Well the end of the Vuelta Sudamericana bike tour has finally come for me. I am writing this post from Cusco, which is where I leave the tour. The others will continue on to Lima and finish on December 13th, whilst I will be touring Peru with Anny until December 27th, but not on bicycle.
The last day and a half I have not been able to cycle, due to periodic crippling stomach cramps. It is not the way I would have wished to end the tour, but we cannot help getting sick. I just hope that I recover in time to do the 4 day Inca Trail starting on the 30th of November. In total I was on the truck for 3.5 days of the tour due to sickness. At no time did I consider taking the truck except when I was sick.
On the half day before I had to take the truck we reached over 4,300 metres above sea level, so that is the highest I have ever cycled. We have been at high altitude so long now though that it didn't feel that different to cycling back home in Zurich. Probably when I return to sea level I will feel super energetic. One of the particpants on the tour claims that upon returning to sea level we will have an increased sexual libido - that remains to be seen.
Looking back on the tour, it was a fantastic experience. The group were a great bunch and almost everyone got on well together. The scenery in places was stunning and the riding was tough, just as it had promised to be. Definitely I will be keeping in touch with some of the people in the group, and definitely I hope to ride with them again in the future. I have already tried to persuade a couple of them to enter La Marmotte in July.
I will update the last few posts with photos when I get a chance, and there will be quite a bit more posting over the coming weeks, some of it related to fitness (the Inca Trail for example) and some of it related purely to travelling (the Amazon and Nazca lines etc).
