TRAVEL FEATURE - SOUTH AMERICA
YVONNE EVERETT
responsible
ueue politely in
se our indicators,
aking signs … Of
oining the chaotout
of Cusco to
ecorum had been
whooshed past
glee. Ride like a
!
can motorcyt
Cusco, riding
Valley to Machu
le place crowded
sour and guincoa
leaves in
p Puno, to stare
n reed islands.
ck!
had to cross the
teau of the Altiplarking
system that
ther in a group
oads near Urcos.
azil, the sign
said. We looked right. Where did the
other riders go? We took the road less
travelled … left! More fun is to be had
when you abandon itineraries.
We climbed to 4850m on the new
InterOceanica Sur across the Andean
watershed. But after an hour of bliss;
wheeling and soaring in the sunlit silence,
reciting lines by John Gillespie
Magee* in the sanctity of my helmet.
Oh! I have slipped the surly
bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on
laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the
tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, – and done a hun
dred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled
and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring
there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along,
and flung
My eager craft through footless halls
E 47