Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata is a stretch of the Qhapaq Ñan, the great Inca road network, that survives on the high plateau beside Lake Titicaca. The Inca built roads like these across the Andes, stone-paved, with drainage, retaining walls and way stations, to link their empire from Colombia to Chile. On the Peruvian shore near Pomata the road passes through country that was Aymara long before the Incas arrived, and the same communities farm potatoes, quinoa and barley today. The Qhapaq Ñan has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, with sections in six countries.
Pomata is also known for its church of Santiago Apóstol, an eighteenth-century Baroque church of red sandstone sitting on a hill above the lake, carved with Andean motifs that mix Spanish and indigenous design. Juli, about sixteen kilometres away, has a string of old churches and was once called the little Rome of the Andes, while Yunguyo is the bigger town toward the Bolivian border at Copacabana. You will find fuel in both Juli and Yunguyo, but not much in between.
The altitude is the main fact of the ride: the lake sits at about 3,800 metres, so the air is thin, the sun fierce and the nights very cold. Give yourself a day or two to acclimatise, drink plenty of water, and expect your engine to feel a little breathless, too. The road beside the lake is paved, with long, easy bends and views of the water, reed boats and green fields, and the plateau is dotted with adobe houses and grazing alpacas. Wind and hail can arrive without warning in the afternoon.
The dry season, from May to September, brings clear skies, brilliant light and frosty mornings. The rainy season, from December to March, turns the tracks to mud and fills the afternoons with thunder. On the lake you may see the floating reed islands of the Uros, made of totora, though those are closer to Puno. Try trout from the lake, quinoa soup, and a cup of muña tea, which settles the stomach at altitude.