Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje and Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre o
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
363 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 40
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Juli it runs 363 km to Juli; allow about 6 h 40 of riding. It goes by way of Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua, Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata, Segment Desaguadero Titijoni and Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre o. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Peru into Bolivia - carry ID and check the toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje
Juli sits on the south-western shore of Lake Titicaca at close to 3,900 metres, and the air is so thin and clear that the far side of the lake, in Bolivia, seems close enough to touch. The town is nicknamed the Rome of the Americas for its cluster of colonial churches, built by Dominican and Jesuit missionaries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with carved stone façades and dim interiors full of paintings. Just outside town, the segment of Inca road between Juli and Cruz Pata Ccaje is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Andean road system inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014. This route, the Urcosuyu branch, ran along the lake towards what is now Bolivia.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje is where the day begins. Next is Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua.
2. Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata.
3. Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 85 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata. Next is Segment Desaguadero Titijoni.
4. Segment Desaguadero Titijoni
At around 3,800 metres above sea level the air on the Altiplano is thin enough to make lacing your boots feel like exercise, and Desaguadero is a place where you should take everything at half speed. The town sits on the border between Peru and Bolivia at the southern end of Lake Titicaca, where the Desaguadero river drains the lake toward the south. The segment of old road near Titijoni is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road network listed by UNESCO in 2014, which ran along the shores of Titicaca on its way between Cusco and the southern provinces.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Desaguadero Titijoni, about halfway. Next is Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre o.
5. Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre o
Tiwanaku is the most important archaeological site in Bolivia, and standing in the middle of it at nearly 3,900 metres, with the thin air making you light-headed, it is easy to feel why. This was the spiritual and political heart of a civilisation that rose around Lake Titicaca between about 500 and 1000 AD, and at its peak it controlled a territory that reached into modern Peru and Chile. UNESCO inscribed it in 2000.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 363 km.
Leg by leg
Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje to Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua
Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje → Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua to Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata
Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua → Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata to Segment Desaguadero Titijoni
Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata → Segment Desaguadero Titijoni is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Desaguadero Titijoni to Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre o
Segment Desaguadero Titijoni → Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre o is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre o to back through Segment Desaguadero Titijoni
Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre o → back through Segment Desaguadero Titijoni is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Desaguadero Titijoni to back through Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata
back through Segment Desaguadero Titijoni → back through Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata to back through Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua
back through Segment Ccaje-Sisipampa-Pomata → back through Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua to Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje
back through Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua → Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.