Montango


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South America » Peru » Amazonas
March 21st 2011
Published: March 22nd 2011
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Crossing the riverCrossing the riverCrossing the river

From Salinas we took a Huaral (pronounced waddle) across the Maranon.
Yes, this is the motorcycle wreck(s) story but you are going to have to read what happened in chronological order, and the wrecks weren't until the end.

Montango
Thursday was our first day to be in the real jungle. Bagua is still the edge of the jungle to me. A taxi took us (with Pastor Flores) to Salinas, about 30-40 minutes from Bagua. Salinas is right on the main highway and the Marañon River. We took a Huaral (pronounced waddle) which is a cable car/ OSHA worst nightmare. Greg assured me it had passed all the Peruvian safety inspections so we hopped on. The car zips along on a cable of indeterminate strength until it gets about halfway across the river. Then a broad shouldered gentleman pulls you across the rest of the way. In lieu of safety devices you have a wooden support between you and the 80 foot drop to the river. Once across the river your transportation choices are limited. Motorcycle would take us 30 minutes (it’s really closer to 45) or donkey. I’m not even sure if you get an estimated time of arrival by donkey. You can get there by car but you have to
HuaralHuaralHuaral

I think Huaral is spanish for "Death Trap"
go all the way around the mountain and come in from the other side. It is supposed to be a 3-4 hour drive. If anybody from Steve's team happens to read this don't worry, you are taking the cars. We selected motorcycles. The bikes are 125cc, which is great for mountain riding and ok, but not great for two smaller sized people but for those of you that have met me, smaller size is not how you would describe me. After some discussion and a short attempt at tandem riding I was handed the keys to Pastor Flores bike. I used to own a bike and rode a lot I told them, I failed to mention I never road trails and it had been 25 years since I was on a motorcycle. I was planning on the saying “it’s just like riding a bike”. What could possibly go wrong? All we were doing was riding a donkey trail littered with rocks and a shear drop off the side. Piece of cake. The ride up was fun and uneventful. I killed the bike a couple times on the switchbacks but otherwise rode well and had a good time. I’d forgotten how
Salinas HuaralSalinas HuaralSalinas Huaral

Owner, operator and engine
cramped your throttle hand can get on a bike ride. I may have been giving the throttle a death grip at times.

The village was great. More buildings than I was used to seeing in the villages down river but Steve and his team are going to have a great time. The accommodations are going to be great (for a work and witness team, there isn’t going to be room service) and the village is pretty interesting. Pastor Flores and wife Vidalina had a huge lunch ready for us. Chicken soup and Chicken and rice with papas fritas (French fries to you gringos). I’d but these fries up against In-n-Out and 5 Guys any day of the week. I told Steve he should put together a brochure and tell his people “limited availability”. They will be well treated in Montango. Pastor Flores took Greg and me to see the football (soccer) field. No self respecting village in Peru would be without one. We were told the main sources of income were coffee, cattle and corn. They are at a perfect elevation for coffee. We went by one house where the man was separating the bean from the fruit using
Salinas bridgeSalinas bridgeSalinas bridge

If we'd come 4 months later the one lane bridge would have been finished
a hand cranked device. As we were getting ready to leave Vidalina showed us Pastor Flores woodworking shop. When he was at New Horizons Bible School, Felix had taught him how to work with wood. He now uses that skill to help support his church. He built all the machines he uses himself. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Clouds were rolling in and it had started to sprinkle so we needed to head down the hill. Steve warned me a couple times to really be careful, that downhill was actually a lot harder than uphill (what? That wasn’t in the brochure!). We were one bike short and Greg said he’d run down the hill so off we went. They found another bike shortly after we left so Greg only ran for a mile or so. He’s the only person I know that would be disappointed with that. I wanted to stop a few times on the trip down to shoot some pictures. The view was fantastic but I had been so focused on not breaking Pastor Flores bike and my neck (not necessarily in that order) that I hadn’t enjoyed it much on the way up. I stopped
Salinas bridgeSalinas bridgeSalinas bridge

I wonder if that is how the manual tells you to do that?.
2 or 3 times and shot a few nice pictures. Now, I have a couple of disclaimers before I finish this story. I was NOT goofing off or showing off but I did make the mistake of getting comfortable. And Mom, if you’re reading this, I’m fine. A couple of the other riders had commented that I was riding pretty good so I was feeling ok with my abilities. I was really careful on the turns. Most of them were switchbacks so it was like making a u-turn in a phone booth. I wasn’t gunning it down the straight ways because there were so many rocks it would be easy to get knocked down the cliff. So, there I was going down a straight section when the next thing I know there was a crunching sound. What was crunching was my back, shoulder and elbow because I was on the ground and the bike was on top of me. I had my backpack on so that took some of the blow, sadly my camera was in the backpack. I’ll be in the market for a new 18-55 mm lens when I get home. I knew Larry and his driver were
Soy beansSoy beansSoy beans

at a house acroos the river we found this woman grinding soy beans. They eventually become a drink,
not far behind me so before I could even figure out what, if anything, I’d broken I’m yanking on the bike to get it out of the road. By the time Larry came by I’d just barely cleared a spot for them to get past. His driver thought I’d just stopped to take a photo but Larry noticed I was a lot whiter than normal and had him stop. I don’t know how I didn’t crack my scull open but all I’d done was tore a brand new REI shirt that cost more than I’m going to tell you and scraped my shoulder and elbow pretty good. My hip was killing me but everything worked and nothing was broken (especially on the bike, because Pastor Flores pulled up with Greg about this time). We talked for a while about what to do and Larry had me walk a little to get my breath (and color) back. I felt pretty good (all things considered) so I hopped back on the bike and finished the drive down the hill. I should note that when Greg and Pastor Flores drove up, Greg was driving. Pastor Flores told him he was afraid to drive
To infinity and beyond!To infinity and beyond!To infinity and beyond!

Larry heading up the mountain.
down the hill with someone on the bike. That was comforting. It took Greg a little longer than me to get down the hill and when he finally showed up, no Pastor Flores. Greg shows me his knee and it is all tore up. Apparently they were almost at a complete stop and one of them zigged when the other one zagged and they went over. Fortunately for the bike, Greg’s knee kept it from getting banged up. Pastor Flores seemed to escape unscathed. I’m not sure if we cured them of letting American’s drive their bikes but I bet they ask for a deposit next time. We took the Huaral back over the river and visited the clinic in Salinas. The nurse patched us up and charged us 2 soles (less than a dollar) for her services. Larry gave her 10. My next mistake was not mentioning I was thirsty. We were about 40 minutes from the hotel and I was more interested in getting back than saying agua. When we got to the hotel I got out of the taxi, my hip yelled not nice things to me and then everything started going black. Just so you know
MapquestMapquestMapquest

They just said go up the hill, they didn't say anything about a fork in the road.
I did NOT pass out but I was pretty close. They got me a chair and some water (I ended up drinking 2 ½ liters of water sitting on a chair in the street) before hobbling to the hotel. I got switched to a room on the first floor (water pressure!) and Larry had to turn back into Doc Larry and got some nice pills and redressed mine and Greg’s scrapes. I felt better by dinner time and Manual’s church was having their regular 8:00 Thursday night service. I figured since I wasn’t killed coming down the mountain it would be a good idea to not blow off church (I think that’s called tempting fate). Larry had called Addie and told her about the wrecks so I received heartfelt messages of concern from two “friends”. I think the terms mid-life crisis and Captain Crunch were used. Thanks Leslie and Kathy, your kind words mean more than I’ll put in print. Leslie got dealt a hefty dose of karma when she got knocked out by a dancing girl at a show choir performance. Is it wrong that I laugh every time I think of that? Anyway, nobody died and it makes
Do I look confident?Do I look confident?Do I look confident?

I'd just made it up the hill. Nothing to it.
for a good memory. It’s Friday as I write this and I’m 10 times better than I was yesterday. I told Larry all I need is a nice hot shower and I’ll be good as new. Problem is I won’t see hot water until next Friday (update, Chiclayo hotel has hot water. Next post won't happen until after my shower now).



Additional photos below
Photos: 42, Displayed: 28


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Montango church siteMontango church site
Montango church site

Greg, Steve and Larry view the work already started on the church.
Downtown MontangoDowntown Montango
Downtown Montango

Bacuase of road access, the buildings are bigger and there are more of them.
BlissBliss
Bliss

Montango, where dogs and cats nap together.
Football fieldFootball field
Football field

This is the view from the football field. You can see it is on a hill. They had to do alot of work to get a flat area. Tells you all you need to know about Peruvians and their football
Soccer fieldSoccer field
Soccer field

Pastor Flores and Greg telling each other how good they used to be.
Road to footballRoad to football
Road to football

Pastor Flores wanted to show Greg the football field
CoffeeCoffee
Coffee

Coming soon to a Starbucks near you
CoffeeCoffee
Coffee

Coffee is the major cash crop in Montango.
CoffeeCoffee
Coffee

Coffe beans drying
Separating the bean from the fruitSeparating the bean from the fruit
Separating the bean from the fruit

It looks like hard work to me
AhiAhi
Ahi

The ahi pepper, if you've been to Peru you have had the ahi. It's in every (good) dish. If you are walking with Greg and come across an ahi, he will ask you if you want to eat one. Tell him "after you."
Local produceLocal produce
Local produce

Greg getting in the way of farmers as they load their produce from donkey to truck.


22nd March 2011

Oh Andy
Its okay Andy, Spencer and I about fell over laughing when mom told us about her "incident" unfortunately the bump wasn't as conspicuous as I would have liked ;) I'm glad to hear that you're doing better and I'm sorry about your camera! I look forward to hearing all about it!
22nd March 2011

Very interesting
Peru, always an adventure! Thanks for your update and many pictures.....it was so interesting to read of your experiences. So glad your injuries were not worse. Praying for your safe return.
22nd March 2011

mid-life crisis
I ONLY said mid-life crisis AFTER I knew you were still alive.....
22nd March 2011
Ahi

Dad said STICK to four wheels
22nd March 2011

Wreck
I'm just going to call you Rusty from now on.
23rd March 2011

Glad you are ok -
Thanks for such an interesting (and funny) report on your trip!! So glad all of you are all right. Keep safe and have fun. You are in prayer Nancy
23rd March 2011

Wreck
Since your younger you should be Rusty Jr.

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