know about asking directions from most locals.
They have zero sense of time and distance
They will tell you what they think you want to hear (it's there want to be helpful)
If you are driving a motorcycle every road is passible to them
They rarely know the next town over
They are not familiar with using maps
My spanish sucks when it c
What can go wrong!
So off I go and I find myself on this amazing fire road travelling through an area called the three canyons. Unfortunately after about an hour and a half the road transformed from a nice leisurely fire road to numerous river crossings and mud.
Now if you don't think I learned from the last road to nowhere I did (a little). This time I actually stopped and thought about pushing forward or turning around while the getting was good. The only problem though is I just lost three hours of prime daylight and now I would need to drive at night.
So off I head back to town and when I arrive I turn on my GPS and it shows the highway to take. But as soon as I get to the edge of town I see grading equipment (my spidey senses are tingling) as I stop for the signal person.
For my first question I ask what highway number is this ( I believe it is #21 on my map). Of course she does not know, but says don't worry this is a national highway. My second question is how long before pavement again? Her response "Don't worry only a few more miles"
Well two hours into it this is the situation I find myself:
The road is filled with rocks, potholes and muddy sections
The sun has disappeared for the day
I am at 4700 meters (15,000 feet) on the altiplano with nothing around
It is zero degrees and will only be dropping as the night continues
At least the view of the rising moon is spectacular.
Now remember I said my spidey senses were tingling. Well as it turns out they were right because when I came a round the next corner WAM! I run into a huge rock in the middle of the road and all I can think of is I hope that didn't damage anything.
I made it about another quarter mile and then my front tire blows out. Now considering my current situation of it being dark, cold and in the middle of nowhere. I surprise myself with my calmness and all I can say to myself is "shit this is going to suck".
So I decide first things first is to assess damage to the bike. I inspect the front rim and notice it has a dent in it from the impact and obviously a hole in the inner tube.
(Positive: I was able to maintain control of a blown front tire, which on a bike can be deadly).
My second thought now goes to shelter as it is too cold, windy and dark to fix the tire. This is the altiplano and I have gone mile after mile without seeing a house, but not less than a 100 feet back in the dark sits a farmhouse. I have no clue if anyone even lives there so I knock on the door with the intention of sleeping on the front landing if need be, out of the wind. No one answers but as I am walking away to move my bike and grab my gear a lady walks out from the dark. This is my first interaction with Martha who after hearing my story offers to bring my bike into the sheep pen and provide a room for the night.
The below video shows my accommodations for the night
This is really what my trip is about and something you will never find on a tourist brochure. It is not about the tourist sites, but about facing personal challenges when they arise and meeting the true people of a country.
I have always believed the majority of the people in the world will help you when the need arises. Martha and her sister are no exception as they offer me a place to stay and storage for my bike. After setting myself up and getting comfy with a book under candlelight, Martha comes by and offers me some coffee and bread to eat. I am humbled as these are people who have very little in life yet they are willing to share what little they have with a complete stranger.
My supper for the night
As I eat Martha and I get a chance to talk. I find out that this is their grandparents original farm, she is one of eight children, and her father has passed away. While her mother and siblings are in Arequipa for supplies, her and her sister are tending to the sheep and Llamas. I find out they have 90 sheep and 300 llamas, which apparently is not that much. Throughout the conversation she is concerned for my well being and constantly asks if I have enough warm clothing and blankets. She says the night will get bitterly cold outside and there is no heat in the house. She also thinks I am crazy for doing this solo and cannot figure out why I do not have a wife and kids.
The next morning I rise at six, brush the frost off my bike and reassess the damage. I start to disassembly the front wheel assembly to fix the flat, and find that in Triumphs infinite wisdom all the tools to remove the front tire are not supplied.
I need a special tool to remove the front wheel spindle (shit now what). Once again Martha and her sister dig through all there tools and supplies to see if they can help but to no avail.
I decided to take some pictures of my companions while trying to think of my next step.
With no proper tool I decided to flag down a passing motorist to see if he may have what I need. I flag down Tomas in his truck and explain my situation. He comes over to see if he can help, but soon realizes he neither has the tool to help. Without a blink of the eye he says he is going to Arequipa and would be glad to throw my bike in the back.
My generous helpers
Sending the Llamas out to graze
My bike at the shop with the front tire being repaired
Again because of the kindness of others a very trying situation turned into an experience of a lifetime. It could have taken me days to get off the mountain, but I was in my hostel by three the following day.
All I ask of others is that if you believe you see someone in need of help. Please take a moment to stop and find out as you may change there lives and view of the world with a simple jester.
First things first if you have never been to Machu Picchu there are about a million combinations of buses, trains and hiking to get you there. There is no road that allows you to drive directly to Machu Picchu.
Clive and I decided on the bus, train and 2.5 hour hike combo. The starting point is the city of Cusco where we hopped on a bus which took us to a trail whereby we hiked 2.5 hours to the town of Aquas Calientes at the base of the Machu Picchu mountain. On the way back we took the train part way followed by a bus back to Cusco.
Aquas Calientes is a great little town that is lined with restaurants and shops and if you are from Canada it will remind you of the ski town of Whistler.
A very popular Peruvian dish is Cuy (Guinea Pig). The Peruvians have been eating it for hundreds of years. It is just a hard thing to grasp coming from North America as every child probably had one of these as a pet.
When arriving at Machu Picchu the first thing you wonder is why they built the thing so damn high. I will admit that the views are amazing though.
It also gave me a chance to cross another world wonder off my list.
The Peruvian government is thinking about closing the mountain to tourists all together or to just select tour groups. There are over 2500 visitors each day that visit the mountain. Oh and by the way if you want to beat those crowds you need to get up around 4 am.
The Peruvian people are concerned with the preservation of this world wonder.
Just some local resident Llamas
This guy was just standing there catching flies with his mouth open. At first I thought he was stuffed since he did not move.
Now since it was not enough to hike 2.5 hours the previous day. I decided to also climb the Inka trail to the top of the next mountain called Manata. The picture of the stairs the Inka's built does not justify how steep the incline is. Throw your stair climbers away because this baby will kick your ass.
Straight up for 2 hours! My legs were ready to fall off and as you can see Machu Picchu is now far far away.
After climbing back down Manta, it was time for some reflection. I reflected that I do not want to climb another damn mountain.
After leaving Lima the first stop in the next leg of the journey was the Nasca lines.
They are a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the desert in southern Peru. The lines are shallow designs made in the ground by removing the reddish pebble and uncovering the white ground beneath. More than seventy are zoomorphic designs of animals. One hypothesis for the lines is that the Nazca people created them to be seen by their gods in the sky.
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After leaving Nazca it was once again time to cross those damn Andes mountains. Both Fred and I broke a new altitude record of 4545 meters (14,911 feet). It was freezing cold with a temperature of 4 degrees and once you added in the windchill it was well below zero. Both Clive and I had frozen fingers by the time we were finished riding.
The Alto Plano at the top of the Andes was full of Llamas grazing. I also nearly had myself a new Llama sweater due to a near collision on the road. Damn things scurry like rabbits along the road not knowing which direction they are going.
Here we decided to stop at the top of the mountains in a Peruvian village for a hot chocolate and a much needed warmup (see the snow in the background brrrrrrr).
Now one of the nice things about being on the Alto Plano is it is flat so you can drive at a steady speed. But once you start to descend from the top of the mountains you are faced with miles after miles of crazy turns.
Now this may seem fun for a while but after four plus hours it can get very strenuous do to the need for constant concentration otherwise you could easily make a mistake on a turn and find yourself over the edge.
The decent back down to Cusco was beautiful though.
Welcome to the city of Cusco which is a buzzing place full of tourist due to it being the stepping stone to Machu Picchu.
And as always the people are friendly and helpful. Here is a picture of us getting a police escort to our hotel since we had know way of finding it. It include flashing lights and the odd siren to move traffic along. Gotta love it!
