About SAE: Membership Services: Join/Renew : |
|
 |
South American Explorers |
Written by: -
Mark Malagodi
6761 Reynolds Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Dates: - Feb 28, 1997 to March 21, 1997
Email: - artsco@telerama.lm.com
Comments: - South America is a rugged but beautiful place to travel. I think the highlight of the trip for me was travelling through the Colca Canyon. If you would like to see pictures from the trip visit my company web site at http://www.lm.com/~artsco and go to the last option on the home page. Happy travelling.
Exchange Rate: - Peru: 2.6 Soles: 1 American Dollar
Rating: - 10
Weather: - Most Days partly sunny, lot of rain at night
Terrain: - Mountainous ride through the Andes, then a spectacular descent down to the desert coast.
Hotels: - Incorporated into below description.
Route: - I did the following trip by myself between the dates of March
1, 1997 to March 21, 1997. My goal was to bike from LaPaz, Bolivia, around the west side
of Lake Titicaca, north up to Cuzco and Machu Picchu, west to Ayacucho and then down the
Andes to Pisco. My planned total mileage for the three weeks was to be about 1000 miles. I
made it through most of this journey, biking a total of 750 miles, but the rainy season
made me change my plans from Cuzco, and take a plane to the dryer area of Arequipa, from
which I biked through the Colca Canyon down to the coastal town of Camana. I wouldn’t
suggest that biking alone through this route is for everyone, but I had the experience of
a lifetime and have no regrets of embarking on this trip. What follows is my day to day
journal of my experiences.
March 1, 1997: Arrived in LaPaz, Bolivia after flying from Pittsburgh, PA to Lima on
American Airlines, hanging out in the Lima airport from 2:00am to 6:30am, and then taking
an AeroPeru flight to LaPaz. The prices for the flights were reasonable, $383 for the
round-trip Pittsburgh to Lima route, and $180 for the one-way Lima to LaPaz flight. Being
a flatlander from Pittsburgh, my knees immediately buckled as I got off the plane in
LaPaz, and as the day went on my head began to feel the effect of the altitude through
dizziness and pain. I spent the day walking around the city. Its like one giant
marketplace, everything is for sale everywhere. The traffic is crazy and quite dangerous.
Take great care as you’re walking around the city. Had a great dinner at La Fiesta in
downtown Bolivia, and stayed at the cheap but relatively clean Hotel Bolivia near the
train station.
March 2: Woke up in the morning and felt recovered from the altitude problems of
yesterday. Decided to get a start on my bicycling adventure. My goal today was to ride 50
miles to Huarina. The first part of the ride was very difficult uphill. The road signs in
Bolivia leave much to be desired, and I was quite lucky to find my way to the road to
Huarina. There were many people willing to help me, but my Spanish is rather poor, and
most of my directions came from pointing and one or two words that I could pick out of the
description. The next 35 miles were flat on mostly good roads that were spectacularly
beautiful. Just outside of Huarina I found Hotel Titicaca which was a great hotel that
rivaled the US Hiltons, but cost only $35 a night. I had dinner and breakfast there, and
my total bill for food and lodging was $50. There were llamas outside and a beautiful view
of the lake.
March 3: Today I rode 50 miles from Hotel Titicaca to the town of Copacabana, Bolivia. The
first 15 miles are a flat cruise with one mountain pass until the road comes to an end in
the town of Tiquina. From here one must cross the ½ mile strait between Lake Titicaca and
Lake Huinaimarca on a rickety contraption of planks nailed together in to some semblance
of a boat. I was skeptical whether this "boat" could carry me and my bike
across, so you can imagine how surprised I was when they told me I had to wait until one
of the tourist buses also needed to cross. It seems each day several buses, with all the
people still inside, are transported across the strait on these boats. After about 20
minutes of waiting a bus showed up that needed to cross, and I was on my way. The crossing
took about 20 minutes, and even though I was skeptical at first, I can attest that these
boats really can handle the loads. From the other side of the strait the riding became
quite difficult with four mountain passes to climb. But there are always beautiful views
of the lake, and there is a hair raising 4 miles descent down into the town that makes the
climbing worthwhile. The town is quite small, but populated with tourists from all over
the world. I met a guy from Switzerland who spoke good Spanish, and we went out for an
excellent dinner of trout with garlic and rice. I highly recommend the trout anywhere you
go near Lake Titicaca.
March 4: Headed off for a 50 mile ride to Juli, Peru. The first part of my ride was a
disaster as it rained all night, and the dirt road out of Copacabana to the border of Peru
was a mud bath. My bike sunk up to the hubs before a Bolivian family showed me a way I
could go on trails that were not quite so muddy. When I got to the border a smooth and
clean paved road opened up into Peru. Having taken almost 3 hours to cover the 6 miles to
the border, I started cruising along the mostly flat roads around Lake Titicaca. Several
of the local Peruvian people rode with me along this stretch, and I tried my best to make
conversation, but my Spanish was not up to par. Juli is about the poorest town I have ever
seen. I stayed in a hotel next to the gas station for $2. It was very noisy and cold.
Again it rained all night. I had a great dinner and breakfast at a place on the Plaza de
Armas that cost a total of 74 cents.
March 5: Made a very difficult decision to ride to Puno today instead of taking the bus
that was sitting in the Plaza de Armas. I am glad that I did ride as it was an almost
perfectly flat 50 miles through some poor, but very pretty small towns. Just before Puno a
torrential downpour opened up, but it didn’t last long, and I was treated to a
spectacular rainbow as I entered Puno. Got a room at the Hotel Buho, which was nice, but I
thought somewhat overpriced at $30 a night. Had another great trout dinner, then walked
around the very lively town square. I went inside a disco where the DJ was inside of a
giant Bart Simpson head. American influence is everywhere! Later in the evening I went to
a pub on the Plaza de Armas and saw a great blues band doing some American tunes in
Spanish.
March 6: Took the day off from riding and went on a boat tour of the Uros Islands and Isle
Taquile. The floating islands were very interesting. It takes the people almost two months
to build an island out of reed, and the island lasts for about 20 years before it needs to
be rebuilt. The floor is squishy as you walk, and there isn’t much room for privacy,
but otherwise it looks like it could be a fun place to live. Isle Taquile is quite
spectacular. The Isle is best known for the men who all wear funny hats, but the landscape
is what really grabs the eyes. You can stay the night on the island as a guest in one of
the mud huts, but I decided to head back on the boat that night. Overall it was around 6
hours round-trip on a rather slow moving boat, but I needed the rest and found it quite
relaxing.
March 7: Headed out of Puno on bike to Juliaca. The ride was about 30 miles and took
around 2 hours. There was a major climb out of Puno, then a descent, but otherwise it was
extremely flat and straight. Got a hotel room at the Royal Inn Hotel, and walked around
the city, but of all the cities so far, this one I liked the least. Juliaca is mostly a
transportation hub, and there were trucks and buses and cars everywhere. I could barely
breathe with all the pollution. Plus it seemed that every vehicle blew its horn
continuously which made sleeping quite difficult. Stayed in at night and watched an
American movie on the cable TV, and was very happy to finally hear my native language
again. I would recommend the Royal Inn Hotel, and they had an excellent restaurant
attached to the hotel. I found out that the road to Sicuani is badly flooded, and that I
would do best if I took a bus there. I decided to listen to the locals. Even though the
Lonely Planet Guide says all buses to Sicuani leave at 6:00pm, I was able to find one that
left at 8:30am the next day.
March 8: Spent the whole day on the bus to Sicuani. Definitely the most miserable day of
the trip. The bus left two hours late, and it was absolutely jam packed. An entire family
bought the seat next to me, and stacked themselves up with the wife sitting on the husband
and the kids sitting on the mother. The scenery was great but very difficult to see
through all the fog on the windows. There was no bathroom on the bus, and the bus driver
only stopped once on the seven hour trip. I definitely suggest biking whenever possible.
It did turn out to be the right thing to listen to the locals. The bus drove through
several fast flowing rivers that came up over the wheels. The road was all dirt and rutted
out. It would have been extremely difficult and dangerous to have tried to cross the
rivers with my bike. In Sicuani I stayed at the very basic Hotel Tourina which had no
windows and a board for a bed. From Sicuani, the road to Cuzco is paved, so I decided that
tomorrow I would forgo the bus and ride my bike to Cuzco.
March 9: Today was the longest mileage day at 83 miles, but it was mostly downhill except
for a few climbs near the end, and absolutely gorgeous scenery. It took 9 hours to cover
the distance. In the first ten miles there were three places where the road was under
about 2-3 feet of water. I was able to ride through, but it was real tricky with a swift
current adding to the difficulty of the crossing. I was glad I was riding on pavement, as
my tires grabbed the pavement much better than they would have on a dirt road. After
around 25 miles a local fifteen year old kid started riding with me and stayed with me the
next 25 miles into Urcos. It was interesting talking with him (he had the patience to put
up with my broken Spanish) about what it is like to grow up in a country so different from
the US. I bought him lunch in Urcos, and gave him a few bucks to take a bus home. But to
him a few bucks must have seemed like a fortune, as he decided to take a truck to Cuzco
and have a night in the big city. I continued riding the final 30 miles into Cuzco, and it
was nearly dark when I arrived. I took the first Hotel I saw, Hotel Senorial, but I would
highly recommend it. The staff was very friendly and the room was clean and comfortable.
Went out to one of the local hot spots on the Plaza de Armas, called the Ukokus, and saw a
good Peruvian band.
March 10: I spent the day today taking in the sights of Cuzco. Walked up to the ruins of
Sacsayhuaman, and had a guide tell me the whole story. Went into the Cathedral on the
Plaza de Armas which was spectacular. Went out to dinner at the Pucara, which I would
recommend, and then back to the Ukokus bar.
March 11: Rode 62 miles from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo. Climbed a steep and long pass out of
Cuzco then went down an amazing 12 mile descent into Pisac. Riding so close to the
snowcapped Andes was the thrill of a lifetime. This descent alone was worth the plane
fare. From Pisac I headed west along the Urubamba Valley and followed the river. One of
the local Peruvian people raced me for a while, but he wasn’t carrying a 60 pound
load. Visited the ruins at Ollantaytambo, and stayed at El Albergue, which was clean and
pleasant. There wasn’t much to do at night in this town, so I spent 7 hours in the
only restaurant in town playing a dice game and drinking Cuba Libres with the bartender, a
waitress from Argentina and an American traveler named Bill. Overall a real fun and
interesting night.
March 12: Today I did the classic visit to Machu Picchu. Even though this is very
touristy, I would still highly recommend it. I took the 9:00am train out of Ollantaytambo
which traveled along a raging Urubamba river. The rapids were Cat 5 +, and it was just
awesome to watch the power of the water. We got into the train station around 11:30am then
took a bus up to the ruins. I walked around the ruins for a while then decided to climb up
Hauyna Picchu. This was a very steep and difficult climb that took about 30 minutes, but
the view from the top of Machu Picchu was fabulous. I walked back down to the ruins, then
walked down the footpath instead of taking the bus down. There were children on the path
running past me howling like madmen trying to beat the bus to every corner. The train ride
back became quite boring after dark when there was no river to watch. I had a problem with
my bike which I left in Ollantaytambo. They nearly wouldn’t let me back on the train
with my bike. I had to beg till they put it on top of the train in the back, and then I
had to go in the back of the train where I stood in the space between two cars because the
smell in the compartment was so bad. Definitely buy a higher class ticket if you take this
train.
March 13: Today I decided to abandon my original route because I found that I had the
option of riding on a bus for 36 hours to get to Ayacucho, or biking for almost three
weeks through flooded roads. I decided to head to dryer ground and boarded a plane, with
my bike, to Arequipa. The plane fare was only $40 on all the airlines that fly there. It
is very easy to buy plane tickets in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco. I rode my bike to the
Cuzco airport, and pretty much wheeled the bike onto the plane. In Arequipa I rode from
the airport to the Hotel Nunez. This was an OK hotel that I wouldn’t highly
recommend. Found a great bike shop in Arequipa called Hoy Bicycles. The shop was run by an
ex bike racer named Mario who spoke good English. He told me about a route through the
Colca Canyon that would be, in his words, "an adventure". They did a great job
of cleaning up my bike which had taken quite a beating up to this point. Went out for
pizza at San Antonio and would highly recommend this restaurant.
March 14: Decided to take Mario’s advice and do the adventure through the Colca
Canyon. Took a bus up to Chivay at 3700 meters. The bus ride was a little better than the
last one, but not much. At least it was only 4 hours rather than seven, but the dust from
the road made it almost impossible to breathe. From Chivay I rode about 5 miles round-trip
to a hot springs outside of town. It cost about $2 to soak in a clean, hot pool for as
long as you want. Quite a bargain as far as I’m concerned. There were people from all
over the world at the hot springs including a group of Americans from Albuquerque that I
had seen in Cuzco, Machu Picchu, and now again at the hot springs. We hung out at night in
the town and had dinner at one of the local spots. I stayed at the Casa de Lucia after the
owner begged me to stay there after I got off the bus. It was clean, and they were
excellent hosts. The only problem was that is was right next to a disco which made
sleeping a little difficult.
March 15: Rode 35 miles from Chivay to Cabanaconde. Overall a 500 meter drop, but there
were a good number of difficult climbs on the day. One climb went on for about 10 miles.
At one point I had to go through a tunnel that had no light inside whatsoever. I had to
change to a fresh battery on my light, and then shine the beam on a tire track in the dirt
road as I followed it to the other side of the tunnel. I just prayed that a large truck
did not come through the other side as I made my way through. But considering that I only
saw one truck and two cars all day, I thought this would be unlikely. The lookout at the
Mirador del Condor is well worth the stop, although I did not see any condor at this time.
The view of the canyon, which is the deepest in the world, made up for the lack of
condors. I stayed at a Hostel in Cabanaconde which was extremely basic, but still about
the best in town. Went for dinner at about the only place in town on the Plaza de Armas,
and waited forever to get served. I met up with a few of the people from Chivay, so we
chatted and had some beers as we waited. For such a small town the noise at night was
amazing. Roosters crowing, babies crying, horns honking went on for most of the night. I
got up at 6:00am and watched the sun rise, and finally saw a condor flying in the
distance.
March 16: Rode about 35 miles from Cabanaconde to Marker 111 on the dirt road to the Pan
American Highway. This was definitely the most difficult, but also the most spectacular
ride so far. Just after leaving Cabanaconde I saw five or six condors circling above me.
After a downhill start, the road turned upwards and kept going up for about 15 miles. I
slogged it out at about 4 mph for the whole climb. Then I was treated to an exciting
descent into the town of Huambo. Here I had the defining moment of the trip as I bounced
down the dirt road into town I went by a Peruvian lady who looked about 90 years old, and
she laughed and said, "On a bicycle!". There is nothing for the traveler in
Huambo so I rode through and started into another hard climb. I was completely exhausted
at this point and decided to set up camp off the side of the road. I cooked up my EMS
dehydrated pasta dinner, and then crawled into my sleeping bag for the night. The night
stars were great for gazing, and the temperature hovered in the rather comfortable mid
forties.
March 17: As hard a ride as yesterday was, this one was even harder. The total distance
was 111 km or 68 miles to the Pan Am Highway. The climb that I started yesterday went on
for another 12 miles, followed by a short descent, then another 5 mile climb. By the top I
was at about 14,000 feet. I was looking at what seemed to be straight across into snow
capped peaks. I stayed at the top for a while basking in the beauty, then started in on an
epic 30 mile descent. The descent was all on dirt roads with many obstacles, so I had to
pay close attention. The descent brought me through a highly vegetated zone at the top,
through a zone that was very similar to the desert southwest of Arizona and New Mexico,
finally to an area similar to what I imagine the Sahara desert must be like. The road
turned into loose sand that was blowing sideways, and the terrain was such that I can not
imagine anyone or anything living there. The terrain, combined with a badly gashed elbow
from a momentary loss of concentration at the bottom of the descent, made for a very
difficult final 10 miles to the junction of the Pan American Highway. At the junction
there was a very dirty and drab hotel with no running water or electricity, but it was
getting late and it seemed to me the perennial "beggars can’t be choosers".
I found a vet clinic that gave me some antiseptics, and I ate three dinners at the
restaurant attached to the hotel. I would not recommend that anyone stay in this
godforsaken stretch of the Pan American highway. I made it through the incredibly noisy
night through the use of a pair of earplugs that an Irish couple gave me in Cabanaconde.
March 18: With my elbow heavily taped up I started out to the coast. Since I was at 6000
feet and dropping to sea level, I expected today to be an easy 45 mile cruise. What I
didn’t know was that the entire descent was during the last 12 miles, and that the
paved Pan Am highway went over some difficult rolling hills for the first 30 miles. There
was also a 30 mph headwind from beginning to end. The wind and trucks made for one of the
worst days of riding on the trip. I would not suggest that anyone ride on the Pan Am
highway. The 12 mile descent to the ocean was not nearly the thrill of the descent into
Pisac, or yesterdays epic descent, because of a very stiff wind which made it difficult to
control the bike on the twisting roads with a sharp drop-off on the side of the road. The
trucks actually go about 10mph down the hill, so I passed several trucks during my
descent. The sight of the ocean in the distance was definitely a great relief, but also a
bit of sadness because I knew my trip was coming to an end. I rode into the sea side town
of Camana, and had lunch at a ocean side restaurant. I decided to take the night bus up
the coast rather than stay the night in Camana. One of the hotels was kind enough to let
me shower, and store my equipment while I walked around town. There is a place on the
Plaza de Armas that has the best ice cream and chocolate chip cake I have ever had.
March 19: I had planned to take the bus from Camana to Nazca and see the Nazca lines. I
decided to go with the first class bus since it had a bathroom and air conditioning, but
what I didn’t know was that the arrival time was posted for the regular bus. I wound
up sleeping right through Nazca, and woke up rather confused near the town of Pisco. It
would have been a 6 hour round trip bus ride to go back to Nazca, so I decided to leave
the lines for another visit and hang out in Pisco for the day. I rode the 5 mile stretch
from the Highway to the town of Pisco, and good timing allowed me to immediately go on a
tour of the Islas Ballestas. This trip is definitely worth taking. I saw colonies of sea
lions and Peruvian Boobies. The guide was friendly and knowledgeable and spoke English. We
took a fast speed boat out to the island, and then cruised around slowly for about an
hour. Later in the day I biked the 12 mile stretch out the beach and had a swim in the
Pacific Ocean. I stayed at the Embassy Suites Hotel, which was a little pricey at $30 a
night, but hey, it was my last night of the trip. Had dinner at the Restaurant Don Manuel.
The seafood in Pisco is as fresh as it can be, and I had a great seafood chowder for
dinner.
March 20: Well my adventure has just about come to an end. Today I took a bus from Pisco
to Lima. The bus driver was passing cars with almost no visibility, and unfortunately I
was in the front seat watching it all. I would definitely suggest sitting near the back
for these bus rides. In Lima I went to the South American Explorer Club office where they
directed me to a bike shop that could give me a box to pack up my bike for the trip home.
After packing up the bike I took a taxi to the airport and waited for my 3:00am American
Airlines flight back to the states.
Essentials: - I carried with me about 60 pounds of gear including a light one person tent, sleeping bag and air matress, a multi fuel cooking stove, a First Need water filtration system, a flashlight, warm clothes and the Lonely Planet Guide. Except for the night in the Colca Canyon I did not use my tent or cooking stove. In all the towns there are places to stay and eat that are very inexpensive. Unless you want to spend lots of money buying bottled water I would suggest bringing a water filter. I also carried bike tools to fix almost every problem, but I only flatted once, and my bike rack snapped twice, both time I was able to fix the rack with pliers and an allen wrench. Otherwise they bike ran great.
Interests: - Cycling, Touring
About SAE: Membership Services: Join/Renew : |
|
|
South American Explorers |