Feb. 26 – Cusco to Puno
We sleep in late, then walk to the Wanchaq market for breakfast. Incredible bargain, for sure, with fresh squeezed orange juice. We have to screw around getting the bikes out of the hotel garage, as there were now cars blocking us in. Levi is upset with me as I managed to hit his right pannier when we pulled into the garage, and now the rack on that side is bent in a bit. We have fixed this sort of thing before.
We get right out of town without getting lost, for a change. We are on decent road, following the river and railroad. Soon we are climbing back up steep mountain switchbacks, and then we cross the high plain till we clear the pass at 4324 meters. Rain falls on and off, and the temperature falls to 40 F. We continue to travel beneath snow-capped mountains and glaciers, where lots of sheep and lama graze, and towns are few and far between. We look for gas, but only see 84 octane available, which we try to avoid.
We have been attacked several times in the last few days by kids throwing water balloons, or attempting to spray us with water from hoses or even buckets. Something to do with Carnival, we suspect. Driving through one small town, I get hit directly in the face with a large water balloon, and it just about knocks me down. I have to stop and recover for a while before continuing. As if it is not bad enough having to deal with ‘normal’ road hazards like bad drivers, trucks and buses, and potholes, now flying objects. Sheesh!
We get confused and temporaily off the road in a busy mud-hole town called Juliaca, and get impatient with each other about it. Tempers are getting short, I guess. The town is crazy with more Carnival madness. then, just before Puno, we get stopped, for the first time, by some Peruvian National Police. There was no reason for stopping us, we weren’t even speeding (!), but it was strictly a shakedown. They tried talking some bullshit about needing some sort of insurance, but we stuck to our guns, and argued with them. All our papers were in order, and I think the fact that I spoke a little Spanish, and Levi did so even better, discouraged them from trying to hold us up. After a bunch of hemming and hawing, they simple let us go, telling us to ‘be careful’.
We were now very cold and wet, and the rain really intensified as we pulled into Puno. Puno is a very attractive little town on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Very picturesque, but all we cared about that night was finding a safe place to get out of the rain.