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Published: January 26th 2009
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Sofia is sad to see me go and sees me off early in the morning. She only gets 1 hour of sleep. I walk down to the pickup point with my guide from the tour company. I jump into a van and meet Scott (Aussie), Matti & his wife (Argentina). I start to get comfortable, but then 6 girls show up. They are all from Argentina and I need to move to the back of the van. All the girls can speak English except one, Paula. This is a bit of a problem as she ends up sitting beside me so I don't really have anyone to talk to during the drive up the mountain. I find out later from Vicky that all the girls thought I was shy. Boy did I prove them wrong.
The first part of our tour is a bicycle ride starting at 4500 m down hill to 3500 m. When we get to the starting point, it's raining and cold. Everyone has a poncho except for me. I'm wondering if I'm in trouble as I only have a water proof
MEC jacket and I don't think it's going to stay waterproof for the next 2.5
hours. Oh well, shit happens.
The tour starts and I'm chasing Antonio (assistant tour guide) down the mountain. We are cycling down the road away from Cusco. Jimmy (main tour guide) told us it's not a race, but at the speeds Antonia and I are traveling down the mountain it sure feels like it.
There are many streams that go down the mountain and flow across the road. The way the Peruvians deal with these streams is to place concrete slabs that dip a little lower than the main road where the streams flow across the road. The first stream we run across is actually quite huge. Antonia goes through sitting down with his feet up. I follow suit and my ass gets splashed with tons of water. So, here I am sitting on a bike waiting for the rest of the group. My ass is soaked, I'm cold, my feet are wet, my face is dirty...what the hell was I thinking? I love it! This is the best time I've ever had on a bike in my life. Okay, maybe I'm lying about loving it at that moment in time, but now that I'm dry and writing about it, it definitely was a lot of fun. By the way, did I mention that this is a public road and we need to avoid the buses, cars, and trucks that use the road? Good thing traffic is very light.
We keep going down the mountain. The rain doesn't let up. After a few kilometers, I spot a baƱo and quickly pull over for a pit stop. Jane (Aussie) asks me if Antonio wants us to stop (we are ahead of him...not a race?). I tell her I need to make a pit stop and to continue on. To my surprise, Antonio and Jane wait for me.
Off we go again. I love this ride. I can do this forever...or so I thought. The road turns into a dirt road. No wonder they gave us mountain bikes. The dirt road goes on for a long time. I'm hoping it turns back into a paved road as my ass hurts from all the bouncing around. I try standing but my legs get tired after 15 minute intervals. I suddenly have an epiphany. I'm in a third world country. This dirt road will never change back to a paved road. Shit! Ahhhhhhh! We go on for what seems like forever (~1.5 hours) before we stop at an Inca site.
We get a quick history lesson then continue our ride. Jimmy gives us a choice: continue riding for 30 minutes more or take the van. I choose to ride (yes, I'm a masochist). It only takes us 10 minutes to do the last stretch. My butt is thanking me when I jump into the van. The rest of the way to the village is a very bumpy ride. Damn potholes. It's luxury compared to the bike though.
I almost hit heads with the lone girl (Sofi) sitting beside me in the back. Thank god I didn't. I don't think she would have liked me if I did. We get talking. She is 23 and her sister Vicky is 21. They are traveling together and met the other 4 girls in the airport in Lima. They all shared a taxi and have been traveling together ever since. I think that is really cool. I wonder if I will find a travel buddy? Not likely with me going up and then back down into South America.
At Santa Maria, I meet the other people on my tour when we head for beers before dinner. Jane (Aussie), Cole (Kiwi), and Oh & Lee (Koreans); not their real names, but easier for everyone to call them that.
At dinner, we hear about our itinerary for the next day. We are going to be walking for 10 hours. Shit! Am I really going to walk for 10 hours? Well, not exactly. It's going to be 10 hours with rest breaks and lunch. At the end of the trek, there will be a hot spring. We will have a choice of taking a bus or walking 40 minutes more to the rest stop (Santa Teresa) for the night. I can't wait to get started.
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YH4Life
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:)
Glad you had fun, even if you looked a mess! LOL :)