International Motorcycle Adventurers
>From: "Ricardo Rocco"
>To: ricardorocco@ecuabox.com
>Subject: The Road of the Incas, From Cajamarca, Peru
>Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2001 02:19:29 -0000
I just can´t stay put. I´m on the way to Cuzco (and Ushuaia?!?). Just took a few days off to ride to Macchu Picchu, a place I could´t visit during my Southamerica expedition. I´m riding with Ed (XR600) and Matt (XR400), a couple of great motorcyclists from Colorado, and a pair of excelent human beings. The plan was to ride wiht them to Cajamarca. Then I said: being so close to Cuzco would be a shame not to go, right? Would I say the same thing about Ushuaia when I´m in Cuzco? We´ll see.
We´ve been riding all kinds of dirt roads from Quito to Cajamarca in northern Peru, which is awsome considering, the heavy load this two guys are carrying on their XR´s and thet I´m riding my Honda NX 650 Dominator, which is supposed to be more of a street bike that anyhthing else. This is a great training for my brand new plans to ride the Paris - Dakar rally at the end of this year during the African stage of the Around the World for Peace expedition.
We rode to the remote northen part of the Peruvian Andes, where we visited the amazing pre - Inca ruins of Kuelap, the center of the archeologicaly rich Chachapoyas region. We are in Cajamarca now, where we´ve visited the pre - Inca ruins of Cumbe Mayo and the Baños del Inca, plus the colonial museums and the famous Atahualpa ransom room .
We are heading south on Tuesday, after we work on the bikes that have sustained a heavy amount of abuse on this though roads. My bike has peformed incredibly. The same thing goes to the new set of Pirelli´s MT 60 I got for this trip, they are supposed to be 90% pavemnet and 10% dirt, but they´ve handled every kind of terrain imaginable with great performance (and they are not my sponsors, yet).
I´m traveling very ligt this time, my luggage consist of an small backpack with few clothes, my tool pack and my inseparable Aerostich Darien suit, that has become my home away from home. I hope we can meet some of the many riders that have pass through Quito lately going south, specially my dear friend Chris Bright.
I´ll have all the details of this trip soon, meanwhile have a Inca´s hug from Cajamarca.
Ricardo Rocco Paz
Alrededor del Mundo por la PAZ
Around the World for PEACE
www.andesmoto-tours.com
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