To Pisac

The journey from Nasca to Pisac is to far to accomplish in a day, at least having experienced the roads in Peru. Recognizing this adventure is a marathon, not a sprint, the traverse across route 30D included a stopover at Chalhuanca. Both travel days were dry and bathed with sun under near pristine blue skies. 

It was 78ºF at 8am on exiting the hotel. The strengthening morning sun put up a good fight as altitude is quickly gained when heading west from Nasca. Temperatures stayed in the mid-60's until about  9.30am when altitude asserted it's authority and the temperature crashed down to the low 50's where they would remain for the 100 mile duration of the altiplano. 

The altiplano is generally flat, but uniquely beautiful being spritzed with shimmering lakes. 

The plains are sparsely populated, wild vicuñas and farmed alpaca and llamas herds outnumbering humans by a substantial margin. Temperatures gained rose rapidly on the decent into Chalhuanca and the excellent paved road offered up more spectacular views, twists and turns.

Chalhuanca is a typical small town, definitely not a tourist stop but it served my purpose. It was back to chicken, fries and rice for dinner in a restaurant that would not be a destination for a special event, though the open fire cooked marinated chicken was very good. 

Hotel Plaza, with gold embroidered towels that exceeded the quality of the room by far, was home for the night. Definitely not the best (but only $11!) and the host was devoid of any warmth.

There was no reason to stay in Chalhuanca any longer than necessary, though I caught moto-taxi rush hour on  my way out.

The road continued to be in good condition except in the  towns (towns are responsible for their roads, the state for linking highways). Abancay proved interesting with numerous missing manhole covers to swerve around. More saw toothed in character than the ride to Chalhuanca, which was up, across and down. Have I mentioned that the roads here are fun to ride? 

Even more fun is meeting interesting people like Robert and Kat from Germany, who started cycling north from Ushuaia in December. All peddle power with the exception of an 800km bus ride north to Santiago to replace critical items (tent and clothes) after their luggage was ransacked and items stolen while in southern Chile. We spent an hour together chatting over lunch at a roadside (and very clean) restaurant with a delightful server.

The village of Pisac and the Inca terraces for which the town is known come into view about a mile and a half out.

Pisac is quiet and aside from the locals is frequented by young and not so young western hippie types. The local restaurants reflect their presence with organic quinoa salads, lentil burgers and other offerings unpolluted by the vulgar notion of animal protein. Not quite a vegetarian paradise as I treated myself to an alpaca burger; it was delicious. Anyway, in 10 years I think it will have taken on the feel of a hip Colorado ski town. However, since I enjoyed wandering around the freshly cobbled and paved streets, have my eye on a couple of organic 'roasted in-house' coffee shop hang-outs and the overall general vibe I am conflicted on whether to be delighted or disappointed with the changes that are coming to Pisac. 

There are still some hold-outs from progress in gentrifying the place...

….but the organic café latte tasted oh, so good.

Hotel Wilcamayu does not have an interesting frontage, but the courtyard inside and vibe of the place and positive. No complaints from EB either.

Next up a tour of the Inca ruins.

T2