Don´t mean to disappoint you...but things have not all worked as expected.... I´ll start at the beginning...
Please don´t shoot me as there are no pix as of yet, but you will get another reminder when I load the pictures... you see, I left the camera USB cable back in Cuzco....
We arrived in Cuzco VERY early on Aug 5th. First things first: DON´T take the 5:00 AM flight.. it throws your whole body out of whack for the altitude... We went right to Norton Rat´s new hotelsito and crashed.... 
It is VERY nice... perhaps a little TOO at $40 a night for a double... I´ll see what I can do for next summer.. group rate and such....
´Bout noon I went out to meet Alejandro at MotoToursPeru. I was amazed at the number and quality of the motos he has... about 20 in total.. so we should have no problem, each choosing which fits her/him best. Alex was good to work with, and I asked him for a Honda XR650L for the little survey trip Sara and I were to begin the next day...
Things took longer than expected to pack, suit up and load up, so we were not gone from Cuzco ´til 10:20 am. We headed down the pavement towards Cuzco for about 20 min to San Jeronimo, then turned south on a little rocky road towards Paruro (no, it´s not on the map).. WOW! In only 15 km we were some 2,000 ft higher than Cuzco, with such incredible views! Craig, if we thot Huancayo to Ayacucho was incredible... this triples it!
Although we had pared our luggage back to only one change of clothes, tools and tubes, we were quite loaded, even for the 650.. Think "Support Vehicle" for ATB 2010 ! Sara was half on the seat and half on the rear tool pack (filled with soft clothing) and we needed to stop every 40 min or
Please don´t shoot me as there are no pix as of yet, but you will get another reminder when I load the pictures... you see, I left the camera USB cable back in Cuzco....
We arrived in Cuzco VERY early on Aug 5th. First things first: DON´T take the 5:00 AM flight.. it throws your whole body out of whack for the altitude... We went right to Norton Rat´s new hotelsito and crashed.... 
It is VERY nice... perhaps a little TOO at $40 a night for a double... I´ll see what I can do for next summer.. group rate and such....´Bout noon I went out to meet Alejandro at MotoToursPeru. I was amazed at the number and quality of the motos he has... about 20 in total.. so we should have no problem, each choosing which fits her/him best. Alex was good to work with, and I asked him for a Honda XR650L for the little survey trip Sara and I were to begin the next day...
Things took longer than expected to pack, suit up and load up, so we were not gone from Cuzco ´til 10:20 am. We headed down the pavement towards Cuzco for about 20 min to San Jeronimo, then turned south on a little rocky road towards Paruro (no, it´s not on the map).. WOW! In only 15 km we were some 2,000 ft higher than Cuzco, with such incredible views! Craig, if we thot Huancayo to Ayacucho was incredible... this triples it!
Although we had pared our luggage back to only one change of clothes, tools and tubes, we were quite loaded, even for the 650.. Think "Support Vehicle" for ATB 2010 ! Sara was half on the seat and half on the rear tool pack (filled with soft clothing) and we needed to stop every 40 min or
so to rest and walk. Needless to say we did not make the Kms we had hoped the first day, but we did find some cool roads, in great condition, over looking multiple valleys thousands of feet below, and almost all void of traffic!
We found ourselves (without intending to..) riding the route that the "Caminos del Inca" 10-day Rally race covers.. roads are good, but one lane and NO GUARD RAILS ! The first night found us in Acomayo. This little Andean town is very basic, yet spotless, and the people are so honest. We found a little Hostal MonteCarlo that was perfect for $10 for the night. The Hot water was out, but they sent buckets of heated water to our room. The plan of the first day´s ride of ATB 2010 is to get to Yauri, but if things don´t work out, this is a great little fall-back overnight place!
Early the next day I made a few adjustments of seat and pegs for Sara´s comfort, and raised the shift level for me. We found pavement leaving
We found ourselves (without intending to..) riding the route that the "Caminos del Inca" 10-day Rally race covers.. roads are good, but one lane and NO GUARD RAILS ! The first night found us in Acomayo. This little Andean town is very basic, yet spotless, and the people are so honest. We found a little Hostal MonteCarlo that was perfect for $10 for the night. The Hot water was out, but they sent buckets of heated water to our room. The plan of the first day´s ride of ATB 2010 is to get to Yauri, but if things don´t work out, this is a great little fall-back overnight place!
Early the next day I made a few adjustments of seat and pegs for Sara´s comfort, and raised the shift level for me. We found pavement leaving
Acomayo for a sweet little ride past la Laguna Azul and out to the highway again and down to Sicuani. A little lunch there, then we headed south and east towards Langui and the lake there. After 10 km of pavement, it was dirt again, but it was less than an hour to the lake. We spent 2 hours laying on the turf bank beside the lake. We renewed our vows (this is our 25th aniv.) by singing them to each other, then split a Sublime to seal the deal...
After that we wandered into town, looked around for a hostel... but there were none.. they said that the Catholic church there sometines put up visitors, but the preist was away. They did serve us coffee and tea and wish us well tho..
So, we "hit the road" (literally, as Sara puts it). It is not heaven for me either sitting as far forward as possible and not being able to stretch, or slide back and forth on the seat (this is why we don´t ride 2-up!), so I would cranp up and have to stop and get off and walk off the cramp.. When you are riding alone, you can easily stand, stretch, slide, and do
circus acts on the seat to keep limber without having to stop (and it makes it more fun too!).
45 more min on dirt, up and over the ridge to El Descanso. From there to Yauri, it was all pavement.... But as it was past 4 pm, the sun was weak and the winds had kicked up... On the upper Puna, when the sun is not overhead... there is little warmth. Thankfully, we made Yauri by 5:15 pm, still by daylight...
Yauri is not much to look at, but there are warm beds and NICE HOT WATER! I do believe, that with an early start, rests along the way, and no un-expected hold-ups, we can, on ATB 2010, make Yauri the first day. But it is good to know that there are places we can "fall back to" should things not go as hoped (like with us...)...
After that we wandered into town, looked around for a hostel... but there were none.. they said that the Catholic church there sometines put up visitors, but the preist was away. They did serve us coffee and tea and wish us well tho..
So, we "hit the road" (literally, as Sara puts it). It is not heaven for me either sitting as far forward as possible and not being able to stretch, or slide back and forth on the seat (this is why we don´t ride 2-up!), so I would cranp up and have to stop and get off and walk off the cramp.. When you are riding alone, you can easily stand, stretch, slide, and do
circus acts on the seat to keep limber without having to stop (and it makes it more fun too!).45 more min on dirt, up and over the ridge to El Descanso. From there to Yauri, it was all pavement.... But as it was past 4 pm, the sun was weak and the winds had kicked up... On the upper Puna, when the sun is not overhead... there is little warmth. Thankfully, we made Yauri by 5:15 pm, still by daylight...
Yauri is not much to look at, but there are warm beds and NICE HOT WATER! I do believe, that with an early start, rests along the way, and no un-expected hold-ups, we can, on ATB 2010, make Yauri the first day. But it is good to know that there are places we can "fall back to" should things not go as hoped (like with us...)...
Maps to come......
