Mountain bike survival

Yesterday was one of the highlights of the trip so far, an all-day mountain bike expedition through the Sacred Valley. This is a commercial pic - http://www.inkasadventures.com/photos_news/n4d.JPG

We had anticipated a benign amble but it was pretty serious stuff with semi-technical descents on rocky, near-single track trails down some rather daunting mountain sides. Everybody did well – I was surprised how ambitious Sharon was, given how understandably spooked she was after her bad bike wreck last year. The guide was excellent and the bikes varied from adequate to quite good. I did ask him how often they changed the brake cables as our lives arguably depended on them. Other than on some short, sharp ascents, I was surprised how unaffected we were by the altitude. Quite encouraging for the impending Machu Picchu hike and the Lake Titikaka kayaking.

There were two particularly unique sites on the way. One was the Inca terraces near Moray. http://www.photoseek.com/peru/03PER-05-28-Moray-terrace.jpg These looked like an ampitheatre but are supposedly temperature-varying terraces that the Incas designed as a greenhouse. The archaelologists are still debating their purpose, however.

The other were the Inca Salinas. http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4p-JbVHBZus/RtmvznYAofI/AAAAAAAABBs/6iUlwjR1Wy4/IMG_1180.JPG There is a terrestrial creek of salt-water that is used to “irrigate” pools that then evaporate allowing the salt to be “mined”. There are thousands of these terraced pools that covered the mountainside. Truly remarkable. I am curious as to the source of the sodium chloride.

Last night we stayed in a quite up-market hotel that had been booked to placate us after the rather “bait and switch” stunt pulled by ExplorAndes on the Cuzco hotel. I am, as I said, re-training myself to go with the flow. The important thing is that our love affair with Peru is developing quite nicely.