Colca Canyon

At 3,191m Colca canyon is one of the world's deepest. A dirt track runs alongside it to a look-out point where if you're lucky you can see condors. The track starts off okay but gets progressively worse. It was at one of the tricky bits (downhill, loose gravel & dirt) that I was faced with a donkey roadblock. My attempt to avoid them ended with both me and the bike on our sides. I carried on a bit further after that but when the wind got so strong that it threatened to blow me off the road and into the canyon I decided that the condors weren't worth it and turned back.

On the journey from Arequipa to the canyon I reached the highest altitude of the trip so far - 4,900m. That's higher than Mont Blanc but as the rest of the day was spent riding over a 4,500m plateaux I wasn't really aware of the extra gain in height.

Arequipa

Presumably in an effort to catch-out British motorcyclists who have been riding on the righthand side of the road for eight months Arequipa town council have decided that you should ride on the left around the main square.
Fortunately it didn't catch-out this British motorcyclist.




A slap-up meal of alpaca meat for dinner tonight. What does alpaca taste of? A bit like llama really.

Lake Titicaca

Some express tourism today - I arrived in Puno at 3.30, by 4pm I'd checked into a hotel and was on a boat trip to the floating reed islands on lake Titicaca.

The boats aren't quite as traditional as they look - each one is made of 3,000 plastic drink bottles and is then covered in reeds.

Depending on who you believe, at 3,920m lake Titicaca is either the world's highest navigable lake or it isn't. Even Lonely Planet can't decide - on the Peruvian side it says it is, on the Bolivian side it says it isn't.

Machu Picchu

When somewhere is as well known and over-hyped as Machu Picchu there's a danger that visiting it could be an anti-climax.
It isn't.
It lives up to expectations and then some.

Cusco

Cusco is twinned with Samarkand (been there), Lima (been there), Istanbul (been there), Copan (been there), Cuenca (been there), La Paz (going there) and Rio (going there?).

2,078m

Cerro Blanco is the world's highest known sand dune.

The Nasca Lines

The nasca lines were formed around 2,000 years ago by removing the reddish pebbles that cover the ground to reveal the lighter earth underneath. The jury is still out as to why they were formed though its believed they have religious significance.

Lima

Roadworks

The idea was to take a dirt road from the coast into the mountains. Unfortunately it was being rebuilt which meant lots of delays and after 70km the road was blocked completely. Waiting for it to be cleared would've meant having to finish the journey in darkness so it was back down to the coast road.

Ruined

A day spent visiting ruins around Trujillo. In the morning the temples of the sun and moon, constructed over 1,500 years ago, and in the afternoon Chan Chan - the largest pre-Columbian city in the americas.