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Published: October 25th 2007
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Caballitos
Huanchaco's famous reed boats We have just finished Peru and we are both thrilled to have spent some time in the Andes!!
We spent our first few days staying at a beach town called Huanchaco, where Carissa spent a few weeks a on an uni / college archeology trip a few years back. She enjoyed showing me all the sites of note and let me know on more than one occasion that the place had changed for better or worse.
From there we took a bus to Huraz (sea level to 3000m) and quickly new we were up high. We had 3 flights of stairs to climb to our room and by the time we reached it we found our selves bent over fighting for breath. We aren’t in the best shape but we aren’t that bad either. After a couple of days organising and buying a tent we took to the hills. We did a circuit called Santa Cruz (it started at Santa Cruz) which took us 4 days and over a 4700m pass. We got quite lucky with the weather which cleared at times reveling some of the huge peaks that surrounded us. The terrain was relatively easy but being so high
Ode to Peruvian hairless dog
sunscreen on sunny days
jersey for the cold
luv him when your old (guide told us they have a higher body temp than other dogs so put them in your bed - five days is enough to cure arthritus) we found it a struggle at times with some bad headaches and fatigue but we both really enjoyed it. I have to admit i was quite jealous of a few climbers we met who were walking out after climbing an amazing looking peak called Alpomayo. Next trip ;-)
From there we hit Nazca briefly for the mandatory fly over. Another check on the list and not much more.
And from there to Cuzco and a few days chilling and planning. It was surprisingly hard to get good information about trails etc if your not paying big $$ to go on a commercial tour but between a few really helpful people we met and the south american explorers club we came up with a good one. It took us 6 nights, 7 days, over a few high passes, to 3 or 4 ruins, and along some inca trail which is still used by the locals. It started really hard and got better as time went on thankfully. For the first couple of days we were walking with and Englishman (Dan) who we met in Cuzco and were staying at the same places as a couple of americans,
a couple of Austrians and a french guy who assured me The All Blacks (the kiwi rugby team for our american constituent) couldn't be beaten by the French in the rugby world cup (which unfortunately was proven wrong)! After 2 days of walking we got to an Inka site that is supposed to be the next Macupichu but as its 2 days walk from a road its only penny pinching backpackers and few archeological die-hards who go there. After the ruins we parted company with our travel companions and spent the next 3 days walking up and then back down really, really big ¨hills¨but we were reward with some amazing scenery and sunsets. On about day 3 Carissa stopped halfway up one of these huge hills, where we were baking in the midday sun and said to me "every day i expect to not fell like i'm dying, but every day i do." (thankfully no one actually did) For the last couple of days we were joined by an eclectic group (a Peruvian, an Italian, and a very talkative Aussie) who were heading to the same place we were. They certainly livened things up a bit! I think we were
all quite releaved (and exhausted) when we reached the end. The following morning at breakfast we were eating with a couple of French guys (can't get away from them ;-) who very gently broke the news that the All Blacks had been beaten. While obviously this wasn't a good thing it did relax our plans a bit because i had scheduled all our travel over the next 2 weeks around being in big cities so we could catch the semis and final of the world cup. Turns out we didn't see any!
In Huancacalle, where we finished, we were not that far from the back side of Machupichu so, after a few bus rides and a walk along some train tracks we made it to the "pinnacle" of South American tourism. Having taken advice from every second person who we had met along the way, we left our hostel well before dawn for the hike up the hill to be one of the first in line when the gates opened. Either the other people walk slow or we were flying up the hills without our 15-20kg packs on because when we arrived, it was us, a supprised looking
Nazca lines
the hummingbird guy at the gate and some dogs that had followed us up. We were there about a half hour too early but we definitely got to the front of the line.
The site itself was really amazing. we sat for a while just watching the mist roll in and out, giving us short glimpses of what was in front of us. The highlight of the day was climbing Wynapichu (the background to postcard machupichu shots) where there were great views. However, when we got back down around lunch time the place was over run by people to the extent it was dificult to move around so, not being big on crowds we called it quits, walked back along the train tracks and spent the night by (and a bit of time relaxing in) some hot pools. Good way to end one of the best parts of our trip so far.
On the way South to bolivia, we stoppedf at a place called Colca Canyon which is home to a bunch of Condors (huge, huge birds if you don't already know). We did a relaxing 2 day walk down the canyon (arguably the deepest in the world)
and back up again (bit of a theme here). It was an orgainsed tour so no packs, just walk, eat the meals they give you, be sociable with the other travelers and sleep where they tell you to. This was a nice change from the previous couple of weeks. It was amazing seeing the condors as well. Its hard to appriciate how big they are (up to 3m (10feet) wing span) unless its in person but you can have a look at the picks and have a go.
Sorry there is so much to read. We should do these things more often but with only 2 months to go, we probaly won't strat.
Again, hope your all doing well. Always great to hear what you are up to so don't be shy.
Love
Josh and Carissa
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casey and steven
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wow awesome mountains! wish we had got that far off the beaten track! but then again, though i don't want to admit it, the relaxing colca canyon felt pretty big as we were slogging our way back out of it. Maybe i could just say it was the altitude :) keep enjoying yourselves!And as always great to see all your pics