Day 45

38,671 – 38,833 162 Miles today (16,133 Miles Overall)

Cusco, Peru and somehow back at Cusco, Peru

My plan for the today was to ride to Rainbow Mountain and then a rope bridge and slowly make my way top Lake Titicaca near Bolivia. I got up pretty early and was excited to leave. I ended up leaving at around 7am. The ride was pretty nice and sunny. About an hour into the ride or so I stopped for breakfast at this nice little place in a small town. I went to start up the bike and there same shit happened as three weeks ago in Lima. I called up my buddy I made from the forum and chatted with him for a bit. I couldn’t take the bike apart as I was in a dusty area directly in the sunlight and it was too hot. By the time I waited and got off the phone with him the bike ended up working. I was going to skip rainbow mountain and go right to Bolivia where the BMW dealer was.

During my ride I said fuck it. Im going to go see rainbow mountain. The bike hasn’t left me stranded yet since it usually only takes a little time to start up once the issue arises. Do I turned down the road for rainbow mountain. I had a 30-40 mile ride on dirt roads in the middle of nowhere. it was absolutely beautiful. I didnt stop to take many pics because I wanted to stop on the way back to take them. I finally made it to the parking lot and there was like 5 cars there. I thought this place was supposed to be packed daily with thousands of visitors. I guess this must be a new parking lot and entrance.

I made my way up the mountain. It was about a 45 minute fast hike and it was snowing. There was thunder roaring in the distance near me and it was pretty scary watching the lightning as I was completely exposed out there. I turned to my right and saw a huge snowcapped mountain. This was beautiful. I got to the top of the viewpoint at about 16,500′ The winds were blowing 50mph and it was maybe 20 degrees up there. I look to the right again and I see a path a few miles long which was from the old entrance point where most of the people go and the wind was blowing up from their valley. Im so lucky I picked this one, or was I? I stopped to look at this mountain and for some reason some intense emotion came over me and I started to cry quite a bit. I was wondering what the hell was going on. What was happening? Was it the view that was so beautiful that was making me feel this way or just being up here all alone so high in the cold.

I hung out there for a bit and took some pictures. I made my way back down running so I could warm up and when I got to the bike I changed into my gear out of my shorts.I try to start it and of course I turn the ignition on and I see the CEL. I turn the ignition on and off a few times and still nothing. I ended up waiting an hour. No cell service up there and the people working there didnt really care about my problem. After about 1.5 hours I started pushing my bike down the mountain. I made it about 2-3 miles and there was some uphill. I hopped off the bike and started pushing. The bike was so damn heavy and now being at 14,500′ I was breathing like an animal.

I pushed and pushed and pushed and reality started to set in. This was my worst nightmare by a long shot. On a deserted dirt road in the middle of nowhere with no cell service and on top of that pretty damn high elevation. I parked my bike at a long part of the road where I couldn’t push anymore. A car eventually pulls up and they decided to tow me. I took my luggage off and threw it on their roof. I held onto the side of the door and they pulled me for about 10 minutes. I couldn’t do it anymore because my bike was so heavy. They pulled some rope out of their trunk and tied it to their bumper and started to tow me. I never did this before and I didnt like it. They lived in a village about 4 miles from the main road. It took about 2 hours of towing and we pulled into their town. My sinus was absolutely fucked from breathing in dust from their car for two hours. I was covered in dirt and I was a mess. I found a little place that had beds with a garage. I went out to the village to look for food to buy but there were no restaurants. I got right back to the house and changed, plugged my phone in, got my headlamp out, played some music and got to work.

I was going to strip the bike down and change out the spare parts I had because it should be the problem. its the same issues as last time. It took me a few hours but I stripped the bike and changed the TPS sensor, connected the airbag and the sensors along with the battery and just my luck. It didnt do anything. So now I have more problems. Something else is broken. I started to put the bike back together and making calls to figure out how to get towed. I really came up with no towing solutions. I was going to roll my bike down to the road tomorrow and hang out all day trying to hitch a ride to Arequipa. After a few hours of putting the bike back together and while eating one of my emergency meals I keep in my pannier I figured why not turn the key and see what happens.

I turn the key and no CEL. I can’t fucking believe it. I type in a few destinations on my phone to see whats reasonable. It was 8pm and getting really late, ive been up since 6am and not much food in me and I am fucking beat from the whole day. I walked over to the bike and hit the start button. On she goes. I ran upstairs and shoved all the shit back in my pannier, ran downstairs and loaded up my other pannier. I threw my gear on and they’re the owner of the place 10 soles instead of 30 and pulled the bike out. I loaded everything up and hit the road. 2 hours until Cusco. I figured ill back track and stay there if im really stuck. I rode like a madman the whole way and shaved the time down to 1:30. I saw the coolest lightning storm in the background right over cusco and thank god it didnt rain on me. I pulled into the hostel and I saw a familiar bike. it was christian from Cusco. I unloaded my stuff in my own room and got some food with him. I told him what happened and he couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t either. My plan was to sleep and leave after tomorrow after I got some rest.

I ended up going to bed at 12. BEAT