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Published: August 9th 2007
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Lima
It´s quite obvious that over fifty percent of this country lives in poverty the second you step of the plane at Lima. For starters you can take a cab for about 40 minutes to the city centre and it only costs about 5 Euros - and that´s an expensive licensed taxi - the unlicensed ones are less than half that price! Even driving into the city, the buildings are very basic, and you´re met by about 10 people in the cab at traffic lights trying to sell you useless stuff or begging for money. It´s one hell of a shock when you´ve just come from NYC.
We based ourselves about 15 minutes walk outside the main plaza in the city for a measly 10 bucks a night. We got a room with multi channel cable TV, private bathroom, breakfast included, and hot water. Well, I say hot water but I don´t think the Peruvians know what hot water is. Honestly, you can pee quicker, and probably hotter as well. It´s like heating..... it doesn´t exist here either, and every room has about 3 blankets on the bed to stop you from catching hypothermia.
Anyways, we decided to trek
into town to see what the main city was like. It´s pretty hard to breathe here as polution is everywhere, and there´s like a grey yellow smog cloud that consistently hovers above lima. It´s probably because the traffic there is mental. Everyone drives everywhere and beeps theír horn constantly for no apparent reason. Anyways, we were wondering why there was so much police presence around and it all became clear when we were met by thousands of rioters in the main plaza. Apparrently it was over teachers pay but we think it was more political than that as they were burning stuff and graffitiing the statues. It made it a bit of a bitch to get around as the streets were blocked off by police in full on riot gear, complete with tear gas guns, horses, and crazy ass tank thingys. Despite this, we still managed to get to the local markets and do a bit of shopping, bumping into kids pushing around dead pigs with sack trucks on the way - yummy!
The following day, because the main streets were still blocked off and a couple of fights had broken out, we decided to take a bus to
the nearby seaside resort of Miraflores. Taking a bus, if you can call it that, in Lima is an experience in itself. There´s no bus stops, just basically hundreds of transit vans driving along the road with people shouting out the window where they´re going. You´ve kind of got to get lucky, esepcially if you don´t speak any Spanish like us, but somehow we managed to get there in one piece, and it was far nicer than central Lima. The pollution was far less, more people spoke English, and it was kind of nice to be near the sea again, even though that´s well contaminated, and you shouldn´t swim in it. Someone should tell the dumb ass surfers that - don´t they read Lonely Planet?!
All in all, we would advise anyone going to Lima to just use it as a stopover, and get out as quickly as possible - shithole!!
Cusco
What a relief to get out of Lima! We caught a quick flight straight to Cusco, a lovely little city 3326m abouve sea-level, and according to the Incas, the centre of the universe. It was apparent to us as soon as we stepped off the plane,
that we had insufficient clothes to survive the elements here so we quickly ran to the markets to purchase gloves, beanies, hoodies, and socks all made from the local Alpaca stock in the area. Our hostel was conveniently located right at the top of the city which absolutely killed us each time we trekked up to it due to the altitude, though it was good training for the Inca trail. Cusco is absolutely gorgeous, nestled in the Andes, the view around you is spectacular, and unlike Lima, the air is clean and breathable, and the poverty doesn´t seem to be as bad here, though I don´t think we will ever get over the fact that 12 year old kids approach you in the streets and pubs trying to sell you ciggies and condoms!!!
Machu Picchu
We got picked up at sparrows fart by our tour guide for our four day trek along the Inca Trail, 46km to Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. The first day wasn´t too hard, it kind of prepares you for the rest of the trail. We trekked 12km, not much of it up hill until we reached our first campsite at a
tiny community called Wayllabamba at 3000m. The families that live throughout the valleys are Quechuan, followers of the Inca, and they live so simply. We passed some basic little houses on our trail that didn´t even have electric. It´s very humbling to say the least.
Day 2 was gruelling. 10 minutes into hiking our guide Freddie had us all indulge in chewing Coca Leaves to help get our asses up the mountain. Coca leaves are grown naturally above 2400m. They are the leaves from which cocaine is produced, and the locals can´t seem to get enough of them. Chewing them is not the most pleasant experience, though they are supposed to stimulate your body and help with the altitude. We didn´t really get a kick from them to be honest but when in Rome.....
We hiked 15km on day 2 and climbed 1200m to reach the highest point we´ve ever been to - Dead Womens Pass at 4200m. At the top of the pass we had a ceremony, and gave offerings to Pachamama (who the Incas call Mother Earth). We carried small rocks which we had selected from the day before and placed them on top of each other,
along with Coca leaves and sambuca. The Quechuan believe in asking Pachamama for her blessing for us to pass through the mountains by performing these little rituals.
Day 3 consisted of 15km of trekking and our first sighting of an Inca settlement which they made inaccesible to the Spanish by destroying all pathways leading to it when they caught wind of their attempts to invade. That afternoon, we decended a gruelling 2000 steps to our final campsite, and our first hot shower in three days - stinky!
Day 4, we rose at 3.30am, and Pachamama decided to open the heavens, and we hiked for two hours in the rain by torchlight, until we reached the Sun Gate, where we caught our first glimpse of the lost city. Luckily for us, Pachamama cleared the skies, and even though the sun didn´t come out, our view of Machu Picchu was nothing short of spectacular. Exausted and exhilerated we hiked a further hour until we were amongst the ruins. No postcard you see or documentary you watch compares to being there in the flesh - a real sense of achievement.
Sadly, for those who put in the 4 day effort,
like we did, to experience the Inca Trail, the nearest town Aguas Calientes brings up busloads of tourists at dawn. Because of this, our first sight of Machu Picchu from Sun Gate was contaminated with those too lazy to walk the trail, and you can´t help but feel frustrated after what you´ve put yourself through to get there. Still, deep down, you know that you walked the path of the Inca, and that´s all that seems to matter.
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Dj Phil
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Temple of the Sun?
What a balg, temple of the Sun - thats just peruvian for "the roof blew off!" i bet its temple of the Rain...temple of the bird droppings too! glad you did the walk samwise n sal, personally id hire jeep! im off to Prague in 2 weeks time! cant wait, i love the place, shame i couldnt have gone there when you guys were out. watch out for those riots dude!