Advertisement
Published: September 22nd 2006
Edit Blog Post
Andes Trek to Machu Picchu
This is a valley we trekked through to get up to 4400 meters elevation Howdy all,
My apologies for the delayed blog. Much has happened! If you remember my last entry, Bryce and I had just finished a six day excursion into the Peruvian jungle. Our next adventure took us into the Peruvian Andes for a 4 day guided hike to Machu Picchu (the famed ancient Inca ruins). The hike itself was beautiful and at times quite challenging. Our elevation at the beginning was 3500 meters (approx 11,300 feet). Day one of the hike was not that bad as we only climbed up to 3700 meters (approx 12,000 feet). However, once we set up camp, Bryce and I made the mistake of getting into a Canada vs. Peru soccer match with our trek group's porters and cooks (there were a couple of other Canadians in our trek group to make a team. And no, Bryce and I did not take porters - we're tough!). Needless to say, we got our asses kicked not only by the better Peruvian players, but by the altitude as well. I highly discourage playing soccer at 12,000 feet, not only is it painful on the body, it is also a very humbling cause you suck all the more.
Machu Picchu
Here's Bryce standing at a look-out over the famed Inca ruins Our campsite on the first night was in a small Quechuan (the people who live high in the Andes are called Quechuan, which, if you have recently read the Economist, will know that Google has now made its famed search engine accessible using Quechuan language) town (if it can even be called a town) which was very neat to see. The Quechuan people live very basic lives but are experts at harvesting the 3,000 different type of potato varieties that grow in the Andes.
Day two was the hardest of the three day trek. By midday we had reached our highest pass at 4400 meters (approx 14,300 feet). Although the view was beautiful, it was very difficult getting up there because the air was so thin. Basically, your body has to work all the harder to compensate for the decreased oxygen in the air. However, the higher you go, the less oxygen there is and the more oxygen you need as you must keep pumpìng your legs to get up all the hills. Sound like fun? It was actually a blast. The whole group just took it easy and went at a good pace. And once we reached the
Floating Island
Here is one of many of the man made floating islands found on Lake Titticca pass, the view was well worth it.
Unlike day two, day three was all downhill. A pleasant change and also very beautiful. Also, we weren´t camping at the end of Day 3, but were staying in a hostal in the town of Aguas Calientes, which is at the base of Machu Picchu. This meant hot showers to cleanse our cold and dirty bodies!
On day four, we went to Machu Picchu itself, which is stunning. I was a bit nervous because I have seen my fair share of ruins and, well, they are more often than not quite boring. However, Petra aside (ruins in Jordan), Machu Picchu takes the cake. We were on the site at 6am to watch the sun come up and it was beautiful. The ruins are set in the Andes but not at a high elevation, therefore there is still a lot of greenery. They have an awe-inspiring mystique about them that is unforgettable.
At the end of Day four, a bus took us back to Cuzco (the launching city for the excursion) where Bryce and I immediately hoped on an overnight bus to Puno. We bought the bus tickets before we left on the trek. Unfortunately, the guy who sold us the tickets totally ripped us off. We paid for 'beds', but when we showed up to get on the bus, he told us he only had regular seats for us. We (thankfully) managed to get our money back from him and bought the only two remaining 'beds'in the entire bus station from another company.
Puno is the Peruvian lauching city for trips onto Lake Titticaca (yes, I know, boobs and poo), the world's highest navigable lake. The unique Islas Flotantes (man made floating islands) of the Uros people sit on the lake. The islands are built using many layers of the boyant totora reeds that grow abundantly in the shallows of the Lake. Indeed, the lives of the Uros are totally interwoven with these reeds, which are used to make their homes and boats. The islands'reeds are constantly replenished from the top as they rot away, so the ground is always soft and spongy. Very neet to see!
From the Lake, Bryce and I said goodbye to Peru and crossed over into Bolivia for a couple of days. We were both pleasently surprised by La Paz (the world's highest capital city, although in Bolivia's constitution La Paz is not the capital! Who can tell me what is...), which had a very modern and western feel to it.
From La Paz, we took a bus into northern Chile for no other reason than to get a cheaper flight to Santiago (much more expensive to fly out of La Paz!). We landed in the small beach town of Arica, which was decent enough to hang out in for a day. But Bryce and I were both anxious to move on to Santiago because we were looking forward to doing some skiing! Moments after we touched down, we rented a car and drove up to the famed slopes of the Portillo resort (www.skiportillo.com). The snow itself was a bit of a letdown (its toward the end of their season here), but it was great to slap on the old planks a little earlier than usual. Portillo is also set smack in the middle of the Chilean Andes which makes for a beautiful setting (Mount Aconcagua was right next door - it is the tallest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas). To top is all off, the Canadian Men and Women's ski teams and the U.S. Women's ski team were all training at Portillo at the time. I won't mention any names, but Bryce and I had a blast getting drunk with some of the best skiers in the world. All of a bit surreal.
Well, I now realize why I should blog more often - this blog is already way too long and you're probably all a little bored. So I am going to cut it here. Although it has been almost a week since we skied at Portillo, I will put in the events of this past week in the next blog. Currently, we are at the very southern tip of Chile and are going to check out some glaciers tomorrow. Also, one week from right now I will be a lawyer. Yup, I am coming all the way back to Canada to get called to the bar next Wednesday. And on Thursday I am back on a plane to start traveling Argentina. Have I told you all lately how hard my life is?
Lots of love,
Adam
Advertisement
Tot: 0.068s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0312s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
middlebro
non-member comment
you had me at boobs and poo...
to answer your question and win the prize (and there better be a pretty sweet prize): Sucre i also checked out some sweet skiing pics here: http://www.skiportillo.com/gallery/default1-eng.html