PERU: Walking the Saltankay Route to Machu Picchu, Day 2

We took advantage of the extra days before the official tour started to acclimatize to the altitude  - or that's what we were hoping.  So we huffed and puffed the mile down to the "market," a tourist extravaganza with stall after stall of stuff to buy.

While the parents tried to sell to the tourists, the kids hang out and play.

These boys were having great fun playing with some colored disks and rolling them down the ramp.  I'm guessing that none of them were older than 4.

What?  No Ipads?  What is the third world coming to?

We left the market and went to hang out on the park bench across the street.  Pretty soon we see a two and a half year old wandering across the park.  We kept an eye on her because we didn't see any adult that was claiming her.

But soon someone comes and claims her and tries to sell us some jewelry.  The woman was towing this little girl along with her, as well as the "escapee" that we saw initially.   

ML does a great job of helping people out and getting some good local objects, so she bought a nice pendant.  I got a picture of the youngest displayed with the jewelry.  Grandma is in the background selling her own trinkets.

We walked back to the main square, with two Catholic churches, of course.  In a twisted sense of humor, we couldn't resist going to Starbucks.  ML had me take this picture. 

We sat on the narrow balcony and watched the people in the square.

This photo shows the Cusco town square from Starbucks. 


Serve me up an "alto" cafe!  Hmm, I thought the sizes were in spanish to begin with?

PERU: Walking the Saltankay Route to Machu Picchu, Day 1

ML has wanted to go to Machu Picchu in Peru for as long as I've known her.  Shucks, that's almost 10 years (that's a joke - we've been together for 35 years or so).  It was time to do it - or never do it.

So, in honor of a special birthday for her (the number of years is withheld to protect the innocent), we decided to go.  We looked at various possibilities, and settled on a once in our lifetime "Mountain Lodge" walking trip organized by REI.  I think it was the only trip that every reviewer had given it 5 stars.  Here it is: "Peru: Trek Across the Andes from Cusco to Machu Picchu"  Both ML and I like to walk, so it combined exercise with touring - plus it was all organized and we didn't have to do a thing but pack our passport.  We were pleased that my brother Bob and his wife Glenda could join us.

Oops, not so fast.   What?  On Day 4 of the trip, we go over a 15,000 foot high mountain pass?  I guess we better get in "shape."  So we spent some of the summer in Sitka traipsing up and down Harbor Mountain road: 10 miles and 2000 vertical feet.  But we start at maybe 20 feet above sea level.  Hmmm.

But finally we are off.  Good-bye Rocky Gutierrez Airport!










Air travel is such fun.  We leave at 11 a.m. Alaska Time, arrive in Los Angeles about 8 p.m.  Then pick up Lan Peru Airlines at midnight to arrive in Lima - 8 and a half hours later.  A couple of hours of waiting and then one more hour to Cusco.  Whew.  But, even though we were 2 days early, an REI representative was there to pick us up and take us to the El Mercado Hotel.

We hadn't done any international travel for quite awhile and it was exciting to be in a "different land."  Here is a view of Cusco outside our room window.

Catty corner across the street was this example of fine construction.




Cusco is listed at about 11,200 feet in elevation.  Breathe deep and walk slow.  Expect a headache.








For dinner, we arbitrarily chose Limo Restaurant.   The food was great and we discovered a red wine blend that we stuck with the whole trip - Tacama.  It comes in red or white but we drank the "tinto."  The food was great, but Francisco, our waiter, spoke very good English.  When we asked him how he came to speak such great English, it turned out that his parents and sister lived outside of Phoenix and he had lived in the U.S. for a year or two.  He is studying to be a chef and after his 3 year program, he wants to move to the Phoenix area and open a Peruvian restaurant with his Mom and sister.  He told us alot about the food that we were eating and we just followed his recommendations.  I had alpaca which was tasty, but the best was a quinoa brulee for dessert. 

I think most of the fun of travel is the people that you meet and unexpected events.  This trip was starting great.

Honda N600 Rebuild: Part 10 - All back together and it RUNS!

It's all back together!  Yes, a minor miracle.  Better yet, it actually runs!  And even better yet, so far there is no oil leak!! 

I wire brushed most of the rust spots and slapped some POR-15 on them.  I covered some holes with epoxy and cloth after I POR'd them.

Tires are on, brakes are bled.  But, as always with an old car, there are a few details to follow up on.  Specifically, I jury rigged the exhaust and muffler and it needs to be welded.  Plus, not all the turn signals work.

But it feels good to accomplish a multi-year project.  I'll let it sit and probably rattle can the exterior, fix the lights and make sure everything is running correctly.  Then I'll license and insure it and get it to someone that can finalize the exhaust system.

Meanwhile, I hope I find another project car and a bigger garage!

Honda N600 Engine Rebuild: Part 9, Put it back in!

With the come-a-long connected to the car and garage beam, I cranked the front of the car up high, put the engine mount on the floor jack, slid it under the car, and worked it back and forth until it was in place.

It's coming together now.  ML helped guide from one side as I manipulated from the front.

Getting the axle knuckles into place was a real pain - until I realized all I need to do with drive a screwdriver into the slot to open it up for the rest of it to slide into place.

It really wasn't too bad - and like all projects, the second time would be a lot faster!

Here's how it looks from above.  We've got it about beat by now!

NOT SO FAST!  When it was all bolted in and finalized, guess what?  When I started to connect the clutch cable, I see the clutch lever is on the wrong side of the car body.  OH SHUCKS!

I realized I could take off the pivot bolt, but WOW, was it a pain.  With some penetrating oil, heat, and a day or two, it finally came off.  That's the problem when aluminum is mixed with steel.

But it worked.  We're in business.

Honda N600 Engine Rebuild, Part 8: Art of Jury Rigging

Sometimes I think that Alaska attracts born jury riggers.  I try not to be, but I confess that anything that is a problem to be creatively solved has its attraction.

I noticed the heat exchanger had some cracks in it.  With a little wire brushing, a mixed up some JB Weld (another great product) and it looked pretty good.  It is nearly impossible to find a good heat exchanger for sale.

You can see the whole thing in the picture on the right.  Looks good, huh?

Then I noticed, luckily just before I put the engine in, that the steering boot was torn.  There was an interesting air line between the sides of the steering gear.  I patched it together with zip ties and electrician's tape.  Looks kind of funky, but I'm going to call it good.

OK, NOW I'm ready to put the engine in the car.

Honda N600 rebuild, Part 7

Now to put the engine on the motor mount and get it in the car.

On the right is the motor mount.  I wire brushed it and "rattle can" spraypainted it.

The differential boots were missing some clamps, so I used some black wire ties and called it good.

With various screwing around with the engine on sliding boards and other creative apparatus, I got the engine on the mount and bolted it in.  Then I mounted the fan.

One step forward, one step back.  Shoot, I may as well clean up the engine compartment while the engine is out.

I pressure washed it and painted some POR-15 on the rust spots.  (Another GREAT product, make sure you use POR-15 on all rust you meet!!!  Just don't get it on your hands or it'll be there til you shed the painted cells . .. )

This picture is after it's pressure washed.  I looked and I don't have one after it's all painted up.  Trust me, it looks better.

Honda Engine Rebuild, Part 6: Put it back together!

Whew, finally!  All the parts are clean and I've got new rings and gaskets.  Now if I can remember how it all goes together . .  .

And here it is!

On this side of the engine you can see the transmission extending from the cylinder case.  The oil is shared by the transmission and the engine.  I didn't take the transmission apart - that's beyond my skills.


Now all I have to do is put all the adjunct devices on like the fan and cooling shrouds, spark plugs, and all that stuff.

AND THE MIRACLE IS . . .  (drum roll please) . . .

NO EXTRA PARTS!

Yes, this photo shows all the places where parts were laid out - and miracle of miracles, I have no extra ones - not even a bolt or screw.

This is my third engine rebuild and that's never happened before.