[07.02.2024 – 14.02.2024[

La Paz

Getting the bikes filled, was not such a big deal after all, took us all in all 30 minutes, including a quick haggling about the price. No that was no haggling we said 6 she agreed, done deal. Operator happy, we happy, let´s get on with our business. Which for this day meant exploring more of La Paz. And we did use the Teleferic to do so.

Quite an interesting way of public transportation, fast, clean and comfortable. Especially if you compare it to the minibuses that are everywhere and quite often stuck in trafic. Of course we did as well some walking but that kept down to a minimum. The evening went by with drinks and libations. and some pre packing. As on the next day we headed for the Peruvian border.

La Paz – Juli

Alright, city traffic is a the best way to start your day and city traffic in La Paz was rather thick. Anyway we managed our way up to El Alto and then it was a whole story all together, as it was more stop then go. In addition we missed our junction and followed the (non) flow of traffic further then we should have. Finally we got on the right track, and got rewarded with one last look towards the mountains towering over El Alto and La Paz.

The rest of the road was basically through the Bolivian Alti Plano, slight mountains on the horizon, the rest mostly flat at an elevation of 3800 m towards Desaguadero and the Titicaca lake. The border crossing was a strange one, as we have already crossed the border and rode through the outskirts of Desaguadero to reach the CEBAF border station combined Bolivian and Peruvian. While the crossing for Stefan and myself was done in about 5 minutes, the crossing of our motorcycles took much longer, as we had to wait for three cars in front and the Peruvian border guard was a bit unfamiliar with the computer system. Well two hours later we were only missing the SOAT, civil liability insurance. For the Mercosur countries we had one, but Peru was not covered by this. Took half an hour and was very simple, close to the CEBAF building at a junction leading to the Bolivian border.

We made it. And Peru is 6hrs behind CET.

I have to admit border crossings make me nervous, not because I have contraband with me or some such, but because you never know if there is not an agency that comes out of the woodwork demanding something you have never heard of, read of and simply cannot produce and thus you cannot enter the country you wish to enter.

Onwards to Puno. Alongside the Titicaca lake.

We realized in Juli, that we will not make it into Puno, as the sun sets already at around 18:15 hrs. Did not matter Juli offered accomodation, money, food and Pisco Sour´s, as we are back in Pisco country again. Somehow we ended up in bed at around 21:00hrs.

Juli – Putina

I woke up 03:30 hrs, managed to stay in bed till 04:30 hrs, but after that my eyes would not close. So i got up and went outside.

Stefan did not get up till 07:00 hrs and no one was serving coffee. I managed. We set of riding at about 09:30 hrs. And the destination was called Putina. Supposedly a nice little town with hot springs. The road towards Putina was leading us alongside the lake. Nice little windy road, which was the first time such a road was paved, since back in Germany.

Reaching Putina, we stayed at the Peruinka hotel for two nights. We did even manage to get a decent Pisco Sour.

Putina

That day was a lazy day. Basically sleeping in, breakfast, a little walk around the city, reading (currently the ninth and last book of the expanse by James S.A. Corey) and then off to the Piscina Municipial. You can either go into the big pool with a water temperature ranging from 26°C to 30°C. Or you can go into a banjo privado, where you have sort of a jacuzzi for yourself, and the water that comes out of the wall is at a temperature of 56°C.

The dinner consisted of corn and chicken from a street vendor. After dinner drinks and to top it all of, some Churros, which where sold at the main plaza. It is still carneval time and the local bands met their to showcase their abilities.

Putina – Yanampampa

The morning started with the usual breakfast and packing, but quickly turned into something completely different. Carneval Sunday. It seemed like the men who rented us the room got drunk the night before, and his inlaws arrived.

A fight between him and one of the elder man ended with him on the floor. Stefan was called for assistance to keep them away from each other. Actually the younger one from the older one. After the young one got beaten down by the elder his pride was hurt, bad. He did not stay down. Stefan called for my assistance. And all of a sudden the young one had a knife and attacked the old one. Idiot, I hesitated, just a second but still. Luckily the knife he got was a blunt plump one, or else he would have seriously injured the older man. Anyway the second passed, and together with another man of the inlaws we managed to get him on the floor, and I got the knife out of his hand. The young one did not shift his focus to us, just on the guy he was attacking. Threw the knife away. And finally the police arrived. They did not need us to testify or anything else and after a bit of a cooldown phase, we set of.

The rest was riding through very nice countryside, reaching at the Yanampamp lodge.

After the morning events, this was a very relaxed setting and we got introduced to a new drink TEDIPIATO – which is basically Pisco, Te de Mate and honey. Saying that this drink was a revelation is an understatement.

We are closing in towards Santa Theresa and Machu Pichu.

Yanampampa – Santa Theresa

307 km till we reach Santa Theresa, the only thing that was a bit strange is the fact that our navigation system kept insisting that we will reach at around 18:00hrs. Well we made good progress, had our first Peruvian police control. And road an actual pass road, that can be compared to Passo de Stelvio. Amazing views, tight and narrow and a lot of bends. The pass itself started at an elevation of 2900m – reached up to 4300m and then down again to 1500m.

It was 16:00 hrs, only 50km more to go, but the navigation system insisted that we would only reach by 20:00 hrs. Yep well the last 20km are currently under maintenance and a completely new road with tunnels is being built towards Machu Pichu, with as it seems the help of Chinese investors, or the government. So yeah we one another gravel road in the dark. As Stefan said, if this would have been in the beginning of our journey that would have been really really hard. At that evening it was kind of fun.

We reached Santa Theresa at 19:00 hrs and Stefan had a place looked up before. Yeah on booking they had three rooms, but our money was not good enough for them, as they did not want to rent us a room. First time for everything i guess, even though on that day i was really pissed. Well we did manage to find something including breakfast and a place for the motos. Proper dinner, proper drinks. After all an enjoyable day, with a quick darkening at the end of the ride, but that was forgotten quickly.

Santa Theresa

The first day was basically used for relaxation, drinking coffee doing media work, and figuring out how to get to Machu Pichu without one of the travel agencies. Not that simple as it turns out. Basically we will take a taxi towards Hydroelctrica, then walk 10km towards Aguas Caliente, and then up the mountain. Need to be there between 10 and 11:00hrs or our tickets wont be valid anymore. But that will be the beginning of next weeks blogpost.

This concludes week 11.
Till next time,
Happy Hacking, everyone