Blog from San Diego, CA

My last Latin Ride, Lake Aticlan, Guatemala

My latest motto: "The Flow Knows". Signs in my life were loud and clear that it was time to wrap up my Latin adventures and head east to Spain to be with Cristina and little Luca, now 8+ months in the cooker. It all started with a big rainy storm at the end of my El Salvador trip the carried on into Guatemala. This put my "schedule" way off track and made many of the back roads I was hoping to ride pretty messy. From there it was bike issues signals, Angels like Manuel telling me to turn back to avoid robberies and it ended with a final guest rider who summed up my 8-year, 80+ country trip: "We're all human". More later...I'm all good, on the way to Spain. Big ups from San Diego.

Binks

Blog from Guatemala, June 29, 2010

Smilin' Good Times in El Salvador with Esfrain

Just arrived in Antigua, Guatemala and being hosted by a lovely Israeli couple and their one year old son just outside this charming city. El Salvador was stunning and I'll cherish the memories in this country for the rest of my life indeed. I just posted a journal and photos of El Salvador so take some time to check em out here: http://bit.ly/dplAmZ.

Over n out from Guatemala!

Jamie

Blog from Santa Tecla, El Salvador

My family in Ometepe, Nicaragua

I'm up at 5AM ready getting ready for a busy day of live music recording for two sets of artists--one plays ancient pre-colombian instruments and the other hard rock. Gotta love it. I'm riding out into the countryside tomorrow to visit some rare indigenous tribes then down to the beach to meet some new peeps Miguel and Ori for some surfing and riding the coast.

I just posted a journal with photos on my website. Check it out at www.peacepedalers.com/nicaragua-nl.html. Plenty of good stuff to read and epic pics.

Over n out from El Salvador!

Jamie

Adios Costa Rica, Hello Nicaragua!

The perfect day--3 surf sessions, new & old friends, sunset and a wild party!

I just wrote up a 7 page detailed journal on my adventures in Costa Rica so if you want to take an epic armchair adventure and see some sweet pics, check out www.peacepedalers.com/costarica-nl.html and enjoy the ride!

Jamie

Ups and Downs in Costa Rica

Reunited with my bro Dave, now a local in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has been all over the board. Up with a positive first guest rider Amethyst, down with a dead camera from the endless rain, up with a local rider Jesus then down with warnings of violence outside of Quepos and a broken bike pump. Then back up with a 2-day rider Mauricio but quickly back down when he stole my Ipod and Camera. Back up meeting a lovely family in Santa Cruz the Avilas for a 3-day stay and into Guanacaste to unite with my good buddy Dave after 5 years. But then back down when I lost my waterproof camera in the waves that never really came. Finally, back up when a local boy found my camera on the beach and returned it, after another man Eric found it on the beach and stashed it so it would be found! So my faith in humanity is restored and I'm healing from the robbery down south. I've got a few days left in Playa Grande where I'm being hosted by Dave, his wife Annie and daughter Maggie at their Inn the Rip Jack. Few more days of surfing and local riding before heading to Nicaragua.

Over n out from Costa Rica!

Jamie

Rollin' in Central America!

I'm back on the road for the final Latin adventures from Panama to Mexico. I'm on a tight schedule so I'll be mostly posting detailed journals and just did a great one for Panama here. So check that out. I had 3 great days of surfing at Morro Negrito and some pics are there and a fun video below. On the road now in Costa Rica...rollin :)

Surfing in Panama--inside at Leftovers ;) from Jamie Bianchini on Vimeo.

Over n out!

binks

Gearin' up for Central America

Testin' the new Go Pro cameras w/ Fibu n Aaron in SF

A quick blog to those who check this sucker...I'm in San Diego with T-minus 8 days to heading to Panama to begin the last international expedition outside North America. I can't believe it's almost over--mixed emotions of excitement, fear, sadness, joy--all over the board. But mostly positive. Deep in the planning mode now for the last journeys--check out www.peacepedalers.com/peaceride.html to come out and join the fun this fall!

Here's a few pics of my last days of fun, family, friends and work. See ya in the fall!

Blog from San Diego Basecamp, April 5, 2010

Back at Basecamp! Finally! Mom's kitchen table in San Diego is where it's goin' down!

It all started at 5.30AM on Wednesday morning the in Warsaw, Poland. I woke up with the cold sensation of the cold floor on my butt through the deflated air mattress of my Couchsurfing.com host Emilia. I caught my illegal cab from downtown at 6 and in 11 minutes of wild racecar fashion I was at the airport for about 3 bucks. So far so good.

I have a 7.30AM from Warsaw to Frankfurt, Germany as the first part of my long day of flying. I glanced up on the departure board to find my gate. But my flight was not there. Uh, heloooo? At 6.15AM only the Polish airlines LOT is open and they inform me that there is no 7.30AM Lufthansa flight, only a 7.30PM flight. Doh! I booked a PM flight! This is not good. I was proud to find such a cheap 100 dollar flight last minute and now I know why it was so cheap. After 2 hours of phone calls, online searches and begging for understanding of my mistake the verdict finally came in. I had to pay $560 for a 1.5 hour flight to Frankfurt or risk getting stuck in Europe for a week due to tight flights from Easter Week. Ouch, an expensive mistake!

I catch my flight to Frankfurt and all seems well. That is, until I head to the American Airlines desk. I was flying stand-by, space available, from Frankfurt to Chicago, then onward to Canada to meet my executive producer Les Stroud. Here they inform me that my flight is now very oversold and, to make matters worse, a United Airlines flight was sending over dozens of their stranded passengers. The agent told me my chances were almost zero to get on the flight, but we gave it a go. Now I’m in the airport totally freaking out using the 12 dollar/hour WIFI connection to search for my Plan B—and it was ugly. Every flight to anywhere in the USA was no less than $1,200 one way. All standby flights were horribly overbooked. If I got stranded this day, I would be in Europe for at least 5 days or pay dearly. All I could do was pray for a miracle.

I head to the gate and sit in the long line of other standby passengers, some American Airlines employees, some friends & family, and many from United Airlines. It did not look good. But I kept my faith that it would all go well, and befriended a professional ballet dancer name John who was as cool as they come. He was standing by like me, but with a lower priority and for coach seats that were far more oversold than Business Class. But my famous Travel Angels were obviously watching down on me because they began passing out boarding cards to the standby passengers and guess who got the very last seat on the plane? Me. And in Business Class. Nice!
I prayed John would get on but his destiny was clearly to roam about Europe as a ballet dancer, singer, musician & overall great guy to have an adventure he’ll likely never forget.

For me, I sat down and toasted with a glass of champagne with a super cool entrepreneur named Roland from Monterey, Mexico. Like me, he was flying standby and we both got styled with the last two seats in business class. We made it! Next stop, Chicago then Toronto! So we thought. Just as we are taxiing down the runway the flight attendant comes on the horn with a panicked voice, “Is there a doctor on board? We have a man with serious chest pains who needs medical attention”. Over the next 90 minutes the efficient German medical team and logistics folks got the guy off alive and sent us to the runway to take off. Finally, we’re on the way! So we think…

We are just about over Amsterdam and ready to cross the Atlantic Ocean when the pilot comes on the PA saying that our icing system in the left engine is not working right. We will have to return to Frankfurt to assess the situation. Now, all hopes of catching my connecting flight to Toronto are clearly gone and, even worst, I begin to fear missing my meeting with Les. Les is as busy of man as they come and nailing down a date with him was not easy. And I needed this meeting to sort through all the options with the TV series and contracts. So again I put my faith in my Travel Angels and watched movies as we made our way back to Frankfurt and let the German technical team wrench on our left jet engine. Another 90 minutes later the engine is fixed and we are flying once again!

After almost 20 hours of travel we hit Chicago and American Airlines sets me and Roland up with some discount vouchers at Radisson Inn, and we decide to share a room with two posh beds for only $35 bucks each so could be worse. After about 3 hours of sleep I’m up again at 4.30AM to get to the airport for my 6.30AM flight to Toronto, then rent a car and drive 3 hours to Huntsville, Ontario in Canada, have a meeting Les, then driving back to meet my next Couchsurfing.org host Dan for the evening stay and, if the Travel Angels stick with me, I’ll be back in warm, sunny California in time for the weekend. Phew…

Take a break and enjoy the pics...Pictures are worth a thousand words...so enjoy this sideshow of the adventure! Then read on ;)



Well, I was to tired that night in Toronto I set my alarm for 4.30PM and not AM…ANOTHER costly mistake! I need an assistant! So I took a later flight that ended up being the curse of death for a standby passenger—flying during the busy Easter holiday. Not smart. I ended up stuck in Chicago but, as my Travel Angels never REALLY let me down, I ended up scoring a great weekend. Found a $70/night rate at the Palmer House Hilton, normally like $300-400/night, and a free massage to boot! Met up with a great buddy Nick who I have not seen for 4 years and gave myself some needed downtime before the mad rush. And it’s on…really on!

So I landed in San Diego last Sunday night and, after a nice 2-day adventure mountain biking with my best buddy Garryck, have officially moved myself into the classic Binks work mode—planning an expedition to Cuba, Jamaica , Central America and Mexico is just one task on the list. Add to this a professional budget for my investor, sponsorship proposals, production equipment, expedition equipment, fixing up my truck & camper to be ready for my mom, Cristina and my new baby, organizing the true grand finale open invitation Peace Ride from San Francisco to San Diego and much more. Yikes! I’m tired just writing this! But the rush of adrenaline is just what the doctor ordered to kickstart my butt into action.

April 22 is our 8 year anniversary—my how time flies when you’re flyin!

Big love!

Jamie

European Adventures 2010

Snow on Lake Lugano, Switzerland

8:22AM, March 9, 2010

The smoke is so thick in this Spanish cafe you could cut it and spread it with a knife. Stranded passengers of buses, planes and trains trudge their heavy lugguage through the snow and ice. I'm grateful I've got my backpack and not roller case as it is useless today. Girona, Spain is shut down. If I was just a few hours earlier yesterday I could have beat the storm out but it pumbled the city with more snow that it's seen in decades.

I've got a meeting at 9AM tomorrow in Switzerland and somehow I need to make my way to Milan then Southern Switzerland. I'm not really all that worried, all I can do is my best. Worse comes to worst we'll meet later in the week. But I'm going to take on the challgene to keep the all day meeting with the management so the goal is to get back to Barcelona Airport to get whatever flight I can to Milan. I think I can succeed by later tonight. Gonna keep the faith.

---4:02PM, later same day

The Travel Angles. They never let me down. I'm sitting in the cafe, admiring a lovely northern European family, also stranded. The toddler captures everyones attention as he innocently stumbles from table to table involking smiles from frustrated, stranded travelers. The grandfather approaches me out of nowwhere, wondering if I speak Spanish as they desperately look for a cab to make thier way to Barcelona. We are on the same mission, but I have the goods.

We call various cab companies with no success but miraculously we are able to find two minivan cabs to take us from Girona to Barcelona Airport. The price: $300 Euros. Yikes. I'm invited to come along for 25 Euros which, after a wild ride with much needed interviention on my part, the family decides to waive with a smile. I make it to the airport in a few hours for free.

From there I find a wireless connection and in minutes have booked a new flight on Vueling leaving in 90 minutes to Milan for only 120 Euros. I'm now on the airport bus into town where my favorite Italian in the world Anna will be picking me up and whisking me away to eat lovely food before carrying on to Switzerland later this evening. Mission almost accomplished. I'm running on a peaceful, surrendered adrenline buzz watching the mystery of life unfold.

So just like that, I'm in Italy. I love Europe for the quick teleportation to new lands, languages, foods, architecture, fashion and landscapes. I feel at home in Northern Italy for some reason, perhaps it's my roots from here and Switzerland. Sometimes I think that's why I seem to connect so well with Assos, my favorite sponsor by far, being a Swiss-Italian company at heart. That's me, with a mix of Slovak to mix things up.

Phase one of my escapades in Europe are now complete. I'm amazed by the warmth of Cristina's family, now my family. What I feared might be shunned as a mistake, having a child out of wedlock with a Spanish woman, was rather embraced and celebrated. I now have nephews, a new sister and brother, Papa and a rockin’ Spanish Mamacita. Below are a few pics from part one of my stay in Barcelona. My next visit on the 21-24 March will include a trip to the doctor to watch our little gift swim and check out his or her private parts so we can stop saying his or hers and come up with a cool name :). The family is praying for a girl since they have 4 grandsons now, all nephews…bring on the nieces n granddaughters. For Cris and I, just a healthy child is all we’re after. So far so good!



I’ll be in Milan in a few minutes and I’ll try to send this sucker out from Switzerland. Assos styled me out with a lakeside room on the southern tip of Lake Lugano to rest up before our meetings tomorrow. Some exciting projects in the works, top secret cool stuff.

March 11, 2010...

Ahhh, fresh Swiss air! Clean water from the tap. Organization.

I hit Milan and my good friend Anna met me at the train station. From there it was off to my favorite European family--Anna's folks. A huge Italian feast of fresh pumpkin soup, meats, salads, wine, homemade breads...I LOVE ITALY!

The meetings the next day in Switzerland with my sponsor Assos went great and I found a great Couchsurfing.org host Aida in Lugano until the weekend. Life is good!

Over n out from Lugano!

Live Big. Give Big. Love Big.

Binks

The Final Turn...
February 22, 2010

My God Child Kaya (top) and sister Abree, brother Torey

It's been almost 3 weeks on the wild visit mission of so many important friends and family that I wanted to visit this last trip to USA before landing home for good. I'm now in San Francisco after a lovely tour of Mammoth, Tahoe, El Dorado Hills, Capitola, Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, Napa and St. Helena! It's been so nice to be amongst the ones I love and there are many more I did not get to visit this trip but will when I finally land...it's on the horizon!

Being away from the ones I love for over 9 months made me appreciate them so much. Every trip back it's the same desire--to reconnect and play! So here's a few pics of the latest tour in Half Moon Bay and Napa Valley. Enjoy!

Family n Friends Road Trip, 2010

After my 9-month, 9-country adventure in South America there is NOTHING better than quality time with friends and family. Pictures are worth a thousand words--so enjoy the two albums to date of the Sierras in Mammoth/Tahoe and Santa Cruz adventures. Blissful good times!

Heading to Europe for business and to see our baby in the belly in Barcelona...stay tuned...

Enjoy!

Mammoth Birthday Trip & Tahoe Adventure

Santa Cruz Adventures

Winter Blog from Los Angeles, CA

January 20, 2010

Reconnected with my best bros Garryck n Rich after a year apart!

It’s been just about a month since landing here in USA and I am finally experiencing winter. The rainy, cold weather has been the blessing in disguise to get me inside working consistently on various exciting projects (it’s hard to concentrate with summer weather and winter waves…). Since landing it’s been all about family and friends—something that, quite frankly, I grew to miss dearly the last few months of last South American expedition.

My first order of business after my initial family/friend burst of love was getting my 4x4 adventure machine lined up. Since my life will soon be making a drastic change in 2010 and beyond, it was time to make a similar change to my normal set of wheels. After several weeks of hunting, fixing and finagling I have a truly bad-ass machine—a 2001 4x4 Cummins Diesel Dodge truck lugging my transitional home—a buffed out 10 foot Lance camper with indoor/outdoor hot shower, bathroom, room for 5, big fridge, stove, oven, awning with hammock/bbq/chairs/outdoor chill area and more. I’ll do my best to run biodiesel whenever possible to minimize the ole carbon footprint and eventually install a waste vegetable oil system when I finally return ;) I’m not in USA long enough to rent/buy a pad but certainly not short enough to be couchsurfing on family and friends’ couches so this was the happy medium.


Oh, I just uploaded a small 20-photo slideshow so check it out here:




So now I’m in Los Angeles visiting my two best friends Garryck and Richard for the week while working on several projects. I’m writing a few treatments for the first series of my TV series in Africa for various networks and doing some important proposals for my key sponsors. I have yet to really start gearing up for the final leg of Central America and beyond but in due time. Right now I’m architecting a smooth landing not only for me, but for my first child who will be born this summer. So it’s not just about me anymore, and my creative mind is now conjuring things up at a whole new level.

We’re got a fund raising party this weekend that a few of our volunteers are leading so after doing some speaking there I may be b-lining up to the mountains for a few days of deep powder skiing. We’ll see if I can get my work done first, but it’s so tempting with over 10 feet of fresh up there! Carpe Diem, baby!

If you are in SoCal, check us out this Saturday the 23rd of January at Mosaic Wine Bar in San Diego at 3422 30th Street. Event info at www.stayclassy.org/events/heart-for-africa/E220

Over n out!

Binks

Blog from San Diego, CA

After 20+ hours I arrive in San Diego from Colombia!
Enjoying a cold Pacifico with my bro Pablo. Good to be home!

Greetings from sunny n warm San Diego! In flip flops n short in wintertime. Dig it!

My 9-country South American tour is officially over and happy memories are swimming in my head and heart. Very grateful for all the people and opportunities that came my way in the last 10 months. Pictures are worth a thousand words so I'll let them do the talking as I head out to surf at sunset here in SD! There's some exciting news in there too! Colombia was full of surprises! Enjoy!


http://picasaweb.google.com/peacepedalers/ColombianAdventures1?feat=directlink

Big love!

Jamie

Blog from Medellín, Colombia

The colors of Cali, salsa capital of the world

Wow! All I gotta say is COME TO COLOMBIA! Don't believe the hype! See this place with your own two eyes!

Okay, done venting. Been a VERY eventful few weeks with a tons of good news and a few big surprises. Exciting things happening in many directions and very grateful for it all.

I'm amongst great people here in Medellín listening to salsa music and getting the feet warmed for a night on the town. The 5 days in Cali and 7 days of adventuring up here to Medellin have been loaded with unforgettable experiences. I'll let the photo album do the talkin below. We're off to San Andres Island for 10 days of sun, surf, diving and riding before my home for the holidays.

Enjoy the ride!




http://picasaweb.google.com/peacepedalers/ColombianAdventures1?feat=directlink

Blog from Cali, Colombia

My Colombian guest rider Fernando in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Greetings from Cali, Colombia--Salsa dancing capital of the world! Listening to Salsa now and on my way to a live show and dance before riding north to Medellin, about 500km north. I just posted a newsletter that has the latest photos from the 3rd part of our Ecuadorian adventures and it can be found at www.peacepedalers.com/ecuador-nl.html. Check it out!

Life is good! Loving Colombia so far! Tons of cyclists (finally!), great people, music, food, nature...

Big Love!

Jamie

Blog from Quito, Ecuador

Filming the band Solar up above Quito. Priceless!

We are loving Quito! We had to stop here to pick up spare parts, a replacement camera and other supplies and are grateful for the detour. We met this band Solar at a live performance and they put on a private concert for us and the viewers of our TV series yesterday. Today we spent 12 hours launching our latest charity project "Ecuatopia"--a grassroots team of Ecuadorians and lovers of Ecuador (like me!) who want to protect it from any more crazy mass destruction to the environment. Check out the first version of our site at www.ecuatopia.org.

Heading into the "caliente" Amazon jungle for about a week or so then into Colombia. Off to do some salsa dancing and take some time away from the computer!

Peace,

Jamie

Blog from Esmeraldas, Ecuador

The sunset after our 2nd surf session...lovely!

Just finished filming and enjoying some musicians here in NW Ecuador and we are finally leaving the coastal life and heading to Quito then the Amazon jungle. Life is good! Check latest pics of our life on the coast here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/peacepedalers/EcuadorPart2TheCoast?feat=directlink

The pictures tell it all...it's been more about friendships and "staying put" then pedaling away and past all the lovely people here in this stunning country of Ecuador. Will be putting on some miles in the Amazon to work off all this seafood!

Peace,

Jamie & Cristina

Photo Blog from Southern Ecuador
10/31/09

My last of a long list of fun n friendly Ecuadorian riders Sergio :) See the pics!

Happy Halloween! In Guayaquil now with a LOVELY family and off to the beach soon since the folks here are celebrating a 4-day weekend! Nice! Some truly stunning pics with captions take ya with us on the adventure from the border of Peru to Guayaquil. Enjoy!

Blog from Machala, Ecuador

A smiling escort from our host and Ecuadorian brother Juan Angel

I'm in Ecuador after an amazing 3 days ride of Northern Peru and tons of great adventures in that lovely country. We are staying w/ a very cool Couchsurfing host named Juan Angel who is an Angel, and this mother Cecilia in Machala. We have been eating, playing, riding and mostly working on preparation to ride north and secure the footage and stuff from Peru n all. We were going to leave today but our host had to leave suddenly and said he could ride with us tomorrow if we stayed another day sooooo, it was meant to be. I am going to post a journal entry soon so check out www.peacepedalers.com/journals.html for a full update.

Check some pics of North Peru here:

Head here to see a full slide show

As you’ll see in the pics much of the trip was off the bike and with great people and on the beach in the famous waves of Peru. My passion for surf and skiing made Chile and Peru far different than any typical bike trip and I look back on my months of indulgence in great food, wine, skiing, surfing, sun, relaxing, more food and wine….no wonder I have my first significant belly and chubby face in over 7 years! But one great thing about my lifestyle is that all I have to do is live my life on the bike and it melts off like butta…so goodbye gut and hello sun n strength!

I now have some time to connect, write, plan, chill and recoup for the adventures ahead. It's a 4-day holiday weekend Halloween here in Ecuador so it should be super duper fun. Friday we have a host in Guayquil named Alejandra who seems super cool, spiritual and a real traveler. Also, we have a pseudo host named Pachi who gave us a lift part of the way from the border in his truck who is a huge surfer and eager to show us around too. This weekend we are hoping to get to the beaches to do some surfing and freak out a bit w/ Halloween then ride the "Ruta del Sol"--a smaller coastal road that is meant to be super duper fun and full of cool characters we can play with.

But all the future plans after Halloween will depend on what happens with LAN Airlines and our proposal to them. We sent a proposal to them to make them our “official airline” of our Latin American Tour and all sorts of benefits in return for 2 first class tickets from Guayaquil to Easter Island :0). I am a stubborn guy when I want to get my way and we sent a proposal to them and others in Chile but no go so we left Chile without really getting enough footage for my show or seeing one of Chile’s very coolest places to visit (and surf and mountain bike ;)). The proposal is in the final stages and we’ll know in a few days!!! Cross our fingers!!

Big smiles in Puerto Pizarro, Peru :)

So just ate some granola and fresh milk and I’ve got shirt and shoes off—the way I love to chill out when the weather is right—and it should be nice and cozy all the way to Mexico! Yesterday had the most massive seafood feast ever and I’m loving all the fresh fish by the coast. I’ve got a full day of work planned but still hope to take my host Cecilia out on the bike for a ride and interview before the sun goes down. The bikes just got tuned up and tomorrow we’re on the road again into the long roads of banana plantations. If you like bananas this is the place to be! You can buy a pound of bananas for about 5 cents and it’s my chosen fuel source on the bike so I’m stoked for that.

On the personal side of life I think I have finally crossed the tall wall of the 9-month travel burnout point. I have hit it before and usually head home for a visit to recharge by now but not an option since I lost my flying benefits w/ Mom’s airlines till March next year. I’m still really missing home and would love to be with my friends and family far more than pedaling a bike with strangers but I’ve mustered up a few appreciation for the lifestyle of travel and adventure I choose and things are good. I had the chance to have long chats with Skype with my family and friends in Peru and we are all excited about the fact that I’ll soon be home for good—able to finally plant some roots and connect at a much deeper level with the ones I really care about most. In all my travels the one common thread of all humanity I’ve witnessed is the contentment people have being connected to their family and the importance of family in everyone’s life. I’m grateful that I have been able to come home every year for 3-6 months and not feel so disconnected like many long term adventurers, but still I am excited switch the balance of time and make the majority of my life now with my community and as many weeks or months as I can out adventuring with my family. But this is all still months away…for now, off to do some ridin’. If all goes as planned I’ll have a nice visit w/ family over Christmas but ya never know :)

Peace,

Jamie

Blog from Lima, Peru

Greetings from lovely Lima, Peru. I am in awe how fast time flies by lately. On one hand I don’t want to “rush” through countries while, to be honest, I’m trying to keep some momentum to land in the arms of my family and friends by next year. It’s been a long journey and country 73 here in Peru has been a mix of it all—fortunately mostly positive stuff to report, minus clawing over the wall of travel burnout which I have nearly reached the top…

We finally got out of Iquique, Chile where our lovely connection with Roberto, Amor & Cristian was hard to leave. If you have not had a chance to meet this crew, and the other Couchsurfers I was blessed to bond with, here’s an album below of my 2 week basecamp in N. Chile.




But after a few hard days of dusty, bumpy, boring travel we made it to Cuzco, Peru to start our adventures on our Inca Expedition. Cristina and I had been at each other’s throat a bit, mostly due to being cooped up for so long, and getting moving helped the situation quite a bit.

Pictures tell a thousand words they say so take a trip through the Inca Expedition here and I’ll write more in the journal. For now, just know we had an epic time riding with four soulful characters exploring nature, history, culture, food, music and all the yummy stuff I adore in traveling. Enjoy the ride!

After the Cuzco adventures to Machu Picchu we ended up staying 3 days right on the beach at the famous surf spot Punta Hermosa with the parents of Burlingame High School classmate Ramon Mifflin. Ramon’s parents Ramon and Ingrid were super sweet and took us in like family while I took my beatings from the strongest waves I’ve surfed in years. From the beach we hit up Lima to visit more friends of friends a few days and did some media work with Cable Magico’s hit show Entre Titulares before finally getting back into pedaling road in Northern Peru. Southern Peru is grey, cold and depressing this time of year so we are hoping for warmer, sunnier weather as we ride the northern region (not to mention, more great surf up there…I’m not going to lie…for me, Peru is as much about surf as riding, if not more)

Okay, that’s the latest. Hope to get a journal out next week for more detail. We’re also still waiting to hear from LAN Airlines to see if they are sending us from Ecuador to Easter Island for the biggest and most stylin’ u-turn in Peace Pedalers history :) Say some prayers for us as we sorted skunked out on the epic riding in Chile and are eager to pedal down there in Paradise :)

Big hugs!

Jamie & Part Time Peace Pedaler Cristina