Heading from La Paz I stopped in Copacabana for the night. Not a bad place to organize yourself before crossing into Peru. The border is a short distance from there, where you will be asked for insurance. The police let me continue to Puno with the promise that I would buy insurance there at my first opportunity. In my travels I talked to someone who failed to buy insurance, was caught without and paid a fine. Getting the insurance didn't take long and was very expensive. The first thing I noticed in Peru was gas station attendants actually wanted to sell you gas. Bolivia was such a struggle to find gas and then the attendants was usually unfriendly because they have license to charge more than double what local pay...it makes them defensive.

I stopped for the night in Puno, not a remarkable town. I swear, every fourth restaurant is a pizza shop. In fact I had an excellent pizza, baked in a wood burning stove. It was the best pizza that I had in all of South America. I went back the next night and had another. The reason I stopped in Puno was to visit the floating villages. That was unique.

Maybe 30 minutes north of Puno, stop and check out Sillustani on Laguna Umayo http://goo.gl/maps/HF7BV You find interesting tombs, large cylindrical structures, which look a bit like grain silos. There are plenty of signs throughout the site in English. Its worth riding 15 minutes or so off the highway to see.

From there you are 5 hours to Cusco, according to Google Maps. I roughly double the time to estimate actual travel time with breaks, etc. Lake Titicaca is at 12,507 ft and Cusco is at 11,200 ft. It seemed like the whole ride to Cusco was downhill.

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Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride

I ended up stopping in Puna because of a HUGE thunderstorm. rain, lightning, and HAIL! Just by accident I found an Awesome hotel and got out of the downpour.

Now my transmission or Starter or Cluthch is going out and the transmission growls in first and second gear. the clutch doesn't want to disengage completely and the starter seems to get stuck engaged sometimes. Anyone know of a repair shop in Cusco that works on BMW R1150 GS bikes?

I bought a tire from the Honda dealer in Cusco, which they mounted for a reasonable fee. The next day when trying to escape Cusco I found my rear wheel bearings were shot, so I returned to Honda. They found bearings and seals that fit my F800GS, and by late afternoon I was good to go. I have no idea if they can take on clutch and transmission issues, but they have a can do attitude and they didn't rip me off.

You won't find a BMW dealership until you reach Lima...which is roughly two days riding from Cusco.

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Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride

Two KILLER days! It is even three hard days.... even more as we are into the rainy season!

Toby

Two killer days or three hard days, really? Cusco "direct" to Lima is 1039 kilometers. if you pass through Nazca is 1068 kilometers.

I left Cusco mid-morning, made it something like 3/4 of the way to Nazca, stopping in Puqulio, reaching Nazca by noon the next day. The next travel day I was up and on the road pre-dawn (not my typical schedule, but I had to get to the BMW dealer near noon, so they could work on my bike before the weekend...) and I was in Lima near noon. Nazca to Lima is 459 kilometers of very easy highway. In total, one long day and two reasonable days. You can do it.

Hope you get your mechanical issue sorted out.

If you go to Nazca and want to do a flight over the land drawings, go direct to the airport and buy you ticket from one of the airlines. You will save a chuck of cash buying your ticket without going through a travel agent.

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Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride

I guess, when you have a windscreen, heated grips, ABS brakes, and a sofa for a seat!

I've done it with none of those in 2 days myself in the wet season, but I've seen others just think of it as 'x' kms and get into trouble!