SMS Update
The queue to exit Peru yday was massive, but we finally managed to enter Bolivia! Our luck started changing again yday when Matthew was hit by a line of pigeon poo in the main square in La Paz, and now I am sat in the airport alone after Matthew was whisked off by security to go through our bags as they think we have packed guns....I am hoping it is the bike lock!
SMS Update
IN CHIVAY Well there have been many ups and many downs, with emotions and temperatures, and we are finally leaving our Magnificent Tricycle of Destiny in Chivay and heading on a bus to Puno. Peru clearly did not like us, and after our 7th puncture and having all our warm clothing stolen, we have surrendered, we are leaving, and never coming back.@
Cusco update
Got into Cusco yday evening. May have got in earlier had we not punctured our front tyre (again) with a broken spoke, all the locals we very helpful and we ended up with a mob helping us push our mototaxi to a garage, where our tyre was fixed.......however.....we have now found out what happens if you drive on a tyre that has not been put on straight! It starts to come off as you drive and then bursts the inner tube. Honestly if you want something doing just do it yourself! We have now got the time of changing a front inner tube almost down to pit-stop quality! So the delay meant we were then driving to Cusco in the dark and we ended up driving through a massive hailstorm, but with Matthew driving, I was fine as I hid behind him and used him as a shield against the grape-sized hail stones!
We were going to have a day of rest today and go sightseeing and have the bike seen to, but seeing as at the moment (yet again) things have not been sorted, and no one can cross any borders with the Mototaxis we shall hang around today, and go to see Macchu Pichu tomorrow. Of course The Adventurists are ever hopfeul and optimistic that everything will be sorted today, but we have heard that story too many times, so at the moment it is looking like our journey will be from Huancayo to Puno, but we shall see!
SMS Update
IN ABANCAY Stayed in Kishuara last night. Took wrong turn and ended up on road of rubble resulting in a flat front tyre, but other than that Tricycle of Destiny doing magnificently! On tarmac now from Abancay which is a nice rest for the buttocks! Matthew has turned black due to a unique combination of engine oil and dust mixed with suncream on his face.@
SMS Update
IN ABANCAY Stayed in Kishuara last night. Took wrong turn and ended up on road of rubble resulting in a flat front tyre, but other than that Tricycle of Destiny doing magnificently! On tarmac now from Abancay which is a nice rest for the buttocks! Matthew has turned black due to a unique com ** some text is missing **
SMS Update
Drove in the dark and through a storm last night and stayed in Chumbes. Pushing on towards Abancay. Mototaxi doing well, although gets upset at high altitude and when it has no fuel, and I have found it is not fun pushing uphill! Matthew being a hero and so far done all the driving, as all wiggly cliff roads. With screaming camels and wobbley express, all fine so far
SMS Update
275km down, 3725 to go! Got in 11pm last night after a v day hard day, all covered in dust! Everybody was heroic! nobody ended up in the river, although some did try their best. One taxi severely injured in need of repair, 2 ppl injured from a close meeting with a cliff. But we are ok, tired, but ok!@
We are finally off!
Yes!
Despite all the bad omens, we are finally leaving tomorrow morning. First, Honda pulled out of the whole deal, but luckily The Adventurists managed to find some Mototaxis from Lifan, however they needed to be shipped to Hunacayo from all over Peru so the start date was pushed back. Then the train from Lima to Huancayo was cancelled, due to a derailment, but we managed to get there by minibus. Then the rainy season started 2 weeks early, however at the moment that seems to have disappeared. Then we had major problems with the paperwork for the Mototaxis, which caused further delays. When finally a few teams managed to leave one crashed into a wall, cracking their jerry can and leaking petrol over their Mototaxi. Also that day one team managed to rool their Mototaxi off a cliff, luckily without them on it, but with all their luggage on, into a ravine, however there have been mumblings about how proficient at driving they really were when they left!
But after all that, we can finally leave, and do not fear! For we have had the most practice being stuck here in Hunacayo for a week! And the delay has given the mechanics a long time to fine tune our Magnificent Tricycle of Destiny into a beauty of a beast!
So keep an eye for our updates. The plan is to get to Ayacucho tomorrow evening, so let´s see how wrong that can go!
I’m an occasional theatrical prop (film extra), a frequent contrarian (popularity is irrelevant), a suspect philosophiser (I think therefore I…thunk?), a failed author (On the Destiny of Species), a one-time choir boy (non-halo division), a two-time adventurist (one Rickshaw Run and one Mototaxi Junket), a three-times a lady (...), a no-time Wildlife Photographer of the Year (I blame the camera), a part-time farmer (assuming two chickens and a tomato plant counts), a full-time natural history pipe smoker of the year (self-declared), a constant hypocrite (it's true), a mortified reflector (haunted by a particularly obtrusive Ghost of Conduct Past), an appalling salesman (a significant problem in a capitalist society), an existentially nihilistic (everything just is) and philosophically realistic (facts define themselves) incompatibilistic (free will is a myth) causal determinist (the future follows the past) with some non-spiritual stochastic reservations (did Heisenberg kill Laplace's demon with an uncertainty principle?) and no firm opinion about the existence and nature of the ultimate first cause (it's definitely possible that something is definitely infinite)...a supporter of critical thinking (in matters of truth faith is no substitute for evidence), a respecter of magical thinking (in matters of survival faith is the perfect substitute for evidence), a selfish cynic (altruism is also a myth), a latent criminal (stealing>begging), a possible anarchist (regulated freedom is an oxymoron), a former wrestling fanatic (oh how I cheered The People’s Elbow!), a wannabe smallholder (two acres with a water source and a sea view please), a used-to-be animal physician (beef locum – no herds), and my hobbies include firewalking in paper-mâché wellies and skydiving in a cling film parachute and concrete underpants.
I also make chutney.
