uncomfortable for him.
Towards the end of the second day
and getting close to Andahuaylas my
bike was literally running on fumes ...
and then it wasn't!
Due to some issues, that I was yet
to become aware of, my bike had been
guzzling more fuel than normal. I
coasted as much as possible as we
were going downhill, and luckily we
got to a small village with about ten
houses. I asked if anyone knew about
a place to get fuel, and to my surprise
they said 'si!’. They pointed us in the
direction of a house and I went coast-
ing along again. We got to a plain
house, I got off the bike and shouted
'Hola'.
The stench of gasoline was strong,
radiating up through the little casa,
with huge plastic tanks full of the
stuff. Shortly we were greeted by a
smiling man and after a few minutes
he was topping up our tanks with a
bucket of fuel and a funnel, with his
whole family watching. They gave us
bananas, asked for some photos and
then we were off. The day was coming
to an end, the clouds were rolling in
and by the time we got to Andahuaylas
the heavens opened, it was pitch black
and I realised how completely useless
my headlight was!
Sadly, during the next few days, my
bike started to play up, and the engine
was tapping away loudly, so instead
of heading north into the mountains
we were forced to make a beeline for
Lima. On route we did get to visit
the Ballestas Islands full of seals and
bird life, as well as Paracas Nation-
al Park, but sadly it wasn’t under our
own steam as taking my bike into the
desert would have likely been a death
sentence.
We decided to stay on the outskirts
of Lima before tackling the traffic, so
we found a place about 40km south.
We crawled out of bed at some crazy
hour, even the birds weren't awake
yet. We were on the road by 5.30am.
My bike was not happy, however we
TRAVERSE 42
we at our hostel by 6.30am so the early
wake up had been worth it. Now, in
order to refrain from sending every-
one to sleep I will skip over the majori-
ty of our begrudgingly extended seven
week stay in Lima, however I will say
this: when shit goes wrong, you meet
some of the nicest people!
During our time there, not only
were we blessed with the fact that we
met a whole host of other overlanders,
but we were invited on two trips with
locals. The first was following the
completion of my bike repairs, which
included a complete top-end rebuild,
so it was good to take it for a test-run.
We accompanied Peter Documet
(the owner of the mechanics), his
daughter and some other KLR rid-
ers up into the Peruvian mountains
through Nevado Rajuntay and some
other breathtaking areas. We had sun,
rain and snow, plus we both struggled
with the ascent from sea level to over
4800m. Though, it was great fun!
The next trip was with Payo and Vic-