Monday 20 January 2014

Huanuco To Pucallpa

Midnight Moto Mayhem ... read on

Heading to Pucallpa.... well, that was the plan.

An early start was in order as we had been invited to a barb que ... we set off with gusto, Ellen in the truck with Toby, Sara and Heidi.

The original plan was Toby and Sara were riding two up on the KLR650 and Heidi on a 250, us on Maya however Sara had a foot injury and Heidi had just had dental work done so the truck was a better option, I still rode Maya, we put Ellen and the cases in the back of the truck so I was solo.

About 70 km out of Huanuco we were stopped by an epic landslide that came down at 5.00am, traffic backed up 3 km plus on either side.





One rock, check out the impact mark ... a hard hat won't help here



With one digger in action it was slowly clearing a way through, there were rocks the size of footballs rolling down the slope and an ominously perched boulder the size of a car just waiting to take out anything in front of it.

An executive decision was made to abandon the day and head back to home base, such is life ... but the bar b que

The following day was plan B, we heard the road had been reopened but to one lane only so game on, quick pack down, fuel up and off we went, again stopping at the slip but this time some three km back in the traffic.



Me being on Maya I rode to the the queue to suss things out, it was mayhem to say to the least, I managed to spot a break for Toby and told him of the secret passage through which saw us through the slip in just on two hours.



It was slow with the Peruvians all two and three abreast impatiently trying to push everyone else out of the way causing blockages on the corners for the big trucks again slowing things down to a snail pace, they are their own worst enemy on the road.

Finally getting moving further down the valley the ferocity and anger from mum nature was realized with a demolition zone to drive through including rocks the size of house to go around and river crossings nearly axle deep ... on the road.





One house had the entire ground floor full of debris including a car size rock that wanted to come in and sit on the couch.



.... come on in ... everything else has , note the holes in the roof too from flying debris ....woulda been scary times



Through this section we thought easy as from here, through Tingo Maria and out the other side all paved and nice road, a bridge had been blown out day prior and had been reopened.

On approaching this area we came upon a line of traffic with no end ... two km away from the bridge.

Toby and I jumped on Maya to suss it out again, mayhem x 10 this time, it was 6.30 pm at this stage and getting dark, huge front end loader trying to do its thing and people blocking it every which way ... just stupid.

Typical Peruvian patience blocking everyone else, they were four wide at one point on a two lane gravel road so blocked any chance of flow for the opposite direction total sensible. .... even I created a shadow which there wasn't room for



After 4 hours of trickling along and having people push in etc we finally made it across the bog, many cars and trucks had been through slowly taking mud out with them, some cars donating bumpers and indicators to the earth too.

Many cars got towed through crunching and banging their undersides lots of it loud enough to know damage was being done but they don’t care.



The rest of the trip was easy, all tar seal from there and at that hour most sensible people had gone to bed.

We finally arrived in Pucallpa at 1.30 am in the morning ... long and exciting day out, spent and ready for bed.

A short vid, not entirely clear due to being filmed from 9.30 pm to 10.30 pm.


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