Peru - Day 7 {The Day I Had 9 Lives}

Oh what to say about this day. I'm trying to block it from my memory.

The night before I emailed my parents saying, "We're going on a mountain bike tour tomorrow and it's kind of sketchy. If you don't hear from me by tomorrow night be worried."

I barely survived.

We met our tour group at 9am in the morning. The travel agency had told us there were 4 other people signed up before we signed up. I think they were lying. Two other people were in our group...both young men, solo travelers, from Europe. I knew immediately I was going to be the one holding the group up. Ugh. We got our bikes in the main plaza and then biked together through the traffic to the bus station. It was super crowded because of the festival and of course I got stuck behind by a red light while the others in the group continued. I screamed for Danny to wait and luckily he heard me the second time. As we were weaving through the traffic I kept thinking to myself  "I'm going to die." We finally arrived at the bus station and boarded our bus with the other locals. I was so glad to be off the bike for awhile. The bus was really crowded and the locals seemed a little bugged we were on their bus. We were on the bus for a little over an hour and then got off  in the middle of no where.

Loading the bikes

Danny's super excited

We got off the bus on the side of the freeway in the middle of no where

The beginning of our bike adventure

We started on a flat dirt road. Then it go steep rather quickly. Despite being on altitude sickness pills the altitude started to get to me and I had a really hard time breathing. I didn't get very far when I had to get off my bike and walk. I had made a huge mistake. I should not have been on this tour!! I saw a whole bunch of other tourists on biking tours and saw they had a white van following behind them. Ah, that is why their tour was so much more expensive. They had a private van following them in case they couldn't make it or they didn't want to ride any more. I wondered how much it would take for them to add me to their tour. Did I have enough cash on me? We were barely starting our day and I was already WAY behind everyone else. I felt horrible. I wanted to go back! Our guide re-routed us to a flatter route but it was still too steep for me. The travel agency totally lied to me! It was NOT all down hill. So far it was only up hill.

I was walking my bike again and still having asthma attacks. I stopped for a bit and actually contemplated lying down in the manure filled fields and dying. How was I going to survive this day?!?!  I finally caught up to Danny and I said, "I feel like I'm going to throw up." Then surprisingly, HE started throwing up instead of me. I'm not going to lie, I was kind of happy about it. Now I wasn't the only one struggling. He told me to continue walking so he could throw up in private.

We caught up with our guide and group who were all waiting for us at the top of the hill. Our guide said we needed to make a decision. We were supposed to visit pre-inca experimental agricultural terraces but the ride was ALL up hill and very steep. Our guide said I wasn't going to make it. He wanted us to ride to the nearby village, Maras, and hire a private van to drive us to the terraces. The van would cost everyone more money. Danny told everyone we would pay for them because I was the problem but they wanted to do the ride. We finally convinced our guide to let Danny and I separate from the group and go to the village by ourselves and they could meet up with us after they went to the terraces. He did not like the idea but when we told him we had a cell phone he finally gave in. We got our directions and were told to be very careful and watch our bags constantly. Danny and I road our bikes to the town and then tried to find the main plaza. I was a little freaked out because it was very apparent we were out of place. This was not a tourists destination. When Danny's chain broke on his bike and we stopped to fix it I noticed the same people kept walking by. I started to get nervous. We decided to keep moving and just walk our bikes. We asked for directions and finally got to the main plaza. There was a police station on the main plaza and we sat down on the curb right in front. Doesn't get any safer than that right?

Our curb

The main plaza. Not much to see.

We ate our lunches and people watched. Finally our group showed up and our guide was so relieved we were still alive and had all our belongings. After they ate their lunches we started our downhill journey to the salt mines. I was really looking forward to this part of the day. Finally something I could do! Wrong. Turns out the trail to the salt mines is a technical mountain biking trail used for competition! WTF. I was certain I would die. I wish I had gotten a picture of the trail but I was too busy trying to stay alive.

After a quick google search this might be the trail. At least it looked like it on the easy parts.

This is the bike version of the death road. No kidding. The death road is just on the other side of the ravine. As I was making my way white-knuckled over the boulders on the 2 foot wide (sometime much narrower) trail on the edge of a cliff I was also saying what might possibly be the longest prayer I've ever said in my life. And just as I thought I was going to make it through the day without injury I got freaked out by a big drop and turned my bike into the mountain and ended up with my bike on top of me and my back right on top of a very pointy boulder. Luckily I didn't break my back and only ended up with some small bruises there but I did end up with a pretty swollen and bruised knee. Not too bad though. No broken bones and no stitches. I wasn't even the only one to fall that day.

I'm having a horrible time. Someone please help me. I'm going to die.

Death road by bus on one side. Death road by bike on the other. Salt mines in between.

Danny was loving it

We finally made it to the salt mines and I thought my troubles were over for the day. I was physically and emotionally drained. I was so stressed out from the ride down I thought I was going to started crying hysterically any moment.

Salt Mines

YOU OWE ME BIG TIME

Salt

Then I found out we had to keep riding down hill on the same trail. I couldn't handle anymore. I walked my bike down. Then we had to ride our bikes FOREVER UPHILL through multiple towns to the bus station. I was SO mad. Danny told me to change my attitude and he quickly learned that was the wrong way to motivate me. We finally made it to the bus stop and got seats on our bus but not before Danny got into a fight with a lady in the men's bathroom.

The Sacred Valley from the bus

After over an hour on the bus (part of which Danny spent in very close/awkward) proximity to a young local girl...haha) I was dreading getting back on our bikes for our ride back to the main plaza. Luckily our guide arranged for someone to come pick up our bikes but we still had to walk back to our hotel and we had no idea where we were. We made it to the hotel safe and sound, grabbed McDonald's for dinner, and emailed my parents we were alive. But we soon realized that besides the obvious the bike tour might have been a mistake. We needed to do laundry desperately which would take 2 hours and we had to do it the next day because we wouldn't have access to laundry facilities after. We also needed to get our tickets to Machu Picchu. We were suppose to go on a tour of the Sacred Valley the next day but those tours started at 9am... way before our laundry could be done or before we could get Machu Picchu tickets. What to do?? After lots of discussion we decided we had to do laundry and get the tickets so we were just going to have to miss the Sacred Valley ruins. I was so sad and mad when I went to bed. We never should have gone mountain biking!!

Looking back...Danny had an amazing time and I survived and kind of had a spiritual experience in the process so I guess it worked out okay. Our guide was really patient and kind and it was not his fault I was mislead into signing up for the tour. The travel agencies will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you to sign up. Beware. Just another reason I strongly disliked Cusco.