The "rough" part of the purr from my new chain and cassette soon turned into a problem called "chain suck" created by the steel middle chain ring, because it had been worn and didn't agree with the new chain we had installed in Cusco. James had the brilliant idea to turn it around so it can get worn from the other side. It didn't even require any special tools and the repair was done on the side of the road in about 15 minutes....sweet! Now my Surly is purring along just fine and in tune with my Schwalbe tires - chain and tires are humming together in harmony.......on the gentle slope up to "La Raya" the 4300m high pass to the Alto Plano. This is what makes cycling right for me: a humming well working bicycle, gentle pass with hardly any traffic, mind blowing, stunning landscape and effortless pedaling through sunshine...getting somewhere while being part of my surroundings: feeling the wind, smelling the air, moving in the speed of my own power. I wouldn't want it any other way.
This is the easiest, warmest pass at that altitude I have pedaled thus far. There was even a market with handcrafted goods up on top and we wandered around feeling already the sting of future thoughts not having bought any of the wonderful handwoven blankets, knitted socks and other woman/man made useful and beautiful things.
Watched by Alpacas with their sweet faces turned towards us
as we started the slow descend accompanied by the railroad and the occasional passenger train with tourists waving at us frantically.....and we waved back, happy to be on the bike and not in the train while they probably had the opposite thought - possibly, but I am not so sure....I bet we looked pretty good and happy on those bikes!
As the road leveled off and it became obvious we hit the Alto Plano after about a 500m descent, the traffic increased, the villages became ugly, dirty ghostly looking towns and the soft hills disappeared...the landscape had changed into a desert, flat and boring with dead animals and lots of garbage on the side of the road. The smell of the decaying bodies started to make me feel nauseous and the drivers had changed from calm and considerate to careless and aggressive. Why, how and where did it change? The world is full of wonders....
We spend one more night in Pucara after 120 km and reached Puno the next day after riding another 115km through this sad looking/smelly, flat part of our world. There was a "hill" to climb before Puno and it seemed to separate the ugly from the beautiful. As we descended into town, lake Titicaca opened up in front of our eyes and Puno winked at us with a pleasant smile in sunshiny weather and we knew we are going to be in good hands, calling this place "home for at least a week or more.
This is the view from our hotel room:
