Intro
Day 323 was never meant to be a suffer-fest; after the vertical tax of the previous days, a 16-kilometer spin from Maca to Yanque felt like a victory lap. I rolled out under a clear 13.5°C sky, the road mostly paved but transitioning into jarring cobblestones as I entered the village. It was a morning of recovery, trading high-altitude gasping for a slow look at the endless farming terraces lining the canyon walls.
Terraces and Tuberous Rewards
- I spent the first hour of the morning hunched over my phone, migrating my updates to a new WhatsApp channel and squinting at the elevation profiles of the monster climbs waiting for me in the coming days. Breakfast was a utilitarian affair of soda biscuits and tapenade before I finally cranked the pedals at 9:00 AM. The ride itself was short—only 195 minutes from start to finish—passing through a landscape dominated by ancient agricultural terraces that look like giant green staircases carved into the earth. I stopped at a few viewpoints, but mostly I just enjoyed the lack of a 10% grade.
- By 11:10 AM, I’d reached Yanque and dropped my bags at Rolys Hospedaje. I went looking for fuel and found it in a tiny local spot for 8 soles. The Tuna Saltado was good, but the star was the mashed potatoes. They weren’t the smooth, processed kind you get in tourist hotels; they were full of thick, rustic potato pieces that felt heavy and honest on the tongue. That lumpy, earthy texture became my first real anchor of the day—a reminder that I was back in farming country where food isn’t over-refined.
- After a failed attempt to connect with a friend in Germany, I decided to lean into the ‘recovery’ theme. I headed toward the Puye thermal baths. I timed it perfectly, sliding into the 35°C pool when there were only four other people. I sat there until the water started to feel like a second skin, watching the steam rise against the canyon walls. By the time I left, the crowd had quintupled to twenty people, and the quiet was gone.
The Race Against the Battery
- Refueled by a cheese empanada and banana milk from a canyon-side kiosk, I pushed toward the Uyo Uyo archaeological site. The path turned into a wall of steep stone, forcing me to lock the bike against a post after only 300 meters from the main road. I continued on foot, climbing the natural stone stairs toward a cluster of roofless ruins. One house had a reconstructed grass roof, and inside, I found the bundles of dried yellow ichu grass used for the thatch. It was silent up there, save for the wind whistling through the empty stone doorways of the forty-odd houses.
- As I reached the village summit, I saw a sign for the Catarata de Cayracucho waterfall. I checked my phone: 17% battery and 45 minutes of daylight left. It was a sprint. I scrambled along the path, the air suddenly thick with the acrid, heavy smell of charred bushes. A recent fire had swept through here, leaving the viewpoint’s roof a blackened skeleton and melting the plastic on the info signs. That smell of cold ash and burnt scrub hung in my nose as I reached the falls, snapped a single photo, and turned to beat the darkness back to the bike.
Stairs, Steel, and Cold Sugar
- The return to Yanque wasn’t as simple as a downhill cruise. I opted for the pedestrian suspension bridge to cross the canyon, which meant descending a long, winding series of stairs with the bike. On the other side, the real work began. I had to haul the frame up a massive staircase. Even without the full weight of my touring panniers, the physical reality of the altitude hit me with every step. The metallic clatter of the bike frame against the stone stairs echoed in the narrow passage, a rhythmic, jarring sound that reminded me I was still working, even on a ‘rest’ day.
- I ended the night back at the same plaza restaurant for chicken soup and angel hair pasta. Seeking a final treat, I found a place advertising ‘hot’ churros with manjar. The vendor promised they were fresh, but when he handed it over, the dough was stone cold. I bit into it anyway, the cold, sugary grease coating my teeth—a weirdly disappointing but memorable texture to end the day. I spent the final hours of the evening back in my room, debugging the logic on my vlogging chatbot before the 22.5°C afternoon heat finally gave way to the Andean night chill.
Overnight
I stayed at Rolys Hospedaje in Yanque. It was a simple, functional basecamp that was clean and close enough to the plaza to make the evening food search easy, though the walls did little to block out the village sounds.
Reflection
A 16-kilometer ride can be more exhausting than a 60-kilometer one if it involves hauling a bicycle up three flights of ancient stone stairs.
Route summary – Maca to Yanque
- Date: 2026-09-04
- Distance: 10.3 km
- Elevation gain: 310 m
- Elevation loss: 300 m
- Duration: 4 h 20 min
- Time in Motion: 1 h 46 min
- Average Speed: 5.8 km/h
Route summary – Thermal Baths and Uyo Uyo
- Date: 2026-09-04
- Distance: 16.38 km
- Elevation gain: 291 m
- Elevation loss: 146 m
- Duration: 3 h 15 min
- Time in Motion: 1 h 57 min
- Average Speed: 8.4 km/h