Posted from Abancay, Apurimac, Peru.
Arrival in Abancay marks the turning point of my trip. From now on I shall be cycling south until I reach Arequipa, from which I am heading even more south to Tacna and , eventually, to Arica. As already mentioned in my previous post I will be cycling on smaller roads now, across tall mountains and desolate stretches of Peruvian Andes. I can already anticipate what is about to come. The road between Cusco and Abancay was meant to be a warm-up but it already was hard work. First I had to ascend from Cusco onto 3,800 m.a.s.l. after which the road plummeted into a deep canyon down to 1,800 m.a.s.l. from which I had to ascend up to 4,000 metres before descending down to 3,000. Peruvian Andes are a real roller-coaster. In the next 14 days to come I will need to ascend more than 11,000 vertical metres and cycle above 4,5000 m.a.s.l. I hope my legs and lungs can withstand the exertion. So far I have felt strong – much stronger than I did in Argentina. Let the last adventure on this trip begin so when it’s done I can feel that the time I am about to spend on a beach on the Chilean Pacific coast is well deserved :)