Day 6 Chunci to Ingapirca

Today, 11/8/10, was supposed to be the first day that we were to bushcamp.  However, that did not work out!  We left Chunci with fairly clear skies and with the temperature really pleasant for riding.  There was a reasonable amount of climbing to do today and it was on smooth tarmac and with comfortable gradients to start with.  Just before the lunch stop the wind increased a little and the temperature dropped slightly.  We had a good lunch before setting off again to find a different story for the afternoon.  The Pan American Highway changed on a number of occasions to the PA DUSTway, and the wind also became very strong.  Unmade sections of the road gave us a new experience whenever we were overtaken by trucks etc., a cloud of dust to breath in.  One section of partly completed concrete sections was also accompanied by strong winds reducing uphill speeds to around 4kph.  2 riders were blown off there bikes by the wind.  But on top of that we arrived at the ancient Inca site of Ingapirca to find that the access road to was dug up and the trucks could not gain access, therefore no bushcamp!  We were booked into alternative accomodation of two hostals which had seen better days.  It actually proved to be a blessing in disguise as heavy rain during the night meant that our tents would have been soaked.  Packing them away for the next camping night in 2 weeks would have given us a great problem.  So we had ridden about 70K, climbed over 1900 metres and actually had a good evening together in our new homes for the night at 3200 metres!

Pan American DUSTway!