29 Mar 2002 – 4 Apr 2002
Ecudaor - Peru
Montanita - Cuenca - Saraguro - Piura (Peru) - Cajamarca
The modern week-by-week edition
Heading south again, we left the green of Ecuador and headed into Peru. The deserts along the coast are cool, but it gets green as you head up into the mountains. Some fun bike breakdowns and dealing with drunk locals, but hey, we’re good at that.
Goneriden
This week’s route
Approximate route using modern roads · OpenStreetMap contributors · route via OSRM
Week 22 in the full journey
The preserved 2002 maps provide full-trip context while the modern interactive journey map is developed.
Memorable moment
After finalising our destination from Cuenca to wherever near the border, we decided to rise a little earlier than normal in order to achieve our goal.
Unfortunately, by about 1pm Boxy was having trouble with his bike which, apart from 2 flat tyres, was either of the bikes’ first malfunction in 20,000 km. At first we diagnosed the problem as fuel, hence the need to park up and dismantle half of the bike. Removing the seat & tank gave us access to the carby, which we hesitantly decided was going to have to come out as well.
Once we had the carby out and in pieces in front of us, we both realised that neither of us had a clue about what we were doing; needless to say, after we put everything back together (choke doesn’t work anymore Jamie), the problem hadn’t been resolved.
After enlisting the help of a local bike mechanic, and his 6 drunk mates, by sheer coincidence the incriminating factor was found by Boxy: one measly little wire from the ignition circuit had wiggled loose, but not far enough to be obviously visible.
After 6 hours of intensive labour, our problem was made redundant in about two minutes, leaving us close to 300 km short of our destination.
Original Week 22 accountPictures of the week
Quote of the week"That will be $10 thank you" - dodgy mechanic charges after we found the problem ourselves.
"Let me have a ride" - dodgy mechanic's son, who wasn't impressed by our reply.
"No you can't leave your bikes under the stairs" - hotel owner drumming up business for his mother's car park. The second night we put them under the stairs anyway.
CompetitionAfter demolishing a few bottles of cheap rum (Boxy was already in bed), it was deemed necessary to have a go at fire-stick twirling — an obvious money-spinner for anyone with practise, but for some it just ended in turmoil.
HighlightAfter spending our 1st night in Pura, we wanted to travel back into the Andes. Riding through the Peruvian desert was a bonus along the way.
However, stopping in Chiclayo for lunch, we were completely overwhelmed by locals wanting to simply be near us, so it seemed. Within minutes a crowd of at least 20 people of all ages and genders had gathered around the bikes, and us, contently listening to the self-appointed spokesman fire questions at us, eager for our reply, as if we were stars of Hollywood.
The same greeting keeps reoccurring wherever we pull up.
Risk activityWithin 3 hrs of leaving Montanita, both front fork seals on both bikes simultaneously let go, leaving the bikes' handling capabilities much to be desired, as well as dripping oil onto the tyres and brakes.
The perpetual need to race each other down mountain roads, despite the handling characteristics, also increased this week'sRisk factor7/10
LowlightThe mosquitoes we were forced to put up with on the coast were in plague proportions . A necessity at night was liberal amounts of repellent and a good mosquito net over the bed.
Road tallyAfter Martin cleaned up yet another unfortunate dog, it wasn't long before we were literally dodging horses, cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys and animals we couldn't decide were sheep or goats.
Obviously some serious cross-breeding happening in Peru.
Week 22 photo diary
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