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.