Bike-packing Peru: Chinchero, Cusco & Sicuani

With my belly full of breakfast and good strong black coffee from The Coffee Tree in Ollantaytambo, we made our way to Urubamba, 18kms to the east. Our map indicated a dirt road outside of town that would get us near our destination of Chinchero. Peruvian maps, we have learned, are both poor in detail and not to be trusted.

After several attempts to find this road, including a six person debate in four languages(English, French, Spanish & Quechua), we admitted defeat and made for the pavement that climbed and climbed out of Urubamba.

As the temperatures dropped, the winds picked up and the rain threatened, we arrived just outside of Chinchero. There, Kimberly(our team’s English-Spanish translator) secured us a spot to camp within the walls of a lady’s farm.

The next morning, we packed our wet tents and silently headed out into the cold driving rain. It was miserable. Fortunately, Reilly’s genius saved the day. He flagged down a passing cargo truck and enquired if we could get a lift in the back and under the tarp to our destination of Cusco. Julio was happy to oblige and we were happy to give him 10soles for his generosity.

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Our next port of call was Sicuani, about 145kms south of Cusco. However, we had been warned that the road was very narrow and the drivers maniacal; riding it would be very dangerous. We’d be best served to pay for a ride in a taxi-van from within town. With the morning’s success still fresh in our minds, we opted to ride south out of Cusco(very intense city riding) and see if we couldn’t hitch another ride. And so, for the second time that day and only the third time in my life, we stuck out our thumbs and waited.

Thinking about my friend Mark who hitches all over North America and after an hour with no luck, I began to dread the idea of standing roadside for 4-6 hours under the blazing sun. Fortunately for us, another large cargo truck stopped and we negotiated 60soles for the three focus and our bikes to ride in the back all the way to Sicuani.

With daylight fading we arrived at our destination, truly a place not worth visiting. However, in a cheap hostel we enjoyed a warm, dry night’s sleep ahead of three remarkable days riding.