Quince Mil

Saturday May 4

We went up into the hills north of town. We drove by Saxsaywoman. (Sexy woman) We had been up there the night before with our tour bus. It has some of the largest stones, many weighing several tons, that were used in any of the Inca structures. We did not go in as we had to buy a package deal that was $30 each and we had seen a lot of examples of their handiwork with fitting large stones. On the bikes this morning we drove by again and then went to see the large statue of Christ that overlooks the city. The view of the city is wonderful.

Then we headed south and then east. We went through a few small villages and then started winding up the mountains. The hills here, east of Cusco and going toward the jungle, were more barren and very steep. They are glacier cut with flat valleys ideal for farming. As usual there were people and animals everywhere.

As we got further from Cusco and higher into the mountains the road got very steep with switchback after switchback. We did not have a straight road all day. We left all the foliage and trees behind and we could see huge mountains covered with glaciers and snow in the distance. We have driven in the Alps and the roads there are similar but on a much smaller scale. We drove above the tree line and kept going up. We only saw one elevation sign and it was 4700 meters or 15,250 feet.

It was barren but beautiful. In every direction it would take your breath away. There are small villages up there but we couldn’t figure how they survived. They had large herds of sheep, llamas, alpaca and other strange animals. We would see women, hunched over, carrying huge bundles of what looked like sticks on their backs out in the middle of nowhere. We had no idea where they came from or where they were going as it was several kilometers to or from the next village.



In the villages there were people just sitting and kids playing along side the road. The dogs are smart enough to chase the last bike in a string of bikes.

We had bikes on reserve and some people were hungry. We found a gas station. They put 4 gallons at a time in from 5 gallon buckets, brought them out to the bikes and filled the tanks using a huge funnel. It took awhile.



There was a shack serving food and we had the choice of local trout, local chicken or chicken soup. Jan had the chicken and I had the soup. The chicken in one woman’s soup was a single chicken foot. Mine had a piece of the back.

The last 100 miles we went up and over a couple of mountains again and then down a long valley with a large river. Quince Mil is a really small town with nothing that looks like a hotel.  Our leader took us on another dirt road up a hill and through some gates to a rustic but nice jungle hotel. We had come down to around 2500 feet and the foliage is now thick with jungle plants: bamboo, palms, large trees and flowers. We are in a room that is open to the outside. I think it will work fine. No internet so I will be posting this some unknown time in the future.