Day 55 Rest day in La Paz

Well it seems that every rest day coincides with me having a problem which is quite good really in the sense of being able to keep cycling when I have to!  A few of us were ill last night after what may have possibly been a dodgy sandwich that we ate at the SOS Children´s Village.  Anyway I spent most of the rest day in bed getting over the night before, so I did not see much of La Paz.  It is a very strange city in this big hole about 400 metres below the rim and the streets either go up or down a hill or traverse across the hill on the flat.
Nohing else to report really so will just put this post up as it is.

Day 54 Lake Titikaka Hotel to La Paz

This day for me was a DOUBLE WOW day!!  We were all still concerned about Martin but had heard reports that all was better than first thought, so we left our peaceful surroundings for the hustle and bustle of the highest capital city in the world - La Paz.
However, on our way we were to call into one of the 3 SOS Villages in Bolivia.  Part of all our holiday entry fees are donated to SOS and some of the riders are also sponsored, or are collecting, for SOS as well.  The village was off the main road and in the middle of the normal tumbled down environment that you get to see every day. The village is fenced off and once through the gates it was like entering another world where110 children live in well made bungalows with solar water heating, and enough space outside to play football and enjoy the few playground features.  Each bungalow is looked after by a house Mama and each house has it's own kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms and dining/lounge area.  We were shown around and the kids enjoyed showing us their rooms and everything else, including schoolwork that they had done in the local schools which most of the older ones were just returning from.  We gave then rides on our bikes and they also enjoyed climbing all over one of the trucks which sounded it's fire horn and had it's flashing lights going.  After just over an hour we left to continue to La Paz with the kids happy cheers ringing in our ears.  I had been looking forward to this day and was not dissappointed, it was the first WOW ofthe day!!
We carried on through ever increasing traffic to reach La Paz, and we finally came to a viewing point where you could again just stand and say WOW!  It is easy to look at a picture and think somewhere looks big, but standing there and looking down into an enormous hole filled with buildings is something else.  It would take us another 11K from this point to reach the bottom and get to our hotel.  This place is vast!
Finally as mentioned in Day 53's report we were all delighted to see Martin walk into the hotel looking anazingly well, with some cuts, grazes and bruises but in one piece.  Another remarkable day had come to an end.

Two new friends in their lounge

The truck gets invaded!

The vast city of La Paz in a hole behind me

Day 53 Copacabana to Lake Titikaka Hotel

This was one of those days when you just had to say WOW!  We left Copacabana after only one night which would have been better if it had been two, because it was peaceful after some of the noisy places we had stayed at recently.  As we left the town we started climbing on a smooth tarmac road and we were on our way up to our first Bolivian summit greater than 4000 metres.  On our way up we were treated to many views of Lake Titikaka, which at 3812 metres is the highest lake in South America and the views sometimes make you think you are beside the sea it stretches so far into the distance!  After the summit we started the descent down to the little town of Tiquina which is the gateway to the Strait of Tiquina which connects the smaller and larger parts of the lake in Bolivia.  As we descended we came around a corner where you just had to stop and say WOW!  In the distance were magnificent snow capped mountains stretching from left to right.  When you stopped and realised that you were already standing at around 3900 metres you began to realise the size of these mountains, you are in The Andes!!
Continuing down to the village where we were all meeting for lunch, before catching the ferry across the strait, it was sad to hear that our German friend Martin had collided with a donkey on the descent!  He was in one of the trucks with Didier and the news did not seem good, and he was being taken off to La Paz immediately to get hospital treatment.  The day suddenly seemed a little overcast, but to give you the good news it was found that nothing was broken and we would all be re-united when we reached La Paz, see Day 54's report.  Just in case you are wondering - the donkey ran off with it's owner never to be seen again!!
The day continued for the rest of us with the ferry crossing and the remaining kilometres of undulating road around the lake to the Hotel Titikaka, which was even more peaceful than the hotel we had left in Copacabana.  The end of a day to remember.

On the ferry across  the Tiquina Strait

The mountains we saw earlier, now seen from hotel

Day 52 Puno to Copacabana

The plan was to leave Puno earlier than usual in the morning, but the accelerator pedal on one of the trucks had broken.  So we left just before 8 a.m. to travel to the border of our 3rd country - Bolivia.

We had our last Peruvian police escort out of town, and we were soon back on the Alti Plano road but today there were a few hills and this gave us some good views of Lake Titicaca.  Because of one of the trucks being out of action there was no organised lunch today, so it was a case of stopping at a shop on the way and grabbing some typeof snack.

Eventually arrived at the border after around 135K which was quite a quiet place and did not feel like you were going into a different country and time zone!  It only took about 20 minutes to get through before travelling the last 7 to 8K to the hotel on the side of the lake.  It was very peaceful and a shame that we would only be there for one night!  The 2nd truck arrived later in the afternoon having been fixed by some local garage on a Sunday for just a few dollars.

We came across the border near Copacabana

View from bedroom window of Copacabana beach

Day 51 Unscheduled Bushcamp to Puno

Saturday 25th September dawned with a hard frost, frozen water bottles and not a very inviting prospect of getting up at about 5:30am!  It had been decided that we get a start one hour earlier, 7am, so as to give us time for what was now going to be a 160K stage to Puno across the Alti Plano, on average 3800 metres above sea level, which is basically flat with just a few undulations and which we will be on for a few days yet.

Packed away our wet tents, ready to dry out at the hotel in the evening, and set off to the rescheduled lunch stop at around 80K.  I got in with some of the fast guys and survived until around 70K when there was a slight incline on rough roads, after what had been smooth tarmac until then, and just could not get back on the back as the rough roads continued to lunch and I just could not maintain the speed!  Anyway I covered the first 80K in 2 hours 45 minutes which on a mountain bike, and at an altitude of least 3800 metres, pleased me and I got to lunch in 7th place, result!

After lunch it was just a case of surviving the boredom of flat straight roads until about 10K from the finish where we had a climb over about 5K which took us back up to in excess of 3900 metres before we dropped into Puno.  A police escort to the hotel was a treat that the 4 of us who were together at the time took with delight as we were ushered through the traffic to the hotel.  Just under 8 hours for the 158K and we were finally in Puno a day late with no rest day but ready to cross over the border to Bolivia tomorrow.

Some riders had taken one of the trucks earlier to visit the floating islands on Lake Titicaca, and some who arrived by bike in the afternoon also had the chance to do it.  I had been there a few years ago so just took the chance to relax!

Frost on tent and bike at 7 a.m.

Laundry time Peruvian style

Day 50 Raqchi Ruins to a New Bushcamp

We found out early this morning that there was a roadblock of a serious nature on our route out from the next town of Sicuani which was about 20K away.  So it was decided that the trucks try to find a way around the town by going up into the hills and using smaller not so commonly used roads, while we road to Sicuani and waited for news to see if the trucks had found a way around the town.  We spent 2.5 hours in the town's plaza resting, eating  and drinking to waste the time before the message that the trucks had got around the town and were on the road beyond the roadblock.
We then road through the roadblock which was littered with burnt out tyres, rocks and other means of blocking the road.  Once we were on the otherside of the serious roadblock stuff the queue of vehicles trying to come into town from the opposite direction was spread over about 4 to 5K.  We found Didier with the lunch truck at about 52K, due to the mornings problems he had minimal lunch provisions but they were gratefully accepted!
We then continued climbing up and over our last pass, in Peru, in excess of 4000 metres, 4338 metres in fact!  On the way down I ran into a rain/hail storm with a headwind quite close to the summit.  I sheltered for a while until it passed and then continued down, but a few K from the Unschedled Bushcamp I ran into another thunderstorm of rain and hail.  This time I just carried on through it and got to the bushcamp in the sunshine but soaking wet!!  The new bushacmp was at 110K which meant that today's stage and tomorrows were effectively swapped around because today's should have been 159K but with the delay it was greatly reduced.  Went to bed after dinner very cold and just got into my sleeping bag to get warm!  Fell to sleep but was awake by midnight and the noise of the trucks all night did not help and so I only had small naps until the morning.  An eventful and unscheduled day had taken over from the scheduled stage.

Blocked trucks, rocks and burnt out tyres in the road

Riders had to negotiate through total chaos!

Day 49 Cusco to Raqchi Ruins Bushcamp

Well at last on Thursday 23rd September after 3 rest days we leave Cusco, with a police escort for about 20K.  Unfortunately after about 8K there was a grid across the road with the slits running in the direction of the riders and wide enough for a narrow tyre to go down into!  Unfortunately that is exactly what happened to one rider and others came down as a result, luckily only slight damage to riders and bikes occured but it just showed that there are not many riders in Peru otherwise the grid would not have been designed that way.
So after the police escort waved us goodbye we continued up and down a few gentle climbs before we reached lunch at about 62K.  Didier had found another nice spot beside a river and we enjoyed our lunch in the sunshine.  After lunch we had the bonus of a tail wind as we continued to climb a total of about 500 metres spead over the many gently undulating climbs in the remaining 60K.
We made camp beside the village where the Raqchi Ruins are and some people visited the ruins and other just visited the village and the little market in the square.

Another riverside lunch spot, thanks Didier