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Photo Journal: Cusco to the Amazon, Peru

January 29, 2015

by Mea­gan Broughton

Rid­ing by fields of vibrant red Quinoa. Pass­ing through remote vil­lages where Quechua (the lan­guage of the Incas) is still the main lan­guage spo­ken. Watch­ing the sun rise over the white-capped Andes with camp cof­fee in hand. Climb­ing the twist­ing moun­tain side back­roads of the Ama­zon to a cab­in tucked far and away.

My first week of “work” with Sacred Rides back in June 2014 is still very fresh in my mind — a mem­o­rable week worth shar­ing with fel­low globe-trot­ting-adven­ture-enthu­si­asts like you. 

It went some­thing like this…

Wait­ing patient­ly by my phone, I received the call on a Mon­day morning:

“Mea­gan, I regret to inform…the oth­er can­di­dates that you have been select­ed for the posi­tion with Sacred Rides.”

From light­ning-fast low to dizzy­ing high, I imme­di­ate­ly accepted.

Tuesday’s team “meet­ing” was at the trail­head of 3 Stage, a tech­ni­cal set of rocky and rooty trails just out­side the town of Colling­wood, Ontario, where I met our crew for the first time. 

A SHOT OF PISCO (PERU’S NATIONAL DRINK) LATER — A FORESHADOW TO WHERE MY WEEK WAS HEADED — WE HAD HIT THE TRAILS ON WHAT WOULD BE ONE OF MANY ADVENTURES MY FUTURE WOULD HOLD WITH SACRED RIDES. 

A seed I had plant­ed in the inter­view process — attend­ing an Explorer trip to under­stand what it entails — came to fruition.  I was told that Fri­day (4 days from that moment) I was head­ing off to Peru. 

Wednes­day led me to the Trav­el Med­ical Clin­ic for vac­ci­na­tions and shots out­dat­ed from my child­hood, Thurs­day I was bor­row­ing a bike box (which is still sit­ting in my garage — sor­ry Robb!).

By Fri­day I was on a plane to Lima, Peru for an 11 day moun­tain bike adven­ture from Cus­co to the Ama­zon and every­where in between.

With 10-time Peru­vian Nation­al Down­hill Cham­pi­on, Wayo Stein, as our Lead Guide, we did a lit­tle more than shots of Pis­co (although we may have done a few of those as well).

A spe­cial shout out to my fel­low rid­ers  of the June 2014 Cus­co to the Ama­zon trip.  An expe­ri­ence for my mem­o­ry books! 

Top  image, from left to right: Mau­rice, Mar­cus, Zita, James, Miguel, Mea­gan, Wayo and Rus­so.   Behind the cam­era was fel­low rid­er Kathleen. 

I encour­age you to take a few moments to scroll through the images from my incred­i­ble jour­ney that took me from Ontario to the Amazon. 

Ontario to the Ama­zon, may the pack­ing begin! 
Even in the hills of Cus­co, there are busi­ness lessons to be learned. This pho­to cost me a “Sub­lime Bar”.
I eat it for break­fast every sin­gle morn­ing. Nev­er would I have guessed Quinoa is this incred­i­bly beautiful!

Miguel and Kath­leen, tak­ing it all in.
Meh, just rest­ing up by this ancient Peru­vian ruin. No big deal. 
Kath­leen push­ing hard to the top. 
Back roads.
Assis­tant Guide, Rus­so, and I rip­ping the descent! Oh, did I men­tion Rus­so is 5‑time Peru­vian Cross Coun­try Cham­pi­on? Yep, this dude has some seri­ous lungs and legs.
Salt Mines near Maras. This place was unreal. 
A per­fect back­drop for a pic­nic lunch
Rid­ing through ancient tombs. 
One of the many unique and remote cab­ins we rest up in. 
The mar­ket near the Machu Pic­chu train station. 
Machu Pic­chu. 
We stopped for a mechan­i­cal on a remote back­coun­try road. Min­utes lat­er, down from the hills, we were accom­pa­nied by these two local artisans. 
San Pedro Lodge. Loved this place! 
Pup­py love <3. 
Camp­ing above the clouds in Manu Nation­al Park. The sun­rise was well worth the effort. 
This lit­tle guy may have been the cul­prit of emp­ty ener­gy bar wrap­pers found in James’ room! 
Mar­cus and Zita still smil­ing after a leg burn­ing descent into the jun­gle bor­der­ing the Amazon. 
Well-deserved grub!
Lead Guide, Wayo, and I before jump­ing in the boat.
I savoured every last drop (a.k.a. I chugged it). Inca Kola, put it on your Peru buck­et list. 
A retired riverboat.
Jaguar paw print found on one of our hikes. It was fresh!
Kath­leen and James on the final leg of the big descent. 
All in a days work. 

Check out upcom­ing depar­ture dates for the Cus­co to the Ama­zon trip HERE.