A rough video on a windy day of some llamas at the side of the road high up on the Bolivian Altiplano.

Press  HERE  to view

Arriving in Dublin on Saturday morning 18th. Plan to stay till 10 Sept. Thanks to John Boyle for his incredible help in BA.

I really need this timeout as I am physically shattered after the Andes mountains!

The Andes stretch the entire length of South America which roughly would be across Europe, then across the Atlantic, and then across the USA!!

I took the easy 7,000km and 7 month route!

My rest days have long since been office days, and it looks like that for this time out. I got so much work and blogging to catch up on that I am frightened to even think about it.

It will be great to see my family again, have a good fry-up, don´t forget the mushrooms Mam,  a strong cup of Irish tea and perhaps someone might even bake me a Shepherds Pie as this is something I have been salivating for, for many a week as I pick up my tongue from the hard shoulder!

Perhaps timeouts take from the quality/integrity of the run, we are all different and for me this is what works best.

Cormac Byrne can you please send me an email address that works! I tried responding to your query but it bounced back twice after putting a lot of work into your reply I would like to have it delivered!

Pls email me at theworldjog@gmail.com

I plan to leave my route on Tuesday after running and make my way to BA = Buenos Aires for the 18/20 hour bus ride. I thank John Boyle and the Irish community who I understand are planning to take me out for a meal.. John asked me do I like to eat!! Yes he did

You know the answer to that!

Talk soon, rough distance so far is 21,260km …. Need to confirm from log book later.

See you Dublin soon,

Thanks for tuning in… Please stay tuned for the blog/photo updates during timeout,

Tony

Hi All.

Total is 20,942km for 504 road days.

My Spot tracker didnt update today, yet again! Nothing much missed only 28km due to late start and tiredness.

I am planning a timeout for about 3 weeks which I had in mind for after the Andes. I will then have a chance to fully catch up on the blog and photos

Am almost over them now.

My dates have not been worked out yet but plan on taking this timeout within 7-10 days time.

Will inform you all when I book the  flight from BA.

When I return to the same location I will be running with Nirvana after almost a year!

Thanks to all for support.

Also thanks to Anne Donaldson, Daniel Kelleher for sponsoring meals and hotel nights in expensive Argentina

Update…. 1 Aug. 500 road days on Tuesday   Total is 20,789km I know a lot of people are looking at the 1,000  marathons in 1,000 days!

Not bad to be only 7 or so behind at the halfwasy mark, what with 6,000 plus km in the Andes for over 6 months! I admid to having one eye on it but have to be careful about injury or fatigue etc, so lets see!

My Spot tracker did not update last two days.. I am sick of its poor performance. I am in Humahuaca and expect to arrive in San Salvador de Jujuy on Friday. I am still in the mountains but at a lower altitude, around 3,400 metres. I expect to have them totally behind me in about a week.. I am no longer a mountain lover these days! 

Sorry for the lack of updates but I have so much going on when I do get online it is overwhelming me. I am late starting today due to more urgent work required… Anyway thanks for the support and I will keep plugging away for the next 500 road days:¡Hi all.. I arived in Argentina this morning, Friday and took a rest day/preparation day for my run to the end of South America and the worlds most southern city of Ushuaia, another 4,800km away.
Many years ago.. 1983 to be exact I spent 5 months cycling and hitch-hiking in this country.
The people were so wonderful having many asados = The finest steaks in the world bar-b-q´s in my honour I had such a wonderful time and ever since have called it my fav country in the world.. Supporting them in world cups etc! I still remember a song that was in the charts here at that time called ” Tranquillo ”
Many readers know I lived in Colorado for 8 years and that in many ways is my second home.. Well Argentina is my third home of sorts!
I have to admit as they say one should not return to a place one has had such a great time in, just in case it dissapoints the second time.. On this run countries are under greater scrutiny, more than ever.. So lets see… I am so happy to be back here after a long 29 year wait!
Its great to be back in the first world with a bit more luxury.. Like hot showers, to be able to buy a map from of all places the Argentine Autmobile Club! air condition, not that I have been a fan of it, expresso coffee makers, doors that close and lock, French bread with olive oil and the last thing I expected in my hotel was a bidet!
Not to mention proper steaks, chocolate ( in Bolivia they gave me chocolate biscuits!!)

I was decimated by the lack of internet service in Bolivia but I have my notes and a lot of writing up to do for there.

I dont have my logbook here but roughly 20,680km for 496 road days. Yesterday was my 27th day in a row without a rest day and equals that record.
53km yesterday, Wed 38km, Tues, 66 and a very late finish Mon was about 40

In Potosi after having no internet in 5 days. May be same on way to Tupiza. Expect to cross to Argentina in about 9/10 days..Can hardly wait

Am getting stronger, well relitively! as I am coming towards end of Andes. 44km today,Thurs and mostly uphill to here with only a short break 48km Wed. Total 20,291km.

Thanks to Fionnuala O Mara and Ed Bateman for their wonderful support!

For my Argentine route and details as far as Tierra del Fuego island press HERE

My finishing point in the Americas is Ushuaia, the most southern town in the world. Ushuaia is on an island, Tierra del Fuego just like Newfoundland and it will be necessary to get a ferry there. Click HERE for my Tierra del Fuego route and details. I plan to be there by mid November and will need to average a marathon a day with very few rest days! After that its New Zealand, south island first.

I have changed to this new route from the one on the ROUTE page.

Please note I am not running into Buenos Aires as its an extra 500km. But I will be making a side trip to pick up Nirvana from John Boyle who has been kindly minding her. I also look forward to meeting the great Irish community there. I will need Nirvana for the tough serviceless stretches of Patagonia.

 Press HERE to view my video shot as I approached my 20,000th km of the world run

Km 251 on the Bolivian Pan American highway, high up on the altiplano was my 20,000th kilometre!

Hi all.. Sorry for lack of internet service, Bolivia is very bad for it. I will be running in remote locations towards Villazon and the Argentina border and expect some more poor service areas.

The big news is that 20,000km was reached on Thursday and am now at 20,094 for 484 road days. I expect to be in Argentina in less than 2 weeks. I am zooming through Bolivia now. Some days I want to run more but I am limited without a support vehicle and have stopped early on a few occasions. I am in great form! Got a huge amount to report but as always am time poor!

I also am not forgetting about the last few days in Peru and the first week in Bolivia but am submitting this report first.

More details and hopefully if the connection is good tonight I will upload the video I shot as I approached the 20,000 km marker along with the interview I gave myself!!  :)

Thanks everyone for your support and heres to the next 20 and 30 thousand!!

HERES TO THE NEXT 20 OR 30 THOUSAND!

 

A DIFFERENT KIND OF BACKPACK!

All week I was looking forward to running the 20,000th kilometre of the run. It was a bit surreal as I approached km marker 251, I just couldn´t believe that this was happening, after all the years dreaming and planning. And then as I finally approached it I even forgot to jump for joy and celebrate, instead I just took off my pack and shot a video!

I had promised myself a big steak and immediately laughed as the food has been terrible since leaving Colombia last February. Yes the food in Ecuador, Peru and here in Bolivia is appalling peasant food which is cold about 90 percent of the time. Amazingly the locals think its hot and think I am mad! Many times there is just a scrap of meat, ice cubed sized or chicken claws in the soup or rings of the claw mushed into rice.

 Imagine French fries left on a plate for an hour, well that’s what they call hot here and a kettle of once hot water left on a chair all day in a restaurant is called hot too!

In Peru I went the whole country without seeing an electric kettle being boiled, I was later told that is due to the expense, an electric kettle is used only as a last resort, most of the time I had to wait about 15 minutes for my coffee, I missed the great North American service of being greeted at the door with a coffee! Here everything is boiled on gas stoves in huge saucepans of water when you just want a cup!

I ran another 10km and finished earlier than expected in the village of Machacamarca, only a lazy 34km today out of the 20,010km run so far!

This may sound corny, and I am not very religious but I have often felt that something is guiding me through this run, like I am meant to do this run. I have not had a single setback and things always seem to work out, no matter how grim they look, I don’t worry about things anymore, they work out.

In this village I was told that the re was just one hospedaje and I had a tough job tracking it down to a restaurant called Parador Restaurant. I banged on the locked garage gate and two maids came out. They phoned the owner, a grey-haired lady with the unlatino sounding name of Donna Tallon.

When Donna came over she assured me that her family were 100 percent Bolivian.

Then she showed me the menu and I couldn’t believe it, llama steaks were on it and big steaks there were too! Not surprisingly llama tastes like tender lamb.

DELICIOUS LLAMA STEAK, AND ALL FOR ONLY $4

What luck! As I said, I longed for that steak and I got it, its amazing how these things are working out for me, sometimes I feel I am the luckiest person in the world.

After dinner I went down the lane to Donna’s shop and she showed me my room. I was sure it was a room in her house and a boys room as there were WWF posters on the wall and clothes everywhere, did I care – no not at all – another night safe off the road as lately accommodations are getting harder and harder to get.

MY ROOM ON THE 20,000KM NIGHT! MY BED WAS ON THE LEFT AND THATS NOT MY GEAR!

Next day out on the road I am running happily towards Poopo when I get stopped by a cyclist whose father hails from England but he lives in Barcelona as his mother is Spanish. His name is Mateo and we stop for lunch in town. He is an English language teacher in Barcelona and every year goes off on a 2 month cycle, this year it is Bolivia.

MATEO

On I run and a couple of hours later I get stopped by Italian cyclist Pablo.

Later that day after a 49km canter I stop for the night in a village called Pazna. Pablo is in the room next to me. I tease him by saying 4 nil! He thinks I am referring to the drubbing the Italians gave Ireland in the Euro 2012 soccer championships, in fact I am referring to the hammering Italy got by the same score in the final to Spain! We laugh and he cooks pasta, tuna, egg bread and coffee for dinner.

PABLO COOKS DINNER

Next morning he makes me coffee and bread and jam. That tasted so good, it´s a long time since I had bread and jam. Foods I miss are an Irish fry up with rashers,sausages, drippy eggs, black and white pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans and heavily buttered toast with a nice strong cup of Irish tea!

I run about 14km and stop for a snack in a village with the embarrassing name of Huancane.

I go down a laneway

And get a nice greeting from the Huancers.

I think these bowler hats age the women… I often wonder if they wear them in bed!

Inside the shop a man shakes my hand and asks me why my  hand is cold. I tell him my left isn’t as I was running with the sun at that side but the whole right side of my body is cold in that early morning cold spell.

YOU GOT A COLD HANDSHAKE! HE SAYS... WELL IT´S BECAUSE I AM RUNNING WITH THE SUN TO MY LEFT SIDE!

In the shop I spot my first non-alcohol beer in over a year in Latin America. I guess Latinos are too macho for this. I don´t drink regular alcohol but enjoy the taste of non-alcohol beers. I can´t resist it, so I polish it off quickly.

Many people here are amazed that I am not interested in the world famous salt mine here. It seems tourists come from all over to view the largest salt mine in the world. I tell them I have no interest, that I am not a tourist and besides I have never heard of Bolivian salt before.

I have heard of 2 million year old sea salt with a best before date. So what will happen if you take a pinch of it a day after it´s expiration and after 2 million years!

The salt fields ran along the highway and attracted many llamas. All hunters know how game is attracted to illegal salt blocks.

SALT FIELDS ATTRACTING LLAMAS

It took a  bit of an effort to get going again but eventually I did, only to be stopped by three men who gave me a 2 litre bottle of cola. I fill up my almost empty water bottle and give them a world jog business card. I haven´t been giving many out in the last few months,  it´s best to keep a low profile, well as best as I can!

Approaching the small town of Challapata I suddenly realised that something was amiss.

There was a protest on the road, in fact it was a traffic blockade. Some of the protesters told me it was a protest for better roads. At first I applauded them and then was horrified to see that some of the protesters had catapults and were slinging rocks at vehicles that had broken the blockade.

PROTESTERS WITH CATAPULTS

I was horrified and told them so after I took a risk of taking a photo. I was a bit frightened I would be attacked and robbed in the mayhem and ran on. It seemed that many buses just turned around and dumped their passengers, invalids and all with heavy loads on the road. The innocent suffering it seemed to me and not the smartest of protests.

The protesters had blocked the road with rocks as traffic took dirt roads around the blockade.

35km today.

AND NOT A COP IN SIGHT!

I got so many people to thank. It is not possible for me to draw up a list of all the wonderful supportive people that have helped in their own way by either giving me just water or a roof over my head for the night. You know who you are, thanks so much for helping and continuing to share this dream with me.

 

BOLIVIA IS COUNTRY NUMBER 14! HALF WAY THROUGH SOUTH AMERICA AND THE END OF THE ANDES IS IN SIGHT AFTER 6 MONTHS! ONLY ANOTHER 1,000 KILOMETRES! THATS ALL.

Many thanks to The North Pole Marathon for their continued support and commitment to the run :)

Please check out The North Pole Marathons website HERE

” By competing in the world’s coolest marathon, the North Pole Marathon, you can become one of a truly select few to race at the top of the world – at the Geographic North Pole. And you will feel on top of the world when you manage to overcome the extreme sub-zero temperatures to finish 26.2 miles in one of the remotest parts of the planet. ”

“I’ve been at the Pole before but this was pleasantly different in that I didn’t have to haul a sled there! The race is a unique combination of two things I enjoy: polar challenges and marathon running. It’s a great test of fitness and stamina. Well done.”
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, UK (Polar Explorer)

SURELY THAT SHOULD READ ´LOCO LOCO PASS ´ 10 BIG DOGS AWAITED MY ARRIVAL AT THE TOP OF THIS MOUNTAIN PASS

WELL THIS IS THE BOLIVIAN ALTIPLANO - THE WHOLE COUNTRY IS JUST ONE BIG MOUNTAIN PASS

Many Thanks to Marie-France Chabert for sponsoring my last couple of days in Peru!

Hi All. Things are very hectic for me at the moment!

On July 3rd I crossed into Bolivia, the 14th country of the run!

Latest: 19,750km for 475 road days.

4/7/2012 From Desaguadero (border ) to Tiwanaku,  = 42km Route from border to Pan American highway = 2km to km 112  and then to km 72.

5/7/2012. From km 72 to toll booth at km 37 in Laja = 35km today, tough run as was yesterday in the Bolivan Altiplano, short of breath sometimes and slow progress. Commute to La Paz tonight to send Heavy Bag south , as far as the Argentina border. Staying in The Adventure Brew Backpackers hostel and expect a late  start from todays  finish location in Laja tomorrow.

For my Bolivia route and details please click HERE

JUST LIKE HOME!

More information HERE 

Then an almost all uphill 38km day and not a hostel in sight. Local people told me there was one in a place called Condor Ccocha, so I commuted there after finishing at km 420. It took about an hour to get there, a village well off my route and on a side road. When I arrived I had dinner in a very busy restaurant. I kept asking the waitress about the hostal and she kept saying she would ask the owner for me. The owner didn´t seem to be in a rush as he was playing cards with his mates.

Peruvians are not exactly well off but I cant get over the amount of people that still use restaurants for their meals. Often whole families go out for dinner, I have seen street cleaner with poor footwear go out to breakfast.

Eventually I approached the owner who took a timeout from the cards to show me my room. It was a brand new hotel, still under construction as it had no electricity. He wanted $8 which was about double what I have been paying lately. Not exactly in a bargaining position – more or less being over a barrel and having to pay whatever he asked for I still managed to bargain him down to $6. It was a lovely room.

 I then had to borrow his flashlight!

I HAD TO BORROW HIS HEADLIGHT BEFORE HE RUSHED BACK TO HIS GAME OF CARDS.

Back on the highway I was making my way over more dusty rough roads towards Ocros. I haven´t seen a shop or anywhere on the road to buy anything for 80km, the longest service less stretch of the run so far.

Then I come to a major roadwork project. The main contractor is a company called Cosapi. The road works go on for about 40km. The road workers stop me a couple of times. Their company deliver them lunch, and there is no shortage of food. Soup, rice, fish, veg and mate, which is a form of herb tea. In fact I stop for two lunches!

LUNCH NUMBER ONE IN A COMPANY BUS

Very few Peruvian workers have cars. Most big companies bus their workers in and out. This operation is huge as there are about twenty buses and its a 24/7 job.

AND LUNCH NUMBER TWO... I TELL YOU THAT RUNNING AROUND THE WORLD IS A GREAT EXCUSE FOR GLUTTONY

At the end of my day one of the buses stops for me when I finish at km 69. They tell me they will bring me back in the morning. So I manage to find a hostal in Acros. I am amazed I found it as many of the crew are based here. They have taken up most rooms in town and I passed by one large building and could see through the open door that there were about ten bunk beds in that room alone.

Even the restaurants were serving the workers paid breakfasts by the company and dinners in the evenings.

The towns restaurants were almost like company canteens much so much that they had all the company policy notices, workers rights, sick benefit and maternity leave information all posted on the restaurant walls.

RUNNING INTO OCROS

Some of the workers told me they don’t get annual leave but get seven days unpaid off after working 35 days.

Another worker that I became friendly with, a man called Luis who worked in Provo, Utah, USA told me that holidays are paid into the hourly rate, just as they do in some US union jobs – where they pay a few dollars an hour extra in lieu of the benefits which is called ” fringe benefits.”

I remember from my time working these jobs in the USA that one soon becomes accustomed to the higher rate and felt cheated that I only got three or four days paid leave in eight years working there!

THE SCHOOL BUS DRIVER GETS THE AFTERNOON OFF AS I LEAD THE CHILDREN HOME!

NICE BELGIAN BIKERS!

I WAS THRILLED TO BITS TO GET THIS ROOM TONIGHT!

WHAT´S THE SONG? JUST LIKE HEAVEN! AND IT WAS THAT NIGHT... FUNNY HOW ONES PRIORITIES CHANGE... LUXURY

 

                         *************************************************************

 

For the next 70km or so out of Ahuayro it´s mostly climbing again. A cop tells me to be careful for it´s dangerous, but only at night he adds. Like most places I tell him.

I get to a town called Uripa. More construction work going on. It´s like the reconstruction of Baghdad for the road literally disappears in the construction and detours.. I lost the road!!

URIPA´S PLAZA!

 

Everywhere there are trenches, holes and moulds of rubble and dirt. Perhaps it´s the crappiest place I have ever set foot in. Besides the heart being ripped out of the town there is the other Latino hobby… The compulsion by so many people to collect and stack blocks and bricks beside their houses. Perhaps collected from old derelict buildings, hoarded to build the extension that may never be built for their houses.

So I called it a halt that day as I spent a fruitless half hour looking for the road.

Earlier, I saw a woman feed her young child cocoa leaves. Cocoa leaves are the basis for cocaine and are sold openly here.

They are chewed and the juices keeps hunger at bay and give an extra edge to ones energy. They can keep it, I got no interest.

 I was shocked by this mother feeding her child with the leaves, as it also errodes teeth over time.

An elderly woman called Zaragoza directed me up a trail to where the road magically appeared. She really humped it up the hill, putting me to shame!

 

I WILL HELP YOU FIND THE ROAD SAID ZARAGOSSA!

 

On the way we passed a dozy dog that looked sick and perhaps rabid to me. When I asked her she nodded and just said ” Infirma “

 

On I ran and ran towards Andahuaylas. It was a lovely day and I finished strongly.

Around lunchtime I was told by a religious woman in a shop that El Senor would look after me…

” El Senor.. Dios…God! “

Then she asked me why I was running and not in a car or on a bicycle, so I told her that El Senor gave me legs and not wheels.. Yes I think thats a great reply from now on!

 

Then a couple of good days a 48 and a 52km day

I finished in a small village called Ccotaquite. I was told there was an hospedaje there but in fact there was none. It was almost dark when I stopped at the very last buildings in the village and asked a man if there was anything. Soon three women came across the road. I explained my situation. They had a chat about what could be done for me. Eventually two young children walked me about 400 metres down a lane to the school house. I spoke to the teacher who lived next door. Her name was Marie-Luz.

THANKS MARIE-LUZ

 

She was very friendly and soon opened up the school house for me to rest up. Valeria, her daughter and a couple of other young children, Luis and Maria came in with a world globe and asked me to point out Ireland and then my route.

 

LUIS GIVES ME A WELCOME BLANKET, MARIA SMILES AND VALERIE ASKS WHERE IS IRELAND

Marie-Luz brough me in a blanket, for I was shivering heavily. Then she brought me in some coffee and bread and asked if I needed another blanket.

It took her about half an hour to get the other blanket and I reckoned she had not got another one and had to go around the village. She also got me a piece of styrofoam to lie on.

It was a coldish night and I reckoned I picked up a cold here as a couple of days later I am coughing heavily and have a runny nose.

In the morning after some more bread and coffee I said goodbye to my newest friends on the run, so many wonderful people.
I ran on towards and then through the largish city of Abancay which was pretty routine

June 6th was a lovely warm day, I ran on some trails that cut right through the steep switchbacks and enjoyed every one of my 45 kilometres finishing in a small village called Ramal de Cachora Saywite. I asked a man coming out of his restaurant where the next hospedaje was.. Here he said. I reckoned it was not really a regular place, just a spare room in his house, but do you think I care, only 10 soles, $4 and it´s cold outside!

Then a magnificent 60km day of which the first 50 were mostly downhill.. Not to mention my 19,000th kilometre :)

I was a bit greedy and wanted to finish a further 12km in a place called Limatambo but didn´t I fell a bit short and finished at a bridge Puenta Sisma. I hitched a ride on a truck to Limatambo and next morning it took me an hour in 3 vehicles to return to the same bridge.

A pretty tired 33km was my punishment for yesterdays big effort. I did cut it about an hour short when I met a man called Edever who suggested that I could stay in a private house and pay about 5 or 10 soles. There was no hospedaje in that village called Chinllahuacho. He brought me over to a shop where I rested while he made some phone calls and I reckoned went to see a few people.

Eventually Edever returned and said his uncle Arturo and his family would put me up for the night.

ARTURO AND FAMILY WELCOMED ME

Arturo gave me a very big welcome while his wife Nasaria dished me out two bowls of delicious hot vegetable soup, followed by corn cob, maize, potato, bread and coffee.

There were four generations of the family in that room, just like in many Latino homes, Arturos son and his wife and two young children plus his mother a tough 66 year old woman called Maria. I thought she looked about 80, the hard life here is  a harsh ager.

 

 

On the floor ten guinea pigs ran around, also a cat, a dog and some chickens.

Guinea pigs, called cuy  are an expensive delicacy here. Once I heard that they are not from the pig family but in fact from the rodent family I make a big effort to avoid them… I must be getting old as there was a time when I would have searched out cuy!

The house was pretty typical, a mud brick simple structure with a wicked slope on the compacted dirt floor which had plates sliding down the table. There was no refrigerator and all cooking was done over the wood burning fireplace.

THE FAMILY COOKED A DELICIOUS MEAL OVER A WOOD BURNING FIRE PLACE

There were a few built in shelves which were carved out of the walls mud bricks and covered by a blue plastic material.

The family showed me to my room which was an adjoining storage building. They had put a mattress and blankets in a corner. It was a few minutes to seven when I settled down to sleep that night.

 

 

Next morning no sooner had I started running when a lady stopped me to give me a cup of mate and bread. I was on my way to Cusco and nobody asks me where I am going now, every gringo goes to Cusco, so that would be a stupid question.

That day was a long tough day as I didn’t get the early start I wanted, I am a sucker for stopping to talk to people!  I ran 57km but for most of the day it looked like I would have to finish short and that would mean returning to the spot or run for a couple of hours the next day. I was having none of that and ran after dark finishing around 8pm.

 

CUSCO AT LAST!

 

Perhaps a silly thing to do, but it´s done and dusted now.

The run into Cusco was pretty terrifying as I have never seen so many dogs in all of Latin America as I did that night. I stopped at a market place and the dogs were packed into a skip by the roadside scavenging through the rubbish.

 

I AM NOT A DOG LOVER AT THE MOMENT!

They were everywhere, in every doorway, crossing the road in packs. I passed this area several times in tour buses the few days I stayed in Cusco and only because I knew where to look I saw the grubbiness.. Just goes to show I am seeing the world up close and personal, like few others and am getting to know countries better than many iof the locals.

The problem with Latino dogs is they are just left to wander around, left wild and not trained. I lost my Dazer dog deterrent a couple of months ago, there are two waiting for me here in Cusco.

No not for each hand, I will keep a spare in the Heavy Bag.

It´s funny to watch dogs run away, even the big fierce ones when I bend down or even pretend to pick up a stone. They obviously know what that means.

Why are dogs in this culture not trained? Why do people litter so much here? Is it cultural? Lack of education? Or just plain lazy? These are questions I have been asking myself this past year.

Eventually I made my way to the city centre, it´s clean and very much tourist orientated. I found a great backpackers hostel called Pirwa Hostel in San Francisco Plaza. I would base myself there for a week while I checked out the sights I have waited most of my adult life to view.

At the moment there is a festival of Cusco going on every day with parades of mostly children in traditional costumes.

Sunday I arrived in Juliaca and expect to reach the Bolivia border Thursday as there are 192km to run. As mentioned before I will take up an very kind invitation by Joss and Ana Woods in Arequipa before crossing to Bolivia in about a week.

The weather forecast for Bolivia is cold and rain. I will be running on the Bolivian altiplano, just like here at over 4,000 metres.

After climbing mountain passes one usually descends to a much lower level and literally get a ” breather ” but on an altiplano or high plain it´s more difficult as I am staying up there all day and sleeping there too. Things are also a bit more complicated as I have a heavy cold!

More information on the Altiplano >> HERE

Latest June 24….   TOTAL TO DATE: 19,478km for 468 road days

24/6 From km 1,261 Huarzh to km 1,312 in Juliaca- = 51km today. Tough day, running in the Altiplano all at almost 4,000 metres. Just like yesterday I had some shortness of breath issues, which is normal for this altitude.

23/6 From km 1,224 toll booth to km 1,261 in Huarzh = 37km today. I got invited to the 25th anniversary celebrations of the community  here in Huarzh

22/6 From Santa Rosa at km 1,176 to km 1,224 at toll booth. Commute to Purcara.  Today = 48km.