Puno to Chivay
Well 200 or so miles do not seem too bad, but I started this day early not knowing what was to come. I wanted to see the Inca funeral towers at Sillustani which was a official short detour so I started an hour and a half earlier than the others so as not to be behind. The road out of town was a bad, rutted, compacted mud road swinging up the steep hillside, I stopped in the station to fill with the only gas available 84 grade. After this a tricky run through the road works got me onto the main road out, and shortly to the turn off for the Inca ruins. I spent a little over 40 minutes in the historic site and the amazing scenery of the lake and surroundings explains why the Incas would use this area.
I started back on the main road probably just 10 minutes behind the support van, but in the next small city Juliaca, I was held up by police stop checks, then by the parades and the closure of the central plaza. As most towns in Peru have little or no signs and no logic to lay-out, it took me a while to get to the other side, I had asked some police the way out, when another turned up on his motorbike and offered to lead me out to the correct road. After thanking him I got going on the road to try to catch up the others who were by now at least an hour ahead.
30 miles down the road on this 4000 metre high plateau in the middle of “no where” I had a puncture on the rear wheel, at first it looked not too bad, a small nail was sticking out of the tyre. As the tyres on this bike are tubed I had to take the wheel off and remove the tyre to check the inner tube, once off I could see the nail had not just punctured the tube but cut a long 20 cm gash in it. As best I could I tried to patch this tear, after putting the wheel back on and using my small portable compressor it was clear I was not going to be able to fix this. A police 4x4 appeared, I flagged them down and asked to use their mobile to call the support van back, but they had no signal. I was about to negotiate a lift to the nearest small village 20 miles away when three bikes appeared on the horizon. They were Argentinean bikers, on tour, with a mixture of bikes. After explaining as best I could the problem, in Spanglish, they then to my relief magically produced a spare inner tube of the correct size. I bought this from them and after being helped to fit it, I got the bike back onto the road. With much thanking the police and bikers for their help, was off on the rest of the days ride again. Further on this plateau I encountered, first a sand storm, then a full thunder storm with hail and snow which continued for half an hour. The route then took a turn off the main road onto the worst road I have ridden on, to say it was potholed is an understatement, there were more potholes than tarmac. It continued for 30 miles of boneshaking, before taking a fork left where it became, thankfully, new tarmac.
This road took me up to the highest pass I’ve been to, 4910 metres (16108 feet) and the rarefied air, even making getting off the bike to take pictures a real effort, but worth it for the stunning views of the high Andean mountains. After this the road wound its way through a series of switch-backs back down to 3800 metres to arrive at the hotel 5 hours late, much to the relief of the group and myself!
Miles
Today : 213
Total : 15418
_______________________________________
Sunday 25th October
Chivay to Arequipa
After an early start we rode out on Colca Canyon for 30 miles to the Mirador Del Condor, a viewing point for Condors. After some 20 minutes we spotted two condors circling in the distance, where they stayed for a while. We then had to ride out on the same dirt road bac to the village again and then. back up over the 4910 metre high pass. Back along the very pot holed road we had ridden yesterday to the main road. From here on in it was nice sweeping smooth road all the rest of the way into the large city of Arequipa
Miles
Today 162
Total 15580
_______________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment