After 9 weeks of struggling up and down huge mountains Peru let me exit along a wide flat valley following a river to Lake Titicaca. It left a good final impression. But before that last stretch I got to be a tourist with my parents!
We started off with a stay in the Sacred Valley. For a few days we visited colorful markets, ancient Inca ruins and of course Machu Picchu. The Inca are known for their precision stone work and what they created did not disappoint. How they shaped and moved such large stones without heavy machinery is beyond me. Even more impressive is that they were able to create such complex architecture without a written language.
Our next destination was the Amazon. With a guide and driver we took a precarious road several thousand feet down from the mountains. We spent a night in the mountainside cloud forest before descending to the Amazon proper in Manu national park. From the end of the road a boat took us deeper into the forest where we spent two more nights. Along the way we saw 5 types of monkeys, maybe 50 types of birds, the world's largest species of rodent, countless orchids, a variety of ants and even a few frogs.
To finish off the sightseeing we spent the last couple of days in Cusco. Cusco is one of the nicest cities I've been to. It was easy to walk around, the food was good. We visited museums and beautiful ruins above the city. It has big markets and plenty of street vendors. Once my parents left I contemplated staying a little longer before returning to the trials of the road. Back on my bike though I hadn't gone ten blocks before I was wondering why I would ever choose another day in a city over another day of bike touring.
The road out of Peru.
Onto Bolivia!
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