Incas, mountains, monkeys and tree spirits...

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So with just two weeks left in Peru we managed to pack in some big adventures - the first was the 5 day Salkantay hike to Machu Picchu - the second a trip to the deepest Amazonian jungle - and an amazing journey to the astral plane courtesy of a shaman ceremony and a psychotropic brew (more on this later).
We were prepared for extreme cold and altitude on the Salkantay trek (the trek was called from snow to jungles!) and had been gearing up for this - which stood us in good stead when it came to the hiking. What we hadn't expected were such a great group, two crazy guides, so many laughs and such amazing food that we were pretty convinced we had gained rather than lost weight - despite hiking over 7 hours a day.
At about 3:30am on the first morning we met in Cuzco with our marvelous guides Julian and Cesar (not Julius Cesar as we first understood) and our team of porters - known as the Red Army (Julius Cesar and the Red Army would have been just too good to be true). Julian and Cesar proceeded to mangle everyone's names - poor Meredith, Ilana and Bari - our three favorite New York girls- quickly became known as Merry Dick, Llama and Barak. The first day trek we found pretty relaxed and beautiful - we were slightly shamed at lunchtime to find the Red Army had traveled ahead and set up a tent for lunch - and then proceeded to serve a cooked three course lunch. This was the way things were to work over the next few days - no matter how inhospitable the terrain the Red Army would be there serving up way too much fantastic food AND they would applaud us every time we reached camp - despite the fact they had been there for hours already. That night we camped in the freezing cold at Soraypamapa, our first campsite (4000m/12750ft; the highest and coldest campsite of the trip) underneath the shining stars and a grand view of beautiful Salkantay (Savage Mountain). It was our hardest camp and it was a cold start the next morning. Leaving at around 4.30 with an expected walking time of 11 hrs didn't help those of our group who were starting to feel the altitude and there was a fair bit of sickness. Some of the American girls got into trouble and were grateful for the “safety” horse that was available - our favourite frisky pony carried one of these girls up to the base of the mountain when she was too sick to walk. The rest of us just kept going and going, out the valley past a former glacier and onto the magnificent Salkantay pass at an impressive 4650m/15200ft above sea level. We reached the top together with Alex the Scot, our best walking companion, and enjoyed the views of this magnificent peak.
On the long way down we were spurred on by the knowledge that the Red Army was waiting for us with lunch and more tea. The way down after lunch is was completely different- we saw baby condors loads of hummingbirds and this is also where the cloud forest part of the trek starts. It was a pretty narrow path down the gorge - took about 7 hours and we saw way too many spots where heavily laden donkeys had gone over the edge. We were behind schedule which meant that the finish was in the dark. Cow pat hats became the theme for the evening .One of the American girls, seeing a dark shape on the ground , thought someone had dropped their hat and, putting her hand on it to pick it up, discovered it was..yes a nice soft cow pat - cue much screaming and laughter. Day 3 led us along the Lluskamayo River.
The walk itself was much easier (and shorter!) than the previous day and we arrived after early afternoon to take our bath in the river at La Playa (not much beach here though) In fact we were the only ones that showed the willpower to brave the icy water- it was worth it The afternoon's entertainment was a game of footie with Alex, Cesar, the guides and the chefs. The chefs were all very short and more than happy to take advantage of their low centre of gravity and superior fitness- boy they were fast. Later that day a whole other hiking group joined and the pitch got a bit busy but great fun! We also got to enjoy some beers that evening which made it even more perfect. The next day we would get our first glimpses of the Machu Picchu from the Inca hill fort of Llacatapata.
Heading off that morning we stopped at a coffee plantation and had a much needed boost from some super strong freshly ground coffee - in the little hut where we sat that nights dinner were running around under the bench - little guinea pigs. The coffee really gave us legs and we and Alex were the first up the steep hill and the first to catch that amazing glimpse of Machu Picchu - we were thrilled and shared a great moment together. The hike down the valley was stunning and we were on such a high we ran much of it - then it was onto a the train to Cuzco. We hated the fact that Julian and Cesar had to sit in a different train compartment from us but we made up for it later that night - going out for a fun meal and then Eric and I joined the two of them for a (tame) taste of the nightlife at Aguas Caliente. We were up a couple of hours later at 4:30 to collect our tickets for Machu Picchu When we arrived everyone started running - we couldn't understand why but it was to get in the queue to climb Wanu Picchu - we were literally the last ones to be allowed to climb and it was so worth it - what an amazing view. A few hours at Machu Piccu - and a long (actually quite interesting) lecture from Julian on the area - some of us were so tired that they fell asleep during - no names Alex! We discovered the Incas were actually a tall race which made sense after all the times we had tried to scale their incredibly steep stair cases. Then it was back to Aguascalientes - there the proverbial hit the fan rather when the train tickets were given out - due to some confusion a few people were traveling at times they didn't want - groups had been split up and were traveling at different times. Eric and I were totally fine with our ticket - we were on a very late train but didn't care so we sat and had beers and supplied a stressed Julian and Cesar with beer and advice when they needed it. It was an exhausted group who rolled into Cuzco at about 1am that morning. Eric and I returned to our hostel, which we had booked, and luxuriated in a lie in. Then that night we met with some of the guys and Cesar for food and much dancing at Mama Africa's. Poor Julian was already heading out on another trek. Llama Path do treat their guides well but it must be difficult to not know when your next trek will be or when you can be home. Late night chats meant we knew a bit about Julian and Cesar and it was clear that while it's one of the better jobs being a guide can make maintaining a family and relationships pretty hard.

Trip 2 - the Amazon.
Night two in Cuzco we partied hard again arriving back in the hostel an hour before we had to head out to catch our flight to Puerto Maldonado - part two- our Amazon adventure. We were to spent one night in Posada Amazona and then on down the river to Tambopata-Candamo Reserve which is home to the largest macaw salt lick in the word ltravelling on the Tambopata research centre. The biggest shock was that after all the cold of Cuzco and Salkantay were were looking forward to some jungle heat - but they were in a cold snap! The first lodge was amazing - open rooms backing onto a jungle filled with little tamarind monkeys and hooting toucans. We had tried to choose to go with one of the more environmentally conscious tour operators and it pretty quickly became clear that what we had casually booked onto was a bit different from the groups we usually traveled with - either honeymooners or well -off baby-boomer retirees. However once we had got around this we had an amazing time - thanks in part to our two companions - our guide Julian and our travel partner Phillis a feisty, fun Canadian. Day two we climbed the canopy tower to view toucans and other birdlife hiding out then headed about 7 hours downriver into the jungle to the Tambopata-Candamo Reserve. En route we spotted many capibara - the worlds largest rodent which looks like a giant guinea pig. Apparently they back up to the river to crap which made the sight of all of them sitting decorously with their backs to us and bottoms in the water very funny.
Arriving at the lodge we were greeted by colorful visions of bright blue and yellow. Flying around this lodge were many macaws which had been rescued - this made breakfast quite an event thanks to the swooping birds with a taste for breakfast and staff running around with water pistols trying to fend off the cheeky birds.
We were to see many more of these macaws around during our hikes. The main point of being at this lodge was to get up in the early darkness every morning and head on a boat to the salt lick where millions of colorful and often endangered parrots and macaws gather to consume the salt and clay they need to neutralise poisons in the fruits they will eat later in the day. However we were slightly thwarted both morning because it remained misty and the birds were shy of visiting the clay lick when visibility wasn't so good. However we saw a few birds come down and we already had so many amazing memories and experiences - hearing the sound of the howler monkeys -an incredible roaring- particularly when they are straight overhead, the stench of the huge packs (up to 200) of the super shy jungle pigs, the fresh jaguar prints in the mud ahead of us, scrambling up a stomach churning high tower to be greeted by a surprised vulture and watch the sunset. Lucky lucky us.

Trip 3 - the astral plane.
On our last night we joined a few of the Peruvian staff and out guide Julian to follow our shaman Carlo through the dark jungle to his little hut where we were to participate in the Ayahuasca ceremony where we would drink the spirit vine and then sit for about 5 hours while Carlo danced and sang.
Our commitment to him was that we would not eat certain foods, drink alcohol or participate in certain behaviours for 24 hours before the ceremony and 3 days after. From 10pm to 3am we sat - in a trance while the combination of the drink, sleep deprivation, the smoke from the herbs Carlos lit and the strangeness of sitting in darkness while his hypnotic singing went on and on meant that we all had a very powerful experience. T he girl next to me was sick almost nonstop - a purging.
The experience is hard to describe particularly because it was so different for all of us - but it involved a sense of interconnectedness, of hearing other voices and other music. In our altered stated we all in some way looked into the future, traveled in spirit form and felt the force of universal love, healed or connected with another world in some way. It was frightening, exhilarating, amazing and traumatic. At about 3am we all sat and shared our experiences - the common experience was that we all felt very rooted in the forest, many of us had heard voices and felt presences which Carlos said were two powerful witch doctor/tree spirits who had joined us.
The evening had a rather funny end when, as we were sitting talking about our experiences, it became clear that perhaps the fingers we felt touching our heads during the evening had a slightly more real world meaning. Carlos spotted a huge dark shadow scuttling along the floor and announced “spider” he stood up and we expected l in his role as shaman/spirit to catch it and release it. But then “whhhack” and his flipflop hit the spider and the it flew up in the air “whack, whack, whack” and it was dead. It turns out it was a Brazilian wandering spider - totally deadly and extra light revealed a number more of the evil blighters - time to vacate the premises and stumble back through the night to the lodge. Too buzzed to sleep the two of us sat up and talked under the Amazon night until it was time to board the boat and back to the airport and our flight to Lima. Once again we had found a country and people that we really loved and plan to be back next year. And so with heads and hearts full of ideas and memories we managed to nearly miss our flight by getting the day wrong. So our departure from Peru was somewhat rushed - throwing our stuff into our bags two bare hours before our flight. And then it was onto LA and back, for the moment at least, to the English speaking world.

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Photos

Beautiful place
The trek was named among the 25 best Treks in the World, by National Geographic Adventure Travel Magazine, - and it was!