3 countries and more ‘ruins’ than we bargained for

We hope the new year is shaping up to all you imagined it would be! We have traveled a long way since we left California in 2018 (about 30,000 miles). The time passes so quickly in some ways and, paradoxically, at times it feels like we have been on the road for a decade at least. Another motorcycle traveler, Jim Mcwhirter, explained this conundrum perfectly when he pointed out that although not ‘that’ much time has passed we have been moving rapidly from one amazing experience to another and this makes it feel so much longer than the reality. Or another option is we might be losing our minds (old news to some of you, we know:).

When last we left you we had just returned from the Huayhuash Trek and decided it would be a good idea to get terribly sick for about 48 hours. It was adventurous (in its own way), but we were SO happy that it did not happen during the strenuous trek and instead in our warm hotel room with hot showers! It came on suddenly and, fortunately, left just as quickly. Which was good because we were anxious to get back on the motorcycles and finally drive out of the Andes mountains and to the Pacific ocean (which we had not seen since our arrival in South America). We retraced our route from Huaraz through some beautiful scenery; as our altitude lowered the temperature increased. Two days later we arrived at our destination, the small town of Huanchaco, just north of the city of Trujillo.

Here we spent a week visiting the beautiful colonial downtown and several important archaeological ruins. The most impressive in size and location was Chan-Chan. It is the largest city made of adobe bricks in the world and it is right on the beach! The great condition of the carvings after so many years was simply incredible! We also visited two large temples named Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol (essentially ‘Holy place of the moon and sun’ respectively). They were important for their religious ceremonies, including human sacrifice. The last site in this area that we visited was called Cao, named after the female leader whose remains were discovered entombed in the temple. This was a huge discovery since before this archaeologists had believed that all leaders in this culture had exclusively male! One thing we saw at all the sites was a breed of hairless dogs, they looked very strange with just a little mo-hawk on their heads and a bit of hair on the tail.

From here our next stop was the capital city of Lima. However, it was not to be (at least not yet.) Here is an excerpt from an e-mail we sent our families that explains what happened next:

“Sharon and I are doing fine, unfortunately, the same cannot be said about my (Chris’s) motorcycle.  We were driving south when my bike suddenly felt different.  We immediately pulled over to see if it was any of the usual suspects.  All seemed well, until, I checked the oil level – much lower than normal.  At that point we decided to have the bike picked up and taken back to Trujillo to assess the damage. They are still taking the motor apart, but what they have found so far is not promising.  The most difficult task will be getting replacement parts. Anyway, we are holed up in a fairly nice hostel (we have a view of the beach from our balcony when it’s not fogged in) located in Huanchaco.  It is about 20 minutes from Trujillo where the bike is being worked on.”

And just like that…30 days later the bike was fixed! Yes, THIRTY, and we were extremely fortunate it was that fast! The main problem, as expected, was getting the needed replacement parts. Peru is just about the only country in Latin America that does not sell our motorcycle, so, we had to purchase parts from Ecuador and have them shipped to Peru. Unfortunately, there were protests with road closures happening all over Ecuador at this time. Long story short, we were extremely blessed by all the complete strangers who reached out to help us get the bike fixed. Big thank you to Andres and Michel at Fox Motors Peru for their superb service! And thanks to Sata (who we still have never met) for tracking down all the necessary parts and shipping them for us! Your kindness and patience made a challenging situation much better.

Once we finally got back on the road we only had a few days remaining before our Peruvian visas would expire and the border with Chile was over 1,300 miles away! The next five riding days were some of the longest and most fatiguing of our entire trip. The last two days we woke up at 4:30 in the morning so we could start riding as soon as the sun was up. We had heard from multiple sources that if you violate your temporary vehicle permit there is a chance the government will impound your vehicle at the border – we did not want to risk this happening. Fortunately, the loss of sleep paid off and we crossed the border into Chile on the last day of our visa!

Sharon has dreamed of visiting Chile ever since meeting Catalina, a foreign exchange student who she teamed up with at nursing school in 2003! We were not able to see Cata during this first entrance to Chile as we were far away from her home in Santiago, but our thoughts were with her the moment we saw the Chilean flag. Our first personal encounter in Chile was also noteworthy. We met Larry when we were trying to get some antibiotics at a pharmacy, he happens to be a motorcycle rider and helped Sharon find the medication she needed and refused to let us pay for it! After that, he insisted on buying us lunch at a great restaurant nearby and he shared the testimony of how he suffered terrible medical difficulties which brought him into a relationship with God. We were both humbled by his honesty and generosity with virtual strangers – though as we all agreed later – we are from the same family of God.

From Arica we drove hard until we arrived at San Pedro de Atacama, the driest desert in the world. The desert landscape was desolate, but austerely marvelous We were really excited about meeting our friends Jim and Carol at this town as our separate paths intersected once again. It had been awhile since we had seen them and we had both enjoyed many adventures, some desirable and others less so. Sharing the fun ones and commiserating with each other over the difficulties had a cathartic effect for us all. Only a few days after we saw them we were off again on our way to Argentina via a high desert pass. We lost some power as our motorcycles struggled to cross the 16,000ft pass. Worse, we ended up sleeping at a hotel at around 13,000ft and Sharon got a terrible migraine which we think was triggered by the rapid altitude change. Thankfully, she was able to ride later in the morning the next day and we were able to descend below 9,000ft. From there we continued directly to the city of Salta.

Awaiting us in Salta was a man named Mariano. We had never met, but had received his contact information from a mutual friend. He met us with open arms and treated us like beloved family! He gave us a tour of his city and introduced to his loved ones. And to top it all off he allowed us to park our motorcycles at his house for a month. It was a mini adventure getting the bikes into his storage shed in the backyard because we had to take the bikes through the kitchen! Many thanks to Mariano and his family for their kindness and generosity. While our motorcycles were resting comfortably we flew to Buenos Aires to travel with Sharon’s mom.

Chris & Sharon