INCA TRAIL
The first noticeable difference after entering Peru was the driving. It was as if they had no regard whatsoever for the center line and could absolutely not care less about the safety of a couple of touring cyclist. Around most curves you could find a motorist in your lane, almost as if they were driving at you with malice in mind. Fortunately, the traffic wasn't to heavy and we did have a shoulder to take refuge. Along the route we enjoyed views of the beautiful Lake Titicaca, even finding a campsite lakeside in the town of Julie. As we began to approach Puno, the population increased along with traffic and now we had lost our shoulder. We spent two days in Puno primarily sampling the local fair and taking advantage of internet. We had been warned along the route that Puno was a dangerous place but we found quite the contrary. There was no shortage of tourist or touristic activities. From Puno we headed through Juliaca, which I would suggest passing through as quickly as possible. Although the mountains surrounded us for days, the road was flat with minimal traffic and for the most part had a ridable shoulder. After the town of Santa Rosa, we began to climb to the peak of La Raya which is located at an elevation of 4,338 m, our highest point of the trip. We were seeing beautiful green mountain sides with sheep peacefully grazing and clear flowing streams coming down from the snow capped peaks nearby. After topping out we descended towards Sicuani exposing ourselves to amazing mountain views that one can only capture in the mind. Photographs just can't capture the full beauty of these places. There was a hot spring that we had heard about and looked forward to taking a dip but as we came to the spring, we were greeted by cars and buses parked all along the roadway, masses of people, a full on market, and what was more or less a concrete swimming pool with hot water. We decided to skip out and head into Sicuani for a night at a hostel, rain was coming in strong and night was falling.
We were in no hurry at this point, seeing as we didn't have to be in Cusco until the 24th to meet up with family. We took our time advancing down the highway which was becoming more dangerous as we neared Cusco. The traffic was heavy and there was no shoulder, leaving no room for error. We stopped in most of the towns we passed through just to make sure we weren't missing anything. We even participated in the mineral water cleansing experience in San Pedros. I can't say that I recommend it, but we survived and I must say it was very interesting to see 50+ people with their plastic jug in one hand and their two rolls of toilet paper in the other hand. People young and old standing around chugging awful mineral water just so they can run to the bathroom, leaving everything behind. After San Pedro we had had enough of the main highway, and considering that we had all kinds of time, we exited the main route in Combapata and began our backroad journey to Cusco.
I would highly recommend this route to anyone traveling in the area, just be ready for climbing. The road to Cusco was mostly narrow pavement with little to no traffic, beautiful mountain views adorned in corn, wheat, potatoes, and alfalfa. Everything was green and the rivers, streams, and springs were flowing with crystal clear water. We intersected parts of the Incan trail, passed through the incredible four lake region and navigated our way through small towns such as Acopia, Pomacanchi, Acomayo, Acos, Pilpinto, Accha, and Paruro. There were countless climbs and descents of 10, 15, and even 20 K. It seemed almost as soon as you topped out you were heading down again only to encounter another big climb, one after the other. We encountered good people all along the way, eager to hear our story as well as share stories of their own.