Cusipata, PE to Sicuani, PE

36.6 mi / 11.0 mph / 1416 ft. climbing
Home: Annabella’s AirBNB

Last night our host asked what time we would be leaving in the morning, which I thought was a little strange because we would be capable of exiting the hotel on our own at any time (this is not always the case in Peru! And entering this property required ringing the bell and having someone come down to open the gate for us). But the explanation came this morning when he knocked on our door to let us know he (and his family) were driving to Cusco, leaving us literally as the only people at the hotel, since there were no other guests. “Just make sure you lock up behind you!” That’s certainly something that would never happen in an American hotel, but also the entire staff leaving the site would never happen, so we’re glad that he trusted us to exit on our own rather than requiring us to depart by 8am (which could have been a possibility!)

Letting ourselves out of the nice, modern Hospedaje Montaña Vinicunca.

Departing Cusipata. Many more restaurants are open now vs. when we were looking for dinner last night!

Even though we traveled further than expected yesterday, we were maintaining our planned 2-day jump from Cusco to Sicuani, partly because there was no place a little further on, and partly because we’d booked two nights at a Sicuani AirBNB with the expectation that it would help us ease back into cycling after a long layoff.

We began the day with a short descent to the Urubamba River, and then followed it back upstream some 800 rather-gentle feet over the next 35 miles.

A random bit of complex geology along the highway.

Three bridges cross a tributary at Combapata: the modern steel-and-concrete bridge we’re riding across, a colonial-era stone bridge, and (dipping low behind the stone bridge) an Inca suspension bridge.

More large-plot agriculture in the flat valley. 30 feet to our right, a local woman was working on the steep slope descending from the highway, collecting something (I think wood) out of the small landslide of trash that had been dumped there from the road.

With the valley flattening, the Urubamba River winds lazily from side to side.

The flat Urubamba Valley, though no longer “Sacred” in this section, is still surrounded by sharp peaks (including some hints of snow cover).

While yesterday’s broad shoulder didn’t continue for much of today, traffic had lightened enough to still allow fairly-comfortable riding.

Pleasant riding up the Urubamba Valley.

The windy storm from yesterday afternoon is just a memory today.

We stopped to eat our packed lunches at the small village of Qqehuar, buying Cokes in a shop where a whole skinned lamb was laying atop other merchandise and nearly blocking the entrance, and then sitting in the shade of the bus stop.

The relative-brevity of this entry indicates that nothing particularly exciting happened during the ride, it was just another quality day of “bike touring”, exactly what we had been hoping for, and now we had made it two days of our planned six from Cusco to Puno without getting wet (fear that the rainy season had started was part of our decision-stress in Cusco). We got many waves and smiles from people in the villages along the way, so it was nice to feel a return to the Peruvian welcoming friendliness that had been one of our first impressions of this country.

Our AirBNB was in one of the quietest neighborhoods we’ve seen in a Peruvian city (many of the buildings felt unoccupied, but not in decay), but we had a frustrating wait to be welcomed inside (Rett had to pee). The non-quiet parts of Sicuani also felt unfamiliar to us. Maybe it’s because the city is evenly-divided by the river (with the bridge on our route to the grocery store being closed, forcing us to use two of the several others), or maybe it’s because it has railroad tracks running right through the center of town, but something about it structurally didn’t map what had become “normal” to our eyes in Peru.

We extended our planned two nights to three, when Rett was feeling a little off and extremely sleepy on our second day, and continued indecision about our route forward again made staying put less-stressful than pushing forward.

The view towards the center of Sicuani from the rooftop of our AirBNB. The yellow tower and pink building are certainly different, but it was more than that that gave the city a unique feel.

Late-afternoon sun on the mountains heading upriver from Sicuani (including a snowy one hiding on the right).

Cusipata, PE to Sicuani, PE

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