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Published: April 14th 2013
Well after six exciting months on the road we find ourselves sat in an Internet cafe (Ben on keyboard, Shelly on photos) in Central Lima writing the final blog on our trip through the Americas from Canada into the U.S.A. then through Central America and finally South America as far as the Andean Altiplanos of Bolivia. We get on a 12 hour flight in 8 hours to Amsterdam then back to Old Blighty. Our wish for the snow and ice to have dissapeared seems to have been left unanswered so we've got jumpers and coats at the ready!!
The last blog written by Shelly was during my 4 day trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu so i'll start from there. The pick up was supposed to be at 5.30 but as they couldn't find the hotel we didn´t get going till 7. I was the last of 14 on the bus. I was gutted that Shelly couldn´t come but it wouldn't have been a good idea at all with her knee problem so it was just me. Thankfully all the other people in our group were English speakers including 5 Americans, 5 Canadians a Norweigian, an Irish couple
and myself. We travelled by bus 82kms from Cusco winding our way through the valleys and the beautiful Andean mountain villages of Chinchero, Urubamba and Ollantaytambo and stopped at the end of the bumpy gravel road at the bridge over the raging Vilcanota river and the start of the Inca Trail. Here we got our tickets and Passports checked and stamped and got our backpacks on and got on the trail. Disaster struck straight away because after a couple of pictures of the bus stop and a group photo at the gate over the bridge and the official start of the trek the camera we had bought in Guatamala decided to stop working (focus error) and didn't work for the rest of the trek. It took all my resolve not to smash it to bits but i realised i needed evidence for the extremely snotty letter i'm gonna write to Panasonic when i get home so it was saved. So from then on i relied on the rest of the group, mainly the three Americans Tony, Joe and Matt to take some pictures of me and the experience which at time of going to press still haven't materialised....... Anyway...... I
Cusco
A funny little van we saw on the street that looked like a toy!was carrying about 10kgs including sleeping bag and roll mat, which was more than enough for the Altitude. I was blowing hard before i even broke a sweat! We started at an altitude of 2500 metres which made it a little easier as we´d been in Cusco for 2 days at 3700 metres so i was well acclimatised. We crossed the river and started up the valley through mostly farmland, with cattle, Llamas and plenty of Mules grassing. There we´re also plenty of Mules on this first leg of the hike passing us occasionally laden with all sorts of food and equipment for the various groups and for the local farms in the valley. After a couple of hours and a few drink stops we started to climb steeply up out of the Valley and farms and started getting some great visas of the Vast Andean mountain range including in the distance the snowcapped peaks of Salkantay at 6271 mtrs and Verinica 5750 and the first of the Inca ruins, the Hillfort of Huillca Raccay. We stopped for some lunch which the porters have ready for you at a pre arranged spot before pushing on for 3 more hours to
our first campsite of Wayllabamba, a small village at 3000 mtrs. We arrived at 5.30 ish and ate dinner then sorted our gear out ready for our first night under the stars. I ended up sharing with one of the American lads, Tony, which was abit rubbish as i´d hoped for a tent to myself as Shelly´s place on the tour couldn´t be filled. After an average nights sleep on very thin roll mats we were up for 5.30 for breakfast and a choice of Coffee, Tea or Mate which is the Andean favorite of Coka Tea. All the Chaskis(porters) swear by it for stopping altitude sickness. It isn´t too bad either with a spoonful of sugar, apparently one of the many Alkaloids in it oxygenates the blood and no it doesn´t get you high in the slightest and is totally legal in Peru and Bolivia!So after pancakes, Porridge and Mate we set off to start the hardest day of the trek 12kms of steep moutain trail towards the highest point of the trail, Dead woman´s pass at 4200 metres(13,779 feet) I got there in about 5 hours and was really feeling the altitude taking slow small steps and huge
gulps of the thin air. Thankfully i didn´t suffer any altitude sickness though just extreme thirst and the need for oxygen in my blood. We performed an Ancient Quechua ritual with 3 Coka leaves and a stone each to make a small cairn type pile and an offering to the Inca god, Apu, the highest mountain that towered in the distance. We walked steeply down for 2 more hours to our second campsite at Pacamayo a small camp near some Inca ruins 3600 metres up. It was cold and the rocky ground even harder to sleep on but after some lovely food and some serious star gazing i managed probably 5 ish hours kip. The stars up there are just incredible, no light pollution and the altitude seemed to make them even brighter! The Milkyway was the brightest i´ve ever seen it and i saw some huge shooting stars, one lasted about 5 seconds!!! We woke again at 5.30 on the 3rd day to a big breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee. The 3rd day was to be the longest although not as hard as the previous day but almost as high! We set of at 7ish in
low cloud and light drizzle and continued down the valley a couple of kms, the cloud cleared and the sun popped out. We then started getting some of the most spectacular views of the trek, we were in the valley below the 5750 mtrs Veronica and also could see for about 40 miles across the various peaks and valleys as we entered the Sacred Valley and closed in on Machu Picchu. The flora and fauna was just stunning. Waterfalls in every direction, Humming Birds, huge Butterflies, Falcons, LLamas all with a backdrop of huge shear snowcapped peaks and green valleys. We hiked till lunch and had a long rest at Runcaracay, the second highest pass on the trail at 4000 mtrs. I could just see the top of the highest hillfort at Machu Picchu from where we were, about 8 kms as the crow flies. We hiked for another 5 hours after lunch towards the 3rd campsite and came across the most impressive of the 6 or 7 ruins on the trail, the huge terraces of Winay Wayna (meaning in Quechua Forever young), the final stop for the Incas before reaching Machu picchu, here there were remains of the hostel
type rooms where people slept and rows of baths owing to the fact that there were several fresh springs channeled through the site. The Incas worshipped Pachamama (mother earth) and also the four elements, water being the most precious to them so it is believed that these were ritual baths using the pure water from the mountains maybe to iron out a few wrinkles! It was very cold water and i imagined it would make certain parts of the body even more wrinkly!!!! We eventually got to camp just before dark and ate the delicious food that the cook had prepared. I then had the coldest shower i've ever had and crashed exhausted in my sleeping bag. The wake up for the final day was 3.45, bloody ridiculous if you ask me but necessary for the porters to get the camp cleared and catch the first train from Machu picchu at 5.30. I was praying for a good sleep but at around 2 a.m the rain started......and didn't stop! We got up at 3.45 and got our wet gear on and set off in torrentail rain and thick low cloud to the aptly named Sungate, the final checkpoint and picture
postcard stop before the 1 hour hike down to Machu Picchu. Pachamama must've been making up for the previous 3 rain free days and needless to say when we got to the sungate it was raining just as hard and the cloud cover brought the visibility down to just beyond the end of my nose. I was gutted, no Machu Picchu, Wayna Picchu, no shear cliffs and huge terraces, just 14 drowned rats and a guide that said he'd not seen rain like this in the 10 years he'd been a guide which was no consolation. So we headed down the final deccent from the Sungate into Machu Picchu and arrived an hour later, cold wet and tired but for me still with a great sense of acheivement. As we walked around the ruins with Miguel our guide the clouds lifted slightly and the rain eased and we finally got to see the terraces and the Sun, Water and Earth Temples and a faint outline of Wayna Picchu, the huge peak right behind Machu Picchu, and even saw the misty outlines of some Llamas on the higher terraces. We did the tour for 2 hours after which most of us
elected to get straight on the bus back to Aguas Calientes and civilisation. We All went back to a restuarant where i got into some dry clothes and ordered pasta and a beer. I had a 1.5 hour wait till my train back to Ollayantaytambo, so dried out next to a big pizza oven with another beer. Bliss. I got back to Cusco and met Shelly in Paddy's Irish Bar in the centre of town for a big hug and kiss and a long chat. I slept like a log that night!
The day after, reunited again, we booked a night bus to La Paz, Bolivia 10ish hours. We found a hostel in the centre of La paz, near to Plaza de san Fransisco and went to explore. We found La Paz to be a buzzing, vibrant place with all sorts of sights and smells, including the Witches Market that sells all number of herbs and potions including LLama foetuses for fertility or good luck or something, we never got a straight answer. On the Sunday we spent most of the day in a bar watching England rugby in the 6 nations followed by free reign of the dukebox
which resulted in a Beatles singalong with a Liverpudlian bloke who bought us way too many Jeiger shots. We were messy and the next day was a right off !!! We booked to bike down the Death Road the next day so another early start! We got all our gear, helmet, pads, suit etc and got on the bus at 7. The day was fantastic, 56kms of road and track, all downhill. 22kms of tarmac roads where some of us got up to 40 MPH then 34 miles of the actual death road which was pretty scary in parts especially when you're trying to keep up with the guide and hitting stones the size of house bricks. The cliffs where sometimes 3-400 feet straight down, no barriers. There were plenty of memorials at the side of the road where people had gone over. I stayed as close to the inside of the road as possible and so did Shelly who was a little steadier in the saddle. we both finished in good time though and had a beer, lunch and a swim in a pool at the restaurant at the end. Great day. We moved on from La Paz the
next day and headed for Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We were both rather unimpressed with Copacabana and Shelly even more so as she'd been 7 years previous and could see the difference. There was litter everywhere and the place was filled with dreadlocked soap dodgers. It just didn't have a great feel so we stopped 2 nights and early on the 3rd day caught a bus back into Peru and Arequipa. Arequipa was really nice. It had a very Colonial feel and was very historic. By this time we were very aware that we were running out of time on our travels so we booked a bus and hostel in Colca Canyon for the next morning.....3 o bloody clock.....We headed out for food with intentions of an early night and ended up meeting Mary and Paul from Leeds and got gabbing for hours with them so i think we had about 3 hours sleep in total. We got picked up for Colca Canyon which was a 7 hour journey North West, deep into the Andes. The journey included a few stops along the way including Cruz del Condor where we saw the biggest 'flying' bird in the
world sat on a rock getting ready to take to the wing for the day. With a back drop of about 3000 mtrs it was a very impressive place. We dropped the rest of the people on the bus off for their 1 and 2 day hikes and we got dropped at the Pachamama hostel in the village of Cabana Conde. The Hostel was great, very rustic with a great atmosphere and Luy the owner was great too. We had decided to trek down into the canyon on our own and after some research found out there was a 15 kms return hike from CabanaConde to the bottom of the canyon 1.5 kms below where there were some cabins an eating place and a swimming pool right next to the river so we wasted no time, got a backpack ready and set off. Before we had even left the village we had found a companion in a young, Collie/Pointer i think who walked all the way down the canyon with us and shared our water and scraps of food. The scenery was once again stunning. we could see 2-3 miles right down the valley and could pick out little farm
La Paz, Bolivia
Plaza San Francisco houses on the opposite side of the valley surrounded by row after row of terraces reaching right up the mountainside. We saw a Condor gliding above us but only the one unlike a couple we chatted to before we set off who'd seen about 20!!! Shellys troublesome knees started playing up 3/4 of the way down and she was in agony by the bottom so the first thing we did when we reached the cabins was find a guy who had mules and booked one for Shelly's return up the canyon. We ate and drank and i had a swim and then after about 2 hours i set off back up as the bloke with the mule assured me he would catch up. I got a march on and in 1 3/4 hours just as the rain started i was back in the hostel waiting for Shelly who arrived an hour later wet and cold and saddlesore! We had some great food, i had a great Alpaca steak, and a few beers and got tucked up in bed. We got picked up the next day at 10.30 for the long,bumpy trip back to Arequipa. After stopping at a very tourisy
La Paz, Bolivia
Plaza San Francisco 'hot springs' at Chivay which to me was just a hot swimming pool we stopped for an all you can eat buffet for $10 of which i took full advantage! We got back to Arequipa at 5.30 and back in the same hospedaje. We showered and changed and went for a walk to grab a bite and almost immediately noticed a Gringo dressed as a weird green Leprechaun sporting a tall Guiness hat which could only mean one thing, St. Patrick's Day, which also could only mean one thing, beer o'clock!!!!! We found an Irish Pub (there seems to be one in every city in the world these days) which was exceedinging empty for this day of the year, probably due to the relatively astronomical prices of the alcohol. Regardless, we had a couple of bottles of cerveza and a chat with a couple from Oz and a guy from London who were all on the same package tour in Peru before heading off to find a locals bar with locals prices. We found said bar, got talking to some of the patrons and proceeded to get drunk on beer that was more than half the price of the previous
establishment! Good Paddys Day night had by all. Next day we headed for the Airport and our flight back to Lima on a reshuffled itinerary due to the fact that a surprise had been sprung on us the previous week of both our dads and Shelly's uncle coming out to Peru for a month and to catch us on the final week of our travels!!! Sadly, due to the ill health of Shelly's Grandmother, Shelly's dad and uncle had to cancel last minute, so it was to be just my dad joining us. We sat outside the Airport in the carpark waiting for a delayed flight and catching some rays when for the second time in my life we experience a small earthquake, well more of a large tremor, a very weird experience being sat on solid tarmac and being shook for 3-4 seconds but i must say a very exciting experience too, although a full scale earthquake in a built up area must be absolutely terrifying!!
We got to Lima and killed a few hours waiting for dad's flight by eating, drinking, ringing home and checking emails etc. Finally at 8pm ish a very weiry looking Tony came
through into arrivals we headed for a prebooked hostal in Miraflores. In the taxi back he also announced that in the light of Shelly's dad and uncle having to cancel that my mum would be coming but unfortunately not for another two days. This gave us and Tony time to chill so for the next two days we took steady strolls exploring the lovely suburbs of Miraflores and Barranco and the nearby coastline. On the second night we headed back across the city to the airport and picked up my surprisingly fresh looking mum, Andrea before heading back to Miraflores. We stopped that night and the next before getting on a bus and heading 4 hours south down the Peruvian coast to Paracus, home to the Ballestas Islands and Paracus National Reserve and its wealth of flora and fauna. We found a lovely little Hospedaje with a great roof terrace overlooking the bay where we sat for a while whilst we booked two of the tours available with a young guy at the hospedaje. Next day we headed out to the jetty, a short walk from the hotel and got on the boat that would take us on the 40
minute journey out to the islands. Here we would see huge collonies of seabirds including, Cormorants, Peruvian Boobies, Humbolt Penguins, Petrels and my more and also a massive collony of 3 to 4000 Sea Lions including a nursery that was a beach filled with hundreds of mothers and pups. The islands were, for 40 years the biggest exporter of Guano (bird poo), the best fertiliser in the world apparently, in South America. The tour was fantastic and the amount of birds in the air at once was incredible. We got back 3 hours later had some food and waited for the bus for the afternoon tour which was into the Paracus National Reserve. This tour, although taking in some stunning landscapes of the surrounding Southern Nasca desert and its barron windswept sand dunes wasn't as impressive as the morning had been. We stopped for food and drink and were back to our hotel mid afternoon. Next day we had booked a bus to Nasca a further 4 hours south down the coast, the home of the famous Nasca Lines, a set of huge carvings on a flat valley floor created by the Nasca Civilisation around 200-400 AD. We actually decided
the next day not to visit the Nasca lines but instead decided to head to Cahauchi, an ancient ceremonial Nasca site with pyramids and hundreds of burial sites surrounding the site. The site was in the process of being excavatated by archeologists and only a tenth of it was visible, the rest being buried under the constantly shifting sand in the surrounding desert. The most fascinating part of the tour for me was the journey to the pyramids where we drove through huge ancient burial sites that had been plundered by grave robbers in the 40s for the treasures that were buried with the Nasca dead. There were human bones everywhere and as it was unprotected desert we could just stop at the side of the track and explore. Our excellent guide showed us remains of clothes, ceramics, human hair and the hundreds of bones that have been preserved since around 200 AD by the hot, dry climate, the dryest place in the world next to the Atacama desert a few hundred miles to the south in Chile. I actually held a scull that was just layed in the sand next to the slight dip in the ground which had
been his or her grave. Sad, moving and very fascinating, possibly slightly on the morbid side. As i chatted to our guide i realised he was freelance and propositioned him to take us straight from there to the Chauchilla Cemetery which was also an ancient Nasca site. We payed him directly, cutting out the greedy tour operators and off we went. Although still looted by grave robbers this place was now protected and properly excavated to show the mumification process used and the way they buried their dead. There was also a small museum with mummies, pictures and artefacts. Whilst visiting Chauchilla we had a constant view of Cerro Blanco peaking out between the mountains in the distant range, the biggest sand dune in the world, quite odd looking being a white mountain of sand surrounded by grey rock! We got back to the hotel mid afternoon and chilled for the rest of the day getting ready for our (Ben and Shelly) LAST bus journey of the trip, an 8 hour drive back to Lima. In the spare time of the previous 4-5 days we'd been sorting an itierary for my parents and had booked, 4 internal flights, bus journeys,
and about 6 hostals/hotels i think. Their credit card was starting to melt, but we had sorted out a pretty comprehensive tour including Cusco, for a tour of Machu Picchu, Arequipa for a trek into the Colca Canyon over the Andean Altiplanos and Iquitos to take a slightly more civilised trek into the northern Peruvian Amazon jungle for 3-4 days. All is going to plan up to press.
We got back to Lima 8 hours and 3 subtitled films later and had decided to stop in central Lima instead of the coastal suburbs so that we could be within walking distance of the Circuito de Majico del Agua, a relatively new attraction in one of Limas parks consisting of 16 different interactive water features on a massive scale, from a 100 metre tunnel of water to a 30 minute light/lazer/music show projected onto a sheet of water vapour which was mesmerising...... it blew the water show at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas out of the water!!!! boom boom....sorry!! That was to be our final night in the Americas for the forseable future and we hit the hay quite early as my parents had a taxi for 7 am
to catch the flight to Cusco and the start of their 3 week adventure and we had an afternoon flight home to the freezing temperatures back in England. We waved the parents off and killed the hours in smoggy, gridlocked central Lima starting the final blog of this trip which as you may have now realised i am finishing from elsewhere than Lima, (a week later in my parents house to be precise!!!!).........so, absentmindedly we booked a taxi for 7.30 to get us to the airport for 8pm for our 9.15 flight which looking back gave us 15 minutes grace. We were doomed from the start, the taxi was 10 minutes late then he stopped for 10 minutes to fill up on LPG, then we hit traffic! I urged him to get his foot down, which he did, but to no avail. We got to the airport 40 before the flight which in the U.K. we could possibly have got away with at a push but there wasn't a soul in sight at the Air France check in desks. Reality kicked in along with my anger that we were stuck and they had only just anounced the gate number, never
mind started boarding. After kicking my case around for a few minutes and shouting a few choice words at myself we found an airport assistant who directed us across the road to an office to see what could be done.......The answer....... nothing! As we'd booked through an agent and not the airline direct we couldn't do anything but buy new tickets so £1560 later we had flights the same time the following night! We found a hotel nearby, dumped our gear, and headed out to eat. We killed the time the following day within sight of the airport and finally we were on our way home at 9.15 pm 24 hours later!!! two words, SCHOOLBOY ERROR! The relaxed check-in of 7 internal flights in south America had lulled us into a false sense of security and it bit us on the arse!!!!
So its been a week back in Old Blighty with the enduring freezing temperatures. The heating has been on almost constantly and i'm back at work. Back to reality. Can't grumble though. We've had a once in a lifetime trip through the Americas travelling more than 19,000 miles not including the flights to and from the U.K.
We've met some wonderful people along the way including some of Shelly's long lost family in Seattle, the Steinhatchee crew in florida, Matt,Joe and Tony from the Inca trail who so kindly shared their pics with me as my camera failed at the worst time, and so many more great people along the way. Its hard to decide what the best and worst parts of the trip were but for me the one memory that has to be top is the diving in the Galapagos islands for the shear abundance of animals below the waves not to mention the ones above! Schools of Hammerhead Sharks, Eagle Rays, Giant Mantas, dozens of Green turtles, schools of thousands of Baracuda, watching a Tuna feeding frenzy, playing with Sea Lions. Also the stunning beauty of Canada, the rugged west coast of the U.S. with its giant Redwood and Pine forests, swimming with Manatees at the Wakula river Spring in Florida, the 20,000 km2 Pacaya Samira National Reserve with pristine Primary Amazon rainforrest seeing 6 species of monkey, Sloths, river Dolphins, turtles and many more wonderful flora and fauna, the awe inspiring Andean Mountains and Altiplanos of Peru and Bolivia with its Condors, Alpacas,
Llamas, and Vicunas, the Inca Trail, the list could go on. The worst was probably the Camera and cards getting stolen in Honduras and some pretty scary and very monotonous bus journeys along the way. Ciao for now!!!!!xxxxx
We'd just like to say a huge thankyou to all the people, family and friends new and old for following us and being part of our wonderful experience in the Americas either in person or with messages on here and email, we'll definately be staying in touch and hopefully visiting some of you in the not too distant future. We don't know when and where the next trip will be, possibly Africa or back to the U.S. but we're gonna keep this page open and add pictures as and when we collect them and hopefully a few blogs of trips closer to home in the U.K. this summer!
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Carole Erdman
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Steinhatchee Gang
A big hello from Bob and Carole. What a wonderful trip for you both. Thanks for sharing it with us. We must stay in touch. We want to get back to England some day and we'll certainly meet up. I'm going to Italy with my sister in Sept for 16 days and really looking forward to that. Take care and God Bless. Luv to you both. Carole