The 10 of us just got back to our hotel in Lima after an epic day of riding. We drove 3 hours to the town of San Pedro de Casta, a beautiful hilltop town in the Andes, at 11,000 ft. The locals welcomed us with drinks and a parade!
We dropped of 4 bikes from Bikes Without Borders at the local school, and from the looks of the local kids, these bikes are going to be well used. The mayor came out to greet us and say thanks for the donation. Pretty cool that some families in Canada donated their old bikes and now they're being ridding by kids in a remote town in Peru.
After setting up our bikes, our horses arrived. This was the first horse shuttle any of us had done. These sturdy caballos were up to the task - 2 hours of steep climbing to Marcahuasi, the Stone Forest. Local kids took turns pushing our bikes up the steep slopes.
When we finally reached the end, we were at well over 12,000 feet above sea level, with a 6,500 foot downhill ahead of us. The first part of the downhill was muy tecnico - really technical - with stone steps and lots of loose rock and tight lines. This soon opened up to smooth, fast sections that we all screamed down at top speed.
More technical sections followed, and we were definitely pushed to our limits, but when we finally reached the end over 3 hours later, grins were the order of the day. What a ride, and what a great re-introduction to Peru.
Glad to be back in this amazing country.
Mike
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