Piura, Peru
Finished! Safe and sound. With all the other teams talking about adventures and challenges along the way.
Colán, Peru
The last couple of days have been taken up with pisco sours, surf lessons and some short driving stints to the next beach resort to repeat said activity. Still 400kms away from the finish line this morning we decided to find a beach resort very close to avoid any last minute missions on the final day, the 14th. We left Pacasmayo at 10am with a huge 400k journey ahead on what must be the most boring road, the pan American highway. With 200cc its got plenty of power (relatively speaking!) but not the gearing so we're stuck at circa 10k rpm, noise, wind, sand storms (it's all flat desert now) trucks and cars steaming past on a dead straight road. Thankfully we had ear plugs which blocked out the clattering of our engine that even after 3-4 oil changes it still sounds like a bag of spanners, I guess ringing its neck after what must be 10hours at 10k rpm it has had enough. During the 9 hour journey we stopped briefly to pee, fill up with fuel and amuse ourselves by lighting a massive banger that Olly bought at NYE, bit of an anticlimax after holding onto it for 11 days! We past another team on the way into Piura (the finish line) they were staying there till the finish party on the 14th but we headed onto a beautiful beach resort planning to spend the next two nights basking in our glory of a well planned, executed and pretty much completed adventure. Only 50k back on ourselves to the finish line, have I just jinxed it? Oops.
Casma, Peru
Finally we've made it to the hot and sunny coast. It was an early 5am start and a mammoth 13 hour journey that consisted of driving over the 2nd highest mountain range in the world! We peaked at a staggering 4750m (Triple the height of mt snowdon then add a Ben Nevis on top!) One track muddy, icy roads and everything covered in snow - cold, tired and scared does not even cover it! Thankfully our trusty Moto taxi decided not to breakdown and apart from a stand off with an angry cow things went to plan. We're probably now a full days travelling away from the finish line but with 3-4 top surf spots inbetween and 6 days to spare we're going to take our time and enjoy the beach, surf, sunshine and pisco sours. Our thoughts go out to the friends and family of another team sadly involved in a fatal accident.@
La Unión, Peru
2 very long days of traveling meant we were all absolutely exhausted last night, on top of this we all had different ideas for todays travel plans. After a relaxed start we left Huanuco at 12ish and headed for a small town 5-6 hours away. A winding but tarmac road meant we made good time albeit in the pouring rain and cold. A quick stop over tonight then an early start for a big day, hopefully making it to the coast tomorrow.
Huánuco Region, Peru
What was meant to be an easy 4 hours today turned into another massive day and journey, 365kms over 10 hours. A new record of 4400m above sea level at which point we were pelted with hail and sat shivering amongst snow covered peaks, the only respite being the trucks blowing hot exhaust fumes over us as they came past. Our Mototaxi performed perfectly after a quick oil service, chain adjustment and lube this morning. We're now at a junction wondering wether to break left into more mountain ranges or right onto what appears to be a decent road but headed for the jungle. No two maps are the same and everyone we ask says different thing, time to flip a coin.
Huancayo, Peru
Smashed 260kms today over 13 hours on some pretty sketchy, dangerous and bumpy roads. We left Ayacucho at 6am in convoy with 4 other teams. Finally we'd managed to find a 200cc engine and pursade a mechanic to fit it without banging on about mañana! Wow what a difference, being 3 up with luggage our pathetic 125cc was miserable but now having a motocross bike engine it's certainly turned our mule into a different beast, still the same crap brakes and steering. Our convoy started to run into problems and keen to make it to Huancayo we pushed on without breakfast or lunch but a staple diet of Oreos and toffee sweets. It paid off, just, and we rolled into the city at 7ish soaking wet, very cold and hungry. All of us headed straight for a hot shower (not together, much to Paulas disappointment) and now sat in a warm restaurant drinking pisco sours. L O and P x
Ayacucho, Peru
Having experienced the total useless power of this stupid machine we decided to attempt an upgrade on the engine. Sadly after a day messing about in abancay and false promises we were still no where near a larger cc engine although we did have a fully serviced Moto taxi but now were a day behind. We left abancay early doors in an attempt to make it to Ayacucho a huge 14-16 hour journey. Having made good time to the halfway point we stopped for lunch and met with other teams. Unfortunately some sneaky Peruvian decided to steal one of our bags leaving us stuck at the police station trying to get a police report at 12.30. 2 hours later we were back on the road but disaster struck again and our camera decided to make a break for it never to be seen again. 4200m peak was our next challenge which thanks to Ollys driving was no problem although absolutely Baltic up there. We were making good time but a routine mechanical check to fix a rattling from the engine halted progress as the Peruvian mechanic appeared to have no idea what he was doing. Now with a completely broken Mototaxi there was only one thing to do, track down a man with a hilux, load the taxi in the back and drive the final 4 hours at Peruvian rally driving pace. We're a little scared but should make it to Ayacucho tonight.@
Abancay, Peru
madness began this afternoon with a police escort out of cusco. A delayed start and mototaxis blowing themselves up at the first hill (most teams including us had to ditch passengers into cabs!) a small group of 5 or so teams made it out of the city and head out on the open road. Our goal was to get to Abancay but having a measly amount of power this looked like an impossible task being over 200kms away and an approx 6 hour journey, it was already 4pm! We powered on through the mountains our lowest level 1150m, highest a chilling 3885m and in the clouds! We limped into Abancay at 11pm with our chariot needing a good service tomorrow. A big first day, Job done.
Cuzco, Peru
After the realisation that our mototaxis are a heap and will be causing us all sorts of trouble in the two weeks ahead we decided to forget everything and lose ourselves at the stunning sight of Machu Picchu and what a way to spend our final days of 2011. Bedtime over the last three days has been a below par 9pm and an early 4am start this morning is going to provide an almighty effort to get to 12pm tonight, the local pisco spirit should help with that. HAPPY NEW YEARS! Lucas, Olly and Paula x
Lima Region, Peru
made it to Lima, Olly worked his magic and got us upgraded to flat beds for the first 10 hour leg to Houston however it was a sharp knock down to reality on the second 7 hour leg squashed into economy but arrived safe and sound. We have 6 hours to kill in Lima till our morning flight to Cusco so have checked into a seedy hotel near to the airport, literally the bed bugs are going to bite.
