A Travel Story by Belinda and Patrick Peck
We are an Australian couple from Cairns, Queensland, Australia mainly traveling 2 up on a Yamaha Super Tenere XTZ 750, fondly nicknamed Miss Adventure.
Real estate was our career in Cairns and we job shared with Belinda's brother Paul and his wife Jacqueline working for a year and traveling every second year for 10 years.
We started this blog in 2002 during our 14 month trip in South America riding 2 up on a Yamaha Super Tenere.
2004 a year in Western Europe riding 2 up on a Yamaha Super Tenere. ;
26 August 2002 - PERU Well, we crossed the Equador border, which is spread out over 8km. We got to the Peruvian end and Belindas passport hadnt been stamped out of Equador. So, back 8km of which 1km was markets and huge traffic jams. We finally got the stamp and 3 hours later we were on our way. We had heard that the beaches in Northern Peru were good, so we stopped off at Punta Sal Beach, north of Mancora. One hotel was advertising every 5km for the past 20km, so we checked it out. It was absolutely stunning , right on the beach front and run by a lovely young couple.
1st September 2002
We are now settled into Lima life. Lima is the capital of Peru and it is a big, polluted, crazy drivers sort of a town. Most people hate it here. We have been here 3 times now and love it. We have found a great place that is like a home away from home in one of the beach suburbs, called Barranco.
The backpackers is called "The Point B&B" and you can check out their website at www.geocities.com/the point_peru/ or call on (51-1) 247 7997.
It is so laid back and 'chilled', we find it hard to move on!!!
5 September 2002
We are now in Pisco, which is 200km south of Lima. We stopped off at a surfing beach 52km south of Lima and enjoyed sleeping to the noise of the surf in our ocean front cottage. It is a Greek style village with a sheltered sandy bay and we had the place to ourselves as it was a week day and off season.
Most of Perus coastline is very dry desert, the houses are very basic and it rains so seldom lots of poor houses dont seem to have a roof!!! There was not a plant to be seen for 100km!
Belinda and Patrick at a lake in the Cordillera Blanca Mountains in Peru. Note the glacier in the background, Pats haircut and no Pat hasn't turned into a shorty!!
Belinda and 'Miss Adventure' (the bike) in the Peruvian Andes. Note: the knee protection, bright hey!! Safety first Mum!!
Mika, Dalmaris, Belinda and Patrick in the Iron House built by Mr Eiffel (who built The Eiffel Tower) in Iquitos, which is the town on the Amazon River with no roads leading to it. We first met Mika in Cairns, he is our inspiration as he has been travelling by motorbike around the world for 3 years now. We also met up with Mika in Lima (the world is a small place!!)
Patrick with a couple of skulls he found in the Peruvian desert near Nasca. Note the skin and the hair still on the skull!!!! (no its not Belinda!!)
Patrick and Miss Adventure (the Bike) in the Peruvian Andes.
16 Sept 2002- Arequipa
We have just downloaded our camera, so photos finally for those that dont know what our bike looks like!!
Well the Nasca lines were amazing. We went to a few museums to find out what they are and no-one knows for sure- its a mystery- drawings in the Peruvian Desert so large they are only visible by air!! There were also thousands of three thousand year old mummies burried and lots of grave robbing going on. See photo of Pat 'playing' with some skulls we found on the ground!
Five motorcyclists get together for a day ride in Arequipa. Patrick is far left, looking dashing in red on a Yamaha, of course; then Grandpa and Grandson on a Harley; Dad, daughter and Mum on a Honda Africa Twin; John Green on BMW and Super Grandma on another Harley!! Note: even the kids came too!! Top day with a local family, very friendly. You can imagine the looks we got when we drove through the countryside!!
24 September- PUNO
We stayed in a great place- Casa Nostra in Yanque in Colca Canyon and had a great thermal spring all to ourselves and saw many birds souring the thermals.
Currently we are in Puno in Southern Peru on Lake Titicaca at 3855m high- 165km long and 60km wide. We are off to Bolivia today.
We have really enjoyed Peru and are quite sad to be leaving, but looking forward to more adventures.
After leaving La Paz we headed towards Potosi, which is a town with a huge silver mountain on its doorstep. It is over 4000m high and is very cold. We stayed there for quite a while as we did a tour of the mines, which was amazing to see the harsh conditions they work under. There was asbestos everywhere and the miners generally only last about 10 years before they die from asbestosos. Pat couldn´t get out of there quick enough!! The town was so rich from silver that they used to make coins for Bolivia and Spain, now Bolivian coins are made in Spain!!
Crossing the border to Brazil was both expensive and time consuming as it is the first country in Central and South America that we have visited that you need a visa US$50 each. The views from Iguasu were more spectacular from the Brazil side. Changing the tyres in Foz De Iguasu we met the owner of the Pirelli shop- Roberto Apelbaum, who is a member of a motorclcle club called Route 277. He invited us to the club meeting and we all had a meal together. As they make lots of large annual trips they filled our map with all the great places to see.
We headed south from Villizon on nice smooth roads going down hill rapidly and the temperature rising into the 30´s. (Great change from Bolivias snow, cold and bad,bad roads) We also finally got some high octane fuel after the 78 octane fuel in Bolivia. The road followed the bottom of an enormous valley with multi coloured walls on both sides ranging from green to purple, red and orange. We stayed in a quaint little village called Pummamarca with a cute park in the centre and GREAT and CHEAP restaurants!! Heaven.
Anyone for a mudbath or a mudfight!! Pat and Belinda at the right of the photo!!
