After a trip to Colombia to see some dear friends and replace burnt motorcycle documentation, I was headed back to the madness that is Iquitos.
Intense and continuous abdominal pain
Bleeding, Vomiting, General crappy feeling
Irritability
Chest Pain
Persistent Fever
Little urine
the buses of the Amazon. ours had a 750 HP Volvo Pentax |
then we were headed up to the birthplace of the Amazon with our canoa |
screwing around at sundown on the shores of the mighty Amazon |
it's handy to take pictures of maps when you don't have any |
a motorbike is the only AC around |
Vinnie heads for Nauta |
Adrian puts the canoa to work hauling timbers |
puttering through town with the peke-peke |
meet francesca |
she loves to ride around on your head |
and eat popcorn |
after a week of lethargy, i loaded Suzi on the lancha and headed upriver for the highway |
setting posts for a new house. 100 bucks for a lot on the river. |
jimmy and sandro joking around |
the shores of Nauta, at the birthplace of the Amazon |
petroleum barge |
the lancha stops at communities to load and unload produce, bootleg liquor, passengers, etc |
typical jungle town |
this is where you sleep on the lancha. 3 square meals a day and the constant hum of the big Volvo |
lots of action when the lancha arrives. it stops just long enough to hop off and buy yourself a 75 cent pint of the hard stuff, flavored with ginger and coca leaf. or so i've heard... |
all the ladies come on board to sell mangoes, popcorn, bananas, pet monkeys, parrots, soda, bread, whatever |
Suzi ready for a speedy exit |
keep your chickens from escaping by tying them to a motorcycle. |
back on the highway and headed back into the andes |
utcobamba river |
and out into rice growing country |
signs you have dengue fever |
Bleeding, Vomiting, General crappy feeling
Irritability
Chest Pain
Persistent Fever
Little urine
Leder shows off some massive papaya |
The local cows check out the skull on the front of my bike |
fresh home from school and ready for a ride |
the family of Gilmer Prado Mondragón and Evercilia Aguilar Terrones |
Going for an evening ride with good people |
waiting for the border to open at Las Balsas, Ecuador |
Fried flying ants are a delicacy |
Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside |
at Vilcabamba I met some great bikers who slowed down enough to let me join the fun |
Gas stop with the Loja custom club |
Headed for Cuenca |
Sean has 50,000 miles on his Honda Super Cub 90 |
here is his blog. |
the nice thing about burning all your stuff is there is room for watermelons on the bike |
At the Colombian border, I met some Argentines headed for Alaska in their 89 Cadillac Limo |
look for these great people here. They would love to meet you when they roll through your town. |
the colorful chiva buses tell you that you are back in Colombia |
and the precipitous drops off the highway tell you that you are still in the Andes |
and the warm people that invite you in (Gato Collazos) to stay with their family tell you that Colombia is the best. |
Isabella the Mujer Maravilla traded in her golden lasso for a scooter |
near Ibague, I took some time for a trek with my friend Nilo |
Waterfalls near some perfect hotsprings |
an inviting path |
the palms and fog tell you that you are in colombia |
and then the cops hauled Suzi to motorcycle jail for out of date inspection papers. 250 dollars and a day later i was back on my way |
land rovers and terra cotta roofs tell you that you are back in san antonio del prado with good friends. |