Back
to Main Journal Menu | Previous
Day | Next Day
Day 52 - Monday, December 23, 1996
(just outside of) Abancay, Peru to Cusco, Peru
Miles - 173
(by Jason)
- 80 more kms of rough dirt road, lost my licence plate
- Right after arriving in Abancay Jim gets a flat on the
rear tire.
- 15 year-old tire repairman whips a patch on it in no
time
- Over 100 spectators watching us re-assemble the bike
- Another hour of steep climbing dirt -Chain came off
4 times
- Australian motorcycle grand prix of sharp hairpins
(by Jim)
Just as we rolled into Abancay, yours truly got a flat rear tire.
Ironically, it happened within 50 yards of a llanteria (tire repair
shop). The propietor of this fine establishment was a dimunitive
15-year old who could have passed for 12.
The tire repairman of Abancay |
Jay had little patience for my dawdling, and
quickly took over, barking out orders to me and removed
the tire in no time. If had been left to me and the Peruvians
it probably would have taken hours. Once the wheel was off,
our little tire repairman went to work. People kept filling
the doorway, more to stare at the two strangers in the brightly
colored outfits, than to observe the mundane chore of fixing
a flat. Annoyed by the loss of his main source of light,
the repairman (boy) would cup his hands and fill them with
water which he would fling at the doorway, temporarily emptying
it of the curious onlookers. In addition to fixing my flat,
he pounded out a serious dent I put in the rim in Central
America. |
| Exactly 34 miles outside of Abancay, the road
went from rough potholes and gravel to pristine asphalt!
Jay and I worshipped our newfound driving surface. This
lasted for exactly 43 miles at which point it returned to
its prior shoddy state. What we couldn't understand was
why there was this stretch of perfect road in the middle
of nowhere. It did not connect any major towns or other
strategic points as far as we could tell. And if the goal
was to pave the road from Abancay to Cusco, why not start
at one end and work to the other end? |
The funny thing is,
Jim didn't get a flat when he got this dent.
|
|
At long last, asphalt!
|
In any event, our beautiful road turned into
gravel and potholes, then back into fairly decent paved
road. Along the way, Jay was giving me pointers about how
to slide the back of the bike around the corners and then
"give 'er gas" and push it around. |
| I was improving, but because Jay was following
me, I felt some pressure to try a little harder. At one
point, I just about missed the turn and was teetering on
the edge of a several thousand foot drop-off. (Remember,
this is one of the highest roads in the world.)
I told Jay to go ahead of me, otherwise I was going to
kill myself trying to impress him.
|
Black gold, asphalt!
|
Upon arriving in Cusco, Jay went into town. I expected him to wait
for me outside of town, before the road split, he expected me to
locate the town square and wait there. So, he went to the town square
and waited with Dave and Leanne, while I was riding around town
looking for them. It was a mess and everybody was upset. Jason was
really upset, he was envisioning my corpse at the bottom of a ravine.
Anyway, I ran into David later that night and found out where they
were staying. I had already gotten my own hotel. (There is really
a long story here, but we simply don«t have the time to tell it
right now.)
Day 53 - Tuesday, December 24, 1996
Cusco, Peru
(by Jason)
- Christmas Eve Day was a little tense between Jim and
me, I think the separate hotel rooms were a good idea cause we
may have ended up killing one another. Jim, Leanne and Dave went
out for breakfast while I spent 5 hours getting my bike way respecable
again.
- Mass hysteria at the markets -Broken sub-frame
- The welding, tail-light-smashing, cop-chasing story.
[see entry for Christmas in Cusco]
- Jim and Dave and a bottle of rum
- Presents
Photo Gallery
|
A sampling of Cusco Fruit
|
Ladies, white hats are in!
|
|
Jay lost his license plate on the road to Cusco.
But he hated the idea that people wouldn't know that he
was from British Columbia...so, he made a replacement
:-)
|
The chain that refused to die. Jay spent several
hours trying to break this chain--which had no master
link!
|
This photo does not do justice to the
beauty of this mual on the streets of Cusco, Peru
Back
to Main Journal Menu | Previous
Day | Next Day
|
