24/09/2013 Stage 33 Limatambo - Cusco

2013-09-24 click on date for more

24/09/2013 Stage 33 Limatambo Cusco by malcandmarjetpatterson at Garmin Connect - Details

24/09/2013 Stage 35 Limotambo – Cusco

drying off the tent inside the hostal

The tent dried beautifully inside the hotel room and we quickly packed it away in the morning. We were on our bikes by 7.30 and made very good progress. The climb was just over 1100 meters but the gradient was good, the road surface excellent and there was quite a bit of cloud cover so the temperature was perfect. Before we knew it we had reached the top and there followed a gradual descent before a final 350 meter climb into Cusco. The landscape changed quite a lot. We are no longer surrounded by snowy peaks. Instead it is quite flat and agricultural. We met a friendly Brazilian cyclist Roberto who hadjust come from Cusco and recommended a cheap and cyclist friendly hostal' Estrellita'. It is indeed a very nice place and is frequented by mostly cyclists and a few motor bikers. Malcolm and I are by far and away the least travelled cyclists here. The minimum length of time on the road it seems is a year. There is a fantastic opportunity for exchange of information. Actually we are the sponges not the once handing out info. Cusco is amazingly different from anything we have seen so far. After weeks of barely seeing any tourists we are suddenly inundated with them. There are high rise buildings, very posh shops and we even spotted the first MacDonalds since we have been here. There are prices to match the number of tourists but you can still find cheap places as well. We are filled with idea's of things we want to see and do. It is all very exciting!

Arriving in Cusco