Day Two, Day One of riding. The ride from Lima to Paracas
The day started by getting the bikes and getting a couple of trucks as support vehicles. Neale took care of signing for the bikes. Basically he had to sign over his firstborn child, his house and his car, as insurance for three brand new BMW motorcycles. It seems everything that has been done requires an unusual amount of paperwork. But he got it done and we were all set with the bikes.
Next, Neale and Brandon left with Flavio to pick up a rental truck. This was going to take a while so while we waited Ross and I did our first interviews. We were doing video interviews for the webisodes on Speed TV’s website as well as for a project that Neale is working on.
The interviews were pretty basic. We were asked things like, “What do you expect to get from this trip?” “Do you have any personal matters in your life at this time that you’re struggling with? Obviously looking for any potential drama that may arise on the journey. And of course drama makes for good TV so……
Once Ross and I completed our interviews, we had to wait for Neal to get back with the rental truck for us to load all our gear into before we could start the ride. Also, Neale still needed to do his interview.
Neale and Brandon finally return with Flavio’s Toyota truck and a Toyota rental truck.(They’re actually pretty cool). While Neal is doing his interview, myself, Ross, Brandon and Flavio (the local guide) load the gear into the two trucks.
We get the trucks loaded and still have to wait for Neale to finish. Well now it’s almost noon so we decide to have our first lunch in Peru.
I had chicken and rice and Ross had a cheese Queso and fries. I thought my food was excellent and I was so happy. They even had fresh bottled water to drink so all was good. No need to use the sterilization tablets I brought.
By the time we finished eating, it was time to ride! FINALLY!!!
The ride today started in the city of Lima and let me just say WOW! I mean I have driven in Manhattan during rush hour and its pretty hectic. But let me just say, Manhattan has NOTHING on Lima! These people drive as if they have no sense of self worth or preservation. It was like rhythmic chaos. AND I LOVED IT!!!
It was so fun just trying to figure out if you were supposed to stop, go, turn, slow down, speed up….It was crazy. But that didn’t last for too long and we were out of the big city and out on the highway. The scenery was great. We rode right along the coast all the way down. The waves were smashing against the rocks on our right., and to our left was more sand than I have ever seen in my life.
We made a couple of quick stops for fuel and a snack. At one point we stopped on the side of the road and there was a street vendor cooking fried kingfish and making sandwiches with it. The sandwich was a roll, fried filet of kingfish and pico de gallo for what equaled $.70, so I had one. It was so good. It seemed a bit risky and potentially very unsanitary, but what the heck right. So far I have managed to keep it down, we’ll see how long that lasts.
We ended the day at our destination of Paracas. Not sure what the area looks like, as it was very dark when we finally got here.
Until the next time I have Wifi service. God bless.
Day Three, a day in the desert
This morning we got a bit of a later start than we wanted. A very light breakfast, I had two rolls and a small cup of coffee. Ross had a couple spoons of scrambled eggs and a Roll as well as a cup of coffee.
We got our gear and saddled up for a short ride down the street for an ocean front interview, reflecting on our previous days ride as well as our thoughts on our upcoming journey through the desert.
There were a lot of dogs just lying around the beach. This seemed to be a fishing boat port, so maybe they were hanging around hoping for some scraps.
The interviews were short because we had a rough day ahead of desert riding. We were already late, and anxious to go. We also did a couple of “beauty shot” videos of the three of us riding on the beach.
While we were there, one of the men on the boats managed to catch a rather large fish. Not sure if it was for personal consumption or for sale, but it was a pretty large fish.
So we set off on our journey through the desert. We knew we had a long day ahead, so we made sure our Kreager water packs were filled up with bottled water and some energy tablets. The Kreager camel packs were an awesome accessory. They held about three liters of water, and I was filling mine up almost twice a day on some days.
We started into the sand area in a preservation area. It was a part of the desert near the Indian Ocean that was a National Park. Ross and I were asked to wait in a certain spot while the camera crew went to set up a shot. Well, while we waited we decided it would be fun to ride the dunes a bit. And it was fun. We were jumping, roosting, sliding, spinning etc. Then Flavio stops Ross and has a word with him. Ross and I had Cardo communication systems in. I was about two hundred yards from where Ross was so I asked him over the Cardo system, “What did Flavio want?” Well, it turns out that we were not supposed to ride off of the trail because the marks you make on the dunes never go away! Oops. So lesson learned. Don’t just ride off before asking if its ok.
So the shot was set and Neale, Ross and myself do some riding for the camera. The scenery was incredible. I just couldn’t believe how beautiful the desert was.
As we continue through the desert, the sand texture started to change. At first it was pretty well packed and even the “soft” areas weren’t too bad. But then Flavio took us through some of the most challenging sand I have ever ridden in my life! Now had we been on light dirt bikes it would have been one thing. But we were not. I was riding the R1200GS and Ross and Neale were riding the F800GS. Very capable bikes, but also very heavy when it comes to sand. Also, our tires were not exactly the best choice for sand. The tires were a good all around choice, but for sand, not the best.
While we are trying to navigate the sand it was taking everything we had to keep the bikes moving and not crashing. Stopping would be detrimental because restarting would have been incredibly difficult. Mostly stayed in third and fourth gear to get through it. Ross and I finally made it out without going down or stopping. As we exit, we notice that there is no Neale. Oh no. I asked Ross if he had seen Neale stop or go down, but he didn’t notice. In all fairness, we were a bit preoccupied with our own survival at the time lol.
We decide (against everything our tired bodies were telling us) to double back a bit and see if we could find Neale. Just as we start to do so, here he comes. Throttle open and sand flying lol. He was on the same survival mission that Ross and I had just been on. Myself and Ross are standing on the road yelling to Neale “Come on Neale, you got this!” “keep diggin’ man, keep diggin’” and sure enough he makes it all the way out.
When Neale gets to us I asked, “what happened? Did you go down?” Neale responds that “No” he had not gone down. He was forced to stop because Brandon was struggling a bit getting his truck through the sand. As a result, the truck ended up sideways in front of Neale. Once Neale was stopped, getting the bike going again was a challenge (as it would have been for ANYONE) But he got it going and got it out.
As we are discussing the situation with Neale, we notice that Brandon is still in the dunes and not moving. Yep, now he has stopped and has the Toyota stuck lol. Flavio to the rescue. Flavio, the sand master, heads out to the dune with his modified Toyota Heilux and pushes Brandon and gets him going again. Once Brandon was out, Flavio decides to flaunt his sand prowess by having a bit of fun throwing some sand around by sliding his truck through the dunes a bit.
We are back on solid ground now and time to get some kilometers under our wheels. Or so we thought. We were in fact on pretty solid ground, however, as we were going along all of a sudden there would be sections of sugar sand that were two, sometimes three football fields long. They were a bit hard to see coming so as we would hit them running about 45-50mph, it got exciting. I ended up having what Ross called “a graceful get off” lol. I simply say I went down. I gott pretty crossed up in one section of sand and laid he bike down. No damage to me or the bike. Picked it up and kept going.
Our lunch stop was the most spectacular ocean scene I have ever seen in real life. The pictures below speak for themselves. Now although our lunch was sandwiches on the tailgate of Flavios truck, the scenery made up for it. (and the sandwiches were good too). I felt like I was looking at what would be used as a desktop background on a PC, only in real life. (And in fact, the picture I took is now my desktop pic on my Mac).
Time to click out more kilometers; we still have a long way to go.
Along the rest of the day the ride was pretty tame. We would go through these small shantytowns that had no power or water. Some places literally looked like abandoned towns like you would see in an old west movie. Then all of a sudden you would notice people in the buildings. They were not abandoned at all! It’s how they lived.
It made me wonder, what do they do here? What do they eat? Where do they get their water? And what do they DO? I mean really. These places were in the middle of nowhere! Nothing but desert for miles and here they are. Living. We get upset if we lose our cell phones for a few hours or if our power goes out for a couple hours due to a storm. These people LIVE THEIR LIVES with no power or water. Like as if it were 150 years ago and it 2010. Most of them had never seen a white guy either. I may as well have been an alien from another planet to these people.
It really puts some things in perspective.
We end the day at our hotel after a fourteen-hour day of riding. We are tired and hungry. Our rooms are nice, but very basic. Beds, a towel for each of us, and a bathroom, It was minimalistic and it was all we needed.
Day four, curves and long straights
For breakfast we had some bread with jelly and coffee. Again, very minimalistic but we were glad to have it. We filled up our Kreager camel packs and were ready to go.
Before we leave we have to do our interviews. This is becoming quite funny because Mimi, the producer, is looking for “drama” and she’s not getting it. Like, she wants Ross and I to be so worn down from the ride that we are about to break into tears. Or she wants us to be at each other’s throats and arguing. But it’s just not happening for her. lol. We we’re loving the ride and having a great time getting to know each other along the way as well as looking forward to our visit to the orphanage. This lack of the argumentative and shock TV drama was killing her. I thought it was funny.
Getting in and out of the small towns proved just as interesting each day as our first day in Lima. We adjusted quickly to the chaotic manner, but it was still interesting each day.
As we left the town we faced some very long stretches of straight road through the desert. At one point I went approximately fourteen miles without ever having to get off the gas or turn. Then we would get into some of the mountain sections and ride some of the best curvy mountain roads I have ever seen. The curves just seemed to go on and on and the flowed together so nicely. We stopped along the way many times for pictures or to mount cameras to the bikes to capture the ride.
We stop in a small town for lunch. I had Flavio order for me and told him I would just have what he was having. Then I walked across the street with Neale to check out the view and shoot some pictures while we waited for our food.
When we come back in, my food is on the table, Deep fried fish, the whole fish, and soup. I had never eaten fish with the eyes still in it, so this was going to be a first. Not to mention that I had been warned many times about the potential of getting sick down here. But I asked for it so I ate it. The fried fish was very good. A lot of bones that I had to pick out but the fish itself was great. The soup started out good, it was a noodle and vegetable type soup, and as I said, it was good, until the boiled fish head with the eyeballs still in it floated to the top! OMG! Really! I look over at Ross and he is just laughing because of course he already knew what was in it and did not tell me specifically so that he could witness the reaction on my face. What a friend. lol.
I did not finish the soup. I tried, after removing the fish head, but I just couldn’t do it.
We continue our journey along the straights and around the curves. We stopped a lot for restroom breaks or to see the views or meet some people. It was another long day, but we made it safely and as a group and we were happy. We did our evening interviews and then cleaned up and had some diner.
I'll continue with the est of the story soon. Here are some pictures.
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