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Published: January 30th 2006
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Machu Picchu
Classic Shot Ok from the last installement I left it at going Chivay. Chivay is a town located in the Colca Canyon. To get to Chivay from Arequipa we had to take a road which passed at 5000m which then dropped into the colca valley. Altitude seems to do some strange things to people, like give you a womans bladder needing a piss stop every 1/2 hour. Once we reached Chivay we went to visit the Colca Canyon and stopped at the Condor cross. It was amazing to see the scenery. We were also lucky enough to see 22 condors which flew right over or heads. Youll all be pleased to know its absolutely freezing in Chivay and felt even worse after to spending so much time at beach resorts.
Then the next day was spent on the road to Cusco. Cusco was to be the base for the group during the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. It didnt take long to find the highest Irish bar in the world!
The next day was spent getting prepared for the trail and then the following day we left to visit the first ruins on route to the sacred valley. The first
ruins was called Sacsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman) which was a bit like most inca ruins but with a slide for the incas to play on. The next ruins we saw was at Pisac located up on the hill over looking the market town of Pisac. After a 3 hour bus drive we got to the first camp. There where some great views of the mountains further up the valley.
The next morning the weather cleared up and had the best views of the trekking days. There was no cloud and you could see all the mountains oin the area. The days trek was one high pass and drop down into another valley. The mountains were covered in llamas. Just before we got to the high pass there was a small mountain lake. We made one last climb up to the pass at 4400m and then dropped into the valley filled with more small lakes. We reached the next camp after lunch at about 3pm. After we had to go help the local community plant some seeds that we had brought them. Me, Gav and Jay did most of the hard work by digging up the soil, even had a
few races. However after each plot we dug up the locals had a bit of a laugh at how crap we were and then went in and redid everything.
The next day the weather turned worse and you couldnt see very far. This day was spent climbing for the whole morning again. Just before the days high pass the fog got worse. The group had stretched out at this point and we couldnt see the guide. Thankfully one of the horse drivers caught up with us and we just followed all the horses. It was amazing to see how the horses could make some steep rocky climbs, with only the one stumbling occassionly. As we were passing over the high pass a blizzard came down and made the walk really cold when up at almost 5km. We all got their and then made a quick descent into the camp for the night about an hour and a half further on. As sun set came the weathyer cleared alot and got some great views down into the urumba valley. We could even see lightning in the distance which was cool.
The next day a half day trek down the
Chivay
High road to Cusco valley to the road near Pumahuanca (prononuced puma-w***er) and then got the bus to the next set of ruins in Ollantaytambo. These ruins had great significance with astrology, cosmology and a large water system. The Incas seemed to mark the solistices by the natural surroundings with an inca face in the side of the mountain to the east and the black mountain to the west. They also have loads of different places around the ruins which at the time of solistices make shapes from the shadows of different animals and mark significant points.
The next morning we had to get up at 5.30 to get the train to Machu Picchu. This was the start of the 24 hour challenge. We then got to aguas calientes and took a bus arriving Machu Pichu at about 8am. We first had a tour for about 2 hours being taken round all the temples, the sun dial and royal tomb. At the start of the day there was a lot of mist and low lying clouds in the mountains around Machu Picchu but it gave agreat atmosphere to the visit. After the tour myself, jay, the safa and Nads climbed up Waynapicchu, the
Cusco women
Typicalshot of andean people, except with the bloke in the background! big peak next to the ruins. Took about half an hour but was one of the steepest climbs ive done. On the way we passed loads of Argies in shocking trousers. They all seem to love them. I got a pair for bad taste night in Aguas calientes later that day so you can see how bad they are in the photo.
We got up to the top of waynapicchu and chilled out for a bit. The views were amazing and the weather started to clear up and the sun even came out. As the sun was out we raced up to the sun gate and got all the classic shots of Machu Picchu. We then had to leave Machu Picchu and went back to aguas calientes where i managed to pick up my bad taste outfit for the night and got the train and bus back to Cusco. This was the lñast night for myself and some other guys on the trip so we had a party at a restaurant with the theme being bad taste. Everyone got an award and then we carried on the celebrations in a club until 5.30 to complete the 24 hour challenge.
Sasqayhuman Ruins
Sex woman ruins and cusco in the background Since Cusco I made my way to Lake Titikaka and went and saw the floating islands of the Uros which quite sureal but they had some funky boats. Just arrived in Bolivia yesterday where i met some english guys on the tiny local bus. We stopped at the border town where we then got the bike taxi things and had a race to the border.
That was pretty exhausting catching up on the diary. I´ll try and be better in the future.
Hope everyones ok back in the UK and anywhere else in the world. Youll be glad to hear the weathers been pretty crap over here with loads of rain.
Chao for now
Dave
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Chris
non-member comment
Peru
Hello little brother The last 2 diary entries have been excellent. The pictures of the animals and of Machu Picchu look really good - a question though, where's the picture of the dodgy argie trousers!? I'm envious of all the activities you've been doing - the sand buggying, paragliding and surfing especially! Keep the updates coming and keep enjoying it! Not long left now and soon you'll be back here having to get a job like the rest of us. Ha Ha! Chris