After spending a rough night in Abancay, Peru I had a nice slow ride into Cusco, Peru which is where I would base myself for a few days for my trips to Machu Pichu and the Sacred Valley.
It would take me over 4 hours to get to Cusco, Peru taking in around 128 miles (192 kilometers) mostly on the paved roads and hugging the Andes.
The ride was mostly through mountain ranges and was a lot of fun with great twisties, even though I had some weather on the journey.
The ride took me from Abancay, Peru through Curahuasi, Limatambo, Ancahuasi District, Izcuchaca, Pucyura, Poroy, and through to my final destination in Cusco, Peru.
As you enter Cusco, you sweep wide and down with great views of the city of Cusco. Cusco itself has many paved cobblestone roads and with a loaded bike can be extremely slippery. I found this out in the rain as I arrived and had to do some crazy steep climbs on slippery cobblestone roads with a gutter through the middle!
Ñawin Cusco · Qente · San Blas – Accomm. Airbnb Cusco
The owners of this Airbnb Apartment, Nawin, and her father Oscar were great at everything. Oscar is a great person and really interesting character with an amazing past. He helped me with everything, and I could ask for more from both of them. Just one star off perfect because of their poor Wi-Fi.
Plaza De Armas, Cusco, Peru
A busy little town square. Lots of tourist shops around and a lot of people wanting you to buy and crafted goods.
As I was wearing my motorcycle shoes, I had about five people ask for shoe shines as well. One of them just started polishing my shoes even though I said no three times; I told them I would give them $3 USD and then they said no $15! I refused, so they left.
If you are going to buy a souvenir, look for an indigenous person carrying a sack and talk to them about the process, they go through making them. The money you give them supports their whole family. The reason I say this is because the government treats these people very badly and confiscates their hard made goods if they try to sell in streets by laying out their goods. I witnessed this first hand, disgusting!
One thing that annoys me about historic centers is the need for them to have places like McDonald’s, KFC, etc.
Keep your historic centers local, food, goods, travel shops, no need for chain stores, just ruins the experience!
Peru Moto Tours, Cusco, Peru
I hired a personal tour guide, Christopher, to take me to Sacred Valley. I had my bike, so it was a little bit of a custom tour. All I can say is that my guide Christopher was incredible. I visited places I had not even heard about. We did about 50% off the road and on the road, the off-road wasn’t too difficult and was fun. All I can say is if you visit Cusco, go straight to this business and organize a tour; they also have a bunch of adventure bikes in store for hire as part of a range of tours on offer. The staff are excellent too and speak good English. Thank you, Christopher, for a wonderful experience!
Cusco, Peru
Cusco, a city in the Peruvian Andes, was once the capital of the Inca Empire and is now known for its archaeological remains and Spanish colonial architecture. Plaza de Armas is the central square in the old city, with arcades, carved wooden balconies, and Incan wall ruins. The baroque Santo Domingo Convent was built on top of the Incan Temple of the Sun (Qoricancha) and has archaeological remains of Inca stonework. From Wikipedia