Part of Alisa's route in Peru (Photo: Alisa Clickenger)
Alisa Clickenger, aka MotoAdventureGal, started out to ride her motorcycle to Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of South America. Those plans have now changed but she is still off on her adventure. Periodically she checks in with us. We left her last in Nazca, Peru, where she had spent a week recuperating from illness.
Leaving Nazca on about March 25, Alisa spent three days riding to Cuzco.
"It was such a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous road I took three days to do it. At times I was almost at 15,000 feet, and it was incredibly beautiful, and incredibly cold. At Poquio I hit a wall of rain and asked myself, do I want to ride in cold, wet rain at 14,000 feet or chill for the night and wait for the rain to pass?"
She chose to chill. And then she got hit hard by altitude sickness.
"Some nice local people packed me off to an eating place where they fed me tea made with coca leaves. Within about four hours my nausea went away."
After four more days drinking the tea three times a day her symptoms were gone.
"I went from sea level to 16,000 feet in just a few hours, and that's tough on your body."
She remains at this point in Cuzco and has been there for "way too long." Why the extended stop? She broke her left hand riding on some rain-slicked clay in the Sacred Valley.
"I slipped and did a low-side and munched my hand," Alisa explains.
Now the doctors tell her that in about eight days the bones should be healed enough that she can start doing excercises to get her hand back in shape. Alisa isn't planning on waiting that long; she hopes to try riding again in about three days, practicing clutchless shifting.
"I am not good at sitting still."
It hasn't all been a downer, however, because she did get to go to Machu Picchu. This historic site was closed due to heavy rains and flooding, and Alisa had only learned about that on the day she arrived in Colombia. But now they've been reopened and Cuzco is "the launching point for Machu Picchu."
Alisa took her spill the day before her trip to the ruins so she ended up hiking part of the way, rather than riding, a day and one-half worth. But she got to see them.
Now, still in Cuzco, her plans are to head out as soon as she is able and ride to Puno, on Lake Titicaca, and see the floating islands. From there it will be on to Bolivia.
"I'm now thinking Bolivia and Paraguay, then I'd like to ride southern Brazil. If I can't, I'll go to Paraguay and Argentina, to Buenos Aires. I'd like to explore northern Argentina and northern Chile."
The hang-up could be visas. She might have to wait two weeks for visas.
After that it will be time to think about getting home. One option is to ride to Quito, Ecuador, where another motorcycle traveler has found it possible to ship his bike to Miami for only $650. Considering that Alisa paid $850 to ship her bike from Panama to Colombia, over the Darien Gap, that price looks pretty good.
"I thought I might ride home but April is the rainy season in Central America, and I'm not sure it would be so much fun."
In the meantime, the trip is starting to wear on her.
"I'm at a point in the trip where I'm not feeling complete with the trip but I'm feeling a little worn out. The rest I had was good, I felt invigorated, and then I was demoralized with the accident, so now I'm feeling sad and poopy again. I figure once I start riding again I will feel invigorated again."
She also noted that other adventure riders she has communicated with say the 4- to 5-month point is when they needed a break and to re-energize.
While she has been in Cuzco she has rarely seen the sun.
"Sixty degrees and rainy for 10 days and hurting is just no fun."
Where the last leg of her journey will take her is still unclear, but by next week she hopes to have more clarity. Wherever she finishes, it should be around the middle to the end of May.
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Comments
Thanks for the update. I'm sure she needs a rest. She's been on the road a long time.
Whew - I almost feel like I need a rest after reading about her adventures. WTG Alisa!
What a time she's having - kudos.
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