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