Day 345 Tuesday 21st August San Luis to Cajacay 261km

This stunning photo was taken by Tex yesterday, note at the pass snaking up the mountain in the back-ground of this photo:

We left at 7h00 this morning, the plan was to ride 91km (3 hours) to an Archaeology Site where we would meet the others, they were 30km away from the site and would leave later than our 7h00 to meet us there. But, Murphy wanted to punish them for their error and un-buddie-like-behaviour yesterday (they did go off route and passed us in the town where we were waiting for them, 20 minutes after we arrived in the town, but we waited at the town square and they took a short cut through the town by-passing the main road passing the square. So this morning Peens’s front wheel was flat, a hole in the side-wall, (very difficult to “plug”) and he needed to buy a tube as the only two tubes (one front one back wheel) was carried by Rocky and I, so they got a Machanic to work on his bike and they started doing their washing, (which was washed but carried the whole day by them wet, in their panniers, (nog punishment.) This time they at least made time and sent a message on our group so that we could meet up with them at their town.

Meanwhile Rocky Danny-boy and I were soldering-on (I know it is spelt differently but Spell-Check is being difficult.)

Note the little Middle-Mannetjie below, you needed to cross it with great caution, which is fine if you are planning to do it, but scary when forced to cross when you come around a corner and there is a local motorbike in front of you.

But eventually we climbed back up to 4200m and the road opened up a little, it was breathtaking scenery above the Tree-Line:

We passed through many little towns, each with its own take on “architecture of a town square.”

We also passed through many little villages, all if them very ugly, you 1st find the pig tied to a stake in the ground, eating next to the side of the road, sometimes there are little piglets screeching in terror and running in different directions, sometimes, one of them getting very close to be Butterflied by KTM. Then it’s all the chickens and then very ugly houses, built along the side of the road, most of them following the road, so a long house that is curved. There are always several dogs in a village, the clever dogs lie sleeping on the side of the road , but the stupid ones sleep in the road or others chase at you, these dogs are all still young and in my opinion not going to get much older.

The houses are ugly structures made of straw and clay, and in most cases, some political party had offered to plaster one wall and paint it in that parties colours. They also spray the road with water for the dust, snoterig glad, BE WARE, or they build two monster Reductors (in Mexico this was the name for a speed bump,) but every now and then you would pass through the village where the “malletjie” (mad one) is in charge and he builds the inverse of the speed-bump, a sloot, (trench) which is the most dangerous to cross as you dont see them until it is too late.

After about 75km the very bad gravel road gave way to construction workers, and yes, Mr. Water Tanker and Mr. Grader-man was on duty, below he is busy in the blue truck to lay the ground for a test of our riding abilities. Danny’s Rally Driving skills was also tested.

Then we met-up with the other group and had a coffee and an egg-bread roll for breakfast.

We made out way to Chavin de Huantar where we bought tickets, found a Guide, and then learnt all about the Chavin Culture which stayed here from around 1400 BC until they were wiped out by an avalanche of mud, stones and sand after a very large piece of ice broke free from a mountain 16km away, this then slid off the mountain and into a lake, which then burst its banks and all the water and debris came thundering down this gorge to the right in the photo:

Above is also the main square, they believed in the mystical power of the number 7, so this square is

7×7=49 x 49 square meters, and this square slopes at the exact angle still used today by engineers when calculating the slope for water to drain, the water drained into the drainage tunnels. Note the Blue and Pink Granite around the side, and the way it was packed. The floor of the square is also made from compacted clay.

But back to the history and the avalanche :

The site was covered in everything that came down from the mountain and buried,  in 1995, under the supervision of Stanford University they started digging up the buildings that were buried by this Avalanche\Land-slide.

These people were very far advanced for their time and had an understanding of Hydraulics, Engeneering and physics. For example, they found 6km of water drainage tunnels through out this area. The tunnels with water was used for draining rain water off their square and from all the other structures (after rain,) but some water channels\tunnels were used to bring fresh drinking water from the river, and also to pass through the Temple area for the sound effect.

The animals found in their mythology were the Condor, the Crocodile, the Anaconda and the Jaguar. These animals were depicted in their art and stone carvings etc. Here are some photos:

Our guide showing us examples of the stone carvings they uncovered throughout the site, which are now the biggest seller in their little shop and by Hawkers at the entrance.

Below is one of the water drainage tunnels:

Below is Pie asking Professor Google if the guide is accurate or lying. There are also a very big rock with 7 holes in it (again the number 7,) and they believe that these holes were filled with water and that this reflected upwards and was in-line with the stars, the Seven Sisters.

Nothing was built without deeper thought, for example the main square and the shadow of the main temple would line up exactly at the Summer Salsas, and the other circular amphitheatre and the building’s shadow near it would line up with the Winter Salsas.

Note below how the feet were turned in, (for meditating after taking hallucinating drinks,) the one arm is in front of the body and the other behind the body. The hair represent snakes (anaconda, the mouth represent the Jaguar and if you drink enough hallucinating drinks you will see the condor as well.

We then climbed down 32 stairs int an area with 8 rooms where they came to sit and Hallucinate.

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The roof is built on a canter-lever system.

This is my photo of the day:

Of course we needed ice-cream from this aunty:

After the Ruins we jumped on the bikes and headed to the town we thought we would find accommodation for the night, it was a stunning ride, after sending the mountain it flattened out and we were running in a straight line for the 1st time in many days, discovering the bikes still had gears number 5 and 6, reaching speeds of over 120km\per\hour.

We even had a tunnel and and not a pass to cross this mountain.

The other day when I rode up to the summit of the pass at 4710 meters I found Peens there, he had his phone in his hand and I got all excited, for the 1st time in 12 years he was going to take a photo of me to post on this blog, but, I was wrong, he stuck his hand in the air and looked for cell phone signal. I was rather angry and spoke to him about his lack of contributing to this blog and how that photo of me would have been special if he had his mind on things like that. So today he sent me 2 photos, see below. They dont fit in with this theme of todays blog, but I have to post them as it is the 1st time (and probably the last time,) he contributes :

But he also refuse to read the blog, which is good as I can then post photos like this, see below, which will help you understand why he scares the children in spite of buying them sweets:

Our 1st town had only 1 hotel and the lady said she had rooms for us but we had to 1st pay and then she can show us the rooms. This is not our 1st rodeo so we called her bluff and rode a further 50km to the next town where there were 3 hotels, all next to each other (all owned by the same lady we discovered,) and after banging on all three hotels doors and phoning the numbers displayed the lady came running and helped us. Not great, but there is a garage to park the bikes and the wi-fi is good and the shower is hot :

 

This Blog is coming to you live from here:

As you can see we are now close to the coast and tomorrow we will drop down 3500m tot he coastal road and head for Lima where some admin awaits us with the bike’s TIPS (Temporary Import Permits.)

Tex added some video, click below:

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And another:

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You are used to seeing me in this pose, but yesterday Millsy also dropped his bike, like Peens the day before, so did Tex, again. So it looks like Pie and Rocky will be buying the beers tomorrow night.

Some more photos of yesterday:

OK Pumpkins, I am off to find the others and if I am lucky they would have ordered me a meal and poured me a glass of wine.

Fleisch