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Published: December 19th 2008
Guayaquil on a Sunday Morning
This photo is in a trendy neighborhood of Guayaquil.Honestly, where does one begin when trying to describe trips to both Machu Picchu and the Galápagos Islands? The last 4 weeks have been simply amazing. There is no possible way for me to do any justice in my description of the trip, however, I will do my best to at least give you the basics.
So, the trip began on November 21, at 11:00pm. Sue and I boarded an overnight bus from Puyo to Guayaquil. Somehow we managed to be on the bus filled with people who had weak or absolutely no bladder control. 20 minutes into the trip we stopped to let about 15 guys off the bus to take a leak. 30 minutes after that we stopped again. This went on throughout most of the evening and early morning. We arrived in Guayaquil around 8:00 am and proceeded to grab ourselves a nice cup of coffee.
The Guayaquil bus station is really nice and is comparable to an airport terminal back in the States. We waited there for our friend Kris and his girlfriend Diana. They showed up and we headed into Guayaquil to check into our hotel. Our hope was that the hotel would be
Iguana Park
Shortly before Tom gets crapped on. broadcasting NCAA College Football games and….it was.
We took a long walk on the Malecón (boardwalk) and grabbed a bite to eat. We then returned to the room to watch…the Ohio State Buckeyes. It was my first time watching the Buckeyes since the Fiesta Bowl debacle in Phoenix against Florida. Let´s just say that their domination of Michigan was glorious to watch.
After that, we watched another game and played some cards while we were waiting for Susan´s brother Tom and his wife Hannah to arrive. They came in around 10:30pm Saturday night and we all went back to the boardwalk to find a place to have a beer or two.
It was wonderful seeing Tom and Hannah again. The last time was at their wedding in September, 2007. They seemed to be in good shape following a full day of travel.
The next morning we explored Guayaquil while looking for a place to get breakfast. One place we visited was Iguana Park that has a bunch of wild and generally tame Iguanas. While standing around taking pictures of them, Tom got shit on by a large Iguana in a tree. He was standing between Susan
Church in Cuzco
One of the many churches in town. and I. It got him really good on the head and shoulder. I wish I could say that was the only crapped on story, however, both Susan and Kris were targeted by birds.
Kris and Diana left around mid-day, while Tom, Hannah, Susan and I headed to the airport to catch our flight to Perú.
It is about this time that I should mention that I hurt my back on Friday before Susan and I left Puyo. I was helping Casey at her apartment and I twisted the wrong way and pulled something in my lower back. When I did it, I felt it, but it wasn´t too bad. Well, after a night on the bus and a walking around Guayaquil my back wasn´t feeling all that great, however, it wasn´t so bad as to cancel the trip.
So we flew to Lima, Perú and got in around 10:00pm. Our flight on LAN Airlines was great. We were on a new plane that had individual movie screens and a selection of about 40 movies to watch. Anyhow, as I was reaching for my bag in baggage claim I really did a number on my back - I
doubled over in pain and it took me a good minute to be able to stand up straight. I was in a hell of a lot of pain. We made it to our hotel and it took me a long time to get undressed and into bed. Seriously, try to do your normal routine without being able to bend your back for fear of shooting pain.
I was nearly in tears due to the pain and because I was fearing the worst - my ability to hike the Inca Trail was now seriously in doubt. I told Susan that I would accompany them to Cuzco, but that the Trail was not going to happen. That morning we left the hotel at 3:30am to head to the airport - my back was the same.
When we got into Cuzco, my back was feeling a little better. We headed to our hotel to check in and they gave us a cup of hot coca tea (traditional in these parts). So, the coca did its job helping us acclimate to the altitude while simultaneously numbing some of my back pain.
We spent the day exploring Cuzco - it is a
Scenery near Cuzco
The landscape in this area of Peru was amazing. really incredible town, though a bit touristy. All over the place people were advertising massages for the equivalent of $8/hour. After lunch I got myself a massage and hot rocks treatment. It was probably the best thing I did - my back was back to about 50% and it convinced me to at least try the trail.
Sorry, I am skipping details like where we ate, how we walked around and bought stuff at the markets, etc. etc. Details that really are not that important - at least not to me.
The next morning we left for our tour. Somehow we lucked out and were the only 4 people going on our tour. We had a guide, Frank, a cook, and three porters to carry our sleeping bags, tents, sleeping mats, and a few odd things we didn´t want to carry ourselves. These porters are amazing people. They carry 25-30kg (55-70lbs) on their pack and hike the Inca Trail every week at 3 times the speed of the rest of us. Though, we were able to match them step for step on the uphills. Yah, I am a badass carrying my 15lbs on my back.
It was
Getting ready to start the trail
We were packing up our stuff before hitting the Inca Trail. supposed to be the rainy season, however, this just was not the case on our trip. We started our hike on a beautiful sunny day. The first day of hiking you pass through a few small communities and the trail is a dirt path. Apparently, when the Spanish came, the Incans destroyed this part of the trail to hike the location of Machu Picchu - it was actually the easiest part of the trail because it had no rocks or steps.
We quickly learned that we were among the fastest hikers and our guide Frank kept telling us that he was impressed. Normally, people come to Cuzco and acclimate to the altitude for 2-3 days - we were there for less than 24 hours. Susan was worried, because she typically does not do well at altitude, I was worried because of my back, Hannah was worried because I think she wanted to prove to the rest of us that she was Ms. Adventurer (which she is), and Tom really didn´t care about how his body would react.
Anyhow, we made it through the first day and the first real climb without any problems. We had a great lunch
on the trail and afterwards hiked another couple of hours to our first camp site. You see, this is when you know that you are in heaven, when you can hike beautiful terrain, come to your campsite and have your tent set up, you sleeping mat and bag all laid out, and a cup of hot tea and cookies waiting for you.
We celebrated our first day´s success by playing a game of Euchre. I don’t remember who won, but I do remember a young girl from the community coming by and watching us play. She wanted to buy our cards and then wanted to teach us to play a game that made zero sense and appeared to have no rules. We played along with her though and we all laughed because it seemed as though everyone won. In the end, we gave her all the cards not necessary for Euchre (2-8) and she was very happy.
That night during dinner it rained pretty hard and it rained for about half the night, however we were under the cover of tent so no worries. The next morning it was sunny again and we set off to tackle the
Our first Inca Ruins
This was the first of several ruins we hit. This one was about 2 hours into the hike. main climb of the day - Dead Woman´s Pass. We camped at 3000 meters (9842ft) and had to climb to 4200 meters (13779 ft). Frank said that it would take about 4-5 hours to hit the peak; it took us about 2.5 hours. At that point, Frank knew he had a special group of hikers on his hands. We passed a lot of other groups on the way up which was our strategy. Once we got ahead of the other groups, it felt like you had the trail all to yourself.
The porters really struggled on this hill - they took lots of breaks so we were able to pass a few of them as well. I even doled out a little chocolate to one guy not in my group because he looked like he was about to drop from exhaustion and because he asked me for some.
I did notice that as we climbed the temperature dropped. So you are sweating profusely and its 45-50 degrees and windy. When we reached the top we took a break and put on some warmer clothes. Man it was fantastic, we climbed a long way and we all made it.
We ate a snack at the top and then started down the mountain to our second campsite. This is where the actual Inca Trail appears - this began the part that was not destroyed. Basically the trail was laid stone and a ton of steps. It was the most treacherous part because the rocks were all wet and the steps were at times 18-24 inches high. We took our time going down as did most of the hikers. The porters however, ran down the trail. Utterly amazing!!! They also don´t wear hiking boots or shoes, they wear sandals - yeah you read that right, SANDALS. That is their traditional footwear and what is most comfortable to them. Apparently a few years ago, the trekking companies gave them nice boots and they wore them for a day or two then tossed them away and put their sandals on.
Campsite two was nice as well, though the bathroom conditions were less than nice. There were two crappers for about 100 people to share and added to that is the fact that it is not custom to have seats on the crappers. So, you set up a situation where a bunch of
gringo hikers (rookies compared to Peace Corps Volunteers) are attempting their first squat and shoot approach to going to the bathroom. Needless-to-say, many miss the bowl and some the toilet all together. I am a seasoned crapper and generally understand my body enough to predict trajectory and speed - I´ve not missed the bowl yet. The sad and disgusting thing is that somebody´s job is to clean all that crap up. It got so bad that the next morning I couldn´t even bare going within site of the bathroom. But, it does make for a good story and adds to the adventure.
Day three started out with a light mist as we climbed the second peak - this one was around 4000 meters and was not nearly as tough as the day before. As soon as we cleared that peak the plants changed from Andean to more cloud forest/rain forest. It was a marked change as we were on the side of the mountains heading down towards the Amazon. We passed by a lot of ruins on day three and got a few history lessons from Frank.
It really helped that I read Hiram Bingham´s book about discovering
Machu Picchu as it gave me a good background of the area, the Inca´s, and the ruins. It is quite understandable, after hiking the trail, to understand how so many ruins just disappeared from human knowledge. The area is so remote and the plants grow so fast that they cover over everything within a few years. Countless times Frank told us that the mountains were probably covered with ruins not yet discovered. In fact, a group just found ruins like Machu Picchu 5 years ago. The whole experience makes you feel a bit like Indiana Jones and makes you want to be an archeologist/anthropologist.
The last night we ended up at a lodge/restaurant facility where all the tour groups stop. It has warm showers and cold beer. You still sleep in your tents. I didn´t much care for the experience - you spend 3 days on the trail and then the night before Machu Picchu you are back in Civilization. The one cool thing is that there is an awesome set of ruins about 5 minutes down a side trail. Frank took us there and we were the only ones at the ruins. He said most people/tours don´t bother
with this set of ruins. To me, they were great. After being there it really set my expectations high for Machu Picchu. These ruins were big and nobody cared about them which meant that Machu Picchu had to be incredible.
We celebrated our Thanksgiving on the Trail with a fine meal. In fact all of our meals were incredible. We had plenty of food, it was flavorful, warm, and delicious. Our food was yet another bright spot on the trip. I was expecting normal camping/hiking food, but instead was treated to what you would get at a restaurant. The only thing lacking was a cold beer or glass of wine, though we did have some pisco and a warm alcoholic drink on night two (since it was going to get cold that night).
Day four we got up at 4:00am and had breakfast. We then joined the throngs of other tours at the gate to the trail to Machu Picchu. The gate opens at 5:30 and from there it is a two hour hike to the ruins. For some odd reason, people felt like it was a race and thus they would skirt past you on the trail
- which at points was not wide enough for 2 people. It was annoying, but what can you do - except make yourself as wide as possible causing others to second-guess the idea of passing you.
On this particular day it was mildly ironic since we all raced to a spot on the trail that overlooks the ruins and where you wait to watch the sun rise over the mountains. It was foggy so all those people who raced had to sit and wait and by the time the sun-cleared everyone was there anyhow - except the racers who grew impatient and just kept on racing down to the ruins. I was in no hurry, it wasn´t like Machu Picchu was going to disappear.
We finally arrived at Machu Picchu at around 8:30 to a rather large crowd of tourists who took the train there. No worries though, the ruins are big enough for everyone. Frank gave an hour tour and then let us explore on our own. We decided to hike up to a temple that overlooks the ruins. It was short but hard hike straight up. The view was stunning though so it was worth every
bit of effort. After taking photos and eating a snack, we hiked back down and left Machu Picchu.
The town below the ruins is 100% touristy, but we managed, with Frank´s help to find a place that the locals eat so we saved ourselves about $25. Frank was a great guide and we owe much of our incredible experience to him. We have forever changed how he views Ohioans. He now believes that people from Ohio are mountaineers who can out-hike nearly everyone on the Inca Trail. Frank got us to our train and we hopped on for the 2 hour trip back to where we would catch the bus to Cuzco.
The landscape on the train and bus trip was stunning in and of itself. Towering peaks and glaciers, adobe homes, farm after farm, Incan ruins, it was wonderful. When we finally got back to Cuzco, Hannah was feeling ill from the trip so we left her in the hostal while Tom, Susan and I went to get a bite to eat. We picked a hole-in-the-wall authentic Peruvian restaurant. I ordered alpaca - it wasn´t bad, just a bit chewy. The owner´s daughter (10 years old) was
our server. She was so cute and methodical about her job. The experience was really cool, plus we had a three course meal for about $3 a person.
The next morning we caught a flight and headed back to Lima. We had a day to spend in Lima so we went to the National Cultural Museum and caught some exhibits on native cultures and then an incredible photo exhibit of the Shining Path and the internal conflicts Perú went through during the 1980´s and 1990´s.
We got dinner and then strolled around the Miraflores neighborhood and park. We came across a group of old men playing chess with a group of bystanders looking on. It was surreal. Susan and I also managed to run into a group of new PCVs in Peru who were just starting their service. We wished them luck and then smiled knowing that we were near the end of our service.
The next morning we flew out of Lima and back to Guayaquil. Once in Guayaquil we got lunch and then caught a bus to Salinas on the coast. Salinas is a bit of a resort town with an average beach. We spent
Machu Picchu
Sue and I at Machu Picchu the next day and a half relaxing on the beach and recovering from our hike. It was a good end to a great trip.
After our short stay at Salinas, we boarded an overnight bus to Ambato. Poor Tom and Hannah - this would be their first experience at long bus trips. They did well, despite the fact that we were pulled of f the bus three times early in the trip for security checks by the police. At one, the officer was questioning my Visa and told me it was expired. I kept telling him that he was wrong and then finally he realized that he was reading the wrong document. So….no worries. We left Salinas at 9:00pm got to Ambato at 5:00am and then got a bus to Puyo. We arrived in Puyo just before 8:00am.
We spent most of the day recovering from our trip and also took all of our clothes to get washed. Between the four of us we had 34 pounds. The next day, the adventure started again and we did the bike ride from Baños to Puyo. Admittedly, I had to work in the morning so I met them at the
halfway point - which is actually where the trip turns from being all downhill to a mix of uphills and downhills - so in essence, I joined them for the hard part.
We stopped in a small town and had lunch at the same restaurant that Susan, Frank, and I ate at while he was visiting us. Tom, Susan, and Hannah ordered fish and the Tilapias that they got were enormous. We ate our fill and then hopped on the bikes and finished our trip. That night we went to dinner at Nelson Burger, then went out to the Volcano Bar with Casey. Matt and his girlfriend later joined us at the Choza Karoke bar where we entertained a bunch of Ecuadorians with the few English songs that they had.
The next day, we headed up to Baños to return the rented bikes, have some lunch, and most importantly to break up the trip to Quito. We made it to Quito around 7:30pm. Hannah was feeling ill again from the trip. Susan´s parents were due in at 10:30 so she and I went to the airport to pick them up.
This ends the first edition of the
blog. I will add another entry about the Galápagos in the near future. Here are some photos that Hannah posted on the net:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Hannah.Rufener/EcuadorAndPeru#
I will try to add a few of my own to this blog in the next day or two.
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