Motorbiking to Machiu Pichu

When I arrived in Cusco all the lads had already been and I wasn´t too pushed on repeating their hike anyhow, it wouldn´t be anything new as I´d heard their antics over a few beers. Paul had just been told he´d need 5 more days in Cusco before the doctor would let him travel on by bus so I had a bit of time to kill.

Down the street from our hostel were a couple of motorbike rental companies. Since we´d met the two NZ motorbikers crossing the straights of magellan I´d been impressed with using motorbikes for travel. They covered 550km the day after we met them, on those roads we were only doing 80km a day so the motorbikes were looking like a good option for the next trip when time not be so plentiful.

I hired a bike for 4 days, ignoring the voice in my head that said it might not be a good idea after the fall from the mountain bike, feck it, I was here for an adventure, not to take the bloody bus with the tourists.
The guy at the shop gave me a map, told me two places I could stay on the route and keep the bike secured, then showed me where to buy clean petrol on the route.
I´d done a bit of time on my cousin Kev´s motobike in the forest, but not a whole pile really so I figured if I could get out of the street with the rental company on it I´d be grand, how hard could it be. So I got on the bike with my rucksack strapped to the back, eased the clutch out, took off and was on my way to see the sacred valley of the incas by motorbike.
First stop was for petrol, I filled the tank for about 4 euro, then hit the road again, getting used to the bike, missing the odd gear and trying to remember to brake with my right hand, not wind the trottle open if somehing went wrong as I´d done a few times in the forest at home!

First site I visited was Sacsayhuaywaman, I couldn´t help but think how handy it was to park the motorbike up, then just walk into the site as opposed to needing to take a rest from cycling. The site was amazing, such huge stones fitted together with such precision, unfortunately, my camera was on the blink so have a look at this link for some photos of the site.
I hit the road again, winding down hill into the sacred valley proper, rich green farmland and a decent warm breeze, really enjoying myself on the bike and asking the odd local for the directions to the pisac ruins. Had to say no thank you when some local builders offered me a big mug of spirits on their lunch break.

In pisac after winding up a section of tight hairpins, I saw some inca farming terrances and some old cut stone buildings built high into the hillside. Very impressive the effort they went to as the hills were steep and the work was so good all the buildings are still standing. Next I headed along the valley to the last ruins of the day and my stop for the night Ollayantambo. I had a quick walk round the site and then drove the scrambler up the narrow inca streets to find my hostel where the lovely hostel owner Katy showed me where to park the bike out back and pointed me towards the best pizza in town. I was starving and after all the adrenaline of the day a family size pizza put me away and I slept like a log.

Next day was to be toughest day on the bike, I had two mountain ranges to cross to get to the town where I´d hike to machiu pichu from. The first mountain was paved roads reaching 4000m plus but with a lot of avalanches on the far side and the second mountain range was all dirt roads with no barriers so I´d need to concentrate or suffer the consequences.

I hit the road at 7am, eating my breakfast of bread and bananas from the market on a grass verge by the side of the road before riding the bike up the mountain side. I wasn´t long climbing before the rain started and I had to slow right down, by the time I reached the top of the pass I was an expert at taking hairpins

Hairpins on the way up From Machiu Pichu and the Sacred Valley

I wanted to get down from 4300m to the warm valley and out of the fog so I could see where I was going better. Amazing how cold you get when you´re just sitting on a motorbike as opposed to cycling.

4316m and freezing cold From Machiu Pichu and the Sacred Valley

The avalanches on the far side blocked half the road in spots, in some parts the road was undermined so I had to keep a watch out for yellow tape marking the road. The swollen river crossings were a good laugh, I eventually found the only way to keep my boots dry while crossing was to lift my feet up and gun the bike across the river in first, all the balance from the cycling came in handy.

The next valley was like a jungle and I warmed up as the gravel roads wound downhill, all sorts of trees growing by the side of the road. I reached the town of Santa Maria by noon and bought lunch of soup and stew from a nice old dear while her husband watched the bike outside. After a fill of petrol for the next mountain I left town and took a wrong turn, realising when I looked at my GPS that macchiu pichu getting further away was probably the wrong road, theyd don´t do sign posts in rural Peru and I guess tourists aren´t meant to try getting into macchiu pichu by the backroads.

After I crossed the river beside town and was on the right road I was wrecked tired. I´d been 5 hours on the bike already and between the cold, wet and fog of the mountain pass I was well tired from riding so I pulled over by the side of the road laid out my bike jacket on some gravel and with my drybag of clothes as a pillow, went to sleep for 40 minutes. A local dog woke me before my phone alarm did and his owner, amused with the gringo sleeping by the side of the road had a laugh and came over to chat. Like I´d been told, the new road to Santa Theresa was blocked by an avalanche and I´d have to take the old mountain road to get there. Nice fella, even if his directions to find the mountain road were a bit hazy. It used to be that Paul and I doubted our spanish at the start of the trip but at this stage I´d have to say that the locals are useless at giving directions, a general rough idea is all you´ll ever get and don´t even bother asking distances or time as it will mostly be wrong, nice people just useless at giving directions and of course, they run on south american time.

After 40 winks I was good to go and hit off on the bike, which thankfully started on the button every time. After about 10 minutes I came to a major junction in the dirt roads, I´d no idea which road to take so I decided I´d wait till someone came along and ask directions rather than take the wrong road. After 10 minutes a local fella came put putting along on an old bike and said I could follow him to the village as he was going there himself. Besides he said, he´d no brakes on his bike so I´d be able to keep up with him. So we took off in convoy on the narrow dirt road, winding up tight hairpins and climbing the mountain with just a few bushes or a bit of a grass verge between the dirt road and the steep drop into the valley. I reckon if the local fella had brakes he´d win the dakar as there was no way I was going to be able to keep with him, the road was muddy in spots and I wasn´t going to take any chances with the drop off so near. Plus hiaces full of people tended to appear from nowhere making it a tight squeeze between the van and the drop off.
So for about two and a half hours I rode up the mountains on the dirt roads, enjoying every minute of the great views, getting used to the motorbike on gravel and passing through the mountain villages. A local kid even ran out on the road to give me a high 5.

About 30 minutes from Santa Theresa I had to cross a flooded river fording, a combi van full of people had barely just made it across so I had a good look at the lay of the land before making my attempt. Worst thing that could happen would be for the flow to take the bike and for me to drop it in the river running, I´d have some fun trying to dry out the engine without tools. I stuck the bike in first and gunned it across, having to fight the stream with the front wheel mid way but making dry land on the other side eventually with clouds of steam rising from the engine.

Flooded Rver crossing From Machiu Pichu and the Sacred Valley

By 5pm I rode into the village and met the hostel owner who let me roll the bike into the back of his restauraunt.

Next day I got a taxi to the next town as it´s forbidden to drive along the private road to machiu pichu, don´t ask me why but I suspect it´s because the rail company have a monopoly on getting to machiu pichu. Anyhow I enjoyed the 12k hike along the railway, this was real jungle country with the rail line winding through dense vegetation along the bottom of the steep sided valleys.

Rather than get the bus at the end of the rail line I hiked uphill for 2 hours to reach machiu pichu, after three hours walking in such humid conditions I didn´t mind being fleeced for a coca cola with ice, it tasted great.

Inside the site I haggled with a local guide and paid him 10 dollars for an hour tour of the impressive site. From the endge of the ruins I could see the rail line I´d hiked along as it wound through the valleys, man I´d walked a lot to get to Machiu Pichu considering how close I´d been as the crow flew! To see the quality of the craftsman ship that allowed them to perch walls along 45 degree rock faces and the amount of work it must have taken to live and cultivate food at such a height was very impressive, equally so it was worth paying the guide to find out how the city of the incas was organised, how the buildings were laid out to catch the sun at points of the day and year, well worth the hike and bike ride.

I hiked back along the rail lines after rain covered Machiu Picchu and sent the tourists running for the rain shelters. I met a local fella walking home along the rail lines, we chatted had a coke at the end of the rail line and then shared a taxi back to Santa Theresa. He was studying tourism in Cusco and the 2 hour walk along the rail lines was his normal way home at the weekend.

I sent word to Paul that I might be a day late getting back to Cusco, some other motorbikers had arrived in the dark that evening as the rain had tuned the mountain roads to mud and it had taken them 12 hours to reach ollayantambo.

Luckily though the rain held off I hit the road at 7 next ay, enjoying the scenery even more and well in control of the bike. I took a few photos and videos, only the rivers were much lower this time round. I reached the half way point of Ollayantambo by lunch time, stopped in the square and chatted to the local police chief as the pizzeria was beside the station. I reckon he spent most of the day listening to music as he had classical music filling up the square and when he found out I was Irish he put on the wild rover, bit of a character.

I hit the road again, it was Saturday and without going fast I´d the idea in the back of my head to reach town and head out for Saturday night beers with Paul and the south african lads we´d met on our travels.

Moray terraces, From Machiu Pichu and the Sacred Valley

I reached the cultivated terraces of moray and had a walk around the site at 4pm, some of the valleys were spectacular, and the sun was well low in the sky when I reached the old market town of chinchero.

It was getting dark bt the time I left chinchero but the road was paved again, my gps didn´t have this road on it but it said I was about 13 km as the crow flies from Cusco and at 800m lower so I hadn´t that far to go, the bike had lights and I was itching to make town and head out so I headed off into the dusk, eventually reaching cusco and finding my way along the windy streets in busy traffic to the town square for two laps of honour before I dropped off the bike nearby and headed to the hostel to shower and clean up.

Myself Paul the two South africans Mike and Grant headed to a live music bar 7 Angelitos to see a live reggae band and sink a few cubra libres, we had a great night, the band played really lively stuff and we made the most of the happy hour. We even bumped into a two Irish girls I´d met in the hostel in La Paz while I was injured, Joan and Merissa and headed to a club later when the band finished.

I´d have to say the 4 days on the bike and the hike to machiu pichu was a great adventure. Don´t get me wrong, touring by bicycle is great, you always end up in the middle of nowhere as you can only cycle so far in a day so there´s definitely more adventure in cycling. But if I was going on a shorter trip with less time I´d definitely use a motorbike to see more places.