Cusco to Raqchi Ruins

Whilst I would have liked to have stayed another day or so in Cusco, I was also looking forward to getting back on the bike and today's route profile seemed to suggest that it would be an enjoyable day's ride.

As a result, when the starter's flag dropped, I headed down the road with a grin from ear to ear, which of course had made the task of buckling my helmet chin strap a little difficult but hey, what the heck! Navigating our way of town was a tad difficult because of the nature and behaviour of the traffic, but we all managed to escape unscathed.

Finding a little cafe (which is probably exaggerating the term "cafe" in many respects) some 50KM into the ride, we decided to stop for a bite to eat and to grab a coffee, being that all four of us (Carmen, Dave, Julia and myself) were all feeling somewhat peckish and close to hitting the wall from a performance perspective.

It was a very enjoyable affair I've got to say, despite the fact the menu, and I use that term lightly, was written in a local dialect and the owner/waitress didn't speak any Spanish. As a result we ordered to an extent on the basis of taking a bit of pot luck and by pointing to the food being served up to another table.

It ended up being a meat dish served up with potatoes, rice and a few other assorted vegetables. We were then given a drink of Chicha Morada and a small bowl of jelly made from the same corn based vegetable. All of that, plus the bottle of Fanta I'd ordered costing in the vicinity of $AUD 2.OO and I've got to to you, it pretty much filled me up!

Following our sumptuous lunch we rode on to the lunch truck, some further 15-20KM away, topped up our water bottles, let the crew know we were safe and well and then continued on our way, finally pulling into our campsite some 2-3 hours later.

Once tents were erected, we then sauntered into the village nearby to take a look at some Inca ruins. It was an interesting site and I suspect rarely visited by any one other than local Peruvian tourists, which is a bit disappointing in a way given its relatively close proximity to Cusco. I mean sure, it doesn't come close to making the same sort of impression as Machu Picchu, but it is well worth a visit nonetheless.