Alberto Lara takes us on an action
packed tour of Peru, home of the Andes
and of course alpaca!
Chasing the Past in Peru
After two nights spent in Cajamarca with
Alberto's parents we (myself, Alberto and our
two Keeway 200cc motorcycles) needed to
get back on the road. Ending up in Cajamarca
was already an unplanned detour so we were
starting to fall behind in our quest to ride to
Pataz, a mining town from Alberto's childhood
memories,via back road. Based on the
information on our paper map and GPS there
was still aroad to connect through
Bambamarca so that is where we were
heading.
Pataz may not be on every adventure rider’s
list but it is a place that Alberto remembered
from his childhood growing up in Peru. His
memories included giant scorpions, scary
tarantulas, orange supernaturallysized
centipedes, poisonous snakes, unsupervised
pigs, lost’ citadels of ancient civilizations in
the jungle nearby and +48C temperatures. All
during our riding in Peru, and for quite a few
months before we even left Canada, I was
being told of scary animals I had to keep watch
for when camping and taking bathroom
breaks. Alberto’s dad worked at the local gold
mine in the early 80’s and his family (mom
and siblings) spent the summer months with
him in Pataz. Him and his brother would look
for snakes, ‘play’ with angry rams, and slide
down the mountain on locally handmade
wooden ‘Tonka’ trucks, among other
unsupervised
activities.
What
great
adventures they had when they were 5 years
old. As Alberto remembered “'Don't lie' said
the teacher in front of the class when I was
asked what were you up to last summer
Alberto?' and I proceeded to tell them some