Ten Hours on the Road
This week, we're featuring notes from an unexpected road trip taken by writer and editor Agnes Rivera, cofounder of Ravel Agency. Agnes took inspiriting notes while she traveled across the vast mountainous landscape between Cusco and Puno.
Check out her notes below.
On the Road: Techy Lay
In late February 2026, before gas prices jumped to a four-year high, we hit the PE-3S (Carretera Longitudinal de la Sierra Sur), an altitudinous highway in southern Peru connecting Cusco to Puno. Along the paved path, we paused at Raqchi (3480 masl), where towering remnants of the 15th-century Temple of Wiracocha stand like 14-meter flats upon a theater stage, and over 150 colcas (Inca storehouses) built of volcanic stone are vacant box seats for the azure performance above.
Wiracocha Temple: Agnes Rivera
Colcas, Raqchi: Agnes Rivera
After a quick peek into the town's tiny church, we continued forth towards the highest point of the highway, Abra La Raya (4335 masl), and said a little prayer for the vanishing white cloak of Chimboya mountain.
Raqchi Church
Having crossed into the Puno region and with a belly full of kankaka (aka cancacho, roasted lamb), we rested our heads in Ayaviri (3907 masl) at La Capilla, a converted chapel that delighted us with expansive morning views, a Suri alpaca with the soul of a puppy, and a collection of Lapham's Quarterly to flip through over coffee.
Whispers of a nearby stone forest lured us away from this cozy pocket, and into the Tinajani Canyon we drove. Red sandstone sculpted by wind and time toppled towards the blue heavens as we scampered beneath, finding our sense of self had shrunk yet our childlike spirits revived.
Tinajani
View from La Capilla (Ayaviri)
On the other end of the canyon, our fantasy fiction aspirations came to life as hillsides sprung with 10-meter-tall Puya Raimondii, a botanical wonder that blooms just once before drying out and taking on an appearance of self-incineration.
And just like that, our southbound journey came to an end as the open plains pushed us westward toward the Atacama desert. Hours later, the first sight of Arequipa’s Misti volcano would become our guidepost.
Misti Volcanoe, Arequipa