Thursday 29 December 2011

Leaving Ecuador and entering Peru....

We left this.......at 2300m @ sea level



For this......at 14m @ sea level.



But this was our reward.....



In the end, there is always a price to pay....


Me fixing what is been bend after a wipe out of note....going through this river crossing with a little to much speed....and.....shooooop, you're down boy!! Ego and my new spot light been hammered!


We left the old colonial town/city of Cuenca....(its always difficult to determain how big these towns/city are, as its nested between numerous mountains) but we manage to do some serious kilo's to the border of Ecuador and Peru. Early start, but we spend more or less the same time at the border as on the +/- 500km stretch of curvy road...that however friends is a story for a cold winters night with lots of red wine!!

In the end our new met friends, Gabriel and Cynthia from Costa Rica, saved our butts with their good manners and lots of patience and we were out to the Peruan side...Gabriel is also believing in KTM....and he is a mediacla doctor, thought they only believe in BM's.....ouch that hurt!!



Peru, is heeltemal die teenoorgestelde van enige land wat ons reeds besoek het. Waar ons soms gewonder het of Sentraal en Suid Amerika enigsins ooit droee dele het, is ons vinnig tot die besef gebring, dit kan droog wees ook.... Snaaks genoeg, die Peru boere plant rys in die droogste dele denkbaar en daar is geweldige boerdery praktyke wat toegepas word.




Ons het egter meer as eenmaal goed gevloek vir die manne met hulle moto-taxi's...hulle ry erger as SA s'n!



Na amper 1000km binne twee dae, is ons verras deur die mooie kusdorp, Huanchaco, net noord van Lima. Waar ons voorheen gewoond geraak het om deur hierdie vaal dorpe deur te snel, het ons skielik in hierdie mooie kleuryke dorpie beland. Hier is selfs 'surfers!'

1 comment:

TONY HEATH said...

Hi guys,
I think it was Henry responding to my last comments (under November)?
Ja.it wasn't too easy without a GPS card but i found that my GARMIN still came in useful for direction/altitude etc.
When people ask about my trip i can honestly say that the LIMA vicinity was the ONLY one part that i would gladly have skipped.Just one big dirthole from just south of Ecuador right down to the turnoff toward CUSKO/MACHU PICCHU!!!
I spent a couple of nights by myself in HUANCHO (you guys are apparently there now) and that was about the nicest place there,although Peru is extremely cheap and the local food's quite good.
My advice would be to go down a bit further south of Lima and then to cut back into the Andes toward lake Titicaca and Cusko.Cusko's a great place and you can do Machu Picchu from there if that's on your agenda.
Personally i'd have gone through to Olyantambo ,the little village very close to Machu Picchu as it's quite quaint and takes the PT out of that trip from CUSKO (16 hours by taxi/bus/train).
The turkeys i was with didn't want to stay there as they weren't certain of the road conditions.They turned out to be 100%.
Don't forget to include LA PAZ/BOLIVIA once you've done with Lima and ,one of the highlights on your way back to Buenos Aires will be the winelands of northern Argentina (CAFAYATE)
Pity that the DAKAR's not ending in Buenos Aires this time as it's a great city!
Cheers for now and ride safe!