Lima to Cuzco

Nothing feels better than being wet and cold riding a bike through the pompas at 12,000 feet. Said goodbye to the desert and pushed up into a mountain range that everyone I had talked to told me it was simply not passible on a bike. The 1st climb into the mountains out of Nasca, Peru put me above the clouds to an area of altiplano 40 kilometers in length. The road then desended into a super surreal valley. The road descended 5000 feet into a lush valley of farm fields and rivers clear as those in Canada. Upon arriving at the valley floor the road immediatly climbed to 10,000 feet then descended to the pueblo of Puquio. As I dropped into town I was invited in for a tea at a little restaraunt on the main street of this small village. At this point it was 7 at night and I had been on my bike for a little over13 hours. The owner of the restaraunt treated me to dinner than let me stay there for the night. In return I peeled about 100 potatoes for him and folded napkins, it felt great to make an even trade. In the morning as I peddaled out of town a drunk offered me a shot of pisco, it might have been 5:30 am. After taking a shot of pisco I took back to the road ahead which would climb to 15,000 feet in a distence of 80 kilometers. My lungs began to burn from the elevation around noon and my water depleted an hour before I could find a river to pump some water from. Just above me in the moutains were snow-rimmed peaks. The road went on at this elevation for a little over a 100 miles then switchbacked down into the valley of Challahuanca. I camped 20 Kilometers before town behind a big rock to not be seen from the road. The road rolled up and down for the next 300 kilometers and two days of biking. This place deserves another visit, southern peru is really something to see.
hope all is well

Quinn-