Day 42 La Paz to Coroico, Bolivia

La Paz is a big city and we were in the wrong part of town. After the border crossing the day before, we arrived too late and worn out to find a better place to crash for the night. I was booked to DJ on Saturday night, but that was three days away and we wanted out of the craziness. That morning we read in our travel book about the world's most dangerous road; La Paz to Coroico. Perfecto. This road has a elevation drop of around 12000 ft in 60 miles of twisty, pot holed, and partially paved road. It claims over 100 lives a year. At the end, a little town tucked away in the edge of the rain forest that caters to those trying to escape the big city. Mike and I had a killer time (sorry...I had to say it) riding this road. Unfortunately, most of the way down was through the clouds. You knew that the drop-offs over the side were thousands of feet below but you couldn't really see that well. The first photo is the only one I got from top and the second is just below the cloud line towards the bottom.

Day 41 Puno to La Paz, Bolivia

The rout leaving Puno that morning took us around lake Titicaca, which is one of the highest lakes in the world and the largest in South America. Within a hour we reached the border crossing into Bolivia. After multiple pay offs to get out of Peru, I then spent the next couple hours in a small room with a immigration official and a police officer trying to get our visas into Bolivia. At 135.00 US per person, we had to give part US and part Bolivianos. The problem is that they want to give you really bad exchange rate for using there own money. It took some negotiating to make sure we weren't getting completely taken, but we had come to far not to enter Bolivia over the usual shady border crossing practices.

Day 40 Canyon de Coca to Puno, Peru

The following day was an easy ride on the high plains of eastern Peru. Paved roads were a welcome change and a long stretch of straight away even let me get a couple photos while on the move. Once again, another day of just phenomenal scenery......you almost become desensitized to it. Then again, turn the corner and something else comes along to remind you of the endless beauty that exists in this world.

Day 39 Ocona to Canyon de Colca, Peru

With Machu Piccu still closed due to mud slides, we decided to go see Canyon de Colca. The journey there was an epic trek, as it took a solid 6 hours of climbing dirt roads into the Andes Mountains. The first photo is of just foothills, this was a completely deserted road. I don't think we saw another soul the whole way there.
The canyon was absolutely breathtaking, it is around two and half times deeper than the Grand Canyon. As you can see by the cloud behind Mike, we were once again at high altitude.

Day 38 Nazca to Ocona, Peru

After the flight over Nazca we headed out towards the coast. Within a hour we encountered extremely high winds that were blowing 4 feet high sand dunes over the road. At one point, there was only 2 feet left the road to ride on. Two full sized plows were trying to keep this section clear. Even the 18 wheelers had to alternate from each direction on what little was left of the road.This photo was taken just before reaching the area that the desert was reclaiming.

Further south, we carved through endless twisty coastal roads that split the mountain side, towering over the ocean below. The rest of that day proved to be some of the most spectacular riding I've ever done. The photos below don't even do it justice.

The Nazca Lines

The next morning we took a flight over the desert to see what is known as the Nazca Lines. These giant images were made to been seen from the sky by god(s), aliens, fox news, ????. These were made sometime around 500BC by the Nazca Indians.




During take off, I looked down to see that the brake line had both duct tape and a zip tie on it.... quality workmanship is abundant around here.
















The photos below are of a humming bird, a tree, and a triangle. There were many more, but the images are not that clear.

Day 37 Lima to Nazca, Peru

And then there were two. The first day of travel after saying farewell to one Ducati and it´s British pilot.

Photo: Somewhere south of Lima.
The good thing about this trip is that when the road maps don't show the way or if the GPS shows no roads at all, you just keep heading south until you run out of land.

Day 35/36 Lima, Peru

Our purpose for going to Lima was two fold, Nickers needed to catch a flight to SF and Mike and I needed our tires installed. Otherwise, we would have skipped this gigantic city as it seems every time we go into one, I cant wait to get back out on the open road again. Lima's poverty level is mind blowing, as there thousands of shanty shacks along the road heading in from the north. The air quality is equivalent to that of a coal mine and the traffic is slightly better than Bogota, which isn't saying much. The next day we all went to the local KTM dealer where Nick stored his bike and Mike and I then spent the next 9 hours waiting for the tires to get changed. The shop didn't own the machine needed and they took the tires elsewhere. In the end they didn't balance the rear tires and mine was mounted backwards with the tread pattern in the wrong direction. Not exactly a positive experience, but perhaps I´m just accustomed to doing the work myself and having a full workshop in my home.



1 KTM, 2 wheels M.I.A.










Photo of b walsh about 7 hours in, just chilling. Patience is required when trying to accomplish anything in Central or South America such as border crossings, eating out, internet, etc.

Day 34: Playa Tortuga to Lima, Peru

A photo of Playa Tortuga in the morning.










Peru is truly magnificent.

Day 33: Pacasmayo to Playa Tortugas, Peru

The day started out well. Leaving the little beach town this cop gave me a thumbs up, which in my experience is rare to say the least.

Then Mikey got flat in the desert. Changing the rear tube on the KTM is no small task. It was about an hour of work on the side of the road, in the heat, while being blasted by sand from the heavy wind gusts. The rear tire wouldn't seat properly even with CO2 cartridges getting the pressure above 50 psi. We had to limp it back to town to use a air compressor from a gas station.



It was at this point that I also got a flat on my bike. Lucky for me, we had already turned back to town as both mike and I nursed the bikes along the road.


After the multi flat tire debacle, we rode the remainder of the day and found another chill little fishing town to stay at that night.

Day 32: Tumbes to Pacasmayo, Peru

It was good to be back along the coast again. Shortly after entering northern Peru, the terrain turned into vast mountainous desert with the deep blue ocean on your right. A combination that takes your brain a little bit to become accustomed to.



Note that I'm still lugging that rear tire around with me.

Day 31: Quito, Ecuador to Tumbes, Peru

The Andes mountains run most of way down the west coast of South America and are on average around 13000 ft. Most of the riding that day was descending towards the the coast of Ecuador. Once we reached the coast, the landscape changed to nothing but banana tree fields for hundreds of miles. We saw our fair share of bananas in Central America, but not like this. Later that evening we reached the border of Peru.

all photos by nickes-not sure what was up with my photo skills that day.

Day 30: Ibarra to Quito, Ecuador

When you look down at your GPS and it reads a latitude 00.000.00 degrees, you have reached the equator. These photos are of exactly that.
We then ventured across miles gravel canyon roads to reach the official equator monument. However, I was exhausted and took a nap by the bikes, skipping the photo opp. The shot below of nickers and mikey would have to do.

Day 29: Colombia to Ibarra, Ecuador

A half day ride through the mountains had us to the border of Ecuador. Getting all of our paper work went pretty smooth, but it still took about 3 hours.

Day 28: The back roads of the Colombia

An outstanding day of riding. We stumbled upon empty gravel roads through the rain forest. Amazing waterfalls, rivers, and mountain passes with little villages.

photo of b. walsh by nickers.






mikey and nickers discussing the road less traveled