Our hotel was on the main square of Cusco and the walls of a few of the rooms dated from the Inca empire circa 1400. The quality is quite amazing; there is often less than a millimeter between adjacent blocks. The engineering and quality of the work is such that local earthquakes regularly send walls from the Spanish conquest crashing to the ground while the Inca ones remain upright and 100% intact.From Cusco we headed out into the high Andes and for several of us the party of the night before really had a deleterious effect on our ability to ride.
Our first ride started with a climb of about 300 m starting at about 14000 ft. Altitude has a funny way of making sure that any testosterone is checked at the door. Pretty much everyone found their own rhythm and spun up the climb, arriving at the top when their personal fitness level allowed it. Once at the top we were treated to a day of riding on a portion of the Inca trail. 
We found portions of the trail very flowy, as we cruised by small settlements and farms. 
Other sections were very technical with very steep rocky steps and significant exposure off the side of the trail. 
Two sections stand out best in my mind; the first was a technical descent through a narrow creek gorge with bridges made of weaved 1 to to 2 inch tree trunks crossing from one side to the other. The other section occurred a little later in the day as we exited the gorge and wove our way around the side of the mountain that had made up the left side of the trail. One second we were riding along in a fairly enclosed place, and the next we exploded out in to the open with the view off the right side of the trail showing a small city about 2000 ft straight down below us.
Over the next few days we rode several sections of the Inca trail, progressively moving farther up in the mountains and farther out from civilization. The native population began to wear much more classic Incan clothes and the farming became much smaller in size and more reliant on physical human labor.
Most of the farming was done on small terraces leveled off the side of the mountains. Surprisingly, when you think that we were riding at altitudes up to 15200 ft., one would imagine our surroundings would include massive peaks covered in snow. Perhaps because we were only slightly south of the equator there was only small amounts of snow visible and only on the occasional peak, most of which we were told had elevations in excess of 20,000 ft. Our rides in the high Andes very definitely gave you that feeling of isolation; we were riding trails that very rarely see people other that local inhabitants, let alone mountain bikers. Jayo our guide arranged for us to have lunch one day with a local farming family. Our meal consisted of locally grown corn (the kernels are three times the size that we see here in Canada) and potatoes (potatoes were first discovered in Peru and then taken back to Europe) washed down with coca leaf tea. Afterwards we were treated to a display of locally made handicrafts by the village women. 
On the last day we finished by riding right into Cusco. The view as we descended down into the city was spectacular, and as we made our way through the city we descended many sets of stairs and would our way through a maze of side streets and alley. 
Eventually we finished right in front of our hotel in the main square of Cusco…high fives all round for a wicked Peruvian adventure.
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