We were late leaving at 7:30 and would be into heavy morning traffic.....it was my first ride on the bike and right off the bat problems...battery dead. Kick start and off we go....within 1/2 hour still in the city my bike stalls in traffic and needs to be push off the road.....get it going with the help of a lady...lol and make it 1 k and it quits again.
What the **** they had charged it the day before and this was why I didn't get any
Toby had given Ken a cell phone if any problems.....we phone Toby and tell him our problem ...he and a mechanic ride to our location and replace the battery with the one in their bike....still won 't start.....Oh the problem ....no gas. I had heard Toby tell Ken he had a full tank and just assumed I did......nope.
We are finally off. Fantastic scenery all along the way with twisty paved road but the delay in getting on the road would cause havoc later, also in part to Ken's break down in the middle of no where. Turns out no gas....his reserve tank.....nothing.....choke also broken....I head off south as my Gps shows gas closest in that direction.....nope after 20k...so I go north stop to see Ken lying on the ground trying to reconnect choke....I continue another 20 k and find fuel....fill my bike and try to communicate with a older woman manning a small shop at the station...I need a can/bottle to take fuel to my amigo....we sort it out and I get a small plastic bottle which holds about 1/2 a gallon . It is now raining lightly as I arrive. Ken has managed to reconnect the choke.....dump the gas and away we go...another hour lost. Ken has the GPS co ordinates for our first night in Huancayo. It pours for the last 2 hours of our journey and we are have difficulty seeing in the pelting rain as we enter the city....on coming traffic lights blind us, we cannot see the up coming topes ( bumps to slow traffic ). we ride the edge of the pavement because in Peru you are just an obstacle to be push off the road by larger vehicles.......we find the place....gated and pitch black......While Ken waits at the bottom of the steep muddy driveway, I try the iron solid gate and it opens.....I can see a light near the entry but otherwise it is pitch black and raining hard. I approach the door at the same moment a woman is about to lock the entry. I explain our need in my poor Spanish and she invites me in....takes me up the stairs and shows me the rooms.....great I say dos Habitacions.....go out and retrieve Ken and the bikes which we are allowed to bring into the reception area.
Gloria, the owner offers us coffee and I ask if she can give us some comida (food) and she prepares chicken soup. She has been so welcoming in accommodating us and spent we go to bed. I am up at 6 am and load my bike. Gloria is suppose to go to church but stays to make us an early breakfast. We learn that she lost her husband 6 months ago and is near tears......I give her 3 pins from Ontario which Norm Miller gave me to give out on such occasions....she starts to cry and we hug...with both of us now teary eyed.
Gloria and I share emails. She wants to know if I will be returning that way and I say no....disappointment ......maybe wishful thinking on my part.
We leave wearing wet boots and head out on another days adventure bidding adios with hugs.
The early curving and wide two lanes going down the mountain
Fish farming on the mountain just after the above pic taken
Oh no the road is changing
Heavy trucks on this crazing road
This mostly single track with the odd place to pass....buses and trucks move tight to the wall to pass with the wheels of the outside vehicle on the edge of the cliff,
A village we passed through...note the railway next to main street.....
Ken negotiating a water crossing
Running low on fuel, we have not seen a fuel depot in 3 hours....makes sense as we have been running along a road carved out of the mountain with sharp blind corners every 100 yards. Finally a village.....We stop at a police check point and Ken uses sign language for fuel...the policia points up the street. Inside this small store we get a gallon of fuel pored into a gallon bucket then into our bikes...$ 30.00 soles appr $ 10.00.
Room on the 3rd floor not good with luggage and no elevator 
