Advertisement
Published: January 11th 2011
We last left you in between Christmas and New year as we were about to embark on our wee tour to Machu Pichu. Before we got to go on a trip of a lifetime we had New Years Eve to celebrate Cusco style. Cusco is defiantly a beautiful city but it takes your breath away for all the wrong reasons. Tom and I both struggled with the altitude when we first arrived which wasn't helped by the fact our hostel was on a horrible hill and poor Tom picked up some sort of a sickness bug at the same time which floored him for a day or two...I say floored we still managed to watch a few football games, eat some good food and have another massage or two before the end of 2010.
New Years eve was definatly one to remember. We started off in the hostel with a random group of people from Ireland, England, Australia and Norway which was great fun until my stomach did a flip and decided now was a good time to pick up the bug Tom had been struggling with for the past few days. Thankfully it didnt hit me in full swing until
New years day so we were able to carry on with the celebrations and follow the crowd into Plaza del Armas. Maddness doesn't cover it, there were literlly thousands of people crowded into the square, eating, drinking, throwing bangers and fireworks all over the show and generally having a great time. The atmosphere was amazing, I however have obviously listened too well to the thousands of firemen talks I've arranged for young people over the years as the thousands of haphazard fireworks shooting off all over the place were making me more than a little nervous. Tom was like a little kid with the widest eyes I've ever seen-he was completly loving the whole thing and the odd banger hitting him in the leg didnt seem to deter his enthusiasm at all. As the clock struck 12 the whole square errupted, thousands of people took to the road and started running around the square (12 times for good luck apparently) as the rest of us popped champagne, clincked glasses and watched in awe as the spectacle grew ever bigger, fireworks at an all time high with hugs and kisses all round, it was an amazing way to spend an evening
Fireworks
It's amazing the amount of smoke they generate...just for you Pappy Morrelland a great way to welcome in 2011.
Then came Machu Pichu, we of course did not venture up to Aguas Caliente on the Inca trail but instead took the lazy option of going by train, although I was a little gutted to start with the next day or two would make me very thankful that Tom's intentions were never to hike to the ancient ruins as hindsight def made me think I would have struggled. We arrived in Aguas Caliente with the afternoon to look around and get ourselves sorted for an early start the next day as we really wanted to be amoung the first 400 to get our tickets stamped to be able to climb Waynu Pichu. A 3.45am breakfast followed by a quick march to the bus stop, arriving at 4.15 in the morning still saw us about 150 people back in the que but early enough to get the covetted Waynu Pichu stamp so let the fun begin. We had a fantastic morning walking around Machu Pichu the views were stunnning and the ruins amazing. Our guide was great and loaded us up with hoards of info about the Inca ruins and all that went
into the site, including a good dose of sarcasim and sly comments about the 'rediscovery' of the site by Mr Bigham in 1911 (regardless of the fact there were already a number of farming families living close enough to the site to already know that it existed). When we arrived in the morning the fog was kindly disgusing the size of Waynu Pichu from us so we wouldnt get discouraged but as the fog lifted the challenge became apparent...its huge. With some grumbling we managed it no problems and the views at the top were definatly worth the sore legs the day after (Duke of Edinburugh heads you would have been proud of us!). So a day very well spent before we made our way back into town and ready for our train back to Cusco.
Our return to Cusco gave us a chance to have a very lazy day as Tom caught up on some football, treated ourselves to another 5 pound massage and an Indian buffet to top it off. The buffet was however cut short as I remembered we hadn't yet picked up our washing, with just over an hour to go before we had to jump
on a night bus to Puno we had to dash back to the hostel only to realise the laundry place was shut with pretty much all our clothes safely locked inside-gutted! We both panicked for the first 2 or 3 mins then I continued to panic solo as Tom resumed his chilled out nature of 'well there's not much we can do about it now is there'. Thankfully a nervous 40 mins later the women who owned the shop returned after a spot of dinner just in the nick of time for us to pack our bags, call a cab and head for yet another over night bus.
An early start the day after we arrived in Puno as we set out on a day trip to Lake Titicaca and the floating islands, neither of us quite sure what to expect. The floating islands were a bit surreal, they are man made islands (made from reids) with families living every day lives on them all the while being exploited every day for google eyed tourists like us, so there was a mix of emotions that day as it was fascinating to learn how the islands were made but didnt feel
Mandatory pose
Before Waynu Pichu reared its ugly head quite right intruding on their lives as we were. The second stop for the day at the Island Taquille was fantastic, the views across the lake were incredible and we had finally got used to the altitude and didnt realise we were 4,000ft above sea level. A wee restuarant that sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking the beautiful lake was an ok way to enjoy a spot of lunch! Heading back to our hostel that night meant a goodbye to Peru and onto Bolivia the next morning on a stupid o'clock in the morning bus.
Although I slept for the first few hours of course the rest of the journey became ever more entertaining as we stopped at Peru/Bolivian Immigration, without a doubt to the biggest queue we've seen in a long time. Not helped one bit by the absolutly rancid toilets which were our only option, def the worst yet with no flush and no bin it doesnt take long for things to get overly grim. The queue wasn't all bad though as we had an interesting encounter with a guy from Brazil with very little English and a girl from Japan with no Spanish. Tom and
Waynu Pichu
The majasive one on the right is where we mooched to the top I somehow became translators for the morning which was slightly surreal but pretty cool-didn't think our spanish was that great but our 3 way conversations managed to last most of the hour and a half long queue and sometime after that as well, so it can't be all bad. The rest of the jounrney defiantly came into the catergory of getting there is half the fun as we watched as our driver pushed his way through the bustling crowds of market goers, a huge bus just honking its horn the whole way announcing its presence but not promising to slow down or divert its course at all just merely a warning-move or be squashed! The colours, smells, crazy sights of local buses with major baggage overload and the crowded street restaurants was amazing to watch but too much to take in-def not the way markets are in England or Ireland. We finally arrived safely in La Paz without squashing anyone or anything which has to be a bonus on trips like that!
Arriving in La Paz we were pretty underwhelmed by the big city, which to start with seemed pretty uninteresting so our first evenings entertainment came in the form
of dinner at the Star of India where finishing your Vindaloo earned you a free t-shirt...Tom of course was up for the challenge and lot's of drinks, sweat and tears later he prevailed as a winner and recievd his 'I survived the worlds most dangerous vindaloo' t-shirt. Most other travellers venture to La Paz to tackle death road on a bicycle, Tom of course finds the chilli equivilant-love it! Tom's other La Paz food mountain came in the form of all you can eat ribs... Flinstone style slabs of meat is the only way to discribe these so called ribs, not sure there was even any bones in them. Tom however managed to devour 5 of the things which when you see the pic you'll know was impressive! My clumsy streak has resurfaced with a powerful blow as I somehow managed to break a tooth on chips of all things, a day or two of pain and alot of panic at the thought of having to go to a Bolivian dentist has eased off as it seems to be getting slowly better and allowing me to wait at least until New Zealand before I need any major work done.
The
rest of our time in La Paz has been mostly about planning really. We head to Rurrenbaque tomorrow (on a pretty dodgy sounding plane, so Graham I hope your right about conquering my fears, otherwise the rest of the passengers are in for a treat!) for a 3 day Pampa's tour on the amazon basin, followed by a 5 day tour of the Salt flats in Uyuni which promises to be spectacular, so the rest of our time in Bolivia is pretty much go go go, before we head to Argentina and spend our last few weeks in South America before heading onto New Zealand. So excited to see all that Bolivia and Argentina has to offer but also really looking forward to moving on across the water, made all the more exciting by knowing that our Lucy will be jetting out for a wee visit in Sydney, hugs, gossip from home and creme eggs-brilliant! So by next time, there will be a new wee Morrell in the world (hoping he or she doesn't arrive when we are out of coverage in the middle of the amazon though), thinking of you loads Gemma and Andrew, and we may be in
Me and Machu Pichu
Looking down from top of Waynu pastures new, spanish in our back pockets and money slowly but surely draining from our wallets quicker than it does over here, but all the while I'm sure loving every minute.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.15s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 8; qc: 25; dbt: 0.125s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mum
non-member comment
happy new year!!!!!!!!!!!
HI you guys, first of all happy new year may it be wonderful, healthy, peaceful, happy!! (Ok wealthy!!) Not a great deal to report as currently off work with a really horrible dose of flu, but over the worst. Missed being able to chat at New Year, everything seems ages ago. Still majorley (can't spell it) impressed with Blogg, love it, love it, love it! So does nana! You are both looking good so glad you are managing to enjoy everything. (Put money in bank). Look forward to speaking to you soon, take care xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx