Peru, Nazca to Abancay 27 Jan 2012

Left at 0710 onto the highway in 5 min and straight into the hills, round and brown climbing steadily road twisting into every nook and cranny of the mountains until I reached over 4000m then descended to about 3500m on the other side of the range and everything turned green after that, reached Puquio at 0950, 156k’s filled up drank some water no coke available and out of town, started feeling dizzy so stopped and ate 5 Granola bars and drank more water felt better rode on climbed again reaching 4500m freezing especially my hands temp must be below zero, I did not put the liners in my riding jacket and pants hahahaha, long straight stretches on this high plateau doing 110-120kph,  lots of animals around Alpaca/Llamas, cows, sheep, just before I turned into a block of ice the road descended rapidly to a river gorge first to 3500 warmer now and then to 2500m, camera battery went flat with the cold and recovered after it warmed up arrived at Abancay at 1420, 470km in 7:10hrs.

This is my acclimatisation stop at 2500m, I did not want to go from 500m in Nazca to 3500m in Cuzco in one day, not recommended.

Peru, Abancay to Cuzco 28 Jan 2012

Poured all night, left at 0915 liners in both jacket and pants, stopped for fuel then straight into the twistys went over 4000m then down to a river running red at 2000m warm, usual slow trucks, a couple of showers a few towns along the way, some sections of dirt along the river and pot holes, worst road in Peru so far, last 30k’s was through a huge flat valley with crops and a new road got upto 100kph but quite built up, arrived in Cuzco at 1220, the highway is above the town and there was no connecting road, got a taxi SOL5 to show me the way very steep, narrow, pot holed, cobblestones in parts, winding streets no way I would found it on my own easily, checked in at 1235, 190k’s 3:20hrs.

Coca tea is served while checking in to help with the altitude 3500m, no taste added sugar, booked a bus tour of the surrounding area and Pisca Market on Sunday 0830 – 1800, USD$25 plus SOL70 for entry fees and the Machu Picchu Tour for Monday 0615 – 2030, USD$220 includes all fees and pickup dropoff but no meals, hotel will have breakfast ready at 0530 so they are geared for this tour.