Mountainbiking

On my last weekend in Cusco I went mountain biking on both days. Both days were along nearly the same route but Saturday was with Kristina and an agency and Sunday with my new cusquenian friend Diego. (A friend that I made because one night in the cafe where he works, he offered me a choice of free ice-cream or chocolate cake. HOW DID HE KNOW???) Saturday Kristina and I met our guide at 9am in the morning. This, on any other day, would have been ok, except that we'd been dancing salsa until 3:30am and I, as usual, woke up hours earlier than necessary, so ended up getting a total of 2 hours sleep. There was only one other person on our trip. Bernd from Switzerland.

Again, I have to start my story with the expected for Peru. Approximately 2kms into the ride, everytime I changed gears, the chain got stuck. The guide, Jimmy, fixes it. It gets stuck again. He fixes it. Then it gets stuck again and he gives me his bike. He fixes the broken bike, starts riding, changes gears, and the whole rear derailer comes off. Just like that. Bike broken. Some locals happened to be riding by and he asked if he could borrow one of their bikes. So Jimmy runs off, bike in arm, to Chinchero, the town where we'd started and the 3 of us sat down to a picnic on the side of the road. All praise Jimmy for his efforts that day. Not only was he a good guide, funny, chatty with the locals, but he rode his 'donkey' for the whole trip, using a foot on the front wheel for a break and walking with it at the end when he had a flat AND fixing the bike I had again when the chain knotted itself up.

The bike trip was fun, if some what difficult due to the heavy bikes and lack of good breaks (particulary on my bike, not including Jimmy's which didn't really have any). My complaint would definitely be about the equipment, not about our guide or the scenery.

So Sunday I met Diego at 6:30am. Technically he left me waiting for 25mins while he had the luxury of sleeping in, but again, we'd been dancing until past 1am in the morning (we HAD to go out! It was the last night with us 3 girls in Cusco).

We started off in a slightly different place, rode more on dirt roads and once even a paved road and pretty much everything was down hill. I think the bags under my eyes told Diego my body couldn't cope with much else.

Although the route was the same, Sunday was so different. In Maras, the first small town, he ran into the first uncle (of many for the day). He stopped to chat while I wandered off to take photos and practice some Quechua he'd taught me (and which the old lady I tried it on, had no chance of understanding). We continued on to the Salineras (salty water that is collected in salt pans, evaporated and collected by the locals. At the top of the road the entrance was roped off and Diego told me to let him do the talking. I heard the word 'girlfriend' and thought to myself 'oh god! He thinks taking me riding constitutes some sort of relationship. It's ok, I know the way home if I need it'. Totally unwarranted. He told me his story of his own accord and laughed at the fact that he'd told lies to get me out of paying the fee (a fee which, the day before, they tried to make us pay just for riding past the salt pans).

At the salt pans Diego of course knew the kids working there. They were his cousins helping their mum on the weekend.

One of the kids was feeding this little animal softdrink out of the bottle lid. Some how I don't think it was all that healthy for the poor animal, but he certainly like it.

Then again, I love cake, chocolate and lollies, who am I to talk. I don't know what kind of animal it was, but it was definitely keen on something in Diego's pocket!

The day before with the guide, we were talking about how the whole entrance fee thing is a farce, that it's a protected area now, but the locals are still using the resources to extract salt. I think I put my foot in it earlier in the day with Diego when I was telling him about our discussion. Diego's grandfa ther owns 7 of the salt beds and apparently they get passed down from generation to generation. Oops.

From there we headed down to the village of Pichingoto... which the previous day, we had just ridden through but today we headed off to the left to see the adobe house, no more than 6m x 6m, in which Diego's grandparents had lived with 7 kids. This rectangled included kitchen and food storage areas too. Now only donkeys live in there. The house has no proper roof because it was built under this massive overhanging cliff that stops any rain coming in, even in windy conditions. Apparently we can buy it for 1 sole! Excellent deal!

Then off to the right again where we said hello to another aunt/uncle/cousins and finally to this aunts place (which doubled as a Chicharia) where his grandpa and neighbours were drinking chicha. We sort of got stuck he re for 3 hours. But 'stuck' I mean 'pleasantly delayed'. We were given food and huuuuuuge glasses of chicha. First I though, 'I'll drink this glass quickly and then we can leave' because Diego needed to be at work by 4pm, but after my glass just kept getting refilled and refilled I gave up. I spent most of the time with Xiomara, Diego's little cousin and budding photographer, filling up my memory card (hence the photos of me posing). As time passed more and more neighbours came and went. I don't know if this was a Sunday afternoon activity, or just something they do everyday. I will have to ask.

Eventually at 3pm Diego went into panic mode and we rushed to the bus. However, by the time we got to Urubumba, another bus, then finally Cusco and he got change , he was still 2 hours late.

It's Diego's grandma's birthday this coming Monday and I'm invited. Definitely looking forward to it. Only thing I'm a little sketchy on is the bathroom situation. Consuming litres of chicha will definitely make it a pressing issue. The boys just seem to wee anywhere, and Xiomara just squatted around the corner (and told me to take a photo - not included here though).