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Published: September 21st 2008
Young chalk artist
Huayncayo town...many young boys trying to make a buck (or less)Well, everyone, our land trip is winding down. We are pretty pooped, and a mite tired of living out of a backpack (or duffle in Robin´s case). We just reached Lima this morning after 15 hours on a first class bus. The seats relcined, we had dinner and breakfast served, and it came with a pillow and blanket. We sat right up top in front in one of these panorama busses. I really liked that, except when we went through some heavy fog last night, tried to close my eyes, adjust the seat belt, and drift off into sleepytime. Didn´t quite work that way, but I did try. Watched movies in spanish, which slowly I´m beginning to understand more easily ( especially after about 8 weeks on the road now). So all in all, the bus ride wasn´t too bad.
Last blog I left with you all, we were leaving Huancayo and heading to Ayacucho. This is a less traveled route towards Cuzco and Machupicchu (It is one word down here...I always thought it was two words).
The road, as stated in the previous blog was dirt and dust. Nothing new for us by now. When we arrived in
Robin in Ayacucho
Nice pedestrain paths off the main plaza, Ayacucho Ayacucho we got a terrible message from our friend Tammy, whom we had traveled with her and her main man, Terry, down through southern Ecuador through northern Peru...¨The Road less Traveled ¨blog.
They had left a day ahead of us from Huraez to get to Bolivia where they were gong to meet a friend. They had planned to do the Inca Trail with family and friends...actually had t-shirts made for the trip. Upon arriving in La Paz, Bolivia, Terry came down with some excruciating stomach pain. He went to the emergency and they found he had acute pancreaitis. The had to do an emergency surgery on him and he was in bad shape...on a resperator with a blood infection. He seemed to be getting better, then a few days after the operation, he had a massive heart attack and died! This man, Terry Bingham... a fourth cousin from Hiram Bingham...the archeologist who founded Machupicchu for all us westerners, was a consumate sailor, sailing single-handedly many times. He has been crusing for about 9 years, a wealth of knowledge and a great guy to hang with. Robin and I were shocked to hear the news from Tammy. His family flew down
San Blas Weaver
Ayacucho was stronghold of Shinning Path Communists. Upon talking with this man, he teared up remembering that period in his life...very sad. to La Paz and was with him when he passed. He was cremated and Tammy and his family returned to the Northwest (Seattle) to have a memorial for him. Robin and I will never forget Terry. Please take the time to appreciate all you have and the love ones that you spend time with.
So our trip exploring the land of Peru has many memories, some high and some low, but memories never the less. So onward to the good memories now... this is coming into the real touristy area of Peru, where many people come only to see Machupicchu, maybe Lake Titicaca and Colca Canyon.
When we arrived in Ayacucho, we ran into another cruiser, Hans. His girlfriend, Louisa, was visiting him for a couple weeks. I had met Hans in Bahia Caraquez, Ecuador. He was there before us, and was sailing his boat down to Lima, Peru (where the mooring is cheaper than Ecuador). We hung out with them for a couple days in Ayacucho. Ayacucho was a really neat little town, like Cajamarca. They did a lot of artesean weavings and carvings in little barios outside of the downtown area. We hiked up to
Churches for luck
Many homes in this area would put these churches on their roofs for good luck. Bought a mini one for the boat. the bario and were blown away with the art work being done there. Ayacucho was the headquarters of the communist group , ¨The Shinning Path¨in the decade of the 80´s. There were a lot of violence and deaths at the time. This one man who showed us his weavings (and we bought some) had tears in his eyes as I asked him a little about that time. I think he lost some family members. Another young man who showed us a lot of the work the people in that area did, said that they were trying to get more tourists to come there to help better their standard of living. You will see a video of this young man, and some photos show their work they do. He was a very proud young man, and had quite a knowledge of his culture and it´s positive attributes. We wer duly impressed.
As were getting ready to continue our trip south to Cuzco.. we walked to a recommended bus terminal to buy our tickets. We bought the tickets and headed back to our hotel. The next morning, got up early as it was a 6:30am bus ride, and took a taxi
Nice succulent/cactus garden
Very dry, arid area in these peruvian mountains, at 10,000ft....big cactus and succulent. to the bus terminal. When we got there, the lady says to us,...oh, I´m so sorry, but the bus didn´t come from Lima, so we are sending everyone to Andahuaylas (the next town) in small colectivos (vans). Those are not comfortable,,,so we said ¨NO thanks¨. She said a bus would be coming for the evening trip, would we want to take that one? We were standing there comtemplating an overnight bus (which is not recommended due to possible drinking in the day by the driver, or robberies at night along the road). The next thing we know, some ¨suits¨come in with some policemen and a video camera is rolling. We are just standing there gawking, not knowing what is going on. Robin asks the police man what is happening. He tells us that this bus company is being shut down! They don´t have the proper permits, or something like that. So we get our money back and had to get the next bus line to carry us there (right next door). I was just glad that we had stood there gawking for a while, otherwise if we had agreed to the night bus and left, we would have returned and
More garden photo
Robin looking so debonair, eh? it would have been closed down and we wouldn´t have gotten our money back. Then on top of this...that other morning when we first bought our tickets,, there was a young Peruvian family waiting in there who had just gotten robbed at the other bus station¨, and they were robbed of money and clothes and this was at 6:30am!!!Pretty crazy stuff..one bus company was closed down, and the other just had a robbery in daylight!
We came to find out that the bus company that was shut down had actually had a horrific bus accident about 3 weeks prior...on the same road we were going to take. The driver had been drinking, and about 20 people had been killed! So all in all, we were pretty glad that it was shut down. The next morning when we arrived at the other bus station, there were two police there and secuirty was pretty tight. It sure is amazing how sometimes timing is everything..-
So we headed off for another 8-10 hour bus ride to the small town of Andahuyllas. Another dirt road, but a little wider, which was great. Not too much traffic for concern. Stopped for the roadside
Cuzco
Plaza de Armas...lots of tourists and churches lunch, which we had decided to stop buying and eating. Mostly it consists of some potatoe soup, then a rice, meat, salad plate. We had brought some food to make sandwiches and fruit, so we sat by the roadside in the shade and ate that. Tasted a whole lot better. Definitely getting tired of that kind of food after a month on the road.
We arrived in Andahuyllas just as it was getting dark. We had a hotel in mind and went there. It was OK, but it was sooo cold that that night we did a simply hand wash-up after dinner and crashed out. Robin had been fighting a small cold, and I had just started developing the same one. We had planned to go visit a lake outside of the town the next day, spend one more night, then head on to Cuzco. I didn't feel too good, so we just hung out and walked around town, napped, read, and geared up for the last leg of this part of the trip. The town was pretty nondescript. Hardly any tourists there, I don't think we saw any, actually. The room and the food was wanting ( at
Another view of Cuzco
Very dry, sunny city...miss the trees in our mountains, only trees here are Eucalyptus, no native trees... least from a foreigner's perspective). I was glad to move on the next morning, and pretty excited to finally be going to Cuzco, which we had heard so much about.
The road to Cuzco was dirt for about half way, then it turned into pavement...wow, that was nice..no more bumps and dust everywhere. From here on out for the rest of our trip we were staying on the main Pan American highway..;nice first class busses,. etc... YEAH!
Cuzco was amazing, is amazing. Very cosmopolitan, lots of services aimed at tourists...great resturants, lots and lots of artesian handicrafts. In fact there is so much handicrafts, you really have to just walk past it. We had bought so much stuff already, but soooo easily could we have bought more and more. Unfortunately we had to lug everything with us as we purchased it. I felt like a pair of horse blinders would have been perfect to have on.
We hung out there at a nice place called Kamilah Lodge. From there we arranged to go to Machupicchu for an overnight. You take a train ride to a small town called Agua Calientes. From there you catch a bus to
Photo op
Women, not men, would dress in traditional dress with a sheep ( or llama) and get paid for their photo. take you up to Machupicchu (which is on the top of a moutain). Then you pay for the entrance fee, and get a guide. It was a little pricey, but obviously once there, you are going to pay whatever is needed to get there. We have since spoken with some peruvian guides (good people) who are pretty upset about the prices, as they are exhorbitant for the locals here.. Here is their beautiful heritage and so many can't afford to go there. There are no busses that go there, you have to get there via train. The cheapest train is $75 US$ roundtrip. The bus to go up is $12 US$, and the entrance fee is $43 US$. Your hotel and food and guide are in addition to this. It is truely a cash cow for the Peruvian government, and I don't blame them to capitalize on it, but I agree with the locals that they should be able to get there and see it at a way discounted price. OK, enough politicizing with that.
Machupicchu was absolutely fantastic. Awe inspiring, and all that stuff. Some things in the world, man-made or natural, are quite engrossing to experience first-hand.
Me in Cuzco
Lots to see in this town...too much handi-crafts, overwhelming after a while. I remember seeing the Eiffel tower and the Colesium in Rome. It took my breath away. Machupicchu was the same. You see all the photos, and it looks exactly like that. Pretty amazing. We had a guide for a few hours, and that was nice. We got up early and took an early bus (starts at 5:30am), then walked through the area during the early morning fog. By the time the guided tour started, the sun was coming out and cleared up beautifully. We snapped, snapped and snapped lots and lots of photos. My camera stopped working, so we had to buy another camera in Cuzco for Robin. I'm really glad we did that. I couldn't imagine not having a camera and being there.
I hope you enjoy the photos. As I write this we are back in Bahia de Caraquez. I have more to write about; our trip to Lake
Titicacca, and then our trip to Arequipa and Colca Canyon. I thought I would do this blog in a couple stages. In a couple days I will enter the next leg of our trip. Hope you all are well, healthy and happy. All our love, Robin & Jean
Heading on train to Machupicchu
Along side of train passed the starting point of the Inca Trail.. here are those lovely men who carry all your crap....
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