The Amazon

I had no idea before, but boy do I know about the Amazon basin now. It turns out, that when you go over the Andes, as you do, you drop quickly into tropical rain forest. The rain forest in question, being the edge of the Amazon rain forest!

I picked up the bike on Sunday morning and decided it best to pay for a guide. To go alone would mean relying on Peruvian road signs, a tourist map, no Spanish and very little mechanical knowledge if things go wrong. So I opted for a three day tour to the “jungle”. Now, being an A Level geographer, I guess I should have worked out that jungle means wet, but then again, the rainy season isn’t due for another month (I had checked that) so I was hoping for dry conditions.

Things started well as we climbed the Andes at around 3500m. The off-roading started fairly quickly and I was soon sitting a fairly happy 50 kph on roads I know I would have ridden at barely 20 kph on my CBF. The Honda Falcon (400 cc) came with stubby offroad tyres and seems to drive very well in gravel / dust / pot holes or whatever the road threw at us. The obstacles became more bizarre as we ascended, cows, lots of dogs, horses, sheep, Lama to name but a few. There wasn’t much traffic around and after a couple of hours we descended to a town where we took lunch.

No problems so far and we set off for the climb to a peak of 5360m. This is higher than the whole of Europe, and I definitely noticed my breathing getting a bit shorter and the bike struggling a bit too. We stopped at the peak to admire the view, but not long, as it was pretty cold . No snow but probably down to 5 degrees. I jumped back on the bike and unfortunately the side stand gave way and the bike fell on top of me. One broken indicator was the only damage (apart from pride) and we noted that the stand was in softish mud, thus causing the problem. Next time I would make sure the bike was on something more secure when I stopped.

We headed down the back of the mountain and I soon started to realise that we were in tropical rain forest. The previously barren landscape turned green and the trees got bigger and more dense. Eventually we arrived at our hotel, and I started to appreciate just how dense the forest was. The steep hills were covered with trees and I hadn’t seen any bare ground for over an hour. The mist hung in the trees too and it had been raining for half an hour or so. This was a bugger as I had not packed any spare trousers, just the jeans I was in, plus 2 changes of undies / t-shirts.

I managed to taste tarmac again, or would have if there were any. We came down a flight of stairs on the bikes then veered hard left down onto a patch of grass. Keen not to mess it up, I stopped at the point of turning and placed my foot down to allow me to edge down. Unfortunately the flower bed where I put my foot was nothing of the sort, rather the top of some foot high plants. Down I went and down came the bike again! Luckily no damage this time but I was far from happy. Crashes number 6 and 7 in the same day. Not good.

Monday saw us head on down the valley and the road got more technical as we were regularly crossing the bottom of waterfalls and the road surface was getting worse. Going down is sometimes harder as your speed can run away from you too. The most bizarre barrier was a vine, that swung and smacked me in the head (or helmet) fro m the side.

We got to the bottom, did some more trails , river crossings and then headed off to see the Amazon. We were up high and got a beautiful view of a couple of rivers joining. The rain was again starting and we headed back to the digs, though as were by now without helmet, jackets and gloves (I know) – the torrential rain made for an interesting 15 minutes ride.

Things kind of worked out, as I hoped to dry my jeans before the long ride back to Cusco. We went to bed ready for an 8am start, but things all went a bit mental around 2am. It seemed the rainy season was starting early and I awoke to a full on tropical rainstorm. I know these well from my time in Africa, and 5 hours of heavy rain, thunder and lightning had me wondering how on earth we would make it back. The rain might have eased up, but I knew the 100 km or so to the mountain peak would be very treacherous as the road would be bearing the brunt of the rain from the previous few hours.

The day started badly as my guides bike had not held up to the rain and had fallen onto mine and knackered my mirrors. He had done the same as me in not ensuring it was properly held up, though neither of us expected 5 hours of torrential rain. Still, 2-1 in the dropped bike stakes, 2-2 if you count them both as they were both knocked over.

My fears were right and the wet road, huge puddles and waterfalls became harder and harder as we ascended. One waterfall actually covered the road (rather than just the pool) so we had to ride with water hitting our helmets! Soon however I realised that what had gone on so far was just an aperitif. We came round a bend to see some backed up vehicles and it was clear there was a problem ahead. We passed them until we got to a tight bend that had a bus stuck trying to get over what was basically a mudslide. There were about 20 guys with shovels trying to dig a route through, but everytime they got close, the mud would simply slide down again.

My guide reckoned he could get across and I opted to walk, ankle deep in wet slurry and amazingly he managed it before returning to take my bike across too. The slide was probably about 10 feet high and 30 ft long, and walking across was an effort, never mind riding a bike. The bus was going nowhere anytime soon, and we rode on feeling sorry for the guys stuck for the foreseeable future.

30 minutes later and the scene was repeated, only this time there was much more traffic. It turned out that most of the trucks / buses had been stuck overnight and the passengers were looking very weary, whilst digging through the slide. It was similar to the previous one and again, my guide got both bikes across. What was different though was the 15 strong lorry / bus queue on the other side and we had to get past these vehicles which were basically taking up the whole road, with 100 meter drops on one side, and the side of the mountain of the other.

Some were easily passed, other required a steady hand as there was maybe a bike width plus 12 inches to play with. When the gap was just too small, we had to go round the mountain side, which meant putting the bike into foliage and riding through, or watching the guide do it anyway. He managed to drop his bike when mistaking some foliage for a bed, just as I had two days earlier. 3-2 to the beginner and I was feeling a bit better, whilst remaining very grateful for his assistance. It took about 30 minutes to get past all the lorries and eventually we resumed our ascent out of the rain forest and into the Andes.

Landslides 3 and 5 I managed to do myself (they were half the size) and I opted to let my guide do landslide 4, as there was a huge drop right by the route through. We managed to reach the 5360 peak after 5 hours of gruelling riding, undoubtedly the hardest roads I’ve ever ridden. After that, the descent to the valley, dinner and final couple of peaks were a piece of cake, though I was keen not to get complacent as they were still difficult roads.

But we has conquered the Andes and the rain forest in one day. Had the rain continued past 7am, I have no doubt we would not have made it. What that would mean I am not sure, but I would hope the one of the buses would have taken in two wet riders and we would have remained at the mercy of mother nature for a short while yet. Still, we did make it and the shower I just jumped out of was the best I have ever had.

So, there you have it, the Inca trail, or three days riding some of the toughest roads in the world in some of the harshest conditions. Feck me that was fun! I’d never off roaded before but I guess if you are going to do it, do it in style.