Ride Peru

[oldgringo]

A few more photos today, Charito and I rode up to the Huaycan de Cieneguilla Inca ruins. We were the only one there except for a caretaker/historian/archaeologist, it was great she spent a couple of hours with us detailing the amazing history of Cieneguilla. Great weather for a mid-winters ride.











Ana & Charito

[SpudRider]

Thanks for posting the amazing photos, OG. What's the altitude at the ruins? How does your Mavila handle the altitude while riding with two people?

Spud

[oldgringo]

Spud, The elevation of these ruins is low, maybe 1500 feet. I've got enough power to travel two-up @ 10,000 feet, the high passes can be done but I can barely keep the Mavila running. As you might remember, I've made it to 16,000 feet solo, don't think I could do that two-up.

[SpudRider]

I was inclined to believe the elevation was much higher. I didn't realize the Peruvian coast was so arid. How many miles has your odometer recorded? Your bike still looks great!

Spud

[oldgringo]

Spud, Lima is the second largest desert city in the world after Cairo, all of our water comes from the Andes. The Mavila has a little over 7000 miles on it, no problems except that recently I've had a carburetor float problem (gas running out of the carb), it's still under warranty took it into the dealer for repair but I'm still having the same problem occasionally. The bike still looks good, a compete detail only cost three soles (about one dollar), that's why it usually looks good in the photos.

[oldgringo]

I live on the south side of Lima and only takes me about twenty minute to get to some incredible desert roads. I usually head up to Cieneguilla or down to Pachacamac, from those towns I head out into the desert, there is a maze of dirt roads, small villages. Pre-Inca & Inca ruins, here are some photos from my rides. I'm planning on riding up to the high Andes next week, will ride over Ticlio Pass again, at 15,818 feet it will be a struggle, that said. the Mavila has really "loosened up" and is running strong.





To me, Cieneguilla is a very odd place, there are guarded, walled compounds with new luxury home developments surrounded by people living in complete poverty.





I've seen a few of these narrow bridges, nothing larger than a mototaxi can use them.



Pachacamac, Peru



Riding the back roads on the Mavila



Inca Ruins

[FastDoc]

Interesting and dismal section of town there. It looks like the road and town are in the middle of a garbage dump.

I see no chance of growing crops there. What do people live on? What is the economy based on there? Mining? Minerals?

[oldgringo]

You hit the nail on the head Doc, these people are living in the dump, they work as recyclers, finding what they can and selling it. It's shameful how they are treated, there are no medical services, no food stamps, no welfare, nothing, they come in from the Provence's looking for a better life and yes this is a better life for most of them.

[FastDoc]

This provokes so many thoughts in my head.

Thank God I'm in America. God could have caused me to have been born into that poverty. My long term situation would have been just as good but my Earthly life a lot less comfortable.

That is still hard to look at though. Fallen Earth. Temporary problem but small consolation at the moment for those living in places like that.

Or for that matter any place. Lord knows the US, Canada, and other '1st World' countries have their share of poverty, but for the most part I doubt very much at that level.

Also, even the wealthy in any country get sick, suffer and die.

Again, tempory problems but your picture illustrate that concept so excellently.

Good work, OG.

[SpudRider]

Thanks for posting the update, OG! I'm glad to hear your Mavila is still running well. The photographs from Cieneguilla are sobering. :(

Spud :?

[Weldangrind]

OG, you must be in a perpetual state of adventure. I'm always amazed by your pics, and I'm even more amazed at the concept of "pre-Inca". 8O

[oldgringo]

As mentioned before, I've always been in awe of the street mechanics all over South America, it seems that they can fix or build anything. Yesterday morning I printed out a couple of photos of side racks that I got off the happy-trail.com site, then went down to the San Juan neighborhood to see if I could find anyone who could build me a set. I met two young guys, their "shop" was in the street in front of their mother's restaurant, I showed them the pictures and asked it they could build the panniers, "sà señor no hay problema". They were good guys and very enthused about the project, we agreed on a price, they both jumped on a moto and were back in a half hour with everything they need to build the side racks. Using the photo as their guide they spent the next six hours building my side racks, they were perfectionists and wanted everything right, they designed the racks as a one piece unit, removable with six bolts. After they welded everything up they removed the rack, I was surprised that they had bought a can of spray paint and painted the rack and even more surprised when they went over to my moto and looked for rust spots, then sanded and painted them. The racks are 40cm/30cm, measurements specifically for the British Army panniers that I bought from Mark. It cost be about US $50, I'm happy and they were thrilled to get the job, now we will see how they hold up on the rough roads in the Andes.

[Weldangrind]

Nice work! Although we consider $50 to be a real bargain, how would the amount be to those young men? Is that a typical price in the area for six hours work? I'm quite curious about that.

Is the steel solid? They accomplished a very nice arc, and that's tough to do without a mandrel bender, if you're using tube.

[wilserchinarider]

Originally Posted by oldgringo

As mentioned before, I've always been in awe of the street mechanics all over South America

Yes OG...my thoughts exactly when I saw that VW Bug 4-door model...the racks look good!


Can't beat the value menu for dirt bike detailing. The Mavilla looks great, and I am very impressed at 7,000 miles that all you report is a minor carb flaw...and under warranty no less

[oldgringo]

Weld, the $50 is a lot of money for these guys, I thought about that when I negotiated the price, there are a lot of people in Peru that would love to have a job that paid $50 a week and that is for twelve hour days. There is a minimum wage of around $250 a month, I've read that 65% people are earning less than that.
Yes, solid steel, they used a vice and a pipe for the bends.
wcr, yes I like that rack but what really impressed me is that ingenuity that went into building a four door bug.