Arequipa to Puno - avoiding Julliaca
 

Having endured ridng through Julliaca three times in the past, I was delighted to find there is an easy short cut when travelling between Puno and Arequipa. It saves you 60km but more importantly is also saves you a depressing ride through one of the most unattractive towns I've encountered in S Am.

Google Maps show the route, as does Garmin OSM. Leaving Puno, the turn is easy to find, just after the Primax garage on the left at you exist town and drop down the hill and signposted "Manazo". Coming from Arequipa, the turn is about 30km short of Julliaca but much less obvious and not signposted.

There is a shallow and easy river crossing (it was shallow now and we are at the back end of the wet season) and about 18km of dirt road - again, easy and used by all the locals. Very scenic.

All the locals I asked told me I had to go via Julliaca. Don't - this route will make the day's riding much more pleasant.

Puno to Arequipa
 

We arrived Puno ...today from Copacabana, Bol. Border crossing was easy, NOTE: the tour buses arrive at 11 AM and 4 PM so avoid those times.

According to the hotel security chief at this very classy hilltop Libratador Hotel, Puno, where we are staying....

yeah I know, but we saved up for weeks in cheap hostels and by camping
Elisa is in the Spa right now she deserves it..

There is more than one reason to take the short cut to Arequipa - according to security here..., the Peruvian miners are demonstrating by blocking main routes in several locations. I advise anyone to heed all warnings as there has been violence at the road blocks .

We will take the suggested short cut tomorrow and report back to this thread.

Apparently the short cut is open. We will see, we will see.

PS we got a super rate at this 5 star hotel - because of the "Cortes" roadblocks, because there are only a handful of travelers here now.

Copacabana is full of private tour types , back packers etc - but the vistas going in are marvelous.

xfiltrate

Juliaca
 

Went through Juliaca twice about six months ago.

A funny story about that. I had a beer or two with a Swiss rtw rider, on an HP2 as well, in Medellin. I had my big SA map out asking him for his best tips. I'd just arrived in SA. One of the first things he did was grab a pen and circle Juliaca and label it 'shithole'. It was the only negative he had for me on the whole map. It's that bad.

But I enjoyed riding through it. Yes it's a scary and dangerous place but worth seeing for those reasons. Just don't stop and there's no problem.

Puno to Arequipa continued
 

Riding out of lakeside Puno, Peru we bared left after the Primax Garage as described by El Forko and began the "shortcut" to Arequipa. Easy grade and lazy dogs until reaching the village of "Manazo" where the main route through town was under construction, so we turned right believing we would be routed back to the described shortcut, we even asked two people are we on the way to arequipa, getting two positive responses.

Much sooner than expected, on newly paved road, we arrived route 30 sometimes labeled route 34 at about K 265. No problem we missed Juliaca all right and as a bonus we missed the described 18 K of dirt road and the 2 river crossings. At this point we have had quite enough dirt roads and river crossings.

So thanks to El Forko and the "Forko" in the road after the Primax station we had nice ride from Puno to Arequipa , Peru.

Arequipa is bustling - today, Saturday thousands of students celebrated life by parading through the Plaza de Armas with all manner of "pro life" flags, banners, floats - dancers and muscians.... Could you even imagine U S teens/students turning out for a pro life rally? And could you imagine - among the thousands of students crowding the Plaza I saw only one policeman! No worries - quite different from an event like this in the States where Homeland security would have been out in force to justify their militarization.

Arequipa has great restaurants and a hostel, La Casa de Siller that permits motorcycles to be parked inside.

Off for the coast in the morning.

xfiltrate

Hey Exfiltrate,

You found an even better route! And you've found the same hostel I stayed in on the three occasions I was in Arequipa - love that city.

You're in for a treat as you head north. We are ahead of you, now in Huaraz having come up through the mountains from Cusco - an absolute must. Feel free to contact me for any info - more than happy to help. My blog will give you a feel of things too.

And call in on Toby and Sara in Huanuco (Charaspashan on here). Great food, company and a place to sort out any issues with the moto.

Happy Travels!

Paul