Run To The Hills

At 730am we realised that we had a flat tire, I managed to get a few PSI into it in order to get to a tire repair place

The nail that was stuck in the tire, how does this happen?

The guy at the repair shop opened at 830am and I was the 1st customer

We stopped by a road side vendor to buy some grapes, they we excellent grapes

View from our room in a small town called Huaytara

The night before we decided that an early start would be a good idea to make some distance. With all the ambition in the world we were up and packed at 730am. To our disappointment we found the rear tire of the bike to be flat as a pancake. This was no biggie however, I simply pulled out my mini hand pump and managed to get about 10 PSI into it which got us to a repair shop. They guy opened up at 830am so we went to a gas station, (which in Lima they have convienience stores in them same as home) and ate some snacks and bad coffee.

The tire guy had my flat repaired and a new tire put on in a jiffy and we were on our way out of Lima in no time flat after stopping at Starbucks Coffee for a beverage each. Seeings how we had a new sparkplug, Tire, and air filter I figured that I'd change the oil and get the mainenance over with all at once. I couldn't find any motorcycle specific synthetic motor oil so I opted for the regular stuff. With everything ship-shape we took a hard turn to the east and began our ascent into the Andes.

I was pleased to have the agressive knobby tire removed and the smooth rolling 20/80 tire on. The road (#24) was perfect asphalt and twisty, I was rolling on the throttle thinking that it was so much fun to be on a curvy road again. We were following up a river valley that had farms and plantations along the valley walls. We stopped at a road side vendor and bought a couple of pounds of grapes that were ripe and juicy. They were so good that Julie had to take them away from me so that we'd have some left for the morning for breakfast. It was getting close to 5pm and Julie was getting worried that we'd be sleeping on the side of the road for the night as there were no towns ahead on the map and no houses. We kept ascending and it was getting colder. I could hear her expressing her concerns. Her concerns began to slightly shake my confidence until I realised that it was nonsense and we'd simply just ride until we got to a town or a small village and just ask for a place to sleep. (people are nice here). Alas we came up on a town just 1/2 hour before dark and settled into a great room with an excellent view for a terrific price. The owner of the hostal was so helpful that she walked us over to a restaurant so that we could get dinner. You see in such small towns people just cook inside their house and invite you in to eat in their main entrance, (concrete floor, bottled drinks on the walls, glass or wood counter top where you pay, seating for 6-10 people) you eat what they serve.

We hunkered down for the night happy to be in a clean and warm room ready to keep heading up, up, and on our way to Machu Pichu.