On the Bolivian altiplano, a few dozen kilometres west of La Paz, the old Inca road runs across a plateau lifted nearly four thousand metres into the sky. This segment of the Qhapaq Ñan is part of the road network that UNESCO recognised in 2014, and it passes near Tiwanaku, the great pre-Inca city whose carved gateways and monoliths stand on the flat plain close to Lake Titicaca. An apacheta is a cairn of stones left by travellers at a pass or a high point, each stone a small offering to the mountain spirits, the apus, and the habit has not died, so you will still find them piled by the roadside, sometimes with coca leaves or a bottle of alcohol beside.
The landscape is huge and treeless, with a pale yellow grass, adobe farms, quinoa fields, herds of llamas and sheep and the white wall of the Cordillera Real on the horizon. Snow peaks like Illimani and Huayna Potosí hang over the plain on clear mornings. The light is hard and bright, and the weather can change rapidly, with hail and thunderstorms in the wet season from December to March.
For riders, the altiplano is wide open and tempting but unforgiving. The main road from La Paz toward Tiwanaku and Desaguadero is paved, with long straight stretches, trucks and speed bumps in villages, while side tracks are dirt and can be soft after rain. Altitude saps your energy, and engines run rich, so a carburetted bike may feel flat. Take time to acclimatise in La Paz or El Alto before riding, drink water, and carry a warm layer, because even in the dry season from May to October the night temperatures drop below freezing.
Tiahuanaco, a town of about three thousand people about eighteen kilometres away, has basic shops, simple restaurants and tiny guesthouses, but fuel supply can be unreliable, so fill up in El Alto or La Paz, where there are many stations and repair shops. Foreign riders may have to show papers at checkpoints, and fuel for foreign-registered vehicles has sometimes been sold at a higher price. Local food includes grilled trout from the lake, potato dishes, and the sweet corn drink called api, served hot in the morning.