NASCA
One of the things on our
list to visit on this trip was the Nasca Lines. We had decided to forgo
the cheaper solution of paying for a climb to the top of the viewing tower and
actually forked over enough for the flying tour.
I decided to try out my
video capability, let's put it this way, the Amateur film makers have
nothing to fear from my untapped talent. But, just to give you a feel for
what we experienced here is a view of the "Parrot", also is a picture
of the route we took from Nasca to visit the lines. All in all it was
about a 35 minute flight and cost $110.00 US. Chuck was a little woozy
from the flight so we took a break after we landed to let him get back his land
legs.
PUQUIO
When we finished the
tour of the Nasca lines, it was only around noon, so we took off for the next
town towards Machu Picchu; Puquio, about 150 kms. It is just incredible
to me the rise and fall as you cross west to east across Peru. In those
150kms we climbed to around 13,900 feet and back down again to just over 10,000
feet in Puquio. We found a nice little hotel on the plaza and parked the
bikes. Asked the proprietor for a restaurant recommendation and
he gave us a recommendation. It was really good food and the courtyard
was a relaxing change from much of what we have experienced.
Below is the church viewed
from the hotel in the town square. The
bell tower on the left was actually rang by young parishioners who either had
very good ear protection or came away with an extreme headache.
After dinner we turned
in early, got up late, had deysayuno a the same restaurant, got packed and we
were on our way again. It was a little exciting getting down from the
parking garage, that emptied into a street with busy traffic. Many of the
hotels / hostels have parking but it may be a small enclave in the hotel, which
usually means steps and gutters to overcome. The owner of this hotel had
obviously experienced this before because he had blocks and boards specifically
sized to overcome the obstacles. However it was a good 20 degree incline
with no place to put your feet. But no incidents, not even a bobble.
ABANCAY
As we left Puquio it was
obvious there was going to be rain, in fact there was even hail. I
stopped and put my rain gear on, and I was glad I did. But once I have my
rain gear on, it is really hard to take pictures. The road actually began
to accumulate hail and turned white like snow. But it wasn't slick and we
had no problems with traction or slipping.
I did stop and take some
pictures as we reached one of the high points, 14,960 feet. There aren't
even mountain tops in Colorado that high. We reached this height several
times and the lowest temperature we experienced was 38.8 deg as indicated on
the bike.
These guys were very
suspicious of this gringo on a motorcycle taking pictures of their charges.
On to Machu Picchu!
I am also a little woozy after watching your video. LOL ;) What a great experience you guys are having! I'm enjoying it with you. Lori
ReplyDelete