September 12-15, 2017
Firmly back on the road again, covering miles and in a groove.
Cycling Stats
September 12, 2017
Start Point: Urcos, Peru
Destination: Sicuani, Peru
96 km, 15.7 km/h average speed, 51.6 km/h maximum speed, 6:06 time on the bike
1436 meters gained, 1009 meters elevation descend, 3567 meters maximum elevation
September 13, 2017
Start Point: Sicuani, Peru
Destination: Santa Rosa, Peru
68.2 km, 15.6 km/h average speed, 58.6 km/h maximum speed, 4:22 time on the bike
1250 meters gained, 792 meters elevation descend, 4355 meters maximum elevation
September 14, 2017
Start Point: Santa Rosa, Peru
Destination: Pukara, Peru
74.5 km, 23.7 km/h average speed, 48.9 km/h maximum speed, 3:08 time on the bike
335 meters gained, 469 meters elevation descend, 4032 meters maximum elevation
September 15, 2017
Start Point: Pucara, Peru
Destination: Juliaca, Peru
65 km, 19.8 km/h average speed, 41.8 km/h maximum speed, 3:17 time on the bike
368 meters gained, 405 meters elevation descend, 3890 meters maximum elevation
Route Description:
September 12, 2017
The road is paved for the whole day with a shoulder for most of it. After 1.5 hours of cycling there is a town with 3 hotels. You follow the river for at least the first 50 km. There are plenty of places to wild camp in small trees off the road all day if you don’t want to stay in towns. The last 25 km include San Pedro and San Pablo. San Pedro has at least 10 hotels and is a big tourist area. There are undulating hills all day.
September 13, 2017Again paved road with shoulder on this day. At the 1144k marker just past the toll booth there is glacier fed water available when we rode through in September 2017. The peak is at 1148k road marker. There is a shoulder most of the way. It’s a solid climb for 40 km to 4346 meters elevation. It’s a very gradual climb. After the peak you descend on a great downhill for 20 km and then there are undulating hills for the last 10 km. There are lots of areas with melted glaciers which is quite sad.
September 14, 2017Again paved road with shoulder on this day. The entire day is again on a paved road with a shoulder most of the time. We rode on Hway PE3S and traffic wasn’t too heavy. It is mostly flat terrain and overall you end 100 meters lower than you started. There are a few towns enroute with food. There are lots of wild camp opportunities. Pukara has hotels, restaurants and stores.
September 15, 2017Paved highway all day and mostly with a shoulder. The terrain is mostly undulating hills. The last 15 km you ride past 30 gas stations which is a bit weird. Juliana has tons of hotels, restaurants and stores including large super markets.
Accommodations:
On September 12th we stayed at Hotel de Tourists La Villa in Sicuani. 60 soles for a very nice hotel with wifi and a lounge area. There are loads of hotels in the town and along the route there are many wild camp opportunities if you don’t want to pay for a hotel. On September 13th we stayed at Hostal Yemenis for 20 soles for 2 people with a private toilet and shared showers for an extra 3 soles per person. We didn’t use the showers but heard from another blog they are hot. On September 14th we stayed at hotel in front of police station for 30 soles with a private room for 2 with private shower and hot shower and no wifi. There are at least 5 hotels to choose from and wild camping available throughout the day. On September 15th we stayed at Hotel Embajadores for 60 soles per night with great hate water, large private room with private washroom and wifi. It was a great location and had an elevator. There are dozens of hotels to choose from as Juliana is a larger city.
What happened…
Andrew writes: From Urcos to Sicuani we found ourselves up on the Altiplano, though it seemed a bit more like a slight downhill. The weather is colder up here where the air is thin. We passed though San Pablo which advertised a volcano and salt flat, and the town of Pukara was kinda nice, as it had some hotels and whatnot. Having a “real” city with restaurants or street food and whatnot can really make a difference for me out here.
The ride into Juliaca was a bit strange what with the two dozen or so gas stations that we cycled past. We had heard from other cyclists that it is an ugly city, but I didn’t find it that much different from other Peruvian cities. I think maybe if I was entering the city having just come from Bolivia that the outskirts, or the quick ride through town might not be very pretty, but we ended up staying a few days in Juliaca and it was really nice to walk up and down the pedestrian boulevard near the hotel. I think it is a great way to end our stay in Peru. Next up we’ll cycle around Lake Titicaca and enter Bolivia.
Amanda writes: These few days were really nice to get back into a groove. With the reality that we wouldn’t likely see Nici and Philip until we visited Europe it was almost like a new part of the journey. The days filled with cycling where we see much more because we can cover more ground. While cycling on pavement can be boring for some, I love it. The traffic isn’t heavy and the surrounding towns and landscape is still beautiful. We rode past some mountains that used to be glaciers and it was kind of sad to see what was left of them. I wonder if the surrounding communities are impacted by the change in water levels. A few of the small towns had the usual town markets but these seemed to have a higher presence of local farmers selling sheep skins. And I mean fresh off the animal with the blood still dripping off the skin. It’s probably normal in these parts but still a shock for us Canadians.
The aerial view of our rides: