At close to four thousand metres, on the Peruvian shore of Lake Titicaca, the air is thin enough that walking briskly feels like work and the light is so sharp it seems to sharpen the edges of everything. This stretch belongs to the Qhapaq Ñan, the great Andean road network that the Inca built and extended across their empire, and here it runs through Aymara farming country between the towns of Yunguyo and Desaguadero, both about twenty kilometres away, with the Bolivian border a short distance east.
There is not much to see of the road at first glance: a line of stones, a raised path through fields of potatoes, quinoa and broad beans, perhaps a low wall. That modesty is the point. The Inca road was a working network of runners, llama caravans and armies, and in places like this it still serves the same villages it always did. Long before the Inca, the region was the heartland of Tiwanaku, whose ceremonial city lies just over the border in Bolivia, and the lake itself remains sacred to the people around it.
Riding at this altitude asks things of both rider and machine. Older carburettor bikes lose noticeable power and may run rich, and you will feel the cold in your hands as soon as the sun drops behind cloud. The paved road along the lake between Puno, Yunguyo and Desaguadero is mostly straight with sudden speed bumps in every village, plus dogs, sheep, minibuses and three-wheel mototaxis. Desaguadero is a busy, chaotic border town; crossing to Bolivia there takes patience and paperwork for the bike. The dry season from about May to September brings blue skies and freezing nights, while summer afternoons often deliver hail and lightning.
Fuel is available in Yunguyo and Desaguadero, but quality can vary, so fill at busy stations. Eat trout from the lake, quinoa soup and hot coca tea, which really does help with the altitude, and keep water and snacks handy. If your head pounds, take it slow; nothing out here rewards hurrying.