Leaving La Paz we headed for Lake Titikaka which sits between Bolivia and Peru. We spent the a couple of nights at Copacabana and caught a boat over to Isla del Sol with Simon and a lovely Oz/New Zealand couple, Trisha and Cholly touring on their very impressive BMW GS1200A. The full day hike we did from the north of the island to the south was absolutely stunning with amazing views over the lake. From here we headed to Puno for a night and saw the floating islands which are home to a number of people. Now days the people tend to use the islands as floating souvenir shops to supplement their traditional way of living but it was still enjoyable to be out on the lake.
We set of with Trisha and Cholly to Cusco early the next day and thoroughly enjoyed the scenic ride despite a few rocks getting pegged at us by local kids, the ride went by without a hitch. Cusco is truly beautiful city in the old center but like most of the towns we have been to, the outskirts leave a lot to be desired but once in the middle the good Ol’ Spanish had done a great job with the architecture. Throughout the center you find yourself surrounded with Inca walls, with ruins on just about every local street. Although pretty touristy and relatively expensive is a still a great town to spend a couple of days. Also in Cusco is Norton Rats tavern, a must go to place for motorbike travelers with a massive visitors book filled with stories of adventures. Most of the people we had met on bikes along the way had their mark somewhere on the pages of this famous book! Jeff the owner was more than happy to pass on lots of info and advice as well as entertain us with stories of his travels over the years. With great burgers and good beers, we spent a lot of time here with Trisha and Cholly.
From Cusco we headed to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, which includes beautiful scenery and Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, Pisac and countless others. We spent the day rinding through the valley and ended up in Ollantaytambo for the night where we organized a train ticket to the final town of Aguas Callientes before Machu Piccu. With a 5am start the next day we went with every man and their dog to Macchu Picchu. Although crowed, expensive and very touristy you cannot get over the beauty and setting of the ruins as well as the amazing amount of work that would have gone into the buildings.
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