(August 31 – written by Dave) We rode out of Puno this morning thinking that we would be riding by ourselves today.  Boy did we get that wrong.  We met up with 11 other cyclists today and much to our surprise, two of them were Philipp and Tine.  We thought they were taking a different … Continue reading Bikes everywhere – Puno to Juli (82k/19,718k, 1,000ft)

(August 30 – written by Dave) So here we are at the famous Lake Titicaca.  Our main activity of the day was taking a boat ride out to the floating islands of the lake.  Lake Titicaca is a large lake in the Andes that spans the border of Bolivia and Peru.  It is claimed that … Continue reading Lake Titicaca and Puno food

(August 29 – written by Dave) We reluctantly said goodbye to Philipp and Tine this morning.  We are probably taking different routes from here to La Paz.  I say probably because they are sometimes a bit ‘fluid’ with their plans (a good practice to have on long cycling trips) so you never really know.  At … Continue reading Private road short day – Juliaca to Puno (45k/19,635k, 850ft)

(August 28 – written by Nancy) It rained hard overnight and given how cold it was in our room we wouldn’t have been surprised to see snow on the ground when we opened the door this morning.  Thankfully, we had blue skies and no snow - but boy was it cold. We had a mostly … Continue reading Speed demons – Ayaviri to Juliaca (98k/19,590k, 950ft)

(August 27 – written by Dave) Today we rode our last big pass for a while.  Or at least we think we did.  You never really know what the road ahead will hold.  We had a 40k climb right from the start but we only had to go up about 800 metres in that 40k … Continue reading The last pass (maybe) – Sicuani to Ayaviri (108k/19,492k, +3,300ft)

(August 26 – written by Dave) Wow, what a day!  No make that two days because it really was like two days.  Our first half day was all about getting to Rainbow Mountain.  The second half was a 52k spin up the Urubamba River. First to Rainbow Mountain.  We were up at 4:45 and ready … Continue reading Touch the rainbow – Camp Chuquicahuana to Sicuani (52k/19,384k, +1,000ft)

(August 25 – written by Dave) We were all up early at the hostel and enjoyed our last brekkie buffet.  The brekkie at Hostel Qolqampata was not amazing but it was good and all you can eat and they would make you eggs anyway you wanted them.  It was a big step up from most … Continue reading Heading south –Cusco to Camp Chuquicahuana (97k/19,333k, +3,100ft)

(August 24 – written by Dave) Tomorrow we depart Cusco.  We’ve really enjoyed our break here.  Cusco is a small but dynamic international city.  Of course, being close to Machu Picchu and the rest of the Inca story creates a lot of tourist traffic but the city itself is definitively worth spending time in.  Why … Continue reading Moving on from Cusco

(August 22 – written by Nancy) Today we took on the challenge of visiting the ancient Inca site of Machu Picchu.  It seems appropriate to call it a challenge, as getting there and sharing the site with 2000+ people requires a bit of fortitude, lots of patience and sometimes a sense of humour to keep … Continue reading Machu Picchu