Feb. 20 – San Bartolo to Nasca
In this hotel that we picked, they had a calientador for hot water; that is a small, on-demand water heater unit that actually attaches where the shower-head normally goes. We had seen and used a lot of them on this trip, and none of them had been at all satisfactory. This one actually delivered a decent stream of almost hot enough water to be a comfortable shower! What a pleasant surprise! The complimentary breakfast that was provided, however, left us very disappointed.
We headed south again, on the freeway, and were again treated to enormous, expensive, and impressive roadside advertisements. The resort and beachside crap continued for several more miles and many more towns, until it finally petered out and the freeway ended and the pan-american sur became a good two-lane again. We continued to make good time, back in desolate desert again.
The fuel supply problem that had been plaguing me for days continued to get worse, and I had to stop more and more often to fill up the tank to keep running. First it died after 100 miles, then it quit after 70 miles. Eventually, when we were in the worst possible place, a stretch of completely flat, empty desert swept with constant high winds, 50 miles from anywhere, the bike stopped and would not run at all. I had no choice but to unload gear and get out the tools. I disassembled the gas pet-cock, and flushed both the regular and reserve gas feeds. I used a spare piece of hose to simulate engine vacuum and convinced myself that the fuel shutoff diaphram was working properly, and was not leaking. This left only the supply to the carburetor, and the float-valve assembly as the possible culprits. I could not PM the float-valve without removing the carb, which requires removing the tank and lots of other dis-assembly, so I did the only thing I could think of that did not require that major a commitment. I sucked fuel back out of the float-bowl, back through the float-valve and down the fuel supply line. I hoped that, if somehow some piece of rubber of other debris had lodged in the inlet side of the float-valve, that it might be drawn out and flush out of the open hose. Whatever the problem was, this last-ditch attempt seems to have done the trick, at the price of a mouth full of fuel. After re-assembling the fuel supply line, the bike started right up, and has run normally since. Thank goodness and keep your fingers crossed!
In the middle of nowhere we came upon a tower in the desert, with a sign announcing the site of the Nazca Lines. Very cool. (see Levi’s post for a few picts, or http://www.crystalinks.com/nasca.html) A few miles later we made it to Nazca by 5:00 pm. Levi connected with a person on the street while I was at an ATM getting cash, and got us a room at a decent hotel for cheap. They let us park our bikes in the hotel lobby for the night! We bought some laundry detergent from the front desk, and did some laundry in the bathroom sink. Had our choice of a million restaurants in this tourist oriented town, and found a good dinner for little money. The night was a bit noisy, as it was too hot to close the windows, and the street was active.