Air-a-keepa to Puno

Jan 11-12 Arequipa to Puno

There are a couple of different routes available from Arequipa to Puno and after yesterday's boondoggle it only made sense to try again on the cross country route as opposed to the pavement. This turned out better than expected as we made our way up to the high mountain plain across the Andes. The terrain is barren pastureland with very few inhabitants, human inhabitants anyway, there are lots of llamas, goats and sheep.  


They roam freely without fences and on numerous occasions they find their way to the road and we pass slowly so as not to spook them into a panicked run. We also passed by the Salinas y Aquada Blanca which if it were dry would have made for a miniature Uyuni Salt flat, but of course it was wet so it hard to judge how deep the water is and of course how soft the lake bed.

We were happy to take in the image of local farm ladies walking Llamas along the shore with the snow capped volcanoes in the background. There are a couple of them to look at; Volcan Pichu Pichu, Volcan El Misti, Volcan Ubinas, and in the far distance to the South East Volcan Omate.

Then it was time to make a rookie riding error by forgetting what gear I was in as I tried to go off the road and onto the sandy high plain. I almost made it across the small ditch when the bike slowed considerably then because I was in the wrong gear when I hit the throttle nothing happened, well almost nothing, the weight did shift considerably and over I went. Nothing hurt by my ego.

 

The sand was a bit wet and combined with the 4500m altitude the bike was working very hard and because gas was a concern I did not want to play around to much before getting back on the hard-packed dirt road. The first two or three villages we passed were nothing more than a bunch of abandoned adobe brick houses and a couple of occupied ones. I guess this is where some of the ranchers live. We were surprised when we came upon a village that looked well developed compared to the others. This village had two storey brick houses with tin roofs and the classic stone fences around each property. There was also a small store and a repair shop which also sold gas. We stopped on the outskirts of the village and took in the tranquillity of the place, no noise other than the stream and a couple of dogs barking. We went back to the “gas vendor” and he was very excited to see the bikes. He was working on the shift lever of a little 125cc Honda and when we pulled up he started asking questions immediately after the customary handshake and greetings. We bought some gas out of the barrels he had at a fair price considering the location. All was good and we once again exchanged farewells with a handshake and smiles.

 

The road opened up nicely and we made good time to the next village which seemed to be the market center of the area. There were people weighing hides on mainstreet as well as trucks with produce. There must have been something special happening as all the men were dressed in suits and the ladies seemed to have even more brightly colored clothing than usual. We bought a couple of muffins and bananas at the store and had a little snack while watching all the commotion.

 

The road was paved from here to Puno so the riding was easy, the city of Juliaca was a nut-house with numerous marching bands playing at the same time in the same area. We later figured out that the province of Puno is celebrating their foundation. Once in Puno which is only about half an hour South of Juliaca we were once again shocked at how big the city was, we were expecting something a little smaller. We found a nice hotel a few blocks from the main plaza and the manager lady was kind enough to let us park our bikes in the lobby.

One of the touristy things we wanted to do while here was take the boat ride out to the reed islands that are on lake Titicaca. These islands are actually manmade by tying blocks of a sod-like substance together. Then they cross stack 2 or 3 meters of reeds on the top to form the surface of the island. More reeds need to be added periodically and the islands are claimed to last about 100yrs. We also learned that the lake is 168km long and 66km wide with its deepest point at 285 meters. The tour lasted about 3hrs total and the short rain cleared up and it turned into another sunny afternoon. This is obviously a very popular destination as there are tons of backpackers and even motorcyclist, we met a group from Brasil, a group on rented bikes that were from Germany and Sweden, then that evening in our hotel there was a guy from New Zealand and two guys from Buenas Aires. We all shared stories and travel plans.

Inside the president of the Island house.