Chacas Market

Cachapoyas Market, lots of fruit from the Amazon of which this high
altitude town is the Provincial Capital.   (??)

Robust sandal replacement for my Keen's, "disappeared" at the border.

Robust alright.

Cusco Hostal with Brazilian riders

With 3 São Paulo, Brazilian riders (center) who arrived from Machu
Picchu and Bolivia yesterday at the hostal in the center of Cusco.
Argentine BMW 1200GS friend (right, his feet barely touch the ground)
starting back today to BA the same way through the Bolivia on a
whirlwind annual 3 week tour.

Race to Cuzco

I've started out doing 10 hour days, too.   Broken clutch cable, rear
brake went "out", smashed into a car at a toll booth ($ hassles),
downpour entering Huancayo after dark, I know what you mean.  And one
of the strangest, most obnoxious entry & exits from a town I've ever
been to.  It's been Interesting.

Assume the missing was due to the plug, burning oil.  It was but can't
be sure the higher altitude jet didn't help as well.   Bike has been
running much better.   Oil leak since Jaime's oil change, I'm not sure
what to do.  Suggestion?

Hoping to locate a T-Day option at a restaurant in Cusco.   I also
thought of going directly to Ollyntatambo or Santa Teresa for Machu
Picchu, too.  If it weren't for the rumors that you need to make
reservations for MP 3 days in advance in Cusco.  

Cañon del Pato

Just finished ride from Huanchaco along the beach and a gravel track to the Cañon del Pato to the top, now in Caraz. I know now what Michael's Peruvian wife Rosy  means about watching your head with the overhangs.  That's only with buses, though.  I pulled over to let a bus pass at a narrow spot next to a dropoff.  But the bus- on the inside- refused my courtesy.   What?   Then he motioned upward....  He couldn't go past because of the overhang. Which forced me to edge past on the outside, next to the dropoff.   Live and learn.    Love those solid black upside down horseshoe signs. They seem to refer mostly to those tunnels-  many of the 50 I encountered- that you must enter blind .  No light from the other end, no way to tell who's inside, or who's coming from the other end.  Worse, most of the road gravel scree has piled up all across the narrow road, except where car wheels have passed.  Their tracks..  Gotta stick to the tracks, or slide around.  Oh and no shoulders, just loose gravel.   Oh and for some reason it all continues inside the tunnels like outside.  Just that there is NO light in the blind tunnels, your eyes have no time to adjust to be able to see in the dark, and ya gotta stay in one track or the other.  Or go sideways, against a wall.  That is, IF you could see which you cannot.  And hope no one is coming, forgot that detail. Glad I made it out of the tunnels alive.

Special Report: An Aging Nation Braces for More Deadly Falls

As a Senior, this is just what I need!

Lights embedded in tracks up and over the Andes.

No more falls!

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SPECIAL REPORT Sunday, November 2, 2014 10:07 AM EST

An Aging Nation Braces for More Deadly Falls As the American population ages, the number of older people who fall and suffer serious, even fatal, injuries is soaring. So retirement communities, assisted living facilities and nursing homes where millions of older Americans live are trying to balance safety and their residents’ desire to live as they choose. They are hiring architects and interior designers, some of whom wear special glasses that show the building as an old person would see it. Some have begun to install floor lighting, much like that on airplanes, that automatically illuminates a pathway to the bathroom when a resident gets out of bed. The number of people over 65 who died after a fall reached nearly 24,000 in 2012, almost double the number 10 years earlier, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 200,000 Americans over 65 died after falls in the decade from 2002 to 2012. Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death in that age group. And more than 2.4 million people over 65 were treated in emergency departments for injuries from falls in 2012 alone, an increase of 50 percent over a decade.

Injury downtime in Huaraz

Arrived from Caraz at Huaraz, a big Andean city noted for adventure sports- trekking, climbing, white water kayaking, etc, surrounded by jagged snowy mountains.   One of the 4 Americans I've met several times along the way, Cajamarca and Caraz- rode my bike for me while I rode the van with the other 3.   Pretty nice, huh?

Quite a change.  Also, COLD, as accustomed to the tropics, or at least Southern California weather.   Around 70 during the day is not bad.  But in the 40's at night?  

Finally got an Xray before leaving, impromptu, quick.   No fracture.  No "fissures" (cracks).   Only trauma.

Should get better faster.  Instead of 3-6 weeks everyone thought, maybe only 2 weeks.  Maybe.

Small hotel run by Tito, brother of a Santa Barbara biker friend's pal here.  Julio does mountain bike tours in Peru.  "Olavaz's Guest House".  Ultra clean, efficient, together.  Again, quite a change.  The girls that work here are Indian, very sweet and bright.  They have been raised as part of the Olavaz family, not like 'maids'.  Again, seems like quite a change from, say, Brazil.

I hope to recover quickly and be on my way.   Because it is a real city, rather than a village like those I've been visiting, there will be more for an injured biker to do.  But I've missed seeing much of the dramatic Central Highlands around Caraz accessible only by dirt roads- where my lack of off road experience shows- and will also miss around Huaraz due to the injury.   But this is how things go.   Unfortunate experiences often have a very positive outcome.

My bed is on the left.

Other two are for Mr. Motorcycle...

Reorganizing, Leymibamba, Peru.
1/2 this stuff I still must learn how to use.  Learning on the fly,
steep learning curve...

The Cops & Me

In front of my Hostal in Chanchomoyas...

The "Policegirls" patrolling the Central Plaza stopped to alert me-
in the nicest way possible- to be sure and wear my helmet.  The Law,
you know.  Let me off with a warning, some cordial conversation as
well.

You know the drill.  Where are you from..where are you going...are you
alone...?  I said the Police in the US are not as attractive as they
are in Chancho.  They smiled, and asked if it were true cops in the US
beat up delinquents?  Here, they said, there is very little
"delinquencia".   I believe it.

Vilcabamba: impressions of expat paradise

The Longevity Story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilcabamba,_Ecuador

Hotel owner here scoffs.   Yeah, they USED to have people 130 years old.   Nowadays, no one is older than 100.   Pollution, Television, video games, drugs, etc. 

Very odd place.

A tiny valley lost near the SE Ecuador border.  5000 locals.   3000
gringos mostly in the hills around.   Trying to get a handle on it,
what's the attraction, the "meaning"...?   So far, it makes no sense.
 I like the Ecuadorians very much.  Can't necessarily say the same for
the gringos. 

Well it is a foil to Cuenca 4 hours from where I rode yesterday.  A
cosmopolitan gringo retiree mecca, Eternal Spring, many after cheap,
good health care.  Costa Rica XVIII.

The Bike

Loaded for the trip