La Paz to Cusco

So, with me well again and ready to cycle, Rich and I left La Paz and after just a few hours riding we'd reached the south bank of Lake Titicaca. After the flat, windswept landscape of the Altiplano, the lake and rolling hills surrounding it were a beautiful change of scenery. With a decent bit of sunshine for a day and a half we rode around the southern edge of the lake, with a spectacular cliff-top campsite overnight.

Copacabana was our final stop in Bolivia, a touristy little town on the shore of Titicaca, and the main jumping-off point for visiting the Isla del Sol, the birthplace of the Inca Empire. We took a day off to nip out to the island and visit some of the ruins there. Id like to say it was a fascinating glimpse into the origins of this ancient and once-mighty civilisation, but to be honest it was all a little underwhelming. A big rock in a field of potatoes: apperently the sacred rock of the Incas. A big, flat rock, covered in tourist tat for sale: apparently the sacrificial rock of the Incas. There were some other interesting ruins but our appreciation (and our clothes) were dampened by the huge downpour that lasted most of the day... made us wonder if the name 'Isla del Sol' is just a Bolivian joke on us tourists.

But we returned to Copacabana and treated ourselves to some of the famous Titicaca Trout which was mighty tasty.

Then, just a few kilometres outside town, we reached the Peruvian border; our fourth country and waaaay over the half-way point now. There was a ceremonial sticking of the Peruvian flag onto the bikes and off we went.

Puno was the first Peruvian city we arrived at, and we stopped there for a few hours. Moored up in the bay there is 'The Yavari', an English-made steamship from the 19th Century, which now houses a museum. The ship has a unique history, having been made in the UK in almost 3000 seperate pieces, and transported to Arica on the (then) Peruvian coast in 1862. From there, the parts made a short journey by train and then over the next 6 YEARS, they were transported by llama trail over the Andes to Titicaca where they were re-assembled as a passenger and cargo cruiser to work on the lake (mostly powered by dry llama dung due to a shortage of coal in the region. It was a fascinating tale, and restoration work still continues on the Yavari, to make it a fully-functioning passenger ship again. Also, our guide around the museum was the ship's engineer, a guy called Maximo Flores - Max Flowers - which we thought was a truly brilliant name.

We rode out of Puno and were invited to stay in a kind family's spare room for the night which was a very welcome bit of comfort. We then spent the next night camping in a petrol station and then the last night before arriving in Cusco, we slept in a police station in the little town of Andahuaylilla. We weren't in the cells though, we were invited in when we were asking about finding a safe place to camp. The guys were really kind to us and brought us out matresses to sleep on and made us very welcome. We think they might have just been a bit bored really and grateful for the novelty... there didnt seem to be that much crime about in Andhuaylilla. Nothing like Midsomer in the UK. That's one dodgy little village. Chatting with the policemen was also a good reminder of the severe limitations of my Spanish; they asked about English sports and after i'd started, I soon realised I had nothing like enough vocabulary to explain cricket to them and the whole conversation degenerated into a charades-esque farce.

We're now going to make it our mission to sleep in new and exciting places whenever we can, so watch this space.

We were accosted by a little old lady in one small town who seemed intent on stealing everything we had. She took my hat and started 'running' off down the road with it. I told her it didnt suit her but she didnt want to know... maybe the bowler hats are on their way out among the discerning Andean ladies. In the end though she seemed happy to settle for a broken lighter so we came out of the deal ok.

We're in Cusco now for a couple of days and then we'll hit the ridiculously hilly road down to the coast at Nasca... we're told its going to be one of the toughest bits of riding of the whole trip, so we've no idea how long it might take us!