She's got this crazy idea- exploring the 3 America's solo, for better or for worse...

[Hewby]

Originally Posted by Merlin III

I have been reading your posts along with 5 or 6 other SA RRs on a day to day basis. I really appreciate your not "candy coating" the storytelling. In fact, your style of storytelling convinced me to re-read your report over again, but this time continuously from the start, and it was well worth it.

Thanks Merlin 111. Glad you like it.

[Hewby]

Originally Posted by operaflute

Thank God. It's not just me.

I have to say I was inspired to write this for a friend who posted this picture on her Facebook stating she wanted to be the guy, not the bike! Funny as.

[outlier8]

Fantastic RR

the journey you have made is inspiring, as is the way you have adapted to the challenges and embraced the moment.
Love the photographs, they tell a full and colorful story and look forward to seeing more.

linda

[Hewby]

Originally Posted by outlier8

Fantastic RR

the journey you have made is inspiring, as is the way you have adapted to the challenges and embraced the moment.
Love the photographs, they tell a full and colorful story and look forward to seeing more.

linda

Thanks Linda Glad you are enjoying it. Now i just have to get back into the habit of posting

[huzar]

Originally Posted by Hewby

Now i just have to get back into the habit of posting

[Hewby]

Two weeks with Huzar disappeared quickly. It was brilliant to have him along, but I have to admit it is a difficult task for someone to parachute into a trip like mine and adapt straight away, as I think others in our situation will also attest to. Your schedules are different. Your ability to deal with life on the road is different, what phases you is different. Your understanding of the country, the language, the people and the culture is different. Your energy levels are different. Your budget is different. Even the roles you take on during the trip are different than if you both started traveling at the same time. Having ridden pretty much solo throughout the trip, navigating and decision-making, working on my bike, doing everything basically alone lead to some adjustment for me. Seeing how others travel as couples it’s hard to fall into that, even though that is what I wanted, when you know that soon you will be on your own again. His bike being rented was not set up how he wanted, nor was it treated as it was doing the long haul. Mine on the other hand, while set up comfortably for me, needed the ongoing attention and care that it deserved as my trusted steed for many, many more miles.

And so saying goodbye to him at the airport in Arequipa my heart was in turmoil. I walked the streets and tried to numb the spinning. Later in the evening Carlos, the wonderful Columbian I met on the boat, rode past me. I checked him into my hotel and we spent the evening sharing road stories. He wanted me to join him and Joop (also from the boat) riding through Bolivia. I thanked him but declined. My bike was in the mechanic for a few days getting the windscreen repaired, and really I needed some time for me.

The next evening I met up again with Alison, who had also just dropped her boyfriend off at the airport after a similar two-week experience him renting a bike and traveling Peru, midway through her trip to Ushuaia. It was brilliant to talk, to relate, and to have another to try and quell our spinning heads and wringing hearts. We both needed time to process.

While I will not write about our time together, as he has given me a break and posted a ride report , I will leave you with some pictures of our travels













































































































































and the best way to eat Cuy/ guinea pig...

[Hewby]

A few days in Arequipa were spent regrouping; cleaning and sorting, visiting the market and generally taking things easy. Then as my bike was getting ready to go, Alison and I decided to ride together into Bolivia.



Peru, the home of the Potato

After wrangling over directions and plans for a bit, going back and forth with where we were planning to go next, the decision was almost made by my bike taking so long to get out of the mechanic. I had left it at Peru motors after being told by the owner they could fix anything, and after a quick telephone call to be told to come at 10 to pick it up, I arrived at 11 after a street protest blocked my way, to find the bike not ready. The new windscreen had been cracked when the mechanic put it in. He asked if I wanted him to solder it to stop the cracking. Then I found my rack, which I had asked to be tightened, in pieces. He told me he couldn’t put it back together. So I put it back together. Finally I was told that when changing the oil and the air filter, he did not have the parts to replace them so he just cleaned them and put them back in. I was furious. I had specifically given him both new air and oil filters to install and left them on my bike handle bars. I finally found them strewn on the chaos that was the floor of the shop. I went to pay by card as I had asked a few days earlier if it was possible, and no today it was not, as it would be recorded as a receipt and they would have to pay tax on it. I had hardly any local currency left, so I had to pay with my precious US dollars. Thankfully they gave me a discount but by this time I wanted nothing more to do with Peru Motors. Nor would I ever recommend them to anyone else. Eddie is a lovely guy, but the mechanical work he did on the bike was almost worthless. I also later heard plenty more horror stories. I was hot, frustrated, and it was already 1pm. Alison and I had a quick chat and our decision on where to go next was made. Bomb the highway back to Puno, to stay in little cabins with fires recommended by Carlos.


I started riding and there was something wrong, my bike was scraping on everything. I stopped and found the preload set on the loset level. Eddie trying to help me out with my hight on the bike! Thanks but I have ridden this far, and I know what works. I tension it up again. Alison is also dealing with strange front end problems after having a tire installed by them, we ride on cautiously wondering what has happened to our bikes...


We had both ridden parts of this road before, her more than me. But this time the mist did not exclude my vision of the altiplano. Amazing high country.







Then the black clouds gathered and we stopped to load up on clothes and snacks – watching the storm beside us cover the mountains in snow. Brrr…


After a little bit we headed down into it hoping the worst of it had past.







The road was covered in slush and we past two accidents on the road involving huge trucks colliding into cars. I was thankful we had waited as we had.






This time we went back into Julica instead of attempting the ring road of crazy mud, that most of us had attempted before. In the traffic I was hit in the back by moto taxi, knocking me to the ground. He simply pointed and laughed, Alison almost punched in his window before she helped me lift up the bike and keep going through the crazy traffic.


As we reached Puno the rain kicked in and darkness descended. Our vision was reduced dramatically but the thought of an open fire kept us on the road another 20km to reach the cabanas. We arrived and the placed looked closed. We were cold, wet and hungry. Finally after much searching Alison was able to find one of the workers and we pulled the bikes in. I dropped mine on the wet stony entrance, the crack in my windshield splitting the windshield into 2 pieces. !@#$
The lovely man did not have a cabana left with a fireplace, and told us that the hot water would be ready for a shower in 2 hours. We were devastated. He came back later with a thermos and tea to help us warm ourselves and we cooked up our dinner not on the fire as we had hoped, but on Alison’s camp stove (as my usually fabulous MSR dragonfly decided to choose today to stop working!)

[huzar]

Originally Posted by Hewby

When did you capture this one of me? On Isla Taquile? I must have been distracted by something else, as I have no recollection of this girl sitting down next to me...

[Hewby]

Originally Posted by huzar

When did you capture this one of me? On Isla Taquile? I must have been distracted by something else, as I have no recollection of this girl sitting down next to me...

This was the girl that sat down next to you while I was taking a photo of you, then asked for money for photo bombing!

[huzar]

Originally Posted by Hewby

This was the girl that sat down next to you while I was taking a photo of you, then asked for money for photo bombing!

Ah, yeah, that one

[Merlin III]

Originally Posted by Hewby

This was the girl that sat down next to you while I was taking a photo of you, then asked for money for photo bombing!

So, did you give her any money?

[Hewby]

Originally Posted by Merlin III

So, did you give her any money?

No. I am no into trickery. Generally they advertise for a photo or if you really go into their space and take one, ok. But this was different. I was taking a photo of him and she came and sat down into it. So no.

[bisbonian]

Great pictures.

It's nice to be able to put a face with huzar since we've all heard so much about him.

[Turkeycreek]

The way you write, we can feel your anger at incompetent mechanics, your cold riding through the wet , your disappointments and at the same time the feeling that this is where you want to be and what you want to do. Your writing is from the heart. Thanks one more time for keeping the RR going.

Abrazos!

[Hewby]

Originally Posted by Turkeycreek

The way you write, we can feel your anger at incompetent mechanics, your cold riding through the wet , your disappointments and at the same time the feeling that this is where you want to be and what you want to do. Your writing is from the heart. Thanks one more time for keeping the RR going.

Abrazos!

Thanks Tom. It was also anger at myself for being lazy as I could have done a better job on all counts. And yes the journey has been hard. But it is exactly where I want to be. Now off to join the marching bands in the street!