Cusco

4th Jan
We go in search of a pub called Norton Rats as the owner is a keen biker who came to South America in the 80´s. He is a wealth of knowledge and may know who can help us. In the end we discover Norton Rats has closed and may reopen some time in the future in a new location but location unknown by any locally. Dave telephones Thunderroad Motorcycles in Bridgeend, Wales where jointly we had spent nearly 3000GBP and they had agreed to supply parts if necessary, anyway after 5 days they had not even replied to our urgent request. Roly had also e-mailed David Silver Spares who also never replied. Our E-mail to Dakar motors in BA did receive a reply but not for over 7 days. In the mean time an emergency round robin text was sent to about 6 people in the UK and Roly´s brother, Tim Orsman and Steve Leach replied.
We finally felt we may have some chance of getting the parts we so desperately needed to move on. We find a taxi and get a lift to the motorcyle shop street where we order a new battery (US$96) which needs to come from Lima. The bike shop guy speaks English, we order oil, fuses, wire connectors, bulbs and a new regulator/rectifier. We return later and are told he can help with the regulator, it can not be rebuild as 1st suggested and he can not get from USA as also suggested. We visit the Inca musuem which is very intresting and then go for an Indian meal. We stay at the same hotel for a 2nd night but will move tommorow to cheap accommadation away from the main Plaza. We met another biker on a new BMW R1200 GS adventure called Greg, he works for the US embasy in La Paz. We all three go to the Irish pub and discover a hostal for 40 Sols a night for a twin room and we all book in for tommorrow. The new hostal also has a coutyard where we can store and service the bikes.
5th Jan
Dave moves his bike to the new hostal and then returns with his battery so Roly can drive the 200 metres. The hostal has about 4 other bikes in the coutyard ( BMW R100, BMW 1150 GS, BMW 650 GS, Trumiph Tiger). We go to Nick´s place for an unhealthy breakfast ( American) plus Tetley tea. We book a one day tour for the three of us ( Greg) by bus of Sarced Valley(25 Sols each) for tommorrow and also a Machi Picchu (MP) trip for US$170 each for the 12th as there is a three day demonstration which means all roads and train lines will be blocked. Due to the demo we decide to also book a 2 day white water rafting trip for US$70 each. We could have gone to MP for US$155 if we went on a 2 day trip and stayed away up there for 2 nights ( cheaper trains and in hind sight would have been better but too late now)

Those wanting to see the road of death in Boliva go to Google and type in "road of death bolivia" you will see some intresting pictures and details.

6th Jan
All three of us up and ready for bus trip to Sacred Valley, leave 0830 hrs and buy breakfast in the plaza on the way to the bus. Dave has his boots polished for 5 Sols Bus leaves with the three us occupying the back row ( Bad boys row). We drive up out of Cusco and within 30 mins see the 1st Inca site but drive right passed, in about 1 hour we arrive at Chinchero plus the local market. Roly buys a nice piece for Silver (have to wait to see Jeanne!). Greg wants to go back to Cusco by Taxi as dislikes buses ( Bus full with 31 people on board and we are treated like cattle/ sheep) and all do the same trip by bike ( with Roly on hire bike). We decide to stick it out and do the trip. We move on to Ollantaytambo a large Inca terrace site built into a cliff. All the best buildings were religious and built of the best cut stone with perfect joints not requiring any mortor. The next best stone was for living quarters and the worse stone was for agricultual use. At the top of the site we saw 4 huge granite blocks weighting about 30 tonnes each joined by thin wedges of granite that allow the blocks to move during earthquakes. All Inca and Pre Inca buildings had a lean on the external walsl of between 6 and 13 degrees so that all walls support each other during earthquakes and therefore remain standing many years later. The Granite for this site came from the next valley 8 kms away and all blocks are thought to have been moved on wood rollers or sand depending on weather going up or down hill. The grain stores for the town were high up in the mountains overlooking the town where they received cool winds and were dryer. The Incas could store 5 years of food for the town in these stores so if there was one bad harvest it didn't matter.