Cusco to Lima

So, after Rich's pocket was picked, we left Cusco without Cashcards, but with enough money to see us most of the way to Lima.

I wont bore you with all the details of the ride from there to Nazca, but it was tough going. Very tough. Without a doubt, the hardest week of this trip, and our lives. The road climbs and drops from c.2000m to over 4000m at least 3 times, and there's not a flat bit of road to be seen. We did manage our biggest climb in a day so far though: a whopping 2040m, on the road to Abancay!

Though we didn't do it on that stretch of road, we took to truck-surfing a bit on the uphills when we were lacking a bit of motivation. Its a simple sport really, you just wait for a heavily-laden, slow-moving lorry to come up a hill, then put on a little turn or speed as its going by, and grab onto the back as it passes. You can then coast along up the hill until a) you can't breathe in the Black smog anymore or b) your arm drops off. This was a rare occurrence, as there was very very little traffic on the road, but it was a real boost to morale when we got a free km or 2 out of a nice, slow lorry

The final 90km or so, where we drop out of the Andes down towards sea level, was particularly rewarding as we met a Japanese couple - Hiroshi and Nana - sweating and straining going in the other direction. Had to pity them, but it was good to feel like we're doing this the right way round for a change!

But, it was a really great week of riding, not least because of the unbelievable scenery we enjoyed right along the route. As always on this trip, it would change fairly regularly, as we started off in the green hills of Cusco, and rode through rocky gorges, high, scrubby, altiplano-like pampa and finally dropped into the hot, parched desert around Nazca.

We met some great people along the way as well, like when i got a puncture we couldnt fix (our patch glue had leaked everywhere.) We had to walk back to the nearest village and ask about for help. A nice guy called José helped out by selling me his own inner tube off his bike. He insisted on fitting it for me as well! Meanwhile, almost everybody in the entire village had crowded round to see these two Gringos on bikes and they were utterly fascinated by us. It was quite bizarre, to be surrounded by so many staring sets of eyes! Some of the girls were really keen on our beardy faces as well, and we had to have our photos taken with some of them, and then write our email adresses on their arms!

Not everyone we met was as obliging as José and his friends though... We stopped in a horrific little hospedaje one night, when we were high up in the mountains and the weather was closing in. We agreed a price, but then refused to pay it all in the morning as the door to the yard where the toilet was, was locked all night, after promising it'd be open (a big deal when your digestion works as poorly as ours). We'd already paid full Gringo-price so we thought it was fair enough. The old owner lady didnt take kindly to this at all and refused to listen to our reasons. She tried nicking stuff off our bikes, so we decided to just ride off, at which point she made a throat-slitting gesture at me. This made us kind of paranoid for most of the morning that she was going to send her 4 biggest sons after us to recover the rest of the debt with interest. Happily no-one came after us and we made it through the day unharmed.

We rolled into Nazca on the 7th day, truly shattered but very proud of ourselves. We treated ourselves to half a chicken and chips each, and couldnt understand the waitresses surprise, until we saw the size of the portions; and then we saw a family of 8 on the next table had ordered the same amount of food between them all! But, we demolished it well and truly, adding anoher huge acheivement to a week already packed with success.

we didnt have enough money left in the kitty for 4 more days riding to Lima, so we were forced to book onto a bus to the Capital, where my bank cards were waiting at the post office. We just had time to ride out to the Nazca lines for a quick look, which was frankly underwhelming. You can go up a little tower and see 'the tree' and 'the frog'... and they're small. Way smaller than i thought they were anyway. I think you get a better perspective of it all from a plane to be honest; the hundreds of geometric shapes and lines all over the desert is probably far more spectacular from up there. But The tower was a huge disappointment, especially after youve pedalled your achey legs through 25km of desert to get there!

But we got on the bus to Lima, to get some cash, some food and to have a 25th birthday bash for me!