PowerCycle

08/27 After a very gradual climb I reached the pass at Abra la Raya (14,665 ft) and headed down to the Altiplano. The pass was the most touristy one I’ve seen on my entire trip. The mountain passes I’ve gone over up until now were cold, desolate places. Even signs showing the altitude are rare. Not this one though. Being the highest point between the mega-tourist destination Cusco and Lake Titicaca, also a huge tourist destination, the locals (presumably) set up a large number of tables with crafts of all sorts for sale. When I got there 3 tourist buses had stopped so I whizzed right by. Not that I would have bought crafts but a snack would have been nice–I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with a gringo swarm. The mountains on the left side of the pass were covered in snow and looked quite stunning.

I stopped for the night in Santa Rosa where I went looking for a place to stay. It wasn’t easy. There are 5 hospedajes in the very small town. I knocked on the door for #1, heard a guy inside, waited a minute and then left when no one opened the door. #2 had a small, yappy dog in the back so I looked at the room but left because of the dog. #3 and #4 didn’t have rooms available (not sure why). I settled on #5 which for S20 was a bit of a rip-off. The room was barely big enough to hold the bed and the suicide shower downstairs was broken.

The next night I stayed in Pucara. Found a great place with a well-signed tourist shop in front for S20. The room has a (terrible) warm shower but there’s plenty of space. There are even hooks on the wall to hang clothes, somewhat of a rarity. The town is small but it has quite a bit of character. A lot of the houses have ceramic bulls on the roofs to bring good luck. There is a pre-Inca site nearby, Kalasaya, along with a little museum in town but I’m in a weird anti-ruins phase right now so I’m skipping it.

The Altiplano, the area I’m riding in now, is the 2nd most extensive area of high plateau on Earth, occupying parts of Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and northern Peru. The average height is 12,300 feet but I have no idea what that means as far as “hilly” areas on the plateau. So far the road has been very flat and there’s plenty of room for it to wind around the few hills. It’s usually very dry, cool, windy (from the north thankfully) and sunny. The temperature at night can drop down well below freezing during winter (June until August).

I stocked up on coca leaves and coca candy in Sicuani to help with the altitude but they taste nasty and I hate getting green chunks of it stuck in my teeth. They aren’t so bad as a tea so I’ve been guzzling that down. I think in another few days I should be used to being up this high and the couple headaches I’ve had will go away.

Tonight I’m in the “armpit” of Peru, Juliaca (pop. 225,146). At least that’s what Lonely Planet calls it. Not sure what they are talking about–it’s not that bad. Sure the outskirts are dirty but the outskirts of most cities are. Tomorrow I head toward the city of Puno and Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. I should be in Bolivia by the middle of next week.

GPX track