Hola, This is your guest blogger Mike again. We are posting tonight from Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Today was, well, interesting. It was a day of beautiful sole-full riding sandwiched on both ends with insanity.
The high mountain plateau that we ran for a good part of today reminded me of a mix of Colorado and the Marin Headlands, north of San Francisco. Beautiful golden mountains flanking a crystal blue river flowing on to the never ending horizon. For the beginning portion of this section of the ride, the road flowed up and down, left and right with the river on our side. The road then became a dead-straight drag-strip to the horizon. This could have gotten a bit dull, but the sheep, dogs and cows that liked to walk into the road at every possible change, kept me on my toes.
So the insane parts. When we were departing our hotel we were told that there was a transit strike between Cusco and Ollaytaymabo, so Ken and I said "great - No buses on the roads". What we quickly found out was that a transit strike in this part of the world is a bit different than back in the U.S. After only about 15 minutes of riding we rounded a bend and there are 50 men and women standing and sitting on a roadblock of trees, boulders and tires. Ken rolled up first and made his way through by convincing them allow us to roll some boulders to the side to pass. My heart rate was spiked sky high to say the least. We cleared the roadblock and I am thinking, whew now back to riding. Wrong. That was only the first of about 10 or so blockades of various sizes and intensity. From having to weave our way through hundreds of pedestrians chanting and yelling at us in the street, having some rocks thrown at us at one spot, to rolling alongside 20 or so riot gear clad police offices as a group of protesters walked down the street. Two hours and 20 miles later we cleared the area of protests and then the soulful riding.
So the insane parts. When we were departing our hotel we were told that there was a transit strike between Cusco and Ollaytaymabo, so Ken and I said "great - No buses on the roads". What we quickly found out was that a transit strike in this part of the world is a bit different than back in the U.S. After only about 15 minutes of riding we rounded a bend and there are 50 men and women standing and sitting on a roadblock of trees, boulders and tires. Ken rolled up first and made his way through by convincing them allow us to roll some boulders to the side to pass. My heart rate was spiked sky high to say the least. We cleared the roadblock and I am thinking, whew now back to riding. Wrong. That was only the first of about 10 or so blockades of various sizes and intensity. From having to weave our way through hundreds of pedestrians chanting and yelling at us in the street, having some rocks thrown at us at one spot, to rolling alongside 20 or so riot gear clad police offices as a group of protesters walked down the street. Two hours and 20 miles later we cleared the area of protests and then the soulful riding.
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| Blockade 2 of 10 |
But we are here, Puno is a good sized city and our accommodations are nice. We will post some go-pro video of our ride through the protest tomorrow.
Trip Summary
Today's Leg: 277 miles (446 km)
Total Distance Traveled: 8.862 miles (14,739 km)
Total Borders Crossed: 10
Total Countries Visited: 11
Total Times Stopped by the Police/Tickets Issued: 14/0
Shaken Down by the Police/Total Times Paid: 5/1
Visits to a Holding Cell: 1
Countries Following this Blog: 27 (welcome Morocco)
Mike's Trip Summary
Today's Leg: 277 miles (446 km)
Total Distance Traveled: 341 miles (549 km)
Total Borders Crossed: 1
Total Countries Visited: 1
Total Times Stopped by the Police/Tickets Issued: 0/0
Shaken Down by the Police/Total Times Paid: 0/0
Visits to a Holding Cell: 0
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