DAY 40 – 2/21/12 COPACABANA, BOLIVIA --> CUSCO, PERU

532 km / 72.7 kph ave / 128 kph max
10 hrs tot / 7:15 hrs mov / 1 border crossing

This morning we woke to beautiful sunshine. After a good breakfast at the hostel, we got gas out of a jug on the corner, and headed towards Peru. The border was very close and we went to the transit police to get our final stamp on the back of our import paper. We didn't have any stamps since leaving Santa Cruz and he told us it was a "mucho problemo" looking for some cash. We played dumb and I guess he figured we weren't worth the effort and sent us on our way. The Bolivian immigration official was quick and professional. Almost out of Bolivia, when we went to turn our import papers in, there was a typo on the forms. Were it said type of ID, instead of Passport, the box of CI was checked. Oh boy, another mucho problemo. This guy wouldn't budge and wanted $50Bs. so we gave him what we had left in our wallets - $30Bs. Good enough. The whole time he was demanding a bribe there was an anti-corruption poster on the wall behind him. Ha! Oh well, on to Peru! Once again, here the immigration official was quick and efficient. It was when we got to Peru customs, we encountered the system is down line again. I think this time it really was though, because after about 30 min of waiting one of the officers filled out all of our paperwork by hand. He took 20 min to fill out something we could have done in 2 minutes, then asked for a tip. Haha, we showed him the empty wallet and told him the corrupt Bolivians emptied us out. It worked and we were on our way to the national police, where we had to use the empty wallet trick one more time. We were finally on our way to Cusco. The hour time zone change now put us back to EST, so it gave us plenty of time to get to Cusco, but it also meant it gat dark at 1700.
The road into Cusco (Hwy 3) was nice as it descended to 3400m .





We arrived to downtown Cusco at 1830 in the dark with no GPS to guide us to our hostel. We were able to find our way there after a few stops to get our bearings. We drove down a ramp placed over the steps and had great courtyard parking.



After parking the bikes, we took a walk into the center of town and got some well-deserved dinner, where our server gave us complementary Pisco sours.

DAY 41 – 2/22/12 MACHU PICCHU

After an early breakfast, we took a $3 sol taxi ride to Estation Won Choq to board our Peru rail bus to Ollantaytambo. The bus ride was comfortable and offered good views, but I must confess, after our late night, I was dozing a bit. The bus ride was from 0645-0810 and our train left at 0915. We bought some pre-made sandwiches and got window seats on the train. The train followed the river from 3400m down to 2000m. After arriving at Agua Caliente, we rode a nerve racking 20 minute bus up a one lane dirt road to the park.







Machu Picchu was spectacular – no other way to describe it.

DAY 42 – 2/23/12 CUSCO --> ACCHA

131 km / 32 kph ave / 87 kph max
5 hrs tot / 4 hrs mov / 1 land slide road closure!

This morning we slept in till 0900, had a leisurely breakfast, and did some shopping in the market. By the time we were ready to hit the road it was 1200. It took us 40 minutes to find the road out of town we were looking for. Man, I miss GPS. The road was paved and twisty, but there was a lot of debris on the road from recent rains. After about 30km, it turned to all dirt. The first 10 km of the dirt section was rough washboard gravel with lots of potholes. I was loving it, my dad, not so much. After that the road smoothed out, but we couldn´t go very fast because it was all switchbacks. Still, pretty cool riding.











After reaching the tiny town of Accha, we were planning on heading east to the main highway of Ruta 3. Mother nature had other plans. Only about 7 km out of town, we encountered a series of rock slides. We walked the first three and determined they were passable, but met 2 other motorcycles coming the other way, and they had been turned back. No Passe!





After driving back to Accha, we decided to spend the night here, since it was after 1700 and getting dark. The town convenience store owner was very helpful and a room and covered parking for $20 sols. We learned that the road to Acomayo had been “broken” since Sunday (4 days prior).

DAY 43 – 2/24/12 ACCHA --> SICUANI

247 km / 56 kph ave / 128 kph max
6:45 hrs tot / 5:45 hrs mov

This morning we awoke to rain. It had been raining all night. Because of the heavy rains, we were advised by the locals not to try any of the small dirt roads to the south. With south and east no out of the running, we grudgingly decided to head back the way we came to meet up with Ruta 3 in Cusco. The rain didn´t seem to have any effect on the road back except for a little bit deeper river crossing than the previous day.







In Sicuani, we got a hostal for $50 sols. I paid an extra $5sols for a hot shower that electrocuted me three times – not cool.