August 20th Chalhuanca to Cusco Day 17
Along the winding road to Cusco – over 300km
The SWB Land Rover with all the equipment in had been left outside the local Chalhuanca Police Station overnight (recommended by the hotel) for safety. We were up around 6:15, (here is a view at the back of the hotel) had an early breakfast at a local bar/cafe down the street from the hotel. Then we spent some time repacking and reorganising the Land Rovers in light of the previous day’s experience on rough and twisty roads. We wanted to avoid as much rattling and equipment movement as possible. I took a photo showing the local bus, our LWB Land Rover and the spectacular hillside in the background. We just had time to visit a shop down the street and buy some local souvenirs (I can’t remember if I bought any here, but some of my souvenirs will be seen later). I just had time to take some photos in the street, one showing the rather down-market lorry transport, and find the local main square (Plaza de Armas). Eventually we hit the road at around 7:45. Initially we were headed for Abancay (around 120 km), which re reached at 11:30. We were monitoring the radioactivity as we traveled of course, and keeping an eye on the geology
On the way to Abancay, we crossed the Pachachamca river via a lengthy 5 km each way detour to the south, to get to the bridge (a feature of driving in the mountains), descending to a mere 1,800m. During a brief stop I took a photo of roadside flowers (yet to be identified) and a rather ‘rustic’ bridge, but not the only one, as it turned out that some distance further on a more spectacular one was seen. This time we stopped to examine it and persuaded Uisdean to walk out to the middle ‘for scale‘ (and to prove it was safe). We even came across a ‘petrol station‘ where we filled up the Land Rovers.
Chalhuanca to Curanhuasi
with a stop in Abancay 190 km
Next we came to Curanhuasi (2,800 asl) where we stopped for a late lunch at a fairly basic restaurant, before pushing on to Cusco, We descended at first, before climbing via more spectacular z bends to the more or less level area at around 3,400m (another 120km+ drive) that contains Cusco, where we arrived in the dark at 7:30pm. As I started to unpack the SWB Land Rover I watched as the rear offside (RH side) tyre deflated! So, I lent a hand as a small crowd of spectators stood round and watched as Jun, our driver, changed the wheel for our spare.
The night was spent in a somewhat better class of hotel in Cusco than the previous night – unfortunately I can’t make sense of the name in my diary!Â
View all the photos from this day here
Curanhuasi to Cusco – a 124 km drive!
Last Updated on 02/10/2026″