Why did the Incas not invent escalators?

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Woah, those Incas really knew how to build stairs didn´t they! After a few weeks of anticipation (the only thing we booked before we left the UK), we completed our 4 day Inca Trail on Friday and although a tad bit stiff, we take with us a little sense of achievement and some great memories. I think we can safely say that it will be one of the highlights of our trip!!

We´ve actually spent just shy of two and a half weeks in Peru now and although we have nowhere near seen the country, we have been pretty busy. We made it across the Chile-Peru border without too much hassle. From what we saw, Arica, the Chilean border town, had little to offer so we jumped straight into a collectivo (shared taxi) to cross the border. The mode of transport: a very beat up old yankie saloon that looked as though it had just been put together by the A team in a shed. By some miracle the engine in this ´car´ still worked and we made it across the border with 7 people in total (including the driver): Sarah and I, a family of 3 and a transvestite. The latter certainly being a bit of a surprise, but after surreptitiously using the car´s mirrors the ´man plus make-up´ theory was indeed confirmed. Muy bizzare as the locals might say...

At Tacna (the Peruvian border town) we wandered over to the bus terminal to catch the bus for Arequipa. With little desire to hang about we got the first bus which proved to be quite a journey. The bus was packed full of people and what seemed like a massive amount of luggage - bags full of all sorts of stuff seemed to be rammed into all available spaces. As the bus set off, there was this hive of activity from mostly woman, who were walking around the bus seemingly giving pieces of clothing, electronic devices, bags of stuff to various other travellers. A little bemused by this, one woman then came up to us babbled something in spanish and opened this bag full of baby blankets (we understood bebino!) and placed the bag above our seats. In discussion with the only other westerner (a Canadian girl) we understood the activity was all an attempt to get all their new purchases through customs. Apparently Tacna is duty free and each Peruvian is only given a certain allowance on shopping per year. So now we understood our role as accessories to baby blanket smuggling! Clearly a majority of people on this bus had overshopped and no more could this be seen than in one woman´s very odd looking bosum - a result of being stuffed with a couple of car stereo covers!! When we arrived at any of the three customs check points the whole atmosphere on the bus changed as people scurried to hide more items of their illegal bounty. A woman near us started her knitting and attended to this with great focus every time the customs officers boarded the bus (could she look any more guilty?!). A couple of bags were confiscated on inspection but it appeared the majority of contraband got through! A thoroughly entertaining journey!

Arequipa is a regional centre full of stylish colonial buildings and a pleasant atmosphere. Geared up to tourism (like most of the places we´ve been in Peru) the food and accommodation are also good. We gave ourselves a day to explore and visited the Monasterio de Santa Catalina and the dominating Cathedral. The former is a huge collection of buildings that has housed nuns for over 400 years. This has been opened up for tourists to explore all the bedrooms (or cells), kitchens, chapels and they even have 5 confession booths (although what they had to confess being 100 odd nuns locked away from the outside world I´ll leave to your imagination...) One of the museums in town boasts a 500 year old mummy called Juanita - a 12-14 year old Inca girl sacrifice that has been preserved in ice. The entry price includes an impressive and informative tour about the Inca sacrifices and the expeditions that discovered them. This ends with seeing Juanita in her giant freezer, skin and hair still intact, her body having been preserved for 500 years at 6000m above sea level! After climbing such a huge mountain the Incas basically got her drunk and whacked her over the head - pleasant.

That night we visited an unimpressive touristy restaurant, the reason being in order to try fried Guinea Pig! Having never really liked these little beasts I was more than happy to eat one, and there´s no doubting what you´re eating as the Guinea Pig comes out fully intact (little fried nose, whiskers and all). A local delicacy, we were a bit indifferent and thought it tasted a little like KFC (or KFGP if you like).

The next day a two day trip to the Colca Canyon saw us on our first gringo / touristy trip. The first day saw us drive over a couple of passes including one at 4900m (higher than Mont Blanc), seeing the Vicunas, Alpacas, Llamas of the area before heading to some hot springs in the afternoon. These were ok but full of tour groups - if seeing 60-70 year old French men in speedos is your thing then it´s probably perfect. That night we were entertained with some local music etc. which wasn´t as bad as I was expecting. Being dragged up to join in some local dance saw me using a piece of rope as a whip and carrying a woman off stage. Apparently based on courtship, I thought it erred a bit more towards bondage!

The highlight of the trip (and the reason for going) was the canyon itself. We got some good views down the canyon, which at something like 1800m from the top to the river, is impressive. We stopped at the Condor lookout at 8ish with the hope of seeing the largest flying birds on the planet. After 45 mins, curses were flying in the giant birds´direction and we were a litte worried about a condor no-show but all was forgiven as eventually about five of these giant birds were airbourne.

With little time in Peru, we essentially followed the tourist trail up to Lima. Our next stop was Nazca. After a night bus from Arequipa, we arrived in the early hours and went straight to book a flight with 3 other guys from the bus. Within two hours we were airbourne on a 30min flight over the Nazca Lines. Only really visible from the air, the Nazca Lines are a collection of 12 or so drawings on the plains around Nazca and are very impressive. Some of these measure over 100 metres and have been around for a few hundred years. Apparently these aren´t massive cartoons but some astronomical calender used to manage harvesting and irrigation. Although some leave you with a "what the hell is that supposed to be", with a bit of help (i.e. a map and explanation) the drawings are an interesting collection of animals and shapes.

By midday we were on another bus to Ica and the resort of Huacachina. Huacachina is basically a little oasis - a group of hotels and restaurants scattered around a lagoon. Unfortunately on close inspection a bit tatty and the lagoon certianly not that welcoming for a dip! However the main reason to go was for the sandboarding in the dunes. We went on a 3 hour trip to the dunes that surround Huacachina in sand buggies driven by what seems like the local insane. There are some massive dunes around here and the drivers of the buggies have no fear in flying up and down them, whilst the passengers hope the roll cage really won´t be necessary! Then it was onto the sandboarding. We started on what I guess are the nursery dunes and here we tried some sandboarding - Sarah opted for the head first, stomach approach while I sort of managed to stand up. Then it was onto some massive dunes - easily over 100m. Here confidence in my sandboarding ability left me (it´s not the same as snow) so I opted for the head first approach too - and we went flying down these dunes. It was a great laugh which was to be followed by days of finding sand in all sorts of places!

Our next stop was Pisco. I would have no real qualms in calling this place a ´hole´. The main reason to visit this place is for the Ballestas Islands - a haven for wildlife. Apparently nick-named the poorman´s Galapagos Islands and with us being poor persons it suited well (well definitely too poor to do the Galapagos anyway!). We took a tour out there on one of the many tour boats (tourism in Peru is alive and well) and were not disappointed. The islands are absolutely covered in seabirds (boobies, comorants, penguins etc etc.) and home to a very large and noisy population of sealions. A stop at the main sealion beach gave us a close up view of hundreds of these animals including some huge and fairly aggressive males vying to dominate their stretch of the beach and the females that go with it. I wouldn´t fancy being a lady sealion when one of these fellas got a bit randy! In the afternoon, we carried on the tour to the Peninsula which, although right next to this haven for wildlife, is classified a desert. Not that exciting but we did see some interesting cliff formations. One of the highlights here was probably the two blatant lesbians on the trip animatedly talking about "birding" - although i´m sure they were expressing their interest in ornothology it still made us giggle.

The next stop up the coast was Lima where we were to start our pre-arranged trip. We´d heard a few scare stories about Lima being a bit dangerous and generally not that nice. We stayed down in Miraflores which is definitely one of the better districts and had no bother at all. With only half a day to spare we decided to do a city tour by bus. Although no way to really expore and get to know a city, from the top of our double decker we saw some of the sights of Lima. Given all the bad press we were actually a little surprised by some of the impressive architecture and nice plazas we passed.

That night we checked into a hotel (very exciting after a few months of hostels) and met up with the rest of the guys on our pre-booked Inca trail experience. We had a good group, consisting of 4 Irish, 3 English, 1 American, 2 Canadian, 2 Ozzies, 1 Phillipino and a Norwegian. The next morning we were on our flight to Cuzco (1 hour flight versus a 26 hour bus journey!) and given a free afternoon we were content on seeing a couple of sights and studying the effects of altitude on beer consumption. You want a cheap date, take him/her to 3300m above sea level!

The next day we had a day to acclimatise to the altitude and our Inca "experience" included a tour of the Sacred Valley. A relatively relaxed day with a meeting time of about 8am. On the agenda a visit to our first Inca ruins at Pisac and a fairly leisurely hour and a half trek. The ruins were impressively situated on top of a hill (fortunately this one you can drive to!) and the trek was not too difficult (although we were all feeling the altitude on the uphill sections). We also stopped at a little guniea pig farm to watch the little delicacies squeaking around awaiting their turn for the oven. Here they also served "chicha" which is corn beer, surprisingly nice and costs about 10p a pint! A night in Ollantaytambo (the last stop before the trail) was followed the next morning by a visit to the Inca site here. Once again steep terraces lead up to the top of this hill top location and by the top we all sounded like asthmatic donkeys as we fought for air. A little worrying given the prospect of the next 4 days trekking but at least we were all in the same boat!

We then drove to the start of the Inca trail where we left our bus, grabbed our walking sticks and bags, quickly ditched our bags (to the porters) and crossed the little bridge to start the trail. The first day starts you off quite gently, following a valley with some smallish inclines, stopping at a couple of inca ruins, and walking only about 10kms in about 5 hours. A bit of a surprise on the first day was the number of small communities dotted on the trail (all selling bottles of water or gatorade for your daily trekkers!) The last hour gave us a bit of an insight into the next day as we started a straight climb before setting up camp. The porters by this time (20 of them for the 13 hikers) had set up camp and got dinner on the go. Within 20 minutes of being on the trail we´d been passed by these guys who almost seem to jog the trail with their 20-30 kilos on their backs - very impressive and puts my 6kgs for Sarah and I to shame. That night after dinner (you wouldn´t really expect chicken stuffed with cheese and spinach on a camping trek would you?) we were introduced to our porters by our guide. Despite the language barrier, these local farmers (who do this outside harvest time to earn more money) were a great group of people and it wasn´t long before a couple of our group had got themselves Kechua (the local dialect) nicknames!

The second day had come with health warnings from others we had met and after an early start of 5:30am, we were on our way by 6:30. The first 3 hours leave the last of the communities and go straight up to the top of Dead Woman´s Pass (a reassuring name). At 4200m above sea level this highest part of the trail is reached by climbing a few thousand Inca stairs on this Inca trail. Now I guess the Incas didn´t tend to use spirit levels and combined with the altitude this is the toughest part of the trail. Having said that we made it in good enough time and collapsed briefly at the top to catch our breath, swear a lot and get the requisite sweaty photos. The weather was pretty unsavoury up here and without too much hanging about we went back down to the other side. Now going down is easier but no safer! Given the Incas didn´t go in for non-slip steps either (what were they playing at?) you have to be a little careful. Not that this seems to bother the porters who after having packed up all the stuff once again came flying past us.

A lunch break at the bottom, a bit more swearing and a couple of power naps (obviously with Sarah leading the way) was followed by the second pass. So over the second pass we went via an Inca settlement (whether it was an interesting site or not was overshadowed by the thanks for a breather). This time going over the pass we had some sun to accompany us (the weather here changes in a flash). Before arriving in our campsite for the night there was time for one more Inca settlement - this one an impressive building set on this outcrop with sheer drops on either side (I can´t imagine there were many Inca builders who suffered from vertigo!) Even with the complaining legs we still appreciated the site. All that was left was a 20 minute walk to the campsite, where we arrived about 4. A stunning campsite overlooking massive valleys, mountains and (when the clouds cleared) snow-capped peaks (beautiful scenery). A tough day definitely but manageable and with enough energy remaining to play a very odd game we constucted in the campsite. This involved a pitch drawn in the dirt, a few stones and some odd scoring system (the porters must have thought we were mad!)

Not much could keep us out of bed that night and we were all in bed fairly early (given that the light goes about 6:30, after dinner there´s not that much to do!) That night we were party to a huge thunderstorm sweeping through the valley. Thank god the tents worked as the rain beat down, the lightning lit up the sky and the thunder echoed around these huge valleys. The noise of the thunder was so impressive it´s no wonder the Incas thought the mountains were gods. Obviously Sarah slept through the whole thing (how i don´t know) but for the rest of us it was a relief to have the snoring of our American group member drowned out for a while (an incredible noise!)

The third day was an easier day once again as we worked our way along the undulating trail through sub-tropical jungle (it´s interesting how the vegetation changes as you walk the 46kms). Skirting the mountains and the wisps of mist and cloud we stopped at another Inca settlement where we had some great views over the valley of the Urubamba River. This part of the trail is 90% original and it´s a testament to the Incas´construction skills that nearly all their major constructions (including Machu Picchu) were built in only about 100 years - the golden age of the Incas. A bit stiff and in need of a bit of a rest we arrived at the last campsite for lunch and had the afternoon free. We had a stroll (only 10 minutes so definitely counts as a stroll) to another impressive Inca settlement and then retired to the bar (yep the last campsite has a bar) for a well earned beer! That night we said our thanks to the porters with a rendition of Jingle Bells (we couldn´t think of anything else to sing to respond to their song) which will go down as one of the most bizarre moments of our whole trip!!

All that was left was a 3.45am start the next day for our last day and the final leg to the "lost city of the incas". Despite needing some sleep before this early start my stomach had different ideas. So in preperation for the next day I had to endure a bit of double ended stomach trouble in what can only be described as a minging toilet/ hole and 2 hours sleep was all I managed!! However I wasn´t going to let this ruin a thing and at 4.30 I was at the entry gate with the rest of the gang waiting for our entry to the last leg of the trail. At 5:30 (we got there an hour early to beat the crowd which proved to be a good idea) and at a very fast pace we walked the last 45 minutes to the sun gate. Given that it´s the rainy season we were very fortunate because as we arrived at the sun gate (the first group of the day) the sun was just coming up on Machu Picchu. A stunning view as a couple of wisps of cloud clung to the mountain as the orange light creeped over the Inca city. Whether this view would be as impressive without the hard work to get there is unlikely but a great moment.

We then walked down to the city itself and got some great views of this impressive city before the swarms of tourists arrived later in the day. Built in a beautiful setting with valleys on either side and the mountain of Wayna Picchu behind (the one you see in all the photos) this site is more intact than other Inca ruins. Our guide (who had been great fun and very imformative throughout the trip) gave us a two hour tour of the site and although the legs ached and the mind was a little tired we managed to enjoy it. Then, just becasue we´re masochists a few of us climbed Wayna Picchu behind the city. This is a good 45 minute climb (in our condition) and was definitely the steepest bit we´d done in the whole 4 days!! At the top small buidlings and terraces amazingly cling to the cliff and after the climb we were rewarded with some amazing views of Machu Picchu. The clouds kept away and we had a great day to see Machu Picchu in all its glory.

We were out of the site by 1pm (having got there at 6.15 we´d been there a while) and managed to avoid the masses of tour groups who´d come up by train (how easy). After buying "I survived the Inca trail" T shirts we took the bus, train and bus back to the hotel for a much deserved shower! Just to prove we were all built of tough stuff, that night we even all made it out for dinner and a bit of dance in a local club with our group and guide. Not sure if it´s the best warm down but somehow we managed to stay awake till about 2.

A fantastic expereince and although highly popular still keeps this wonderful charm and sense of mystery about what you are doing. As the guide put it, " everyone will take with you your own memories and moments from this trip". Following in the footsteps of this great civilisation is a great privilege and some of the mysteries that still surround how the Incas lived makes it even more fascinating. A good guide who made the history come alive in the present (highlighting how the Andean people hold onto their beliefs and language), a fun and sociable group, good weather and a fantastic location made this such a rewarding trip. With only 500 people a day (including porters etc) able to do the trip and talks of future closure or limits of some sites it was a real privilege to have completed the trail.

Our last 2 days have been spent relaxing and enjoying the charming Cuzco: a pleasant mix of colonial buildings and pride in their Inca past. I´m fighting a case of man-flu, Sarah´s putting up with my moaning! Tonight we board another bus and head for Bolivia and country number 9!!

We hope those who still read, still enjoy.

Jonny and Sarah

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Photos

Machu Picchu
The lost city of the Incas a welcome sight after 4 days on the trail.

The Iconic Condor
They finally showed up...

Can you tell what it is yet..?
The hummingbird .. I think. Nazca Lines.

Coffin with wings..
For our trip over the Nazca Lines

Sandboarding Pro
I think i´ve got sand down my pants..

Sealion Orgy
"Maternity Beach" - Islas Ballestas

Birds, Birds and More Birds
Islas Ballestas

Inca Steps over the Sacred Valley
From the ruins at Pisac

Starting the Inca Trail
Still smiling at this stage...

4215 metres above the sea!
We made it to the top of Dead Woman´s Pass... and strangely we´re still smiling!

Hummingbird
Flying is the easier way to get along the Inca Trail!

View from the trail
Getting up at 6am is easier when met with these views!

Backdrop to an Inca Settlement
The Incas definitely believed in a room with a view!

Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate at Sunrise
We made it!

View from Wayna Picchu
Worth the final climb

Comments

[Jonny and Sarah]

"succinct" not my middle name!!
I promise we´ll try and keep them a little shorter in future :-) But we did have a lot to say!