Altiplano here we come!!!!

We left Arequipa last Saturday heading further into the mountains. Our first day we took it easy and rode about 55 kilometers until we found a weigh station and an old restaurant where the owner let us sleep on the floor. We were still in the desert but we could see the rain clouds higher up in the mountains and we even got a little sprinkle. The next day the real fun began. We climbed to over 4000 meters and directly into the freezing cold. Rain and hail pelted us for about 20 kilometers. Finally the sun broke free as we were riding into a Vicuna Reserve. We got to see many vicunas hanging out by the side of the road. We came up to a small town and asked the highway police where we could find a place to stay. They told us they were going to go have lunch at a small restaurant and there possibly the owner would let us stay. We got there and had a nice lunch and the people there let us crash. It was a good thing too because the rain came down in droves. The next day we continued through the high Andean grassland. That is what most of the high elevation is here in Peru, grasslands, impressive rock faces, and the occasional creek running through the grass. The land is mostly empty save for sheep and alpaca shepherds. It is very beautiful country, but the weather is pretty harsh. We stayed the night in a town called Imata and it snowed all afternoon. The next day it snowed again. Thankfully, the snow did not accumulate on the road. As usual I had some bike trouble! The eyelet that holds my front rack on finally broke and we had to ziptie the rack to the forks. It seems to be holding. We met a Belgian cyclist coming from Buenos Aires. He told us that he had had almost no bad weather; hard to believe considering we have had rain in the mountains since southern Colombia. He was on his way to Lima finishing up about three months of cycling. We stopped in Santa Lucia where we ate a delicious menu and asked one of the women working at the restaurant if she knew of somewhere where we could stay. She and her husband are building a house and agreed to let us stay there. Again, it was very nice to be inside because it snowed some more.

We are now in Puno. It is a nice little town on Lake Titicaca. We are staying in a Casa de Ciclista run by a nice kid named Max. Max has traveled the world a bit, done his own bike tours, and is a self professed bike maniac. We are staying here while we wait for a package from the states. One of Merilee's friends kindly sent us new spokes for my bike so that once and for all we can get my wheel fixed right! Puno is preparing for it's biggest festival of the year. It is the Candelaria and will feature lots and lots of music and dance. It gets going this Sunday so Merilee and I will get the opportunity to check some of it out. It should be just wonderful!

And now for a new term to enter y'alls vocabulary. "Urban hunter gatherer". There, of course, are freegans and dumpster divers, but Merilee and I are urban hunter gatherers. When we see food on the road we pick it up! Throughout our trip there is always food laying on the side of the road from produce trucks that have not properly secured their goods. Our most common finds are onions, potatoes, chiles, and tomatoes. Perhaps our best find was a load of cacao that had been spilled into the sand! We are still eating it in our oatmeal for breakfast, and as a "wake-me-up" in the afternoon. I suppose we just gather, but maybe we will start hunting those freeway dogs we see most days trotting along the road. Well, maybe not. We are too much like those freeway dogs, cowering away from the traffic and scrounging food from the side of the road...yum!!! Anyhow, that is a little tidbit about how we feed ourselves.

Right now we are trying to upload photos (hope it works we have good ones!) and sipping maracuya sours. When you make it to Peru I highly suggest this drink, it is fantastic. Pisco sour is too.

Sadly, no pics...next time folks flamingos and altiplano shots