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Adventure Trip in Peru: MTB + much more! Part I

Aug 17, 2009
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Peru, South America
A couple of days ago I just returned to Lima from one of the best trips I have ever made!

This time came a couple from Toronto, Canada and they told me that they don't want to only MTB. They wanted to make some rafting, trekking, visit Machu Picchu, explore the Lake Titicaca, the Colca Canyon and whatever I consider attractive for them.

We went on a 12 days excursion to the Southern part of Peru and we saw almost everything there. From 0m (0 ft.) to 5,000m (16,400ft.) there was a lot to see!

Now, enjoy this articles I have prepared for all of you:

THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE: AMAZING TRIP TO THE SOUTHERN PART OF PERU

I normally make this trip every year, sometimes during the rainy season, sometimes on the dry season. My last trip was with the recognized free rider mountain biker Matt Hunter and his crew. They came to Peru for a short adventure but they finished traveling for nearly a month!

This time I’m making this adventure with a couple from Canada and I’m just in day 2 and the trip is already paid! We are going into a 12 days adventure to the southern part of Peru in which we are going to ride our mountain bikes, go rafting, trekking, enjoy the National Natural Parks, eat delicious food, and the list is long and keep going.

Yesterday was the intro day in Pachacamac. We went for mountain biking in the slopes, had a great lunch in "Don Cucho" and finally visit the Inca site and had a little bit of history lessons. The morning was a little bit cold and very humid, with moist in the air. That made us ride on an amazing terrain.
We started the ride going towards the sun and riding dry trails but without dust. We reached the site of Pampa Flores that is around 700 to 1,000 years old. Then we passed a sketchy but very fun singletrack following a canal and we started to get into the “lomas” or the hills of Pachacamac. During this time of the year, this area receives a lot of humidity, in middle of the Peruvian winter, and the hills gets very wet sometimes and start to appear the Amancaes flower that it’s a native flower from this part of our geography. We reached the muddy and slippery section at the end of our climb and we had an interesting taste of how is the mud in Pachacamac, very slippery. We passed the muddy section and then all was downhill! We descended until we reached the town of Pachacamac following fast and flowy trails for around 20 minutes.



At the end of the ride I showed Howard and Joanne a very, but very nice restaurant of typical food of Peru. Howard said was the best Lomo Saltado I’ve had (he had one the day before)! Too much food but delicious, it was a good call!



Now it’s time to visit the Inca site in Pachacamac. We went to the site and Pedro was our guide. This young man showed us all the secrets and meanings of the structures and he told us to what god or gods the Inca’s adored and offered their rituals and sacrifices. It was a very educative way to end the day and to understand a little bit the history of this area and from where the trails come. Finally, we arrived into Pisco which is a city in ruins because of the last earthquake but which is working hard to improve the way of living.



Today was too early for me but Howard and Joanne went on a boat tour to Ballestas Island. They admired the nature watching lots of birds, penguins, dolphins, sea lions and some others.



I was waiting for them inland next to the harbour to take them to an off-road adventure. I marked some waypoints to follow on the GPS and that was going to be our “guide” to cross the dessert and reach the highway again. In all that area I’ve been a couple of times in the farthest side and many other on the nearest side to Paracas, the National Natural Reserve.



We went visiting different beaches and attractions like the disappeared Candelabro. In one of those visits, on the return to the track, we started to go on the same road we came. We saw for second time the exhaust pipe lied in the middle of the track and I said “look another pipe” and immediately after, I realized that we are returning on the same way. The GPS was telling me that was happening and the pipe finished with all doubts. We turned 180° and went towards the next waypoint. We reached the Independence Bay and we had an amazing view of that area filled with seagulls, pelicans and flamingos between other birds. We went to the little houses right next to the shore of the bay for having lunch but it is Sunday and fishermen’s are in Pisco! No lunch unfortunately but we meet a man that was coming out from the ocean with a net filled with shells, crabs and a very nice (and tasty) octopus.



We followed other paths and we were on the right direction! The last part was similar to a Paris Dakar race where you have around 50 meters wide of hard packed clear sand dune and kilometers in front to step on the gas. Around 100 Km/hr, passing the dunes and little bumps like a mountain bike can do. We had around 100 Km of fun inside the dessert of Paracas and Ica.

Once in the highway it was time for lunch. We went to Ica and we visited Huacachina which is an oasis with a big lake in middle of the dessert, in middle of nowhere. We had another great lunch but this time was not Lomo Saltado, it was now fish covered with a seafood sauce and the other dish was rice with seafood which is something similar to fried rice with all kind of local seafood. I had a traditional rice and chicken. Again it was a delicious meal! We hit the highway again a we drove around 80 Km to Nasca, our next destination. I’m ready for day 3!