Day 63 - Exploring Arequipa

 Today we continue to stay at the awesome Costa Del Sol Hotel (part of the Wyndam Group) and get three dollar taxis to the Plaza da Armas in the Centro of town.

We had a nice breakfast in the hotel, and headed off, with a list of things to do, one of which was to get a Peruvian SIM card for my phone. I have a SIM card for every country so far, and they rarely cost more than ten dollars each, but allow us to navigate via our phones and look stuff up. I wanted a Claro one, but they were out of town and chose a Bitel branded one, that required them to photograph my passport and take a finger print! Still it had unlimited data and worked a treat. 

We then looked in a few shops and went for coffee on a roof top where we could see the three Andean Mountains immediately adjacent to the city. They are beautiful and about 6,700 m high with snow on the top. The coffee place was at the old Spanish cloisters and the stone carving was classic Spanish and particularly fine.

We had a high grade lunch at Cirqua which is a restaurant in a Relais and Chateau Hotel in the city centre, built in 1574 as a religous centre. Lunch was unusually good and quite different to what we would have in Australia, mostly built around Spanish food with lots of corn items, and some duck. 

We came back to the hotel for a bit, then Sheryle went back to town as my stomach was a little upset. Later I joined her, again on the roof top for late night cocktails. We had quite a day in Arequipa. 

Day 62 - Puno to Arequipa

On our second day in Peru and we were warned that the road was very poor "but still surfaced". It was worse than poor with a number of Devio's (diversions) most of them short on the gravel.

Until we came to a long section of road being replaced, with no obvious deviation signs. We tried a few roads out to the west and eventually found one that required a deviation of about a kilometre west, then north for three and east back to the main road. It was all gravel. And VERY dusty. To avoid risks with other riders I had chosen to go at my own pace at the rear which is rather enjoyable. The only challenge was that the dust was so heavy that I could neither see the road or the riders ahead.  I had to trust that when JC could not see me, he would stop and indicate the direction that he wanted to go. We did a few U-turns but I was able to follow comfortably. Once we came back onto the road, we were fine. 

Buying petrol here is much easier than in Bolivia with credit cards accepted in most places and no taxes for gringos. In the main, I can run a full day without a fill-up at over 500 km per tank, but the others are at their end at about 290 km, depending on how they ride. 

Coming into the wonderful town of Arequipa, we took a semi-circular route around the hills to avoid the worst of the traffic and arrived at the first class Wyndam Hotel.

I loved Arequipa. It is probably my favourite town on the whole trip, having been created by the Spanish in 1540, and the first major buildings built around a magnificent square in about 1570. We marvelled at the two-story arches and the huge Cathedral, then went to dinner at Indigo - fine food for the two of us. 

Day 61 - Border Crossing into Peru and Floating islands

The previous crew had spent nine hours crossing from Bolivia into Peru at the notorious Kasani Border Post, so we were prepared for anything. We are about to spend 16 days in Peru and wanted it to start well with the best possible documentation, especially for our bikes. So we arose early and reached the post about 30 minutes before it opened and the crowds descended. The previous Compass Expedition had taken nine hours to make this crossing.

As it happens, the buildings on the Peruvian side were burnt down by rioters a few years ago protesting about China's involvment in Peru. So now everything is done from rented shops and a caravan!

A key part of travelling by motorcycle is that you have to get yourself and passport through both immigration and customs on each side of the border AND get the bike approved and logged out of the old country and into the new one. It is like applying for a visa, using your bike registration as the "passport". While I have my original registration, I have been using a photocopy todate and it is now getting very dog-eared. 

One of my complications is that my registration is all numbers (91518) and this "does not compute" with many of the systems each country uses. At the top of my plate are the letters "ACT" so I managed to get into one by using the registration number ACT91518! They checked the "placa" the actual plate and approved it! In this case, we had to scan a Q Code and then fill in an online form with all our bike details (and my mothers maiden name - no idea what this is for) - a real challenge as the form is all in Spanish! So we look for the logical things - name, country, birthday, address, nationality, rego, VIN and engine numbers etc and complete it. We used the WIFI from the official customs office to do this and they kindly gave us the log-in and password. Overall we were done in two hours and very pleased. 

We were also warned that the road to Puno was terrible as they are doing a full refit on it. It was worse the terrible, with new bridges and gravel diversions quite regularly, plus one section of about 5km that was being re-surfaced and required about a 10 km diversion on particuarly gnarly gravel roads, full of rocks, potholes and billowing dust. We had had enough by the time we made Puno for a two course lunch which included tomato soup and rather nice local trout. 

We then took pedal rickshaws to the port and a simple boat out to one of the floating islands, where we had been before. They suffered during covid and are a little sad now. Our island buildings looked genuine, but under the thatch was sawn timber, floor boards and a corrugated iron roof, all lit with 12 v LED bulbs powered by new solar panels, well hidden from the tourist view. Mmmm.

Our hotel is grand and old, being right on the main plaza, which makes for a great view, but right now, at 21:26 in the evening, there is a large oompah oompah band playing and marching outside. Welcome to Peru!

Day 60 - Ride La Paz to Copacabana, Bolivia

In the previous year, this tour rode directly from La Paz to cross the border into Peru and then finished for two days at Puno in Peru. This program took them to 11pm, after a nine-hour border crossing at the infamour Kisani Border crossing point (where the buildings had been burnt down in the past by rioting locals objecting to the degree of Chinese investment and interest in Peru).

So we had determined to break it into two sections, with the first from La Paz stopping just 8km short of the border in a resort town called Copacabana. This was a short section of about 140km following the coast of Lake Titicaca first on the Bolivian side then on the other side heading to Peru. The riding was excellent with stupendous views from various LO's and also wonderful flowing curves in the road, perfect for motorcyclists. About half way we had to take a ferry boat across 500 metres of water. There were many ferries running all flat punts with a small outboard motor and random pieces of sawn timber for the deck, complete with gaps! Loading was interesting as we had to find a place to park the bikes so that the side stands would not collapse in the gaps and tip the bike over. We did it well, and JS filmed the whole thing using his new DJI Drone.

Our hotel was a little un-usual and was along a very dusty coast road. It looked smart enough but had no lifts so that lugging heavy bags up six flights of stairs and at altitude was no easy task. The rooms had a great view, but no heating or air conditioning. To make things more interesting, the owners never mowed the lawns around the building, but employed three Llamas to wander round and chew everything in all directions.

After a picnic lunch under a tree by the lake, Sheryle and I walked into town for some dessert and coffee which was excellent, but the altitude was getting to us and I did not sleep well.

Day 59 - A Lazy Day in La Paz

For the very first time on this adventure, we determined to do as little as possible. 

So we slept in. Each of spent some time on our computers and we made coffee - the really simple stuff. We wanted to go for a short walk in La Paz as this city has certainly changes a great deal since 2009, and then go to lunch at one of the top restaurants in South America, Manq'a.

We did indeed go to lunch arriving early. We each had a Marguerita to drink then revelled in the amazing new tastes that they dished up, especially the items made from the myriad of different types of corn available here. 

We walked home to the best hotel we have stayed in, during the trip called the Mitru Sur which is genuinely five-star and prepared for the long lift session on the gondolas tomorrow morning to ride the top of the rim, and collect our bikes.

Day 58 Tour of Moon Valley and La Paz Centro

This was the first of two full days in La Paz and included  a city tour by mini-bus and also by cable car and some walking. It was ok, and went to some of the more interesting places.

We first went to Moon Valley which is down the river from the city centre and is effectively due south. It is like the "bad lands" in the USA and has a moonscape look and feel. It is a park with a set of paths and so we took the one which is about 40 minutes and has a number of nice lookouts, including one over the golf course. 

Second we drove into town and took a cable car to a lookout which was a lot of fun. The furnicular is built by Dopplemayer from Austria and is particularly professional. All the cars are colour coded for that route of 11, and include toilets and recreational areas. As they "fly" over the houses you get a wonderful view of each area. The local people love them a lot and so one is being extended to the airport and two more are under construction. They commenced around 2015 and are the "metro" for La Paz.

La Paz is actually not the official capital - that is Sucre. However, the Presidential Office is in the square and so effectively it is. There are guards outside that make a good sight. Men are conscripted to the army for three years and for women it is voluntary. Also in the Square are two brand new buildings that are very modern in design so the juxtaposition of new and old is quite striking and very spectacular.

Next we went to the Witches Market where locals are supposed to buy all their offerings to their local gods including Llama Feotus' which are not so endearing! Bolivia is a very catholic country but many indigenous people also believe in their local gods. However the market is very touristy and sells every type of nick nack and geegaw you can imagine including the merged stones being amethyst and citron which is frankly hard to believe! After that, hats and T shirts take the cake. 

Lastly we asked to be taken to the front gate of the men's prison at San Pedro known as the "White Powder Prison" after a famous book written by a black American who was incarcerated there. The book was called "Marching Powder" where he describes how the inmates ran the prison until 2009, and had their families living in with them!

On this day there was a huge protest in the city by workers asking for a pay rise. Typically they earn about US$360 per month, which is not much, even given the low cost of living in Bolivia.  The net impact to us was that it took hours to drive out of the city!

Lastly, sheryle and I walked down to the restaurant called Gusto, that is in the top twenty in Latin America where the food was to say the least un-usual and delightful with lots of vegetables and unusual tastes. We loved it as it was so different. We also tried a local Sauvignon Blanc which was equally different!

Day 57 Ride Uyuni to La Paz

This was a difficult day for a number of reasons.

Overall the riding was fine, and we left the hotel Tonito beside the large military base, without any issues. We loved and hated this hotel. The room was the worst we have stayed in being very small with only two powerpoints and a shower that never got above luke-warm. On the positive side the couple that owned and ran it, spoke perfect English as he was from Boston and had met her (a native of Uyuni) at Amherst when he was making pizzas. The other positive was that their internal restaurant was excellent and made the best pizzas that I have ever had I think, plus other super food from the west like Cowboy Biscuits and apple strudel, both a real change from normal Bolivian or Argentinian food. 

The second big challenge of the day was getting petrol. JC had asked us to fill up on the drive into the town two days before, which he and I did. The others did not. As a result we had great trouble finding petrol this morning. Bolivia has a system to sell petrol to "foreigners" that requires a computer and charges higher rates. You have to input your plate number, passport number and nationality. My rego plate would not work as it is only numbers, so I added the "ACT" which appears on the top, making my rego "ACT 91518" and it worked. The man even accepted it! However, we drove around four stations in Uyuni trying to find one that had the system, but could not. So Willy filled bikes from his 40 litre reserve from the truck, otherwise only to be used in emergencies. He was not happy! Nor was Paul.

Then we rode off, creating problem number two, where rebuilding an overpass where we had to turn right. Rahn, Jeff and Paul went ahead, and took the wrong turning as the rebuild had closed the official on-ramp. JC could see this was a problem and led me up an alternate ramp via a marketplace which did not look like a street at all, but did connect correctly to the freeway. Thirty kilometres further on, the others caught up and over took us at speed. They were clearly un-impressed.

Problem three came when we entered La Paz. The lower city streets are mayhem, so we had decided to leave our bikes on the outskirts at the top of a hill with a friend and take the new cable cars (called the Mi Furnicular) to the hotel. Despite this, we had to take some very packed streets with large potholes. At one point I was behind a truck with the others in a lane on the right, and I indicated I would move into their lane and did so. Paul thought I had done this too quickly and too close. We did not touch each other, but he gave me a punch on the arm 100m further on. After we entered the compound, Paul said nothing but Rahn really hooked into me, with threats. I told him that violence was not an answer and walked away. Overall it was a stressful day. 

We then travelled down the yellow and green cable ways and took a taxi to a fantastic hotel called the Mitru Sur which is about one year old and is the best we have stayed at. For three nights we will live in luxury and it is a good time to do this!