First days in the high mountains, by far the hardest part of my trip. Nazca is located 500m above the sea level. 60km further, I was at 4330m. I had never been at more than 3800m before, skiing in the Alpes, and I wasn’t sure how I would react with the altitude. To accelerate the acclimatisation, it is recommended to keep coca leaves in the mouth. Yes, the same coca leaves that are used to make the cocaine. This plant, that we can find in the Andes only, has fantastic medicinal properties, I will talk about it in another article.All the West coasts around the World are dry, or at least drier than the East coasts. It is the case here, where Lima is built in a desert. The start of the climb is grassless and treeless. The view is amazing, an absolute pleasure on the bike. This is exactly why I am here.And I met my first llamas and alpacas, there are plenty in the Andes!The first pass, at 4,330m, was easy. I felt the temperature difference, but nothing with the altitude.I felt however very tired climbing the 2nd pass, also at more than 4,300m. I stopped on the side of the road for a quick nap. 15 minutes later, when I woke up, it was snowing! I am well equipped, but the next 3 hours were a torture: wind, hail… my fingers were frozen but I could not stop. I did not take pictures.Eventually, I went down into a valley to Chalhuanca. It did not stop raining but I made it. I have not had a day as hard since then. This night, I stayed in a hotel for 7.5usd and had diner with a Hollandese family for 9.5usd. Cheap, in this remote town.The second day in the mountains was not as hard: I mainly followed deep and spectacular valleys:The weather was great, I took this off road short cut to get to Ollantaytambo:Ollantaytambo is a cute touristic little town, from where tourists take a train to visit the sacred Inca city, Machu Picchu.Alpacas are cute to watch and not bad in the plate: