Mountain Biking the Sacred Valley, Peru

We spent the day biking around the Sacred Valley, which lies just north of Cusco. Notes:

– Woke up bright and early at 7am, but both with a bit of altitude sickness.

– Went into town and checked into SAS Travel for mountainbiking. We
were the only ones to sign up for that particular activity, so we had a private group.

– Met our guide, seasoned mountain biker Roberto, and drove through the mountains to our starting point.

– Mountain biking high in the Andes was great. Our ride topped out at 11,200 feet.

– Stopped by Moray, the ruins of an ancient Incan agricultural experiment. Concentric rings created by terraced growing areas were impressive. Photo attached.

– Biked a bit more down the valley to Salernas, ancient, still active salt mines. Salt flows from a spring within the mountain, and collects in thousands of terraced evaporation pools. Dried salt is harvested by hand. Photo attached.

– Completed the ride with a gnarly singletrack downhill, through a small village and over a steel cable and wood suspension bridge over the river.

– Cruised in the van with two Italian hitchhikers to drop them off in Urubamba, then continued on back to Cusco.

– Chris went back to the guesthouse to relax.

– I walked a lap around town. Got the gas station attendant to fill up two small plastic waterbottles with gasolene, to fuel my MSR Whisperlite stove in the mountains.

– Stopped by the “Mega” supermarket, then grabbed a chicken dinner, and walked back across town to the guesthouse.

– Cooked some more soup in our room, relaxing tonight overlooking Cusco.

– Peru is great! My spanish is actually serving me quite well, and the locals are always friendly and eager to share stories. Having a fun time talking to everyone we pass, both in the streets and out in the fields.