So I got lucky and won an all expenses paid motorcycle trip through Peru from Honda Canada. They had a thing called "The Next Big Adventure" showcasing their Honda Varadaro adventure bike. The deal was that they supplied a flight, bike, tour guide, accomodations and meals for one week in Peru. All I had to do was go down to my local Honda dealership (Meidl Honda) and ride a Varadaro around an obstacle course, then enter to win.

Day 1 (Travel Day)
So the trip started on Sept 3rd where I caught a plane from Saskatoon to Toronto then a ten and a half hour flight to Santiago, Chile. From there I flew up to Arica, Chile which was just south of Peru on the 4th.

Day 2 (Riding Day)
The group got up, had breakfast and started out on our brand new 2010 Honda Varadaros and headed to the Peru border where we ended up spending several hours sitting and trying to get things all figured out. Finally got through after 5 hours and headed our way to Tacna, Peru where we had a quick lunch then headed to Maquegua where we spent the night.

Day 3 (Riding Day)
The day went good again putting on 535km and hitting some beautiful countryside again and a lot of twists through the mountains. Ended up going pretty high too. We had checked once and it was 14000 ft above sea level and a lot of people were feeling the effects me included. We went through a few cities that are ridiculously busy. Checked in at a fancy hotel in Puno, Peru by Lake Titicaca with an extrodanary view.

Day 4 (Riding Day)
The third day of riding started with a bit of an incident. My roomate was feeling the effects of the altitude and slipped in the bathroom during the night and was not feeling good so he got an x-ray and ultrasound done and found that he bruised his kidney and broke one of his lower cartilage ribs, but got the okay to keep riding so we had a bit of a late start. We hit some more windy roads and finally got into some land with vegetation and beautiful views again. We still managed to get 454kms on the bikes and checked into the Terra Andina Hotel on the outskirts of Cusco, Peru.

Day 5 (Machu Picchu Tour)
Fourth day was great with our tour of Machu Picchu. Bit of a rough start with the power going out at the hotel and scrounging everyone up to catch our 5:40am cab to take the train. Arrived and got toured around the ruins with a great guide then returned to the hotel at 4:30 for a little R&R. See some of the amazing photos we took of the Incan ruins.

Day 6 (Riding Day)
Good day putting on 460km and returning to Puno taking a different route back and driving through the Sacred Valley. We also decided to stop in Cusco and have a drink and experience the Peruvian culture which everyone thought was pretty cool. There was also a bar called "Norton Rats Tavern" which we all jumped on the tourist train and bought t-shirts. Got back to Puno with some light left were we relaxed, ate and went to bed to getting ready for our last day of riding.

Day 7 (Riding Day)
With our last day of riding being the best by far and pretty much the higlight of my trip putting on 460kms. We hit some of the best, most curvey roads I have ever been on that lasted for more than an hour. I decided to go ahead of the pack with the Varadaro and ended up sliding the pegs on the ground numerous times on the most perfect pavement. Ended up getting back to Arica with good time and went out to a fancy resaurant on the ocean for our wind up supper and had a few drinks.

Day 8 (Santiago, Chile & Travel)
With the last day of my trip I had a 6 hour wait in Santiago, Chile so I hung out with a friend and her boyfriend where I ate some typical Chilean food, had a special drink in the one bar and toured some streetside markets. Found this to be awesome touring around with a common friend and going to typical Chilean places and learning a bit of history along the way.

Trip Conclusion
All in all this was a great "Once In A Lifetime" trip where I got to see a few new countries and cultures. This was a chance to tour a developing country and to see it in its purest form all from the seat of a motorcycle. I hit some of the best roads I have ever road on with an adventure bike that can seem to do it all. I would recommend this trip to anybody as Peru has every type of land to offer including mountains, desert and jungle. I would like to thank Warren Milner with Honda Canada and Philip Freeman with MotoQuest Tours for this great opportunity.

Devin Beaudoin (AKA: Saskatchewan)

Highlights, Recommendations and Trip Quotes
- "The Canadian Moose Cock Joke" Philip Freeman (Tour Guide from Alaska)
- The only road rules followed in Peru is that there are no rules!!

Related Links
Meidl Honda Powerhouse
Honda Canada
Motoquest Tours
www.motoadventura.cl