A days montain biking in Arequipa began with a very bumpy ride up the flank of Pichu Pichu volcano to 4200m. We bailed out the jeep with our guide "Walter" and began a 30km descent back to town. It was mainly dirt road with 3 off road breaks but as it was all downhill I wasn`t complaining. We stopped for lunch with local cheese, olives and advacado while our two local boys lounged on a terrace and were very happy with their lot. Walter did praise the drivers skill as a roadie but alas they both admitted his skill of eating and drinking now eclipsed that though neither seemed too concerned. If you ever make it too Arequipa look up Naturaleza Activa just to meet two very happy blokes if nothing else. The second town in Peru for us was Cusco. Do I seek out ancient ruins and head to the lofty heights of Machu Pichu to bask in the glory of ancient civilisations. Sod that, not when I found out about the local biking on offer. Our first day was riding in the Sacred Valley on the Maras/Maray trail. Liz has of course provided me with lots of names and details but who really cares about that when you have a Kona Stinky Six to bomb down dirt tracks on at ridiculous speeds. In the morning we rode along dirt roads through wheat fields looking at glaciated mountains, which was I admit one of the most beautiful valleys I have seen in a trip full of beautiful valleys. We then had a look at some very clever ruins then stopped for lunch. The main event was the afternoon, but not before we dangled Liz by the legs into a pond to pull out a lamb that had fallen in. The 3 snot nosed kids were bleating more than the animal and a drunken farmer was of no use. The lamb was pulled to safety, hugs all round and we set off at a blistering pace to pre-Incan salt pans at Salinevas. All you had to remember was to fall left into the mountain not right off it into the gorge. Downhill sillyness and my back was very gratefull to the full susser. Great day out for the sedate or sadistic whichever pulls your plonker really. The next day was the main event really. A bit tired we clambered back into the van and drove to 4400m to start 2000m of descent on the former Mega Avalanche World Cup Downhill run. Suitably lacking body armour we set off following Carlos our guide and both immediately baulked at the first steep drop. Things rapidly improved though as we picked up the pace and hurtled down. Liz hurtled a bit too much over the handle bars but fortunately she landed on her head, so no harm done! We set off again speeding along and one of us speeded off the bike and landed in a heap and it wasn`t me or Carlos. Luckily for Liz she did land in a heap. About 3 inches to her left was a 5 metre drop onto a jumble of boulders and a serious hospital visit. A few tears were shed but our guide pulled himself together and said maybe we would only do the one run today. There follwed more steep sections and gorgeous single track spitting you out onto the road at points before dropping through the trees again on the steepest trails I`ve ridden. This was a great course and really fun riding. In the afternoon we repeated the downhills of the day before and rode them twice as fast and the steep bits were no where near as steep now we had Mega Avalanche.. Thanks to Amazona Explorer and Carlos the guide with our driver Mr Luna who dissapeared off on the bikes both days whilst we had lunch for a little blast. They are not the cheapest in town but worth every penny for top bikes and service. Liz you owe me my second run at full pace, even if you did save a lamb! Greg
Postscript: Apologies about sideways video - will try and sort out on return. This was really steep honest.Liz
Matched
Crib Goch NY Eve 2008
Thursday 2 June 2011
Goodbye South America
So here we are sitting around in Lima airport. There`s a 17 hour wait until our Miami (and then London) flight, so we are trying to kill some time interneting and finding a cozy corner to crash out in. Not much on the latter so far.
I made a promise to myself 10 years ago that I would come back to Cusco, as we breezed in and out very quickly that year with a tight schedule containing lots of climbing. Like anywhere you re-visit, I was bracing myself for disapointment, expecting to find the place more commercialised and one step further away from the magic people actually come to find here. I was not disapointed at all.
Cusco felt much cleaner, more organised and less busy than in 2001. Maybe that`s because we were not visiting in the peak season (June-July). The Inca presence was still there in the street names which many have been changed back the original Quechua, and of course in the stones acting as foundations for the fine colonial buildings, but which were really parts of the original Incan palaces and temples. The Quechua legend sees Cusco as the naval at the centre of the earth (that`s what it`s name means anyhow).
Anyhow, as I had done for every stage of our trip so far, Greg and I have been listing the main things that we noticed or found interesting about Peru (and a little bit of Chile too).
1. The economy of Peru has fared well over the past 10 years, and you can really feel this in a much more organised infrastructure. H&S must be quite rigid as all “workers” wore safety gear and protective clothing. Compare this to India of Nepal! The streets were spotless and put Liverpool to shame. In all the town plazzas we visited there was very noticable steet cleaners out there and doing it.
2. Roadworks – lots of it going on even on the most remote mountain top roads. It wasn`t even the end of the tax year.
3. Lots of churches with statues of holy people in them. I mean loads of statues and pictures. Very ornate, but the statues spook me out. They even wear real clothing. I tried hard not to stare into the eyes of the statues in an irrational fear that they were going to summon thunderbolts to strike me down!
4. Peruvians like their meat (including guinea pig and alpaca). The concept of vegetarian is not understood. I ask you, why the hell would you not eat meat?
5. You read all kinds of stuff about bag slashers and pick pockets before you arrive in Peru. Then your eyes see all windows have bars on them (be that ornate) and barbed wire in any gaps. But, I can`t actually say that anywhere we visited felt too risky. Some Peruvians had told us about people following tourists who have huge cameras hanging off their necks, and we heard about dodgy taxi drivers taking you to a cashpoint of their choice. In the end, we felt that common sense was the main thing, and you would be no less at risk in any big UK city if flaunting you wealth.
6. Loads of old buildings and ruins. Although, not that old really as the Incas were at their height about 500 years ago. In contrast, NZ didn`t get the concept old.
7. Latin music in all it`s shapes and forms. This hit us from the minute we landed in Santiago and has followed us throughout our travels on the continent. Regular salsa type sounds to really cool Latin punk-ska, and of course the obligatory pan pipes and “Flight of the Condor!” Latin music is a huge scene, or which, many of us (I`m talking about myself here) are really unaware of apart from Shakira, Manu Chau and Ricky Martin!
8. Lots of dogs everywhere, who mostly seem good humoured. Unlike Nepal , where they all looked the same except for three colour schemes, these dogs come in all shapes and sizes. And of course……
9. Streets full of shagging dogs!
10. Really cheap taxis and collectivos (little minibus that does local runs). Crikey, talk about stack èm high.
11. Really colourful houses. Impressive combinations of ochre, olive green, mustard and sky blue. Maybe it`s the strong sunlight.
12. Knitted hats on lambs! I ask you, how far do some people go to make money from allowing their photo to be taken?
13. Incredibably glamorous news readers- short skirts and cleavages.
14. Our, I mean my, rubbish Spanish. We`ve had it lucky so far, and our usual British lack of other languages has not really been too much of a problem. However, they really all do speak Spanish here…..and to visit here, so must we!
15. Oh that hot sun, or is it the altitude.
16. Coffee. You`d have thought that the coffee in Peru must be pretty good. After all, it`s one of the known coffee producing nations. Not in Peru itself though. Coffee is exported as a cash crop, and the local themselves drink Nescafe. Ah the sacrilage. (They actually drink a lot of herbal teas).
17. Super friendly people with big smiles. Peruvians got the joke when we turned the question, "Where are you from?" back on them.
Liz
Oh yes, this year marks the 100 year anniversary of Machu Pichu being discovered.
I made a promise to myself 10 years ago that I would come back to Cusco, as we breezed in and out very quickly that year with a tight schedule containing lots of climbing. Like anywhere you re-visit, I was bracing myself for disapointment, expecting to find the place more commercialised and one step further away from the magic people actually come to find here. I was not disapointed at all.
Cusco felt much cleaner, more organised and less busy than in 2001. Maybe that`s because we were not visiting in the peak season (June-July). The Inca presence was still there in the street names which many have been changed back the original Quechua, and of course in the stones acting as foundations for the fine colonial buildings, but which were really parts of the original Incan palaces and temples. The Quechua legend sees Cusco as the naval at the centre of the earth (that`s what it`s name means anyhow).
Anyhow, as I had done for every stage of our trip so far, Greg and I have been listing the main things that we noticed or found interesting about Peru (and a little bit of Chile too).
1. The economy of Peru has fared well over the past 10 years, and you can really feel this in a much more organised infrastructure. H&S must be quite rigid as all “workers” wore safety gear and protective clothing. Compare this to India of Nepal! The streets were spotless and put Liverpool to shame. In all the town plazzas we visited there was very noticable steet cleaners out there and doing it.
2. Roadworks – lots of it going on even on the most remote mountain top roads. It wasn`t even the end of the tax year.
3. Lots of churches with statues of holy people in them. I mean loads of statues and pictures. Very ornate, but the statues spook me out. They even wear real clothing. I tried hard not to stare into the eyes of the statues in an irrational fear that they were going to summon thunderbolts to strike me down!
4. Peruvians like their meat (including guinea pig and alpaca). The concept of vegetarian is not understood. I ask you, why the hell would you not eat meat?
5. You read all kinds of stuff about bag slashers and pick pockets before you arrive in Peru. Then your eyes see all windows have bars on them (be that ornate) and barbed wire in any gaps. But, I can`t actually say that anywhere we visited felt too risky. Some Peruvians had told us about people following tourists who have huge cameras hanging off their necks, and we heard about dodgy taxi drivers taking you to a cashpoint of their choice. In the end, we felt that common sense was the main thing, and you would be no less at risk in any big UK city if flaunting you wealth.
6. Loads of old buildings and ruins. Although, not that old really as the Incas were at their height about 500 years ago. In contrast, NZ didn`t get the concept old.
7. Latin music in all it`s shapes and forms. This hit us from the minute we landed in Santiago and has followed us throughout our travels on the continent. Regular salsa type sounds to really cool Latin punk-ska, and of course the obligatory pan pipes and “Flight of the Condor!” Latin music is a huge scene, or which, many of us (I`m talking about myself here) are really unaware of apart from Shakira, Manu Chau and Ricky Martin!
8. Lots of dogs everywhere, who mostly seem good humoured. Unlike Nepal , where they all looked the same except for three colour schemes, these dogs come in all shapes and sizes. And of course……
9. Streets full of shagging dogs!
10. Really cheap taxis and collectivos (little minibus that does local runs). Crikey, talk about stack èm high.
11. Really colourful houses. Impressive combinations of ochre, olive green, mustard and sky blue. Maybe it`s the strong sunlight.
12. Knitted hats on lambs! I ask you, how far do some people go to make money from allowing their photo to be taken?
13. Incredibably glamorous news readers- short skirts and cleavages.
14. Our, I mean my, rubbish Spanish. We`ve had it lucky so far, and our usual British lack of other languages has not really been too much of a problem. However, they really all do speak Spanish here…..and to visit here, so must we!
15. Oh that hot sun, or is it the altitude.
16. Coffee. You`d have thought that the coffee in Peru must be pretty good. After all, it`s one of the known coffee producing nations. Not in Peru itself though. Coffee is exported as a cash crop, and the local themselves drink Nescafe. Ah the sacrilage. (They actually drink a lot of herbal teas).
17. Super friendly people with big smiles. Peruvians got the joke when we turned the question, "Where are you from?" back on them.
Liz
Oh yes, this year marks the 100 year anniversary of Machu Pichu being discovered.
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