pichu pichu mountain biking

our second day in arequipa we booked a biking trip down a volcano called pichu pichu which is part of the andes mt. chain.  we actually aren´t big fans of organized tours when travelling but this adventure seemed to grab us the second we heard about it. when else can you say you mt. biked down a volcano in peru at top speed?!

to get to the mt. we hopped in a van with another couple from england and got our first sights of peru outside of a city setting by travelling through very poor towns that are lucky if they have any running water. very tough life these people must live and we have both seen this sort of poverty all over the world. thank your lucky stars for what you have...after about 2 hours of driving about 8 mph straight up a mt. full of switchbacks every couple of minutes, we got to our starting point and honestly, the middle of nowhere. we had completely lucked out with our guide guillermo, who gave us a great verbal history (incan) of all the areas we were passing on the way up...although we could have done without the blaring techno music from the driver, as it was only 9 in the morning! rave on.

church in a small town

little perro wandering around, i wanted him to be arí's friend

we could tell this was gonna be some big time fun. viewed from the top, the trail was literally straight down and to start we were to ride on these old volcanic ash roads. as we were getting our gear on for the ride, i wandered off to take a little lady-like tinkle next to a cactus on the side of the mountain. in keeping with my streak of major injuries while abroad, i somehow managed to lose my footing in the soft ash and my foot landed on this razor sharp stick or cactus piece and i heard a POP! stupidly i had worn my toms instead of my big bulky hiking boots and the sharp object had no problem at all piercing right through the side of that thin canvas and gliding right into the arch of my foot. my foot got instantly cold and wet so i knew it wasn't good and frankly i was more embarrassed in that moment. so i was like, "jimmy get the hell over here im hurt pretty bad" and he prob. wanted to murder me in that moment fearing our adventure was over before it started...took off my shoe and yep, it was full of blood and the piece of the sharp object had indeed broken off inside my foot. long story short i squeezed the puncture wound, got the object out of my foot and guillermo cleaned and bandaged me right up and i rode all day with a very painful hole in my foot that is still open today. not a good injury to have when having to push the fresh wound on a pedal for the next 5 hours.

starting point

hardcore geared out

nerd alert #1

nerd alert #2

at first i was annoyed they made us put all those safety pads on and whatnot but as the ride progressed it was apparent they were needed. after long stretches of downhill racing we came upon rocks and shrubbery and uneven surfaces and i think i fell off my bike 3 times before the day was over. graceful.

trail from above

so outdoorsy

throughout the ride we saw some amazing mountains, terracing for crops, various andean animals and rare vegetation that only grows from the aftermath of a volcanic eruption.

professional

a little burro

we stopped for lunch on a local villagers farmland and just took in the scenery.

our lunch spot viewing el misti

the gang

valley of terraces



near the end

llama!

towards the end we rode through several villages until we came to a paved road for a final downhill race.

el misti from the village

traffic jam

my teeth and nose, also this dirty

in the end this was one of the best experiences and extreme sporting adventures either of us has done. it was absolutely exhilerating hauling ass down a volcano and taking in all these amazing sights.

the rest of the time in arequipa was spent haggling for the requisite tourist things like an alpaca sweater or beanie at the artesian market and of course eating the local cuisine and drinking thelocal brew at the neighborhood bar. we finally tried the cuy, or guinea pig and we got it at a nicer restaurant rather than just the whole guinea pig roasted on a stick thinking it would taste better. it was gross. musty, crispy grossness. no amount of hoison sauce and fancy schmancy garnish could fix that.

fancy guinea pig

arequipa bar

i am way behind on the updating and we are now in cuzco and have been for a few days.  will have to catch up later because cuzco is a blast and we are heading out tomorrow at 4 a.m. for our 4 day trek on the inca trail to machu picchu. if we thought the mt. biking was so cool, i cannot imagaine how amazing our next days are going to be!