We left Abancay and headed straight up one of the mountains on very steep switchbacks all the way to the high planes on top. It got cold quickly. Another great ride with the beauty of the Alps all around us. Massive, impressive, beautiful nature ... a great way to wake up.
Made it to Cusco, the heart of the Inca Empire, and went straight to the Honda dealer ... not much of a dealer but with good people there. Their mission for the next 2 days is to check, repair, and get the bikes back to good condition ... hopefully ... leaky front forks, miscellaneous electric problems, rattling steering bearings on 7 of the 8 bikes ... it will take a while.
Getting the bikes ready to perfect working order is a sensible thing to do right before we plunge down on the other side of the Alps to the Amazon jungle in a couple of days.
In Cusco, we had nice lunch overlooking the Plaza Kusipata which is a block from the great Plaza de Armas with its massive cathedrals, central plaza, surrounding colonial buildings, and lots of tourists from all over the world.
Cusco is such a nice city. A well deserved UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. Lots of memories here. I was here with the family 20 years ago when the kids were 9 and 11.
After Cusco, we headed to Ollantaytambo which is were the train to Machu Pichu departs from. We rode a Sprinter Van with Willy who told use the entire history of the Inca Empire and of Peru in one hour flat.
From the two competing legends on how the Incas got started to their expansion throughout Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, to the arrival of Pizarro, the Spanish Conquistador, and his dealings with Atahualpa, the last Inca Emperor, to Tupac Amaru and his revolution in the 1700s, to Bolivar and Marti's war of Independence, to the Shinning Path and the MRTA revolutionary group and their taking over the Japanese Embassy in 1996. Needless to say, I learned a lot : )
This short review of the local history told by a Quechua speaking local had special meaning to me. He was proud of his roots, and the Incas, he was resigned to what the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores meant and the impact it had on the native populations, but he was not completely accepting its consequences even to this day.
A good conversation with a stranger is like a window into the soul of a place and its culture. Everything after that seems a little different. New places and new people seem more interesting. Like colored by a slight different color palette.
Ollantaytambo is a small village that has been continuously inhabited since the time of the Incas (around the year 1200.) It is located in a small valley, surrounded by mountains, next to the Urubamba river, and Inca-built buildings and structures all around. The whole area seems calm, settled, mature.
After a nice walk around the markets and the town, we had great pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven for dinner.
Tomorrow, we take the 6:30am train to Machu Pichu.
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