It is 8,205 km from Ushuaia to Machu Picchu.  Neither this number, nor our five month journey, will we ever forget.  South America was the dream and we´ve done it!  But we can´t celebrate too much – we still have Europe, Asia and Australia to go.  Afterall, it is a long way home…

Our climb out of La Paz involved much huffing and puffing – clearly we had enjoyed our time off the bikes a little too much!  Before long though, we were coasting alongside the stunning Lake Titicaca.  Initially, this was as far as we had expected to get in South America. It sure feels good to be here 6 weeks ahead of schedule!

Easter in Puno was a little odd.  They celebrate with cake, not chocolate in this part of the world?  Amazingly, Jess managed to hunt down the only chocolate bunny in town.  The lesson – don’t ever get between a woman and her chocolate, especially on Easter.

Runny noses and upset tummies plagued our last few days of riding.  Why now?  Was it South America´s last ditch effort to break us??  We didn’t give in though, and with toilet rolls in hand, we kept on pedalling.

Peru´s valleys were stunning and a great end to our journey.  The riding was easy, and if it wasn´t for the Belgian couple clapping us in, we would have hardly noticed our last 4,300m pass!  Truth is we were too busy dodging out-of-control buses to care.  Peru´s drivers are by far the worst we´d come across.

Riding into Ollantaytambo was really quite sad – we´d run out of road.  From here, we trained and hiked our way to Machu Picchu. Sure, the famous Inca ruins are a city of gold for Peru´s economy, but pleasingly, they were alot more impressive and not as overrun by tourists, as we had expected. It was a fitting end, to our own “Inca Trail”.

Now, just like the other backpackers, we boarded a bus for Lima.  It was a long nauseating descent, but it gave us time to reflect on our journey.  South America hasn’t been about the “highlights” for us – it’s the bits in between, that has made our journey special.  I guess that´s what makes cycling different.  South America – we´ve done it!

Thanks for the support folks, you´ve been a big part of it too!

Jules & Jess

Stunning Lake Titicaca

Jess enjoying the views...

...and not the only one!

Told you i would find a bunny

Damn you, Lomo Saltado!

Peru´s amazing valleys...

...a great end to our journey!

We´ve done it!

The famous Machu Picchu

We´re glad to be here...

...She´s earned it...

...hmm, ok and him too!