Conclusions on My Journey

I am now back in Miami where I am reflecting on the past six months. I spent these months in the countries of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. I biked most of Colombia and Ecuador. I bused mostly in Peru. I hit two bucket list items(Galapagos and Machu Picchu). I am in much better shape today than when I left. I am pretty happy that I did this trip, but I learned a lot that would cause me to do this differently in the future.  I also did not reach my original goal of biking to Ushuaia, Argentina.

What I learned about biking long distances?

1. Colombia and Ecuador are very good for biking. In both countries, roads are good. In Ecuador, roads are very good; most of them being new with adequate shoulders for separating bicycles from cars. There are lodging options close enough that a biker will have options available. In Colombia, I struggled only one time with a distance that was too great. Similarly in Ecuador, I struggled on only one leg to reach a city due to the distance. Distances are greater in Ecuador between cities, but still reasonably close.
2. Peru is not meant for bicycling in my opinion. Distances between towns are often too great to reach in one days biking. There is a lot of desert. Some of the mountain passes are at an elevations in excess of 4,500 meters. Roads often do not have adequate shoulder for biking along side Peruvian drivers. Finally, bicyclists have been robbed a number of times around the cities of northern Peru. In my opinion, Peru would be very good for motorcycling. A motorcycle could handle all of the issues above, plus there were a number of locations where it looked like you could just take off up the side of a mountain on a motorcycle.
3. I cannot understate the importance of riding light. I carried too much stuff with me; even as I paired things down. I brought a full size computer thinking I would do some work on the road (I didn't). Even my last ride when I left many of my things in the hotel, I wished I was just a bit lighter on the bike.
4. Travel/biking are sometimes competing goals. I believe I could have made it to Ushuaia, Argentina, if I had simply focused on the biking and cut out a number of tourist destinations. I am satisfied that I made good choices for me. I can think of a few places that I could have cut out or at least shortened, but not enough for me to have made up three countries in distance. Additionally, if I left these places out, I would have been left wondering if I made the right decision.

So, how will I bike in the future?

1. I will pick shorter bike distances. I think it must be very difficult to find good bike routes across entire continents. Although, I did talk with one biker who went from Amsterdam to Rome. He said that there were pretty good routes the entire distance. So, I may need to do that ride sometime. So, I think future rides will be anywhere from two to six weeks.
2. I will pick rides where the ride coincides almost directly with some places that I want to see from a tourist perspective; thus, I will not plan to do much beyond riding to destinations and visiting the destinations themselves.
3. I will ride with a minimalist gear perspective. This includes not carrying spare gear and choosing equipment that can readily be replaced in the locale where I am biking. I will probably also use just a phone instead of carrying a larger device like a laptop or tablet.
4. I will consider doing supported bike rides to further reduce the carrying weight on the bike.

So where will I bike?

1. I still need to bike Bolivia, Southern Chile and Southern Argentina.
2. I would like to do the Amsterdam to Rome ride.
3. I have heard the Camino de Santiago from Spain to France is a great bike ride.
4. I would like to check out southeast Europe; from Austria to Greece.
5. Actually, there are a lot of other places I would like to ride; just need the time.

The Final Ride on this Journey: The Sacred Valley

Riding through the Sacred Valley

The time had come to bring this journey to an end. If I had continued on to Bolivia, I would likely have not stopped for another two months. I could not think of a more appropriate way to end this journey than with a ride through the Sacred Valley.

I started out from Cusco. I rode by the ruins of Q'enqo. I stopped for a few minutes, but it did not look like there was that much to Q'enqo besides some kind of ceremonial circle. Qénqo looked more like a quarry to me than anything else. I did not look real well though.

Qénqo

Pisac

I then rode on to Pisac. Based upon the timing, I decide to stay the night in Pisac. This turned out to be a good idea. I did not know how large the ruins of Pisac were. The owner of the hotel where I stayed said it was about 5 km from the beginning of the ruins near the city to the other side. It has quite a bit of elevation change as well. The hike took me about 3 hours.

Pisac seems like a functional city. It was described by one person as the city, whereas Machu Picchu is the summer home. It was extremely well set up for defense as it sat high on a mountain with limited entry routes . The majority of the site was terraces for agricultural production. There were dwellings for military as well as farmers. Finally, there were a set of buildings that were likely a temple area.

One of the entry points to Pisac; very easy to defend

The temple area at Pisac

One of the residential areas at Pisac

Looking up at one of the ruin sections at Pisac

Ride to Urubamba and on to Maras and Moray

The next morning I left at a good time. I rode through the Sacred Valley and arrived at Urubamba fairly early (before 11 am). I had planned to stop at Urubamba; but since it was so early, I decided to continue on. Leaving Urubamba it is a stiff climb all the way to Maras. Maras is the exit for Moray another archeological site and the salineras (pools used for salt production). One theory about Moray is that it was used by the Incas for agricultural experimentation. Given the bowl shape, each terrace level has a different temperature.

Rumor has it that the salineras have been used to produce salt since the Inca times. A spring of salt water flows out of the side of a mountain. The water is guided into pools. The pools then evaporate leaving the salt. The salineras do not produce salt during the rainy season as the pools never completely evaporate

Salineras evaporation pools

Salt water from the mountain. I tasted it; very salty.

My Legs Give Out

I continued from Maras towards Chinchero. Given the ride from the previous day, hiking Pisac, the current day's ride, the climb from Urubamba to Maras and the fact that I had not eaten lunch; my legs started getting real weak as I was approaching Chinchero. Then to top it off, the skies opened up with a tremendous, chilly thunderstorm. I was struggling.

I kept going. At one point while stopped, a tourist bus pulled over and asked if I needed help. I was tired, weak, cold and hungy. They were going to Cusco. The thought of a warm shower brought joy to my being. I gladly took that ride and so ended the last ride on my bicycle for this journey.

More Ruins Near Cusco: Tipon, Piquillacta and Rumicolca

Tipon - Irrigation system / fountains still functioning

Tipon

Rumors have it that Tipon was built for the grandfather of Pachacuteq. Pachacuteq was the Inkan warrior that transformed the Inkan region to an empire. Tipon is consistent with some of the other archeological sites I have seen. Like most of the rest of the sites this one looks to have been built for dual purposes of defense and agriculture.

It has a number of terraces that would serve the dual purpose of agriculture and slowing an incoming invader. Above the terraces sit dwellings that would be a good location to attack an invading force. Finally, far above were points where lookouts could see an incoming force from a very long distance.

One thing about Tipon that was very interesting was that the irrigation system ran from very high down through the dwellings and on down to the terraces; serving as both a source for water to the residents as well as to the crops.

Another interesting thing is the mixed use of high quality and good quality stone work. This can be seen in the fountain picture above. You can see in the fountain itself and on the corners of the terraces very good quality work. The remainder is good, but not the same high quality work.

The terraces with irrigation

Looking down on the initial structures that would have been the first line of defense above the terraces.

Structures above the defense structures; This most likely was the residence of the grandfather of Pachacuteq

This residence had running water. Still does.

Piquillacta 

Piquillacta covers a wide area

Piquillacta lies just up the road from Tipon. It was most likely built in the years of 600 to 700 AD by the Huari people; about 800 years prior to the Inkas. These ruins were noticeably different than most of the ruins that I have seen in that the construction was adobe (earthen brick) and stone with adobe mortar. It is quite interesting that these adobe dwellings survive to this day given the fact that they are exposed to rain and wind. The most interesting part is the size; it was a small city. Additionally, although it had some defensive aspects, it was not nearly as defensive as many of the other sites I have seen.

Adobe construction with stone and mortar caps

Stone walls define city streets

Rumicolca 

Rumicolca - aquaduct and defensive wall

Rumicolca sits right next to Piquillacta and was most likely built at nearly the same time. Most likely, Rumicolca served as a primary defensive structure for Piquillacta as it served as block for the entire valley. Additionally, Rumicolca also served as an aqueduct as there is a canal for moving water across the top. Finally, the Inkas most likely reinforced the structure as the end cap stones were of much higher quality construction.

End cap stones of most likely Inka constructions and a view of the aqueduct at the top.