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Published: June 16th 2011
Coroico
Beautiful town on the side of the mountin Corioco (Bolivia), Copacabana (Bolivia), Isla del Sol (Bolivia), Puno (Peru), Uros reed islands (Peru), Cusco (Peru) & Machu Picchu (Peru)
Having finished my tour in La Paz, and having added much more weight to my already heavy bag i decided that i needed a few days of chill out before i made my way into Peru.
So i headed to a small town about an hour from La Paz called Coroico. This was a beatiful place built on the side of a mountain with incredible views of the Bolivian jungle. There was a really nice pace of life here and all the hostels had swimming pools and terraces looking out at the amazing views. Unfortunately the one thing the guide books had neglegted to mention was the abundance of mosquitos and biting flies that populated this part of the country. During the day the sand flies were relentless, and they seemed to be actually atracted to any insect repellent i applied - then in the evenings they handed over duties to the mosquitos who seemed driven to achieve more bites that there daylight partners. After my first day down by the pool i had at least 50 bites
Coroico
The view from my hotel room and things didn´t improve over the three days i was there.
This hampered my enjoyment of the place somewhat i ended up leaving slightly less relaxed than when i had arrived.
Not to worry though - my next stop was the idyllic town of Copacabana on the shores of lake Titicaca, what could possibly go wrong? Well at first, absoloutly nothing - i did a day trip out to the Isla del Sol which is a key archaeological site for the Incas, then got to enjoy the waterfront bars and even find a place to watch the Champions League Final. Then when i tried to book my bus to Peru and the town of Puno, things took a turn for the worse. It turned out that a number of protests had broken out in the south of Peru against mining concessions and these protests had turned violent enough for the borders to be closed between Bolivia and Peru. Pictures in the news seemed to back this up with scenes of burning cars and riot police running away from screaming mobs.
So i was informed that buses were currently cancelled until things calmed down - the exact timing was unknown
Copacabana
Great place on the shore of lake Titicaca and made all the more complicated by the impending general election in Peru (the incumbant president didn't feel it was his duty to solve this issue as he would no longer be in office in a few weeks). So i was offered a two day bus journey that would take me back into Chile and then up into Peru that way or a bus back to La Paz and then try to catch a flight to Peru or to wait and see what happened at the border. This wouldn´t have been such a disaster if i hadn't had an Inca Trail trip booked and starting in Cusco in 5 days time.
So not fancying any option that took me back to places i had already been, i decided to try my luck and wait in Copacabana (there are certainly worse places to wait). There i waited for about 4 days, each day being promised that there would probably be a bus the next day. Eventually i managed to get on the first bus that left the town, designed as a bit of a test to see if the border was up and running again.
Thankfully the border was open
Isla del Sol
View across lake Titicaca and i managed to make it to Puno in Peru which was on the other side of lake Titicaca. Here i was met by hundreds of riot Police, and an uneasy atmosphere in the town which looked a little worse for wear. Also due to the closure of the border there had been no tourists in the town so our bus was in fact the first to arrive, so i felt that we stood out a bit, which at the time was not really what we were looking for. I quickly barricaded myself in one of the empty hostels and tried to relaxed. Eventually i plucked up enough courage to go and have a look round the town which was actually quite nice. I also went on a boat tour to the famous Uros reed islands. Exactly as it says on the tin, these were floating islands made of reeds which had been created by the ancient inhabitants of the lake. Having survived a day i decided not to push my luck and so hopped on a bus to Cusco arriving one day before my Inca trail began.
I really liked Cusco, while obviously filled with tourists heading to
Puno
What a welcome Machu Picchu, it had a nice relaxed feel to it with some great bars and coffee shops all looking out over the main square. The architecture was quite interesting too, a mix of Inca foundations from the days when this was the capital of their empire and then the Spanish colonial finishing. Having enjoyed the Cusco nightlife, it was time for an early start and the beginning of my Inca Trail trip.
So after a first fay of driving round some Inca ruins around Cusco we stayed the night in Ollytantambo where the Inca trail starts. Here we met our porters who would be carrying our tents, food and majority of our stuff. Incredibly two of our porters were over 60, and like all the porters would be carrying the regulation 20kg packs. This was quite a humbling moment and would become more so throughout the trail as they often overtook us whilst we struggled with our small daypacks.
The next day was where the walking began, a nice easy day to get us warmed up with a gentle climb of just 400 meters reaching our campsite at 3000 meters. Then to make things slightly harder on ourselves we challenged
the locals to a game of football. The views from the pitch were as stunning as our ability to cope with exercise at altitude was shocking. Nevertheless we managed to sneak in more wins than losses and therefore could have left the pitch with our heads held high had we not been collapsed at the side of it.
The next day had been advertised as the 'tough one'! An 18 km hike that included a 1000m plus climb that took us to our highest point of 4,215 meters followed by a steep descent that took us back down to 3,600 meters. They weren't lying - it was tough and how the porters managed it (many climbing in sandals) i will never know. But i seemed to be with a reasonably fit group and a guide who liked to really push us and we ended up setting what our guide assures us was potentially the fasted time a tourist group has ever achieved (i'm pretty sure he doesn't say that to all the groups...)
Next up was the downhill day, after the previous day this was a walk in the park, and the majority of our time was spent looking around
Puno
The Yavari boat museum the many Inca sites along this part of the trail. This was incredible to see some of these ancient buildings and understand how there communities had functioned.
And so to the final day of our trek, the trip to Machu Picchu. It began with a very early wake up call of 3:30 am and we were out on the trail by 5am in order to make it to the Sun gate before sunrise. This is the location that gives the first view of Machu Picchu and is the best place to see the sun rise over the ancient city. It is hard to describe Machu Picchu and the phoos can't really do it justice, but it is an incredible sight to behold. The most intact of the Inca cities as the Spanish never found it and therefore never destroyed it. It was actually only foramlly discovered in 1912 by an American archaeologist called Hiram Bingham (history lesson over). We then took a guided tour around the key parts of the site and then had a few hours to relax within the ruins. Whilst there were lots of tourists at Machu Picchu, it was still the incredible experience i had expected,
The Inca trail
The group at the start of the trail and adds on to a long list of highlights from this South American tour. We then finished with a train journey back from Machu Picchu to Cusco where the train had a glass roof and allowed a whole new perspective on the incredible scenery.
Then back in Cusco we had to complete the 24 hour challenge - staying up until 3:30am the next day (apparently a tradition at the end of the Inca trail). This was easy to achieve in Cusco where the nightlife was plentiful and free drinks seemed to be flowing most of the night. I then spent the next few days seeing more of the sights if the city and catching up with a few people who i had met earlier in the trip. It was around this point that it suddenly dawned on me that i had reached the milestone of having less than a month left of my trip. I can't believe how quickly it has gone, for a long time the return home seemed so far off that it wasn't real - but now it definitely is!!
So i have now have about four weeks or so to cram as much in
Inca trail
End of day 1 - a game of footie against the locals at 3,700 meters (it didn´t end well!) as possible, and see how much i can overspend on my original budget. Look forward to letting you know how that goes....
Charlie
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jo
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just had to comment on the amazing photos- not sure how much credit goes to the photographer but I suppose as the guy who actually climbed up the mountain, you get some credit. (although it sounds like the porters deserve the lion's share.) I am glad to hear tha riots and protests about mining rights did not manage to prevent you making the Inca trail but enjoyed the brief political insight from your blog, which i feel has been missing until now. I am hoping that this blog has just been a snippet and when you get back- your stories and pictures will be even more extensive. can't wait. xxx