Beautiful day of riding today. Came out of Arequipa mid-morning and headed pretty much straight up into the mountains. Long portions of the ride were straight, cold and very windy, but other portions were filled with switchbacks and offered some of the grandest scenery around. It was really quite breath taking. We reached a maximum altitude of 16,020 feet above sea level. After about 4.5 hours of riding, we pulled into Chivay in Colca Canyon at about 2:30pm. Oddly enough, the Peruvian Government charges foreigners S/70 ($20.66) just to enter the Village.
After checking in and unloading, we headed out to Colca Canyon. I had heard quite a bit about the Canyon and read some more, but I was somewhat stunned by what I saw. The Canyon is enormous, at 10,725 feet (3.269 meters)deep, it is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US. The canyon walls were terraced by the Incas back in the 1500s, and are actively being farmed today/ The result are some amazing panoramic views (the internet is painfully slow here, so I will load more pictures in the "Peru" folder bandwidth allows).
Today was Mike's - a self-defined noob- first real foray into technical mountain riding, and he did quite well.
Wow - Thanks Ken. Today's ride was the best by far. The last hour was series after series of twisting descent into Chivay. Riding out in the Canyon, the road was paved. Then it wasn't. at least a dozen spots where rock slides had covered a good portion of the hard-pack dirt and rock surface. We only saw two or three other vehicles. apparently all the tour buses show up in the morning. The other cool aspect of today's ride was a tunnel through a section of the mountain. If felt like driving into a mine!
In addition to Ken's photos here on the blog, you can check out some of my pics on Instagram. mullaney_mrm
Trip Summary
After checking in and unloading, we headed out to Colca Canyon. I had heard quite a bit about the Canyon and read some more, but I was somewhat stunned by what I saw. The Canyon is enormous, at 10,725 feet (3.269 meters)deep, it is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US. The canyon walls were terraced by the Incas back in the 1500s, and are actively being farmed today/ The result are some amazing panoramic views (the internet is painfully slow here, so I will load more pictures in the "Peru" folder bandwidth allows).
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Today was Mike's - a self-defined noob- first real foray into technical mountain riding, and he did quite well.
Wow - Thanks Ken. Today's ride was the best by far. The last hour was series after series of twisting descent into Chivay. Riding out in the Canyon, the road was paved. Then it wasn't. at least a dozen spots where rock slides had covered a good portion of the hard-pack dirt and rock surface. We only saw two or three other vehicles. apparently all the tour buses show up in the morning. The other cool aspect of today's ride was a tunnel through a section of the mountain. If felt like driving into a mine!
In addition to Ken's photos here on the blog, you can check out some of my pics on Instagram. mullaney_mrm
Trip Summary
Today's Leg: 129 miles (208 km)
Total Distance Traveled: 9,201 miles (15,286 km)
Total Borders Crossed: 10
Total Countries Visited: 11
Total Times Stopped by the Police/Tickets Issued: 16/0
Shaken Down by the Police/Total Times Paid: 5/1
Visits to a Holding Cell: 1
Countries Following this Blog: 29 (welcome aboard Poland)
Mike's Trip Summary
Today's Leg: 0 miles 129 miles (208 km)
Total Distance Traveled: 680 miles (1096 km)
Total Borders Crossed: 1
Total Countries Visited: 1
Total Times Stopped by the Police/Tickets Issued: 2/0
Shaken Down by the Police/Total Times Paid: 0/0
Visits to a Holding Cell: 0
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