After what turned out to be 2 and half weeks off the bikes, we rode out of Cusco. The plan from here was to ride to Puno, on the edge of Lake Titicaca and then on to Bolivia.
We had a nice dinner in Cusco before leaving as it was my birthday the next day, and we didn’t like out chances of finding anything other than chicken for dinner in the next town of Urcos. We rolled toward the outskirts of Cusco for about 40min before my front brake cable snapped, and not wanting to turn around we decided to try our luck at finding a bike shop on the edge of Cusco. No, we didn’t have a spare brake cable, as we had already used that up in Ecuador. So, thankfully we found a bike shop within 10 min of breaking the cable, a bit of a relief as the next few towns were pretty small.
Local bike shop
With that sorted we continued on to Urcos, a very small town. The main feature seemed to be the lake with a fountain in the middle and swan shaped boats floating around, interesting. And of course we had chicken for dinner!
Peruvian strong man
The next day we slowly climbed towards the altiplano, very gradual and pretty easy going with a nice tailwind. We stopped for lunch, chicken again, and met a French cycle tourist heading in the opposite direction. Over lunch we exchanged information and stories and continued on. While we had been enjoying tailwinds, this poor guy had been riding into headwinds for the past few days. We got to the next town a few hours later, just in time for Ben to get really sick. It had to have been the chicken, so with that we had a day off in Sicuani for him to recover.
Tail winds
As we rode out of Sicuani we noticed a shape ahead that looked like a cycle tourist. Sure enough it was, and we caught up to him. Unai was riding with another cyclist up ahead, Thomas. They had met each other in Trujillo at the Casa de Ciclista, and had been riding together since then. We were all heading to the same place so rode together for the next two days until we got to Puno.
We had a big 110km day to Ayaviri, with a gradual up hill over 40km to a pass at 4338m altitude. The best part was, we had a tailwind the whole day, and a huge gradual downhill as we continued on to Ayaviri.
The original plan was to ride to Puno over 2 more days from here, but as we hit the road, and got the tailwind again, we all decided to push on to Puno. This would turn out to be our biggest day yet, and probably of our whole trip, 145km. The ride was beautiful along the sparse altiplano, brilliant weather, many small farms and friendly people. Although, we had to keep our wits about us with crazy overtaking vehicles in the oncoming traffic, running us off the road a few times.
Altiplano
Local kids on the way to school
We will not forget the numerous dogs that decided to chase us several times a day, but thanks to the tailwind and flat road we could get away. Dogs can not run fast for too long, thankfully, but the sprints left us a bit out of breath at this altitude. So, the day was awesome, until the last 5-10km where we hit the one and only hill into Puno and got caught by thunder, lightening, rain and hail all at the same time! We got to Puno freezing and soaked to the bone, but had a few days off to relax and recover.
Storm approaching
Puno is on the edge of Lake Titicaca, and close to the Bolivian border. It is quite a big place but not much to do except visit the reed islands. We just relaxed, wandered around and found good coffee.
Puno
Our German friends Renate and Carmen arrived after a couple of days and we planned to ride to Bolivia with them. After a couple more days in Puno, we were all glad to leave and get on the bikes again. We rode to Juli, a really friendly little town further around Lake Titicaca, for our last night in Peru! Again the riding was beautiful and the people in the small villages on the altiplano are really nice and friendly. Peru has been an amazing experience, the vast contrast of this country, the people and the landscape is something we will never forget.
We had a relaxing ride for our last day in Peru, taking in the sights of the lake along the way. The destination for the day was Copacobana, Bolivia. The border crossing was easy and peaceful, the policemen friendly and interested in our travels, he even asked as to pose in a photo with him.
Boarder crossing to Bolivia
We had a day off in the relaxing little town of Copacobana, on the edge of Lake Titicaca. This place is the nicest lakeside town we have stayed in, and so cheap! Welcome to Bolivia! We sat in the afternoon having a beer at a café and realised we were listening to NZ music, after asking the barman about it he rattled off 5 or 6 NZ bands. We stayed a little longer at this café, it was so nice to sit and listen to some homely music, and relax in the sun.
From Copacobana we rode for two days to reach La Paz. Copacobana to another small lakeside town called Huatajata was probably the most beautiful ride we have had so far in South America. We climbed a bit over 10km out of Copacobana, and crossed the peninsula where we had to ferry across a small section of the lake.
The views of the lake and the mountains where unbelievable, we will let the photos speak for themselves.
As well as this the road was new and smooth, with very little traffic. By the time we made it to Huatajata, we had seen a total of 6 other cycle tourists heading in the opposite direction, again into a headwind.
As we rode the final day into La Paz, Carmen and Renate turned of to head to Sorata. We will see them again in a few days. La Paz is a city with 1.5 million people, and as we got closer to the edge of the city we passed through a part called el Alto where the traffic was thicker and the streets dirty and poor. At the edge of El Alto we could see the city of La Paz, deep in a valley below. To get down into it we took the auto pista, the equivalent of a motorway, for 10km of downhill. It felt a bit strange to be riding on a motorway, and we did see one ‘no cycling’ sign, but had been assured this was the best way to go. We safely made it to our New Zealand owned hostal in La Paz, with its own home brewed beer, good food, delicious chocolate brownie, wifi, and really hot water…luxury.
Road to La Paz
From here we plan to leave our bikes and take a bus back to Sorata to hopefully do some mountain biking, then return to the same hostal and explore La Paz for a while.
We had a nice dinner in Cusco before leaving as it was my birthday the next day, and we didn’t like out chances of finding anything other than chicken for dinner in the next town of Urcos. We rolled toward the outskirts of Cusco for about 40min before my front brake cable snapped, and not wanting to turn around we decided to try our luck at finding a bike shop on the edge of Cusco. No, we didn’t have a spare brake cable, as we had already used that up in Ecuador. So, thankfully we found a bike shop within 10 min of breaking the cable, a bit of a relief as the next few towns were pretty small.
Local bike shopWith that sorted we continued on to Urcos, a very small town. The main feature seemed to be the lake with a fountain in the middle and swan shaped boats floating around, interesting. And of course we had chicken for dinner!
Peruvian strong manThe next day we slowly climbed towards the altiplano, very gradual and pretty easy going with a nice tailwind. We stopped for lunch, chicken again, and met a French cycle tourist heading in the opposite direction. Over lunch we exchanged information and stories and continued on. While we had been enjoying tailwinds, this poor guy had been riding into headwinds for the past few days. We got to the next town a few hours later, just in time for Ben to get really sick. It had to have been the chicken, so with that we had a day off in Sicuani for him to recover.
Tail windsAs we rode out of Sicuani we noticed a shape ahead that looked like a cycle tourist. Sure enough it was, and we caught up to him. Unai was riding with another cyclist up ahead, Thomas. They had met each other in Trujillo at the Casa de Ciclista, and had been riding together since then. We were all heading to the same place so rode together for the next two days until we got to Puno.
We had a big 110km day to Ayaviri, with a gradual up hill over 40km to a pass at 4338m altitude. The best part was, we had a tailwind the whole day, and a huge gradual downhill as we continued on to Ayaviri.
The original plan was to ride to Puno over 2 more days from here, but as we hit the road, and got the tailwind again, we all decided to push on to Puno. This would turn out to be our biggest day yet, and probably of our whole trip, 145km. The ride was beautiful along the sparse altiplano, brilliant weather, many small farms and friendly people. Although, we had to keep our wits about us with crazy overtaking vehicles in the oncoming traffic, running us off the road a few times.
Altiplano
Local kids on the way to school
We will not forget the numerous dogs that decided to chase us several times a day, but thanks to the tailwind and flat road we could get away. Dogs can not run fast for too long, thankfully, but the sprints left us a bit out of breath at this altitude. So, the day was awesome, until the last 5-10km where we hit the one and only hill into Puno and got caught by thunder, lightening, rain and hail all at the same time! We got to Puno freezing and soaked to the bone, but had a few days off to relax and recover.
Storm approachingPuno is on the edge of Lake Titicaca, and close to the Bolivian border. It is quite a big place but not much to do except visit the reed islands. We just relaxed, wandered around and found good coffee.
PunoOur German friends Renate and Carmen arrived after a couple of days and we planned to ride to Bolivia with them. After a couple more days in Puno, we were all glad to leave and get on the bikes again. We rode to Juli, a really friendly little town further around Lake Titicaca, for our last night in Peru! Again the riding was beautiful and the people in the small villages on the altiplano are really nice and friendly. Peru has been an amazing experience, the vast contrast of this country, the people and the landscape is something we will never forget.
We had a relaxing ride for our last day in Peru, taking in the sights of the lake along the way. The destination for the day was Copacobana, Bolivia. The border crossing was easy and peaceful, the policemen friendly and interested in our travels, he even asked as to pose in a photo with him.
Boarder crossing to BoliviaWe had a day off in the relaxing little town of Copacobana, on the edge of Lake Titicaca. This place is the nicest lakeside town we have stayed in, and so cheap! Welcome to Bolivia! We sat in the afternoon having a beer at a café and realised we were listening to NZ music, after asking the barman about it he rattled off 5 or 6 NZ bands. We stayed a little longer at this café, it was so nice to sit and listen to some homely music, and relax in the sun.
From Copacobana we rode for two days to reach La Paz. Copacobana to another small lakeside town called Huatajata was probably the most beautiful ride we have had so far in South America. We climbed a bit over 10km out of Copacobana, and crossed the peninsula where we had to ferry across a small section of the lake.
The views of the lake and the mountains where unbelievable, we will let the photos speak for themselves.
As well as this the road was new and smooth, with very little traffic. By the time we made it to Huatajata, we had seen a total of 6 other cycle tourists heading in the opposite direction, again into a headwind.
As we rode the final day into La Paz, Carmen and Renate turned of to head to Sorata. We will see them again in a few days. La Paz is a city with 1.5 million people, and as we got closer to the edge of the city we passed through a part called el Alto where the traffic was thicker and the streets dirty and poor. At the edge of El Alto we could see the city of La Paz, deep in a valley below. To get down into it we took the auto pista, the equivalent of a motorway, for 10km of downhill. It felt a bit strange to be riding on a motorway, and we did see one ‘no cycling’ sign, but had been assured this was the best way to go. We safely made it to our New Zealand owned hostal in La Paz, with its own home brewed beer, good food, delicious chocolate brownie, wifi, and really hot water…luxury.
Road to La PazFrom here we plan to leave our bikes and take a bus back to Sorata to hopefully do some mountain biking, then return to the same hostal and explore La Paz for a while.
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