In the morning, we said goodbye to the tour folks and donated a few things to the porters. We then set out to meet the Reserv Cusco folks for our half day mountain bike excursion. We were really excited to go biking.
In the video above, you can get a feel for our ride.
It started up on a hill, above Cusco, near the Pukapukara Ruins. We rode along a two lane road for a little while, passing some construction. Brenda had some trouble with her brakes and I had a flat tire…but we fixed those problems and were able to finish the ride. At one point we stopped for a breather (riding at over 12,000 ft is a challenge!). The view was amazing.
We veered off the concrete onto a muddy downhill road. This was where the fun really started. It was steep, full of puddles, and did I mention…Muddy!
William, our guide is a very profficient mountain biker, so he usually rode ahead of us a little. He’d stop on occasion and let us catch up. At one time, I asked him to take video of us riding and he caught some awesome footage of us negotiating the turns of the road.
At the bottom of the road, we stopped near a wide open field and we had a conversation about vegetables and farms around Cusco. I only know a couple of vegetable names in Spanish, and William the same (but with English!). So, I whipped out the Kindle and we smashed those barriers. It was neato to see William so excited about the Kindle. I told him to buy one and then he could learn even more from his clients (as well as teach them more about Peru/Cusco).
Brenda and I both had a fabulous time on the bikes and we agree, it was one of the best parts about the time we spent in Cusco. If you are in the area, definitely look up the Reserve Cusco guys and get out there!
At one point the muddy road was closed for construction, so we veered off through farmers fields. The single track was very challenging and we both had to get off a few times to avoid doing endos. Making our way back into Cusco was a bit scary. There were packs of dogs which would come barking out of alleys and one of them almost caught up to me on the bike! I had a flashback to the Fig Adventure Race a month back, where I was chaced by a vicious Rottweiler.
Back at the hotel, we asked to change rooms. Room 106 was way better than room 104, being interior it wasn’t nearly as loud. And, it was more spacious. We packed for our travel back to the US and then went out for dinner at a place across the street from Jacks.
We called Carlos, our Exodus tourguide, to confirm that our escort to the Airport was still coming the next morning. Actually, we called him several times and couldn’t reach him. Finally, we called the tour company (just to make sure!). When he finally called the hotel back, he was peeved.
Apparently, he was out with his family and didn’t want to be bothered (to do his job!). Then, he chewed me out. Finally, he confirmed they were going to pick us up at the time I stated. I thought this behavior was odd considering how much he was bending over backwards and kissing up to the Brits, as they headed out to the airport, just that morning. Oh well!
Tags: Cusco, Mountain Biking, Peru, Pukapukara, Reserv Cusco