Pedro and Maria Motorcycle South America!: Nasca to Abamcay, 297 Miles

We left Nasca for the wide open road. It stretches east to Cusco over about 400 miles without a substantial town until Abamcay (300 miles in). The road was straight and boring in the beginning which made me want to gun it, but the problem with the Peruvian police had me minding the speed limit. Not long in we started to climb a very windy road, higher and higher we went, our throats got dry (tell-tale sign of high altitude). The scenery quickly changed from sand, to rock, to scrub. It also went from 90 degrees to 50, then 40, then 30’s… We passed frost, then snow and decided we better put more clothing on. Despite my heated grips, I felt like my hands were getting frostbitten. When it’s 35 degrees outside, and you have a 70mph wind-chill factor, I think it’s below 0 on the skin. It started to rain which made it even more interesting.

At least the scenery was beautiful, with lots of interesting animals: goats, pigs, donkeys, horses, llamas and alpacas. Amie thought that one of the alpacas (or was it a llama?) was cute and got off the bike to take a photo. This animal wasn’t shy, it sized her up and then approached with a motive we didn’t care to understand. Amie had to scramble to the bike to get away in time.

This was one of the longest days so far. Sure we’ve done 300 mile days, but this one was tough. From desert to snow we rode. Amazing scenery. Challenging weather. We pulled into Abamcay early evening a little dizzy from the altitude and checked into the nicest hotel in town ($20 bucks including breakfast). It’s not that nice. The first room smelled like vomit and now we are in a room with two very small twin beds. Oh well, at least the shower is hot.

For some reason in small towns we gravitate to the pizza place. I think it’s because we know what we’re going to get. The problem is the last three pizzas have been TERRIBLE. I told Amie I don’t want pizza again, but that’s where we went. I ordered the ‘gourmet’ which was sausage, olives, mushrooms and other appetizing toppings. The olives were terrible, the mushrooms from a can and the sausage was hot dog slices. S.O.B! No need to say more.

For some reason I have no patience right now. I don’t know if it was the room temperature beer they served me, or the fact that I specifically said that Amie wasn’t drinking anything and they brought a bottle of water anyways, or the people that incessantly try to sell you something while you eat dinner from the street, or the hotel not giving your passport back for god knows why… Sigh. Sometimes I think I didn’t pack enough patience.

Beautiful