Juliaca – Mañazo – Abra Mañazo – Tincopalca – Abra Toroya – Imata – Chalhuanca – Abra Patapampa – Chivay
A trip through the altiplano of southern Peru which mostly isn’t particularly exciting, but at least avoids main road alternatives. There are three 4,000m passes to cross before the route culminates in a dramatic descent into the world famous Colca Canyon. The roads are mostly very quiet, but much of the surface on the old Puno-Arequipa road is in bad condition.
Between Imata and Chalhuanca on the route described below there is a tricky river crossing of the Rio Chili which might not be possible after rain. We were told that there is a small bridge used by motorbikes to cross the river, however we never found where this was. Ask locals in one of these two villages to see if they can describe which track to take to avoid having to ford the river.
Total dist. | Stage dist. | Description |
0km | Juliaca (3,840m). Scruffy city with all facilities (except if you wish to take the road round the east and north shores of Lake Titicaca to Bolivia in which case you have to go to Puno for your passport stamp). | |
27.7km | Leave Juliaca on the main Puno road. We turned off 2.8kms from Plaza Bolognesi at (GPS01) and took tiny tracks to Atuncolla. (It is easy to get a bit lost though and probably quicker to take the paved road all the way to Atuncolla.) Our route headed SW on tracks, went through (GPS02) 7.4kms from the paving, then crossed a bridge at (GPS03) 10.5kms further on. It is 7kms from the bridge to Atuncolla. | |
27.7km | Atuncolla (3,801m). Village with shops. Paving starts. | |
31.0km | Turn R on paving, coming to the turn-off (R) for Mañazo in 1.9kms. (For Sillustani and its interesting ruins, carry on straight for 3kms on the paving.) Turn onto ripio, then stick to the main road, going through Llungo, then join the old Puno-Arequipa road at (GPS04) after 17.9kms. Turn R and soon come to Vilque (village with shops). Continue through the village and arrive in Mañazo 11.2kms after joining the Puno-Arequipa road. | |
58.7km | Mañazo (3,930m). Small town with shops, restaurants, accommodation. | |
31.7km | Go through town. Climb very gently up valley on not very good surface. Cross a bridge after 11.2kms, then continue 20.5kms to the pass. Occasional houses, water can be found. | |
90.4km | Abra Mañazo (4,515m – GPS05). Pass/Jn. L goes to Ichuño, go R to continue on main Puno-Arequipa road. | |
48.2km | Descend past pretty lakes. Some small climbs and descents to the junction to Santa Lucia 25.4kms from the pass. R for Sta Lucia, L to stay on the road to Arequipa. Gentle climb to a high point (4,450m) 12kms from junction, before 10.8kms of descent to Tincopalca. | |
138.6km | Tincopalca (4,160m). Village with basic shops and the first water we’d seen for a few hours. | |
24.6km | Climb to Abra Toroya. A few places to get water – which is a good idea as there is nowhere for quite a while after the pass. | |
163.2km | Abra Toroya (4,750m – GPS06). | |
18.8km | Descend to junction after 4.3kms. Stay straight on the main road. Flat for 14.5kms to another jn. | |
182.0km | Junction (4,610m – GPS07). L for nice looking descent towards Arequipa, we went R to Imata. | |
30.2km | 19.2kms from junction come to a stream – the first water since before Abra Toroya. Nice rock formations (Bosque de Piedra Imata) on 11kms to Imata. | |
212.2km | Imata, village on paved Juliaca-Arequipa highway with restaurants, shops. | |
40.6km | Go R, cross the bridge then turn L onto a track signed ‘Chalhuanca’ after 0.4kms on the paving. Stick to the main track, pass the dam and stay L at junction after another 26.7kms. 3.7kms further on arrive at the Rio Chili ford. When we were there this was a tricky river crossing – about 50m wide in total and thigh deep in sections. (In Imata a guy told us there is a small track off the main road somewhere near the dam and all the motos follow this as there is a bridge, but we didn’t manage to find this track as there was no-one around to ask. This would be a much better route to take so if someone knows where it is, please let us know.) 2.0kms after the river get to a junction. L (we were told) goes to a dam, R (main track) goes to Chalhuanca in 7.8kms. Straight on looked disused, but may be the fastest way to (GPS09) and Pampas de Toccra. | |
252.8km | Chalhuanca (4,350m). Village with shops, restaurant and we spent the night in the consejo. | |
27.0km | Leaving town there is a junction with 4 road options. R goes to Sibayo, next is the main road to Arequipa, the 2 tracks on the L are dead ends (or so we were told). Take the Arequipa road and join the main Arequipa-Sibayo road after 8.6kms (GPS08). Go L and after 4.3kms go R (GPS09) towards Toccra on a small track near a derelict building. Stay straight on main track at fork after about 2kms, then 12.1kms to the next paved road. | |
279.8km | Junction where ripio joins the paved road to Chivay (4,410m – GPS10). Next to a farmstead with 2 cairns marking the entrance. | |
47.0km | Climb gently (with some descent) for 17.4kms to Abra Patapampa (4,889m – GPS11), then a beautiful descent at speed for 29.6kms to Chivay. All paved. | |
326.8km | Chivay (3,660m). Tourist town, all facilities, including ATM. You have to pay a 35 Soles Colca Canyon entrance fee at the start of town. |
Details | |
Time taken – 6 days and amount climbed – 3,110m | 5 hours: Juliaca – Mañazo (350m climb). 4 hours: Mañazo – Abra Mañazo (610m climb). 5 hours: Abra Mañazo – Tincopalca (380m climb). 7 hours: Tincopalca – Imata (790m climb). 4 hours: Imata – Chalhuanca (230m climb). 5 hours: Chalhuanca – Chivay (750m climb). |
Traffic | Virtually nothing on the back roads to Sillustani. Little from there to Mañazo. A couple per hour from there to Imata. Virtually nothing from Imata to Chalhuanca and on the small track to Toccra. Paved road to Chivay is also quite quiet. |
When we cycled | Mid October 2010. |
Difficulty | 3/4 |
How much we had to push on this route | 0.5kms (bad surface) |
GPS Point | Description | Lat/Long/Altitude |
GPS01 | Left main road | 15.5188 S, 70.1222 W, 3,850m. |
GPS02 | Passed through | 15.5647 S, 70.1615 W, 3,850m. |
GPS03 | Bridge | 15.6466 S, 70.1644 W, 3,840m. |
GPS04 | Join old Puno-Arequipa road | 15.7649 S, 70.2533 W, 3,860m. |
GPS05 | Abra Mañazo | 15.8939 S, 70.4875 W, 4,515m. |
GPS06 | Abra Toroya | 15.9888 S, 70.8287 W, 4,750m. |
GPS07 | Junction – R to Imata | 16.0588 S, 70.9682 W, 4,610m. |
GPS08 | Junction – go L on Arequipa-Sibayo road | 15.7481 S, 71.3902 W, 4,330m. |
GPS09 | Junction – R to Pampas de Toccra | 15.7845 S, 71.3828 W, 4,320m. |
GPS10 | Junction – join paving | 15.8203 S, 71.4928 W, 4,410m. |
GPS11 | Abra Patapampa | 15.7526 S, 71.5821 W, 4,889m. |
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