Chris's space

Left Cuzco at 0700 found my way onto the highway took about 30min this is a big city climbed to 3800-4000m and stayed there the whole way to Puno. Not much traffic but lots of villages and some trucks long straight stretches doing 100-120kph most of the time, made good time until Juliaca took half an hour getting through, a local biker showed me the way through the town after that short ride to Puno. Stopped and got the Nokia out started Google Maps using the maps I had cached earlier it got a lock on the GPS satellites and showed me the way to the hotel my first time using this method because Nokia does not have a map of Puno, arrived at 1300, 388km in 6 hours. Very narrow one way streets, booked an all day tour of the lake islands tomorrow SOL50 they also accept credit cards here with no fee, the altitude is now 3850m and it makes me hungry and dizzy.

The Islands tour was a disaster, the rickety old boats top speed was 12kph and it was doing about half that most of the time, it took 3 hours to get to an island to look at a village with some native crafts then 3 hours back a total waste of time, then we went to what I really wanted to see which were the floating islands, villages built on clumps of plants, very interesting. I could have done this on a separate 2 hour tour from Puno instead of being crammed into a boat for 8 hours, you have been warned.

After I got back I arranged to go to La Paz, Bolivia by bus and avoid having to export/import my bike to Bolivia and back again into Peru 3 days later. Bus fare $30 return, and the hotel agreed to keep my bike in their car park and they had a secure storage room for my stuff. I did all of this while there was a thunderstorm and the lights went out and I nearly fell on my head when I stepped out of the travel agent and there was ice on the road hahahaha.

Day 1 was a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas which I think is code for visit the Markets, we did visit 3 different sites and one had a whole heap of Inca graves dug into the mountain, we also got to see a demonstration of the local weaving and jewellery making.

Day 2 depart the hotel at 0615, due to it being the rainy season the train does not run from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo so Peru Rail takes you there by bus, very organised, a 2 hour trip then transfer to the train to Aguas Calientes a slow journey, then you meet the guide and transfer to another bus for a 20 min trip to Machu Picchu, this is the off season so there were thousands of tourists not millions. We were also lucky that the place was not covered in clouds which apparently at this time of the year is 50:50, it drizzled a little but not much.

A spectacular location, the pictures tell the story, if you want to know why they chose this location, my theory is they were funded by the Association of Knee Replacement Surgeons.

Back to Cuzco at 2100, long day.

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.

Left Lima at 0555 practically no traffic a few busses and cars onto the highway in 20min and upto 100kph, thick fog for the first hour and cold same sort of landscapes desert and towns with crops, the first 2 hours was 4 lanes so made good time then 2 lanes and trucks but long straight roads meant easy overtaking, stopped at the small steel tower near Nazca SOL2 to go up and have a look at a couple of the nearby geoglyphs, checked in at 1155, 448km in 6hrs. Booked a 30min flight for tomorrow USD$110 plus SOL$25 airport tax to see the Nazca Lines, they prefer payment in US dollars here.

Next day taxi arrived at 0830, first a visit to the only ATM in town that accepts foreign cards to withdraw the maximum allowed USD$200, Peru needs to bring its banking into this century, 5 min drive to the airport some confusion as usual so I sat and waited finally got sorted paid the USD$110 for the flight and SOL25 airport tax, got on 5 seater with 4 Argentinian girls and 2 pilots, 2^nd pilot did the talking, Spanish and English, flew over each geoglyph circling both left and right so both sides of the plane could get a good look, back in 30min good flight, waited another hour for a taxi to come disorganised back at the hotel at 1100.

Not much to report, did an oil change on my bike and as usual could not find any bike oil so used a diesel oil equivalent, went on a city tour, the usual plaza, cathedral and  something different the catacombs under the St.Francis of Assisi church which were a bit claustrophobic, piles of old bones. Turibus recently opened a franchise here so this was easily arranged instead of having to hire a personal taxi and guide. Lima is basically a transit point on the way to Macchu Picchu.

Piura to Chimbote, Peru 21 Jan 2012

Desert, desert and more desert interspersed with a few towns and some greenery, long straight roads, sand blowing across the road and into my eyes, very windy, the usual slow trucks (50kph), villages and speed bumps plus going through the big towns is a nightmare, clogged with traffic and no signs so keep having to ask for directions, one Police document check, they were very good natured, mostly doing 100kph or less so wasn’t expecting any problems, stopped for the night after 620 k’s and 8.5hrs.

Chimbote to Lima, Peru 22 Jan 2012

Left early and the same again desert and more desert with some spectacular views, road became an almost freeway of 4 lanes about 150 k’s out of Lima and I get pulled over again, 2 crooked cops who had it down to a fine art, they even had a small translator device and said I was speeding, I was going 100kph with the rest of the traffic and they singled me out, they started bargaining by writing down numbers and I was getting fed up so I gave them SOL$100 ($35) and rode on, maybe I should have waited them out, 10min later another stop but this time they were pulling everyone over for a document check, crazy.
Got to the outskirts of Lima and a worse than usual mess of traffic, the drivers in this country are the worst so far and this is a Sunday, I had marked out waypoints on my phone GPS but the main avenue I was going ride down was closed and traffic was being directed down side roads which made it worse, a mini van bumped into my right pannier and sent me wobbling but I managed to stay on and kept riding, no damage, finally got to my hotel at 1300, 432k’s in 7:10hrs.
Went for a walk to get something to eat and water and even though this hotel is one block from the coast in a good neighbourhood there are bars and walls with spikes everywhere, most of the the ATM’s don’t have interbank connections and dispense a max of $140 with a $5 fee, fairly primitive compared to the other countries I have been through.