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A
note on the situation in Peru.
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This May 16th demonstration
in Cusco was orderly and uneventful. Near the plaza this Quechua woman
(below) looked on indifferently.
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When we left Cusco on
Saturday the 17th at about 9:00AM we were told that we could make Nasca
by around 5:00. We got there at 4:00 the next day. We have come to the
conclusion that our large bikes are regarded by South Amercians as something
akin to space ships. When we ask how far something is they invariably say
it is 6 hours, but you can make it in four on those bikes. The guide books
put the scheduled bus tip for this route at 22 hours. The maps show the
road as being paved for about half the way. It is in fact paved for almost
all the way with only a few short sections near the towns that remain unpaved.
As the crow flies, this is only a distance of 200 miles, but by road it
is over 400. Some of the water crossings like the one below are also unpaved.
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To complicate matters,
as we crossed the first 15,000 ft. pass between Cusco and Abancay we ran
into a light sleet, and I took a spill on one of the turns. I was going
slow enough that I was relatively unhurt, but it slowed our descent on
the other side side significantly. About an hour later we had made it through
Abancay and the last stretch of bad road, only to find out that my back
tire was going flat. We flagged a bus to see if we could get some air,
only to have one of the eager "helpers" poke two holes in the new tube
trying to pry the tire back on the rim with a screwdriver. The crowd of
passengers were amazingly patient while we removed the tire for the second
time and carefully installed our last spare tube.
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Once the tire was fixed
the bus continued on its way while we installed it (below). It was now
getting too late to continue, as there were three more distinct ranges
to cross on our way to the coast. We spent the night in the village of
Chalhuanca.
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NEXT
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