Advertisement
Published: December 12th 2008
Up close Machu
Behind is Wayna Pichu we climbed for the alternative viewSuperlative-less, not a state you often find me in I grant you but there we are, Machu Picchu and now Brazil will have that effect on you. This is actually going to be my penultimate blog I have decided, I shall do one more a few days before hometime which will detail East coast USA and then my teary goodbyes, it´s going to be emotional people. What follows is an over the top pathetically loving detail of the trek and of Rio de Janeiro, so get the sick bags and let's dive right in shall we.
Machu Picchu OK so for the georgaphically and indeed historically challenged amongst you I shall give a brief lesson on Machu Picchu: its fricking awesome. No, I joke. Machu is in Peru and is a probably the most famous symbol of the Inca Empire and often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas" (a silly title of you ask me, its not lost I´ve bloody seen it, tut), its 2400metres above sea level and was built in 1460, where it was forgotten for centuries until some American literally stumbled across it (ahh hence the name!) whilst looking for a different city, lucky
bast*rd. Now the Inca´s are pretty well known so I thought it was some sort of Roman dominance conquest kinda thing for centuries, but an interesting little fact methinks is that they were only actually dominant for 100 years before the Spanish came, and in that time they managed to knock up such stunners as Machu and loads of others, busy little suckers if you ask me, which you didn't, but I told you anyway. To get there involves a 4 day hike along the equally famous Inca Trail and covers 44km, which to me sounded like no trouble at all but was actually bloody hard work. Just to give you a measure of it, when we were on the trail (not in our group)a guy died in his tent, he just never woke up one morning, piece of cake then..
Day One:
And so it began. First off we met the rest of the group, an eclectic bunch at first view, 16 in total and the age range went from 50 something to mainly 20 somethings, Irish, English, Aussies, Canadian, Yanks, Dutch and 3 Welshies-for by now Anna(Chris´s friend from back home) had come to meet us. We
were led by 2 Peruvian tour guides, both speaking excellent English, highly knowledgable and most importantly good banter. We were also joined by 21 porters and one chef, who every day would lift ridiculous amounts onto their backs and then sprint past us(literally at times to our embarassment) up the mountains to the next camp and have food prepared and tents set up for our arrival. The food by the way was amazing, 3 meals a day, and always 3 courses, one of the boys had a birthday and they even managed to get him a cake and ice his name on it etc, 3500 metres up a mountain, well done that chef. Day One was a fairly easy gentle start, and lucky really as day two was the killer (literally for the aforementioned guy!)Nothing too strenuous, a mere amble to the super fit like me, cough, with some nice little views, canyons and a cool little Ince site that warmed us up nicely for Machu. Good food was had and we got to know the group a little better so all was going swimmingly.
Then day two arrived, oh me oh my. This day was pretty much make or
break time and was merely about finishing it, some in other groups couldn't hack it and had to go back, and then there was Mr-not-waking-up-in-his tent-er, so trust me when I say it was physically challenging, although I'd still do this day again rather than the Rockies mountain bike fiasco! It started badly with not much sleep, me Ev and Anna decided to share a tent which would only have comfortably fitted two and it made for a bad nights sleep, tired and grumpy and up at 4am-yup I was full of beans that day. Then we started walking, a lot, uphill, steeply, all the way, for hours, it hurt. Starting at 3000metres we eventually topped out at an impressive 4215metres, and were exposed to all the Andean elements, first hot sun beating down, then near the top icy winds and rain. It was a gruelling challenge and to all those out there thinking of doing the trek (we went with perutreks.com and they were superb) this would be a good day to pay the extra and have a porter carry your bag. We took up mini backpacks of hoodies, jeans, shoes, etc, plus strapped on were sleeping bags and
sleeping mats, all this on your back whilst walking continually uphill for a few hours makes all the difference I can tell you. Strangely the day actually made me, somewhat bizarely I actually enjoyed the massive physical challenge and powered on ahead of the group getting into camp first, my theory was if I took it slow and stopped every now and then I would never get going again, so I went mountain goat-esque and pummelled it. Admitedly this led me to resort to swearing a lot, talking to myself as well as the mountain and singing using the ipod at the top of my voice, I got some great looks off the porters as they (still) overtook me. It was a great reward and sensation finishing the day though and knowing you were through the roughest part, we also got a perfect panoramic view of the skies and stars that night which led to me an Ev getting all Patrick Moore and staring up at it for what seemed like hours and spotting shooting stars, actually it all sounds a big Brokeback mountain to me, hmmm. The night was also bitterly cold due to the altitude and not even
sleeping in 3 pairs of socks, 2 jeans, 2 hoodies, hat and gloves would warm me enough to sleep well, tents need radiators if you ask me and camping is as over rated as surfing and coffee, yeh I said it.
Day 3 was easy again, and thankful we were too as we nursed aches, pains and in my case bad feet, a little tip for future trekkers out there, don't try and do it in slip on no soled thin Adidas trainers as it hurts a little bit, maybe invest in some actual boots, don't say I didn't warn you is all. Gave credence to the saying 'All good things to know are difficult to learn' though. The day was all downhill pretty much so not too much hassle as we descended down to the base camp nearest Machu at a measly 2000 or so metres. The day gave some nice views too, ruins, caves, canyons, rivers etc, the only drawback being the fact it rained all day making footing slippery. The camp was also more civilised and as well as the camp site there was a bar, sweet unbridled joy a bar. Possibly even better it had a
shower, so after 3 days of blood sweat and tears we got to get clean, well I say clean, we didn't bring a towel and there were none left to rent, so we had to use hand soap, my t-shirt as a towel and stand under the dribble of cold water provided, poshpacking this wasn't. Unsurpisingly, the night led to a few drinks and good laughs which meant a better sleep, God bless alcohol I say.
And so it was Machu Picchu. What is going to follow is not a detailed account, I don't think my words or even the pictures will ever do it justice and as I said earlier, I'm out of superlatives. We were the second group lined up when the gate opened(its all quite precise) and we even overtook some of the first group on our 40minute walk to the start so our view once we got to Machu was unrestricted. The tour groups arriving on bus etc don't get there until 11 even so our first sight of it, breathless and sweaty at 6am was perfect, for once people I think I was speechless. I was prepared to see Machu and I've seen enough pictures
of it msyelf, and truly the ruins themselves were spell binding, but what I had never preivously realised was the location of it itself, atop a mountain, surrounded by a complete panorama of other impressive peaks, settled in a valley with a river running through it and clouds floating by merely metres above the actual site and sometimes through it, we had the postcard picture view. We then got up close and personal by going to the site itself, and every angle of it offered a great view and it was awesome to finally be here looking at it after planning to for so many years. We were taken on a guided tour through and learnt a lot about it, but to top off the experience myself, Ev and Anna joined 3 others to trek up Wayna Picchu, a larger mountain facing Machu from the opposite angle. Many didn't do it as it was one trek too far but we are made of strerner stuff, or I was still punch drunk with delirium but we went on anyway. This was a hard hours climb too, especially after 4 long days but the view was worth it, a complete alternate view
revealing Machu and one that not many get to see as our group proved, so we got to sit there and soak in the view and atmosphere for a while. It's definetly up there with my favourite sites, perhaps Bromo in Java beats it and the Rockies, but its damn close. If you are planning it fellow travellers then go do it, you won't regret it, and do the Inca trail instead of cheating on the train and bus, worth every step I tell you. Martin Luther King said
If a man hasn't discovered something that he would die for, he isn't fit to live I've found mine, travelling and seeing things like this, I'm not stopping doing it anytime soon.
As reward for all the trekking and sight seeing we then got drunk, a lot, many times, gotta take the rough with the smooth people. Everyone headed back to Cusco, the base for those starting and ending Machu and we stayed there another week. We managed to squeeze in an excellent quad biking session and some wanders around the nice city, in between the copious drinking and hangovers. Some of our trekking group were in the hostel
with us so we had some great nights out with them, especially and unsprisingly the Irish!I must also mention Ev's mate Anna who flew over just to do Machu and Cusco and then flew out of our lives again, but God bless her for doing it. The girl is a little gem and we got on well from the off, if nothing due to her having moments of dizziness like proclaiming the notorious patient killer was called Dr. Harold Bishop... The hostel itself was called Loki and we ended up staying there weeks, knowing a lot of people and even the staff knowing us intimately, it got to the stage of barmen saying stuff like 'hey Mike take that to Chris for me will you', I think this signified we had been there too long so we departed for Brasil, loved Machu, Cusco and Peru in general though, do it I urge you!
Brasil And so it was on to Brasil, another country I had been looking forward to seeing ever since I can remember, and it didn't dissapoint. This was actually my 21st and final new country of the trip, not a bad little tally I
think? We flew from Lima to Sao Paulo, and I know I am pushing the bounds of believability here, but it was by a female pilot, yes an actual woman, no seriously, I kid you not.. Perhaps still a little shaken up this experience we then decided to leave Sao Paulo within minutes, and jumped on a bus to Rio De Janeiro.
I may be a little biased by my love of Sydney having had such a great time there, but its a very close tie with Rio for my top title, I loved it. The only downside was the weather, although it never rained for the 2 weeks we were there it was mainly cloudy and we managed to sunbathe for only about 3 days, yes I know your heart bleeds for me. It was actually a bit annoying though, no sun meant you couldn't do any tours, because its no use going to see the statue or mountain if its cloudy as there's no view, and you can't sunbathe with bad weather, so a few days were just write offs. It says a lot for the place though that I still rate it so highly.
It had some
great attractions, the Christ the Redeemer statue was top for me, a stunning view of the entire city, beaches and ocean from the top of it as the iconic figure loomed over. Sugarloaf mountain gave another brillaint view looking back over the city and up at the Christ statue. Then throw in the beaches, and in particular the amazing Copacabana beach, where we drank coconuts and watched the women in their thongs and the men in their budgie smugglers. We fufilled a lifetime ambition by playing football on Copacabana beach, first doing kick ups and trying to be Brazilian-and failing.We then organsied a hostel game and got 16 boys down there for a big kick about, playing so long it was under floodlights by the end of it. The beaches are covered with goalposts and volleyball nets, the Brazilians have it all right and no wonder they are so good, they live for it. There was more though, we also went to the legendary Maracana football stadium to watch the final game of Flamengo's season, the stadium is the largest in South America and can hold 95,000, although sadly it wasn't totally full for our visit. A great atmosphere there
though and reminiscent of Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires, although that was better in my eyes. We also visited the largest favela, or shanty town, in Latin America, a surreal and unique experience although far too exploitative in my eyes. To top that off we went to a favela funk party, essentially a club within a favela, which was as dodgy and weird as it sounds with lots of locals, all massive, with their tops off dancing, it was like a 1992 Marky Mark video. Finally we danced at the Lapa street party, not quite the Carnival but a good nod to it, and checked out some of the other areas like Ipanema, Santa Theresa and the Lapa street steps where Snoooooop Dog filmed the Beautiful video, little fact for you there fact fans. As you can see overall we fitted a lot in, and that dosen't even cover the days in the hostel, and especially the hostel bar, and all the amazing people, staff and times we had, so many great nights out, and indeed great nights in at the bar. I honestly can't name check them all as we met so many cool people but my facebook friends
have tripled in number pretty much. The hostel was called Yellow Mellow and as with Machu I urge all future travellers to head there, a great place and was like a second home to us.
I could wax lyrical some more about Rio but I'll save it as you have done well enough to get this far, well done my loyal readers. Overall therefore Brasil and South America is done with, and receives a huge massive tick off us. I can't even begin to describe how gutted and upset I am that I am having to miss out on the Amazon and also Colombia due to time and money, and that will forever stick in my throat, but I am not going to let that diminish from the amazing time overall in South America, and I WILL be back to finish off what I started one day in the not too far future. Its all coming to an end now, I am going to blitz through the East coast of US in the next couple of weeks and then its home, I shall save the mourning for the last blog! By the way, this is a crap PC, so no
time or chance to spell check, see if the pictures worked or anything like that for forgive me if its not the best! Love you all people
00
DAYS
00
HOURS
00
MINS
00
SECS
Since I left Wales!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0326s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Sarah-Jane
non-member comment
Almost home...
Another stunning blog love, so glad you skipped Colombia! What an epic journey! xxxx