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Day 19.

Day 19

 37,626 – 37,855  229 Miles today (15,155 Miles Overall)

Haurez, Peru – Lima, Peru

What a lovely day I thought today was going to be! I slept in like a baby, didn’t take a cold shower because I wasn’t ready to deal with that right in the morning. I had a nice little free breakfast at the hostel and hit the road. 7 Hours my GPS said. It’ll be a nice ride and I’ll get to Lima early and get to explore, I thought to myself. I hit the road at about 8:30am and boy did the desert of Peru come out super quick once I left Huarez.

The road kept climbing and next thing I was at 14’ft. I was enjoying the views and it was only about an hour into the ride.i came around a corner and noticed 4 adventure bikes on the side of the road and they were taking pictures. I made a U-turn and decided to take a picture myself and talk to these guys for a minute. I passed them last night on the ride to Haurez. I pulled over on the side of the road for a minute and the guys weren’t too chatty. I went to turn my bike on and it didn’t turn over. You gotta be fucking kidding me. I tried a few more times and nothing. I mentioned to the other guys that my bike wouldn’t start and they pretty much replied with “well that sucks, we have to be on our way now” and just left. I can’t believe it. They didn’t offer any help or anything. First and last time I ever pull over to chat with any other guys on bikes.

So this was it. Just me and my bike in the desert at 14k’ and no cell service. My worst nightmare. Actually no it’s not my worst nightmare. My worst nightmare is when I was riding In the mountains two days ago. So now what. I pulled out my Garmin Inreach rescue beacon and sent gramps a message telling him what happened and if there’s any idea to write back.

I took the panels of my bike and tried to disconnect my battery for 10 minutes to try to reset my ECU. I go to crank it up again and still nothing. Well now this sucks.i tried to flag down about 20-30 cars for about an hour and no one wanted to stop for me. I kept trying to start the bike up and at one point it started up but it was idling really high at 2K and the throttle inputs were not registering with the bike. When I hit the gas nothing happened. Weird. it must be in some sort of limp mode.

I’ve had this happen with cars before. Since I got it started up and running but wasn’t able to give it any throttle I decided to throw it in first gear and let the clutch out. It worked! I was moving at a whopping 5 mph. I threw it in 2nd and then 3rd gear and now I was moving at about 12-14mph. At least I was moving. I mean I only had another 200 miles left to go and at this point I’d be in Lima in 15 hours and that’s if my bike didn’t overheat from moving so slowly. I was moving for about 10 minutes when I saw a white pick up coming from behind and I threw my hazards on and had my thumb out. Two kids in a pick up pulled over and told me they were going to Lima.

They decided to give me a ride. They pulled over and turned the truck around. The three of us picked the bike up and put it in the back of the truck and luckily my luggage straps were what I was able to use to hold the bike upright in the back of his truck. I’m so lucky I carry these with me to lock up my luggage if I ever go on a hike with the bike loaded up. We got the bike on there and locked down. I guess I’m getting to Lima in the back of a truck now but I am so so thankful that these guys picked me up. We chatted a bit on the drive through google translate and our broken English and Spanish.

They said it was about 7-8 hours in a car to Lima so we had a long ride ahead of us. About an hour later we stopped at a roadblock for road work. I decided I would hop out and fuck with the bike if I wanted to find out whats wrong with it. The kid driving was a mechanic and had an OBD 2 scanner. We hooked it up and it said it had an error code of a misfire. Well I knew that already. I tried to turn the bike over a few times and still nothing. I really wish BMW had some sort of trick we could do to reset the ECU and clear the check engine light code for situations like this. Cmon BMW you make this bike to travel around the world and now it just ends like this?

I decided to flip the key on and off a few times and holy shit the CEL disappeared. I tried to start it and it ran like before but at 2k RPM and the throttle still didn’t work. I turned it off and did this key trick a few more times. When I went to fire it up on the next shot I knew right off the bat it worked and the bike was running normal. I turned the bike off and on 20-30 more times and it ran fine every single time. The guys decided to let me unload the bike about an hour after this blockade opened up. We will be at a lower altitude and the roadwork will stop so i’ll have a nice day ride.

About an hour later we pull over and I hop in the back of the truck. I turn the bike on and off 20 more times to make sure the same shit won’t happen after the bike is off the truck. All was working well. We unload the bike, I throw the luggage on and I put my riding gear back on. We exchanged info and they said they will get me if I break down ahead of them. Lovely, now I have a support vehicle following me like all the other losers that make tv shows about traveling VIA motorcycles.

I hop on the bike to start it up and the same bullshit happens. I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS. WELL ACTUALLY I CAN. They hopped out to help me out but I did the key trick and it worked. I hit the road, the bike was running ok. Now I’m not sure if that was a coincidence or the bike will work from here on out just fine but I wasn’t taking any chances. I rode my ass straight to Lima. I pulled over for a bag of strawberries to have for a late lunch since I can’t pull over for any real food or anything at this point. I googled some bike mechanics in Lima. BMW was out of the question because some guy on an app said he paid $600 USD for brake pads, oil filter, oil and some other bullshit parts. They are charging too much for labor and parts supposedly. I made a post on a Facebook group while riding and two people replied with go to Touratech in Lima and ask for Ivan.

I typed it in on google and hauled ass. I got there at 4pm and met a few people and the owners there. They said they will get in touch with Ivan and let me know what’s up tomorrow. I loaded up all my shit into an Uber and got a ride to my hostel. I checked in, got some delicious food, made a few phone calls and now I’m typing this thing up so my day can be over. The shop texted me and said Ivan can look at the bike on Wednesday. I’m assuming I’ll be here till at least Friday. Not the way I was expecting to spend my week but here we are. I’m very thankful I made it here before nightfall and I’m not still stuck there on the side of the road. I threw the kids 200 soles which is $50 USD and told them to get some good food for me for the help. I’m thankful I didn’t have to pay a few hundred in USD for a 6-7 hour tow all the way back to Lima.

In the end I’m very thankful for how the day ended. It could have gone much worse. Worst case scenario is my bike costs a bunch to fix with needing new parts and I’m stuck in Lima for a week. Not too bad eh guys? I could be stuck in some other shithole town here where there’s no mechanics or anything. I’m a really lucky guy today. These situations are real and it’s what was giving me so much anxiety being in the mountains two days ago. If this happened there I would have had to walk 30 miles to get help. And that’s just to get help from someone to tell them my bike is in the mountains. Who knows if anyone would even go there with a truck to get me out!

The lousy picture i stopped to take.

You guys suck, for real.

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Day 18

Day 18

 37,438 – 37,626  188 Miles today (14,926 Miles Overall)

Pallasca, Peru – Haurez, Peru

This blog is starting to take up so much of my time already. I’m thinking of cutting back to every other day now but we’ll see what happens.

I wasn’t in a rush to leave today as I thought I had a short ride ahead of me. I slept in a bit, did a workout on the roof with that lovely view you all saw and worked on the site a bit before I packed up and left at about 8:45 or so. The ride out of town was incredible. All downhill and the mountains I could see from my hostel last night were clear in my view for about 2 hours on the way out. The road was all dirt going down maybe 6000′ to the base of the river you guys saw in my pics yesterday. My brakes must be on their way out even though I put them on in Quito. The amount of braking I’ve been doing is insane.

After riding downhill for a few hours I realized I haven’t gotten fuel since yesterday morning and after looking at the maps this morning I don’t think there’s going to be a gas station coming up anytime soon. Thank god I have the 7 gallon tank on this bike or else I would have ran out a while ago!

When I got to the river there was a narrow road but paved going along this river for about 40-50 miles maybe. I was rocking and rolling on this road. The center of the road had a bunch of gravel and sand so every time I hit it I would get a bit sketched out. The road was wild though, it was right on the edge of a cliff going down to the river the whole way. One wrong move and me and the bike are gone forever if we get launched off this road. I was ripping, having a great time listening to music and enjoying being on paved roads again.

After that part ended I found a little town in the middle of nowhere for food and gas. before I pulled in though cops stopped me asking for paperwork. I showed it to them and off I went to get some fuel. I filled up three gallons only to keep the bike light and got some food in case I wouldn’t eat the rest of the day and off I went. Some more twisty roads on the edge of a river some more until I get to Canon Del Pato. It’s a road I’ve been dreaming of riding for a while. It’s a tight narrow road in a gorge with a river below and there are a bunch of dark tunnels. The road is wide enough for one car only so if another car comes by I don’t know what they do but with my bike I just slide on over to the edge and let them pass without hitting me hopefully.

Once Canon Del Pato was over I was a bit disappointed. I thought it was going to be 50kms of the road like that but it was only maybe 10. I stopped for a few pictures and kept riding. I got to my next town where I was supposed to sleep but the next destination was maybe an hour ahead so I figured why pull over at 1pm when I got 5 more hours of daylight left. I hooked a left to go up this mountain where there are two turquoise lakes in a gorge up on a mountain. There is a peak next to the lakes which is at 21k feet that’s snowcapped. I took a ride up there and was expecting to camp up there for the night but from the reviews I read on the road going around the whole national park I wasn’t ready to beat my bike up anymore. I doubt I would see anything cooler than what I saw last week.

I hung out at the lake a bit until it started to rain and I headed back down the mountain. I googled Lima and hit go! I had a 9 hour ride so I was just going to ride as far as I could today and get a hotel wherever I ended up at 5pm. Huarez is where I ended up and got myself a nice little hostel here. I passed 4 guys on bikes from the Netherlands and Belgium on the way here and they’re probably staying In Huaraz as well.

Tomorrow morning I have a 7 hour ride to Lima. I can’t believe half of Peru is almost done already once I get to Lima since that’s the halfway point. A couple people I talked to back at home said the south is way way better than the north which I find hard to believe but i’m excited for it if that’s true. When I get to Lima I’m going to do some laundry, get some oil for an oil change and some tools for my bike. Oh and I’ll relax a bit since my back is killing me!

 

 

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Day 17

Day 17

 37,262 – 37,438   176  Miles today (14,738 Miles Overall)

Cajamarca, Peru – Pallasca, Peru

I slept like a baby last night and I’m sure I would have after yesterday’s long day of riding. The hostel I stayed at had the most comfy covers and beds I didn’t even want to get out of bed this morning. I loaded up the bike after pulling it out of the hostel and started my ride towards Pallasca. I was still contemplating which way to take here.

I had dreams all night that I side swiped someone’s car with my bike and I was running from them followed by another dream of someone telling me the road I was going to take today in the mountains was closed and not passable by bike. It gave me a bit of anxiety because I honestly wasn’t sure if someone told me last night or it was a dream. I’m pretty sure it was a dream after thinking about it for a bit today.

My gps said I had 180 miles to ride and maybe about 10 miles out of town I turned down a dirt road. Really google, 180 miles of dirt? Ugh this was going to be a long long day but this is what i’m chasing after right now eh? This anxiety isn’t leaving me at all once I hit the dirt road. What if I got a flat, what if my bike broke down, what if my bike rolls off the edge of a cliff. I have no service out there and I’ll be in the middle of goddamn nowhere.

Onward I went. I did about 20 shitty miles of dirt riding and at one point the road opened up to a huge field covered in mud and I had no idea which way to go anymore. I was praying it wouldn’t be like this most of the way. It wasn’t, it got much much much worse. After about 20 miles of dirt it opened up to paved roads which was nice for a bit and then it turned to shitty half paved half dirt roads. I rode for about 4 hours and stopped at this big lake to get food since I didn’t have breakfast yet.

After I ate I got back on the road and the turn to go up into the mountains was right after where I stopped for food. GPS said 7 hours for 110 miles. Interesting. That gets me an average of about 12-15MPH. What the fuck did I just sign up for. As I pulled up to the dirt road I noticed it was closed and this lady wouldn’t let me past. She said it was closed for a while for construction.

Well shit there goes my plan. My other option from this morning was a 10 hour ride over the mountains to Pallasca or a 14 hour ride down to the ocean and back up which was maybe triple the distance. I hit some towns on my GPS to get me closer to Pallasca without taking the long way around and it seems that at the next town it found me another route through the mountains.

I made my way up the small streets which turned into dirt roads and then I was in the middle of nowhere climbing up a mountain with sheer peaks to the right of me. I stopped to take some pictures and kept wondering if I should go ahead with this route but I am dumb and needed some adventure so I went ahead with it. After about an hour of riding in the rocky terrain I decided that I probably can’t turn around at this point. I’m committed now!

I kept looking around in the distance to see if I could see where i’m going to pop out but GPS said I have another 60 miles to go and I’m barely covering any ground. I think I screwed up taking this path and this looks like it’s about to be brutal. I kept riding and riding slowly trying to cover some ground and at one point I came around a bend. What I saw I was not happy with at all. It was a steep incline with a huge drop off to the left, the path was maybe 5-6′ wide with boulders and huge rocks everywhere. It wasn’t clean at all and there was a young kid walking a bicycle up it. After doing some dirt biking with gramps I learned this was a make or break point right here. I couldn’t stop or else getting momentum to get up this thing would be impossible. So I hit the gas and stood up, blasting through the boulders trying my best to keep the bike to the right of the path because what happens here is a rock hits my front tire and shoots it off one way and then another hits my rear and shoots it off the other direction and off my bike goes down this cliff to the left. I was trying to relax and all I heard in the back of my head was gramps saying “relax, keep to the right, don’t stiffen up and keep the speed up junior”

I blasted past this kid and my speed was good but I was scared as hell. I knew that if my bike flung off to the left my trip was over and I was never getting my bike out of this ravine. At this point I was 100% committed there was zero chance of me turning around. I kept thinking to myself you’re an idiot Marko, you always get yourself in some bullshit for no reason instead of having an easy day. I got to the point of the climb and took a little break. I was trying to catch my breath. I’m at 12-13k feet and it’s 45 degrees out but it feels like it’s 90 with how much I have been working to keep this bike on the road. I took a little breather and kept on going. The path wasn’t getting any better but I’m in the shit now and there’s no going back only forward.

I had a few river crossings to get over and ended up dropping my bike in one of them and got quite wet. Lifting up my bike at that altitude sucked pretty bad and I was out of breath. I dropped my bike maybe 2-3 more times and one was on purpose as I hit a rock and my front wheel turned towards a cliff so I dumped the bike on purpose so it wouldn’t go over. PHEW THAT WAS CLOSE!

A few hours of riding and I came up to some rock processing plant or whatever it was and some guy gave me directions on which way to go to get to Pallasca and I was on the right path. About an hour later I finally passed the first truck and he was coming head on to me towing a big trailer. I passed him and kept going and going and going. Half the time I had the engine off going downhill at about 3-5MPH just trying to not let the bike fall.

I eventually came to a bar blocking the road with a lock around it. I sat there for about 5 minutes yelling Hola but no one came around. I jumped over the barricade and walked towards a small booth. No one inside. I started poking around and found the keys to the lock so I unlocked the lock, opened the gate and bolted out of there. A man came walking out of the woods a few seconds after I passed through. A few minutes later there was another gate but a man there wrote down my plate number and name and let me pass. I was so close to getting out of there and I wasn’t letting anyone stop me telling me to turn around because there was nowhere to go!

I eventually made it back to a main road and to my surprise it was a dirt road again. I had another 60 miles to go to Pallasca and it looked like the rest was going to be on dirt roads. My bike is taking a god damn beating with these dirt roads and all the bumps everywhere. I must have bottomed out my forks maybe 10 times today along with bashing my skid plate into huge boulders. I have a newfound respect for this bike and the machinery BMW makes. I eventually went to a big mountain near a river and down I started to go maybe 4-5k feet. The roads were freshly paved and the turns were incredible after being on dirt roads since 8Am. The turns were beautiful; it felt like I was on a race track. I was ripping down the mountain and then when I got to the base I contemplated pitching my tent by the river but it would just mean more riding for me tomorrow if I stopped so early now.

I made it up the next mountain  for about 30-40 minutes and finally pulled into Pallasca. It took me about 15 minutes to find a hostel in this tiny town because the one I found online isn’t answering the door. I paid 40 soles for a night, unloaded my bike, got some food, and went up to the roof to watch the sunset along with the view of all the mountains I just rode on. It was a lovely way to end the day with the view. I walked around town a bit to take some pictures and hung out on the roof alone enjoying the view, quiet and the sunset. I also had a close call. When I opened my top box to unload everything into the hotel room I noticed my bottle of water opened up and about a liter of water was in my box. My camera was slightly wet along with my laptop and everything else in there but thankfully everything works. That was close.

I am done, my body is done, my bike is somehow still running with no flats and I am so damn thankful I made it out of there with my bike in one piece. I’m pretty sure I used every ounce of skill I had to make it up that one part and god damn am I happy gramps took me out riding dirt a few times these last two summers.

Sunset from my hostel in Pallasca

Wild Llamas!

 

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Day 16

Day 16

36,959 – 37,262   303  Miles today (14,562 Miles Overall)

Jaen, Peru – Cajamarca, Peru

I barely got any sleep last night with how hot it was in my hotel room which wasn’t good for my long day I had planned today. I got up at about 6AM, packed up and hit the road. It was still quite hot this morning when I left the hotel. I got right to it and started to haul ass on the road. There were a few rain drops but nothing crazy to start off. The ride was beautiful right from the beginning. The sun came over the Andes on my left side while I started to ride south. The sun shining over the rice gardens along the major road I was on with the sun breaking through the clouds made for a nice sight to see. I pulled over a few times to try to get some pictures while trying to stay ahead of the trucks I worked hard to pass.

Up a few miles away I was approaching some roadwork. Of course. I waited about 5-8 minutes and just said fuck it. I started my bike up and blew through the cones and to my surprise there was nothing going on. What a waste. I’m losing my patience with these roadwork blockades. Half the time I just blow through there’s nothing going on.

I pull up to another one about 5 minutes later with huge cones which I can’t blow past. I park my bike and there’s a short line of traffic. I must have just missed the pass. Some guys hop out of a truck behind me and start talking to me. I asked them how long the road will be closed for and they said 1 hour. Well fuck! I park my bike and join them at the little brick building for some breakfast.  There were about 7 in the truck. We all sat together and tried to communicate while the food was being made. They knew I didn’t speak Spanish but had to triple check that what I was ordering was 5 eggs with rice and beans. While we waited for the food we all had our google translate apps out talking and conversing with how little Spanish I know but i’m learning slowly again.

It’s nice sitting down with people and just trying to communicate with them. I’m sure glad the road god shut down for about since I got to meet these people and try to talk to them. After some time passed we all went outside where a bunch of more people came over to me and started to ask me questions about my bike and the trip. Most asked question of course is how much does the bike cost. I like to lie a bit and tell them what it’s worth right now. I don’t think I’ll tell many people what I paid for it brand new down here.

After some more time passed they opened the cones and let just the motorcycle through. We all rushed through the cones like wild people. The side of the mountain had collapsed who knows how long ago and covered up the road that used to be there along with half the river. It was a huge landslide. We got on the detour route which brought us way up in the mountains and there was a car upside down in a ditch somehow and it looks like a few people died in the car. We eventually got back down to the river and I was having a blast. Following the river in the valley for a few hours is always a nice view to have. I stopped for a few pictures here and there. The road went under some large rock formations overhanging the road and there were signs everywhere stating loose rock formations. Great. Well I’m sure I won’t be the lucky one that it falls on.

About another hour into the ride there was some more traffic and I cut through most of the cars and came up to the front. There was a line of rocks on the road and then another line blocking the road another 30 feet up more. I looked around. Well shit it looks like there’s a protest and they blocked the road off. After the last one I tried going through in Mexico with the Feminists im not trying that shit ever again. Especially with a bunch of pissed off women! hah

I got off the bike and talked to a few guys. They said the road would open again at 7pm. Well fuck, its 11am right now and there’s no way im waiting till 7. I pulled out google maps and asked a few guys if I could ride back 2 hours to a town and then  take a dirt road up past this town. I eventually asked a cop and he said It’s possible but he told me to wait. He went back down to where the protesters were and grabbed about 6-7 other cops and they came back to me. They asked me for my passport and took pictures of it telling me to wait. They ended up walking down to the group of people and grabbed the ringleader. A few minutes later I hear one of them yell something and wave his hand. The whole town that was sitting in the area walked over to the guy. I couldn’t believe this. I heard American tourist get yelled out and they all turned and looked at me. Maybe 100-150 people. I was halfway between them and my bike by the rocks. I put my arm up and gave them a little wave and a smile when they all looked over at me. These guys were having a meeting figuring out if they should let me pass or not. After a few minutes a bunch of them raised their hands and they all split up. A few guys started walking towards me and they waved me on. HOLY SHIT I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT!!!! I jumped on the bike and turned me go pro on and made my way through the crowd slowly

Luck is on my side after this one I can’t believe it! I started hauling ass to make up on time but it started to rain so I pulled over and put my pants on since I’ve been wearing my jeans all morning. I eventually started to climb up a mountain. A big one. but after about 2 hours of riding I noticed I didn’t see a single car coming my way. I haven’t seen anyone. I started wondering if the road actually goes out this way or is there another big roadblock or landslide. I started to get pretty nervous because it’s a long goddamn way back if this road doesn’t connect to civilization. The road got pretty shitty, there were holes everywhere, and everything was wet. it got down to about 45-50 degrees. I eventually came around a corner and there it was. The peak of the mountain and I was looking at one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life. I earned it. The andes mountains just never ending, the clouds hugging all the peaks of the andes and the sun polling through in different spots hitting the sides of  the mountains. This is stunning. I took a few pictures and just sat there taking many, many deep breaths enjoying the clean fresh air and this beautiful view that not many people get to see at all.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, it all seemed fake.

I started up the bike and started to descend. I stopped so many times to get some pictures and videos of the mountains I was seeing. The road was getting kind of sketchy. It was nearly on a cliff edge the whole way down. No guardrail, nothing to stop me if I went over the edge. It must have been a few thousand feet down. If I ride off the edge its 100% death and there will be nothing left of my bike. I had to stop enjoying the view and start paying attention to the road so I didn’t ride off the edge. Hours and hours of riding the temps slowly creeped up and next thing I know its 95 degrees at the base of this valley. All the green mountains were gone and it was just pure desert down here. I felt like I was back in Morocco or in Moab. The views were even more breathtaking down here. I crossed a bridge and started to go up again. Climbing and climbing on a tiny narrow blacktop road between the desert. I almost got clipped by 3 cars and trucks coming my direction because we couldn’t see each other. I started beeping the horn a bunch going into turns from then on. The road kept climbing and climbing and my back was starting to hurt like hell. 2 long long days on the bike and my back wasn’t ready to get into it this quickly.

Once I got to the top of that mountain it started to rain. I pulled over and took my jeans off yet again and put my Moto pants on. It was a brutal cold wet 2.5 hours for the rest of the day to get to the town Cajamarca which I was hoping to hit for the night. The temps got down to 43 degrees and the roads were damn slippery but I made it into Cajamarca by 5:20pm. I can’t believe I made it here with all the issues today sent my way along with the weather.

Today’s ride being in the middle of nowhere really made me feel vulnerable. I’m very thankful my bike didn’t break down or that I didn’t crash. It made me think alot about family and loved ones today. Seeing so many people huddled up next to their small houses on the side of the road today. Families just being so close with their loved ones. Out here with the weather and where people live it must suck to not have any of that or just be lonely with no shelter and no money. I am so grateful for having my health, wealth, family, and a good life. The amount of dogs i’ve seen just today hanging out on the side of the road makes me so sad. I bet they would do anything to have a family to take care of them, have a warm bed to sleep in, and be able to eat good food every single day. We really do have it good in the states with the jobs and opportunity we have. It makes me sad seeing what people have here and what they made the best out of.

The morning view on the ride

Riding in the gorge all day long

The protesters meeting about me!

The people i had breakfast with

 

 

 

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Day 15

Day 15

36,621 – 36,959    338 Miles today (14,259 Miles Overall)

Máncora, Peru – Jaen, Peru

I spent the last few days just lounging on the beach. That’s literally all I did for 10 hours a day. I threw in some ceviche two times a day and a few Pina coladas with 2-3 ice creams a day and just read my book while I baked in the sun. I needed that so bad and now that I got 4 full days of it I’m ready to get back on the bike and get beat up a bit. I’ve needed a week on the beach for a while now and I’m happy it’s finally out of my system.

I did some research on Northern Peru while I was laying on the beach and came up with a little plan for northern Peru to break up the ride to the south. There isn’t much to really see up here so it’s going to be more for the riding and scenery. The towns I’m going to visit aren’t really anything nice or special from what I saw.

I was in no rush to leave today so I packed up and left around 8AM. I checked the weather for Jaen and it says it’s a high of 88. I decided to just wear my jeans and boots with my jacket. Might get a bit toasty for full riding gear that’s all black. Gps said 10 hours to get to Jaen and I had to make a stop in a city to get a new SIM card because all they sell here is a max of 3GB per refill on the sim which sucks pretty bad.

Most of my ride in the beginning was just sort of ugly desert along the coast with trash everywhere. I thought New York was dirty but this is on another level. After about 2-3 hours I stopped in a city called Piura to refill my Sim card. I didn’t have cell service on my phone nor did GPS work anymore about an hour away from Piura, so that worked out perfectly.

I hit a few drops of rain heading towards the mountains but thankfully it didn’t turn into much. The weather was pretty wild. I thought it was going to be cold at least a bit on the ride but the temps got up to 98F and stayed there for a while. The roads and scenery today were my favorite so far this whole trip but I’m not surprised because I haven’t rode that much in new places. I didn’t know this part of Peru was mostly desert. I love the dry hot air where rain isn’t a thing. The scenery was slowly changing the whole way. I came to an overlook and all I saw was a dry desert land for as far as I could see.

Today was one of those days where I turned airplane mode on and just listened to music and enjoyed the views. I didn’t stop to take many pictures because it was so damn hot and I just wanted to enjoy today for myself. Up ahead the never ending desert turned into mountains which were huge. There was a raging river running at the base of the mountains which I followed for nearly 4 hours today. At the base of the mountains where the river was running it was a very bright green where it looked like there was rice growing everywhere. There was so much vegetation next to and only next to the river. It felt like I was back in Morocco riding into an Oasis.

There was a ton of road work today where they just cut the road out and was ready to put down new pavement and I was riding into 150-200 parts where they cut the road out and were waiting to fill it in. I’m surprised I didn’t blow out my front tire as the edges were pretty sharp on a lot of the cutouts. We were stopped at roadblocks for maybe a total of 1 hour today which was annoying as hell sitting there in all my gear in 96-98F sweating bullets. But I never want to take my gear off because who knows when they will tell us it’s ok to go. I just sit there and suffer.

Lots of thoughts going through my head today. I felt very vulnerable being in the middle of nowhere especially because my bike is cutting out again when I started it up this morning. I turn it on and it shuts right off maybe 5-6 times until I rev it up a bit and hold it then it will run. I pray I don’t get into any issues here with that. It’s a long ride to get towed to Lima. I also forgot my tools to take my rear wheel off and break the bead in Cuenca I just found out two days ago too. So praying I don’t get a flat where I have to take the rear wheel off till I get to a bigger city to buy some tools.

Anyway I eventually made it to the city of Jaen. Honestly it’s a shit hole. I thought it would be way nicer but it’s pretty ghetto! Most of the streets are really bad dirt roads and it’s just filthy everywhere. I stopped at about 2-3 hotels I found on IOverlander and none of them were still there. Big Surprise. I found a hotel in the center for about 40 Soles for a private room.  It’s got some indoor parking for my bike which I’m happy about. I went out for some food and a big jug of Maracuya juice which barely filled me up. I haven’t eaten all day until dinner. I also went out for dinner with only 60 Soles on me in case I got robbed so I tried to keep it cheap. Dinner ended up being only 33 Soles which is $8.

I walked back to my hotel which was a mile from the city plaza where all the food is. Not like there was much anyway. I’m gonna call it an early night. I’m taking a long route over the Eastern part of the Andes mountains tomorrow to get to a city called Cajamarca. The riding on the other side should be pretty nice but it’s 14 hours. I’m praying I can cut it back to 11 but if I stop to take pictures and eat I doubt I’ll cut that much time off considering I barely cut any time off today’s ride but we will see what happens. Hoping to pass out early tonight so I can get up at 5Am to hit the road!

Todays ride

Huge jug of Maracuya for 7 Soles. About $1.35 USD

Tomorrows brutal extended journey

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Day 11

Day 11

36,407 – 36,621      214—–  Miles today (13,921 Miles Overall)

Cuenca, Ecuador – Máncora, Peru

So much for getting some sleep last night. Everyone and their mother and father decided to party in the kitchen last night. I went out and lost my shit on them a little after 3am. I couldn’t go back to bed so I rolled out of bed at 4, showered and packed up slowly. I didn’t want to leave too early because I don’t want to be riding alone at 4:30am in Ecuador going for the border. Don’t need to be crashing on wet roads in the mountains here. The rain also stopped thankfully which means it was a go for today!

I 100% was not quiet while dragging all my gear while wearing my motorcycle boots at 4:30am. Hope you all fell asleep and karmas a bitch! Loaded up the bike and sat at the door for 5 minutes making sure I had everything because once I lock the door there’s no getting back in. One of the most stressful parts of my day! Hah

I was on the move at 5:15 ish and GPS said i’ll be arriving at 9Am. I got some fuel and hit the road. Roads were still wet from last night so I took it easy. OK GPS you might win for once, whatever man. Luckily no rain for the beginning. I stopped to get some nice shots. I did a little snooping around the internet last night watching videos about photography and I guess my whole problem with doing landscape photography with the bike is the time of the day I’m shooting in. So from now on if I want some good pictures of mountains I need to be taking shots at that golden hour. I ended up blasting a speed bump at like 40-50 and my forks bottomed out along with my center stand. I pulled over and checked out the forks for a bit to make sure I didn’t just blow out the seals but thanks to Diego in Quito his fork maintenance held up great. Phew!

Today was one of those days since I was up so early and the weather was nice. I got a few shots in and videos for you IG followers out there. Hi Larry Gallin! I see you checking out my stories. Hope you’re enjoying the show and loving everything.

The scenery went from plush green landscape to pretty much a desert in no time once I got 2 hours or so south west of Cuenca. It felt like I was back in Morocco with the scenery and smells. So bizarre but I loved every second of it. It was absolutely gorgeous. I was in heaven. A few turns later it got so foggy I was actually watching the road through my go pro that mounted on my handlebars because the fog was so thick. I could maybe see 20′ in front of me but with the go pro a bit more. Weird huh?

The fog got super thick at one point where I was going maybe 10mph and I was not happy about it because I passed 2 18 wheelers a bit ago and I didn’t need them up my ass in the fog. It started to rain a bit and the ride got kinda shitty going through some real poor small towns where there were pretty much no roads.  My ride turned pretty depressing so quickly once the fog hit.

I’m pretty nervous today as it’s a big day. Border crossings give me so much anxiety now with the shit I dealt with in Central America. I did a lot of research last night online. I even threw in a fake booster shot on my Covid card since you need to be fully Vaxxed to get in the country. Hope I don’t get busted on this.

I finally pulled up to the border. The aduana for the Ecuador exit was so quick. I waited maybe 5 minutes for a man in front of me to get processed and then I was up. 5 minutes later I’m on my way to the Peru side to do the rest there. Exiting Ecuador and entering Peru was so easy it was actually a pleasant surprise. I got my bike checked into Peru and got some SOAT insurance for Peru. $35 for 1 month. Eh, not bad. They gave me and my bike 90 days to stay in Peru but I’ll be long gone before then. Didn’t have to pay any extra fees like some other countries usually want so I was thrilled about that. All in all the border crossing took 1:15 or so which is incredible. I wish they all went that quick and easy. I also arrived at 8:10 and they opened at 8 so I’m sure that helped.

Back on the road and I had maybe 2 hours till Mancora beach. Someone told me about it recently but I forgot who. My buddy came down this way on a bike maybe 6 weeks ago and stayed at a nice beach town but the cheapest hotel was $90 a night. Yeah no i’m never spending that kinda money to sleep anywhere so that was a hard pass. But Mancora is kind of a party town with cheap hostels. I scored a beautiful beachfront hostel for $8 a night with a pool. Cant beat it.

I passed a Colombian rider with a GS along the way. He threw me a fist bump and I opened up the throttle, only to have him pull up behind me at a police checkpoint a few minutes later. We had to show the police our passports and bike paperwork. 5 Minutes later and we were racing again. I got to Mancora at 11Am. I can’t believe I got here this early. I was hoping I would get here by 2-3. I checked into the hostel and jumped right in the pool and ordered some food.

This town became one of my top 5 spots on this trip within seconds of getting into the hostel. Quiet hidden beach town with sand for streets, cheap ceviche, drinks, music and people everywhere. I threw some sunscreen on for the first time in a while and just decided to bake in the sun like a lizard for a long time today. I took a few naps. I looked over my shoulder at one point into the clear turquoise colored water and just decided to go up front and book 4 nights.I walked in booking one night to get a feel for the place but I needed to stay for a few days. This is something I’ve been dreaming about since I left Puerto Escondido in Mexico. A small quiet beach town with delicious food and a good vibe and with no rush and no plans to get anywhere and alone so I can just relax. I feel like I am always in a rush but when you throw me a clean blue beach with a cheap hostel I’m cutting off this whole rushing thing.

I went for a walk down to the other side of town and then came back to watch the sunset on the deck of the hostel. I went back into town to buy some dinner. I got a bowl of ceviche and my god was this as delicious as I thought it was going to be and then some! I’m going to be eating ceviche everyday for lunch and dinner. So much clean protein and it fills me up quickly. Back to the hostel to work on the blog followed by some good sleep hopefully.

 

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Day 9/10

Day 9/10

36,207 – 36,407    ——- 200 Miles today (13,707 Miles Overall)

Banos, Ecuador – Cuenca, Ecuador

A great way to start the day when I wake up in my hostel and it’s only me in the room for $8 a night. Cant beat it. Got myself a nice breakfast burrito at the hostel which was literally maybe 6-7 eggs in a wrap with nothing else in it. I shoved it down my mouth and loaded the bike up ready to hit the road. I was praying I wouldn’t hit any rain as well since it was about a 6 hour ride through mountains.

The ride was lovely as always. Lots of mountains. Lots of coming around corners and seeing a bunch of peaks and mountains in the distance with the clouds being below me many times. Such a cool view to be above the clouds. It definitely never gets old. I came around a corner and a pile of rocks and boulders came sliding down the talus of a mountain next to the road and it just missed me. I pulled over and snapped some pictures with the dust still in the air from the fresh rock fall. That was a close one!

It’s so nice being back on the road and having plenty of time to think about my life and everything else I don’t have time to think about at home. Today was one of those rides where I just wanted to keep on riding and not have it end. But a few minutes later, passing through a small town in the mountains, I just saw a ton of food cooking and I made a U-turn. I’m so happy I did. BTW my Spanish is getting better and I feel like i’m back where I left off even picking up new words everyday!

I sat down and they brought me a plate of some meat and corn to hold me over for a few minutes until my order came in. I got just a regular plate of chicken, rice and some veggies with some juice. This was so delicious I couldn’t believe it. If only I could eat like this every single day my life would be complete. People kept stopping to look at my bike while I was eating and seeing the look on everyone’s faces was priceless. I got up to get back on the road and they hit me for a big charge. $2.50. You just can’t beat this. I rode for a few more hours. Bike was running real nice with the better fuel in the tank. I even hit my record for miles on a single tank. I rolled into Cuenca with 350 miles to a tank. Unbelievable what good fuel and driving slow does!

My friend Ivan from my gym at home told me his family has a fancy hostel in Cuenca and he saved me a room for a few nights free of charge. I met Luis’ aunt and she let me park my bike inside the house. This place is huge, guys! It’s ridiculously huge. I got the huge bedroom by the kitchen which I would later hate.

I unloaded my stuff and his aunt got my neighbor next to my room to translate for me but little did know my Spanish was better than she thought and I understood most of what she said! I went out into town and walked around for about an hour or two. I went to the market to get some dragon fruit and blackberries. This dragon fruit was so damn good. I haven’t had a real one that actually tastes like something since my last time in Colombia. I picked up a little dinner, walked around some more and headed back home. I unpacked all my luggage because I figured out I can mail a few things back home to lighten my load up by maybe 10 pounds. My first round of shedding gear and probably my last on this trip. It’ll be nice to have some extra room on the bike for when I’m in a rush and don’t have to cram everything in my panniers.

Perfect timing because a few minutes after I got home it started to downpour. It was raining so hard and with the thunder and lightning it was beautiful. I grabbed my jacket and sat outside on the deck watching the rain come down. Heaven. All I needed was a warm cup of tea. I tucked myself in and went to bed. Well I tried to but everyone and their mother decided to party in the kitchen and hang out next to my bedroom window until 3am or so which kept me up most of the night.

I woke up the next morning hearing rain. Looks like my day is fried with all this rain. I did a little workout in my room and then went for a walk around the city. When I left NY I brought an extra iPhone 12 with me in case one of them broke or got stolen or lost. But since I was lighting up my load quite a bit before I left I decided I was going to sell that phone here and also have some extra cash when I get down south. I walked around for about 3 hours trying to sell the phone to cell phone stories but no luck. I listed the phone on Facebook marketplace and boom it was gone by 4pm. I couldn’t believe it. Too easy.

I went out and got my laundry done and walked around some more trying to get some calories burned and this rain was not letting up. Went out to a Belgian restaurant to have some sour beer and a burger which left me drunk very quickly and I must have looked pathetic. Stopped for a bottle of wine for Luis’ Aunt and headed home for the night. I was going to get up early the next morning to get to the border crossing early but we will see how early I actually get up!

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Day 8

Day 8

0 Miles today (13,507 Miles Overall)

Banos, Ecuador

I was supposed to head to Cuenca today but my bike has been giving me some issues. The other morning it turned off a few times after I started it and my gear indicator isn’t working properly at times. I decided to stick around Banos for the day while I did some research on the problem and poked around on my bike. I think whats been going on is I’m putting the cheap fuel in my bike which is 85 and my engine has been tapping from the low fuel quality. I hope that’s my main issue for the tapping and not starting properly sometimes. I’ll start with some good fuel tomorrow!

While I was figuring that out all day waiting on replies from people on forums I decided to get a mountain bike and go check out all the waterfalls a few towns east of here. It was mostly downhill and I would have to take a truck taxi back with the bike at the end which was about 26 Kilometers away. I got some food and rented the bike for $10 and was on my way. Most of the beginning was downhill which was nice. I stopped at the first waterfall and hiked down to the bottom. I met two girls on the suspension bridge and they said the gate was locked so you can’t walk up to the waterfall. I asked if anyone was there and they said no. I replied with “Well its south America, if it doesn’t say you can’t do it then you can and if it says you can’t do it and no ones around you can still do it”.

The one girl wanted to follow me so bad but her friend was a party pooper. I made my way over to the gate and snuck in through some barbwire fence and got some shots of the waterfall. I guess the girls got into a little argument because one of them walked over to me and wanted to hop the fence too! We got her some shots and then I made my way back up the hike. I hopped on my bike and went to the second one. Its a huge waterfall with so much power. These things make me so happy. I did some crawling around and went through some tunnels to get under it which was wild. When I got to the top I saw the two Colombians ive been seeing since I left Popayan. I met some guys from the Netherlands at the place where we lock up our bicycles and we rode over to the last waterfall together.

This one was pretty cool too and we could swim under it so we all took our clothes off and jumped in and hung out for about an hour in the water. We met a guy from Spain who was telling us how he was on a hike two days ago and lightning struck a guy 100′ behind him and killed him on the spot and he was dealing with talking to the UK embassy to get a report on what happened to tell his family. Wild! They got caught in a storm on a hike and it was exposed. Wrong place at the wrong time.

Were all sitting there in the water baking in the sun and I was just really enjoying it. I thought about all my friends at home stuck at work and mentioned it to them and we all laughed. Sorry guys! It’s funny for us! hah After a while we hiked back up and rode back a town to a place that had some cheap fresh trout plates. We got a trout and a half with rice, salad, fries and veggies. Ugh it was so good I could eat this everyday for $5.00 a plate. We loaded up the bikes in a truck taxi and got a ride back into town. I walked around to try to hit my 20,000 step quota for the day, got some more food, and just explored the town some more. Im ready to leave tomorrow now that my bikes going to be running a bit better I hope. Also everyone left the hostel that was in my room last night so big score having the place to myself tonight! Oh the small things!

Sunset view from my hostel

Morning view from my room

Finally got to do some laundry for the first time in a week.

The guys from Netherlands I met today

I think these used to be the bathrooms way back in the day….or am I way off?

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Day 7

Day 7

36,010 – 36,207    197 Miles today (13,507 Miles Overall)

Quito, Ecuador – Banos, Ecuador

What a lovely day in Ecuador. I can’t believe how nice it is here after being here in January and being miserable. If I didn’t have to get tires here on the way down I would have avoided Quito for sure. I got up and did a little workout on the balcony and worked on the blog. Diego messaged me saying he would be at the bike shop at 9:30 so I packed up most of my luggage and hopped in an Uber and met him at the bike shop. He had a helper throw the forks back on while he and I chatted. I ended up paying $220 for the whole job which wasn’t too bad for how quick he did it. I gave the shop my extra set of brake pads since they gave me one of theirs yesterday. I chatted with a few of the guys there and got on the bike to head back to the hostel to load up and head out.

The suspension guy mentioned that the BMW dealer put way too much oil in the forks when they changed the oil which is why it was leaking. They also did not change the seals. When he put the forks back on my bike he brought them up about 1/2″ higher than where they normally sit and he said it would make my bike handle better with all the gear on the back. Riding the bike home without the luggage was odd. The bike just wanted to keep diving into turns. I pray this job lasts till the end of the trip!

While I was at the shop the owner asked me where I was going next and I mentioned the cold weather at Quilotoa Lake and Banos and he said not to listen to the weather apps because they are all wrong down here. He said it would be plenty warm. So my plan today was to head right to Banos but now I have to go to the lake to at least get to see it. I loaded up the bike and GPS said 3.5 hour to the lake. I was praying I wouldn’t hit any rain since this is the time it starts to rain there supposedly.

I had a lovely drive to the lake. The elevation was wild as I went from 7000′ to 13,500′. it got pretty cold and windy up there. The scenery was beautiful. So many rolling mountains with farms and everything was brown. I guess no green grass at that altitude. I pulled up to the lake and went to the viewpoint, took a few pictures and had a small lunch at a little restaurant. The view of the lake was incredible and the food was on another level for being only $5.00 as well. Well I skipped the hike around the lake because I have some sharp pain in my left quad. Not sure if it hurts from when one of my bands slipped off my foot and hit my left quad or if it hurts because I pulled something.

Next stop, Banos. Grandpa Yak said it was a lovely spot and he thinks I would like it. 3 Hours away as well. I hit the road hoping to get there by 4 to have a little dinner and walk around the town before it gets dark. On my way I saw some dark clouds. Praying I wouldn’t get hit with rain. And I didnt thankfully. The drive down into Banos was beautiful. I couldn’t take any pictures because the roads were so steep and I was working hard to pass so many trucks that had miles of traffic behind them and I didnt want to lose all that hard work by pulling over.

By the end of the ride I started to trust the bike and the new suspension tweaks he did. The bikes handle great and it doesn’t feel like I’m going to die whenever I brake or initiate a turn anymore.

Banos is lovely. Grandpa was 100% right about me loving this place. There’s nothing special about it but the vibe is just beautiful. A small town in the mountains surrounded by some huge mountains. So many extreme sports to do here and so many good food shops from the looks of it. I went for a walk and got some Indian food with a delicious smoothie. No plans for the rest of the night other than to relax after this long day. The trip feels like it has officially begun since the bike is all set up and working fine now and everything from Quito on is all new so it feels good again!

Banos

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Day 6

Day 6

0 Miles today (13,310 Miles Overall)

Quito, Ecuador

Going to bed last night we all talked about our sleep issues. As I was walking to my room I said to christian “I will not be seeing you at 6am” since the man wakes up at like 5:30-6 everyday. Unfortunately i was up at 5Am today and showed him how it’s done. I pulled out my little bands I ordered for the trip and had a nice little workout on the balcony here early in the morning. Dont think ill be going to too many crossfit gyms on this leg of the trip since there won’t be any at all where i’m going.

I took my bike down to the bike shop when they opened and these guys are so great. They pulled my bike right in, made me a coffee, told me to go pick out a shirt I can have for free and said the place is my home if I even need to do any laundry while I wait for my bike. I couldn’t believe it. Everyone there was so nice and helpful. They started ripping my bike apart and wouldn’t let me touch anything so I wouldn’t get my hands dirty. They put new front and rear tires on and put some new brake pads on the front. They tightened down every other bolt they could see and looked over the whole bike. We both noticed my forks were leaking oil which is not good. So they called the local suspension guy they use for all their bikes they rent and this guy is a wizard supposedly.

Diego came by about two hours later and we chatted about what to do. We came up with a game plan to pull the forks out, he was going to put new better seals with a dual lip on them so dirt cant get up in there to mess the seal up and he was going to put some thicker oil in there to help make them a bit stiffer since i have so much weight on the bike. He let me help him pull the forks and he threw them on a bike and took them home. He gave me his Instagram and said he will be in touch with what he finds out about why it was leaking oil.

I hopped in an uber and went home, got some food and worked on the blog for a bit, researched what the hell I’m gonna do the next few days since the weather here is absolutely insane. Most of Ecuador is high elevation and the temps are about 25 Degrees F at night time and a high of 40-45 in the daytime. Well….I fucked up. I don’t wanna take a vacation in this sort of weather. I miss those beach days in Mexico eating tacos and Mexican cokes.

I was looking at Diego’s instagram later on and i couldn’t believe my eyes. This guy paraglides as well. I scrolled down even more and I couldn’t believe it again. This guy is a skydiver too. We chatted it up the rest of the day and made some small plans to go paragliding in the morning as long as I didn’t mind that my bike wouldn’t be ready at 10am. I said sure who cares! What a small world. I told him if he ever comes to New York he has a bed, a bike, and gear to go skydiving and paragliding.

I did a lot of research on this big lake south of here that has a lovely hike around it but the catch is i have to start the hike super early because it rains there everyday after 12pm. I really don’t feel like waking up at sunrise to start this 7 mile hike if it’s 26 degrees out with super high winds. Especially if I get caught in rain or snow later on in the day. Also if I arrive in the evening from my ride from Quito it means I’ll be arriving in the rain.

I went out for dinner with the guys to a nice little Indian spot. It’s our last night together. On our walk back we were harassed by people trying to sell us everything from food to girls. We’re all so thankful and lucky to have the lives we have. Pierre and christian are going to the Galapagos Islands in the morning and the German guy is going to Germany on Thursday. Looks like I’ll be leaving tomorrow as well to head south.

Paragliding plans got cancelled tomorrow because the winds don’t look good so I’ll just have a laid back morning and hopefully get to the bike shop at 10AM to grab my bike. Kinda sad to be leaving my first friends I made on this trip but that’s how it goes!