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Hi all,
Hope all is well on the home front, finally got an hour or two spare to update the blog dating back from the Inca Trail, and visiting the spectacular "building site", to quote an Irish friend, that was Machu Picchu.
The trek itself lasted 4 days and 3 nights, and is the most famous of the routes to Machu Picchu as it is one that in parts was used originally by the Incas themselves, passing through sections of the Andes, the Amazon rainforest and finishing at the Sun Gate, a popular viewing point for the ruins themselves. Due to its notoriety however, the trek became increasingly populated during the 90s and as a result of there are people restrictions, so we were one of a few hundred, including many porters and guides, allowed to begin the trail on any day. Funnily enough with two fellow brummies, a rarity over here.
To the trail itself; the first day was relatively easy. A false sense of security I am afraid. We set off early, hiking sticks to hand, and passed the well preserved Llaqtapata Inca ruins, walking along the Urubamba River, mocked en route by the less intrepid
travellers passing us on the train directly to Machu Picchu, we began to question what we had put ourselves in for as the steep route, full of ascending and descending sections, was pointed out on the map.
Purely as a result of lack of exercise during the last few months, we felt a little tired when we arrived at camp, where the porters, who waited hand on foot for us, cooked up incredible food and set up tents, catering to all our needs and more throughout the whole trip. A word on the porters; they were an incredibly cheery bunch considering the effort that goes into their job, many are only the size of the Incas themselves, who werent tall chaps, and had to lug around 20kg of luggage (including gas cannisters, huge water containers etc..), running ahead of us to beat us to the camp each time. Incredible feat considering the heights and steepness they scale, I fancy them as decent marathon runners. Incidentally one year we were told the porters did in fact have a race to Machu Picchu, as you do, and I´m told it was a great day out and won in incredible time.
To day 2. The tough day when only the strong survive. From a fairly low altitude we climbed, stumbled, and staggered up to the Dead Womans pass at 4,215 metres, the highest point of the trail. At the top we saw incredible views of the Veronika and Salkantay mountains, we were told at this point they offer a trek up those too, neither the time nor place Gladis (our guides name). Some interesting female names in Peru actually, I think Gloria, and Julie are among those, not what I imagined to be Peruvian, there you go.
Another good old fashioned tent camp later and it was Day 3, more steep steps and steep declines were broken up with some interesting history of the Incas and their Empire, the main things I remember from this are that they enjoyed the number 3 so put 3 windows everywhere and liked walking. They did offer respite for their fellowkind with rest towers every 5km or so. Also battle conscious, they often built high up to see any invaders, of which there were plenty, not making things easy for themselves, nor us. As we arrived so early at the camp we decided we
would treat ourselves to a few Cusqueñas, the "gold of the inca´s", the local beer. The same beer brand filmed a commercial at the ruins not so long ago, and one of the cameras made a dent in an important monument at Machu Picchu. P45 for whoever was at fault there.
We survived the final night and had an early rise to beat the Sun on the final day, racing ahead and in fine fettle, actually arriving first to the gate. Luckily for us there were no clouds so we were treated to cracking views from afar of Machu Picchu, a good sense of achievement after all the walking. Good things come to those who trek.
From the viewspot we had half an hour more of walking, during which one of South America´s pesky stray dogs and the less frequently seen stray llama trailed us. At the ruins we had a few quick "postcard" photos taken, yes the Villa Scarf did come out, as did the celebratory beer clink, and after these we were given a tour around the ruins. It was during this that we saw in evidence the popularity of the place, it was crammed with
tourists, apparently seismologists say it is sliding off its hill at something like 1cm a year, watch out for that one.
After our tour we were fairly exhausted, however still mustered up the energy to climb Wayapicchu, the large mountain in the background of Machu Picchu. This was steeper than any of the trek, however again proved worth it for the views, even if one of them was Sam slightly removing clothes. Inappropriate.
So that was Machu Picchu, lovely place, lots of impressive building went on there. From the ruins we caught the train back from Aguas Calientes to Cusco. The journey was slightly bizzare, firstly we were treated to an alpaca fashion show by two of the train staff, and then we were approached by a man in a V for Vendetta balaclava, and a teddy llama in his hand which we were made to stroke. He jogged off, I nodded off, and that was that.
We got back into Cusco and decided to stay for a few more days as some Wigan lads we had met had arrived, and also it does have good nightlife. We didn´t achieve anything of note however, other than a
Us and the Porters
Good lads, particularly the Chef, dressed for it and everythingfew hours of Spanish lessons with Carmen who worked in the hotel. Muy bien.
We finally got out of Cusco (one cursed road block and delayed bus journey later), and arrived in Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru and an ideal base to visit the Colca Canyon from, a rather large Canyon, only twice the depth of the supposedly ´Grand´Canyon in the States. A 2am rise and 5 hour hellish bus journey later and we were witnessing the Andean Condor in full flight, there were plenty about, doing their swooping thing. We watched them for a while, took some photos, and then were driven around some small towns in the region, at one of which it looked like kids in native dress were being forced to shuffle around in a dancing manner to bad, bad music.
As we are now time short, our stay in Arequipa was brief, and we got a bus the same night to Ica, a little up the coast, from where we got a taxi to Huacachina, a town built around a small oasis in the desert, and also found on the back of a 50 Soles note. The town is popular for
its sandboarding, however we are also now money short, and having sandboarded in Chile we opted against it, and instead sunbathed for a while, then climbed the dunes on foot, good exercise. From the top we witnessed another romantic sunset, and then ran down like madmen.
The next morning it was more journeying, this time out to Paracas on the coast, in order to catch a ferry over to Islas Ballestos, the so called poor mans Galapagos Islands where Sea Lions, Penguins, a lot of Birds (who do a lot of pooing) and Dolphins hang out. We circled the islands and observed for a little while. My observations were that the Sea Lions were generally arfing and lounging about, with one occasionally diving under to go for fish, but generally they were chilled. Its possible however that I am no David Attenborough on these matters. We had a day in Paracas which was fairly uneventful, all I can recall was a man with a ridiculously loud speaker system driving on a bike forcefully selling oranges.
From Paracas we bussed it once again up to the capital, Lima. Miraflores, the district we stayed in, is very Westernised and there
Dead Womans Pass
Highest point of the trail were more fast food restaurants and Starbucks than you could shake a stick at. Unfortunately however we didn´t achieve anything of cultural value there as on the second day Sam fell ill and it was two nights in a hospital room for both of us, Sam on a drip. Luckily he wasn´t ill for too long, a brief bout of food poisoning, and we were back on the road after 3 days, making our flight up to Tumbes by the skin of our teeth. Incase anyone was wondering, we enjoyed the Champions League Final in the plush hospital room, Sam reclining his bed when excited, and interrupted by Nurses with the worst timing. A far cry from the pubs back home.
From Tumbes we crossed the border to Ecuador where we are now. Not without incident however, the crossing rightly has the reputation of being the most dangerous in South America. Living in between the two borders is a small town of what Sting would refer to as "illegal aliens", criminals without passports intent on stealing them and whatever else they can get their hands on. We were escorted by two petrified locals through it all on foot, and
luckily we got away with a few stares and grunts. We have now been in Montañita, a beach town on the Ecuadorian coast and near the equator for a couple of days, a good way to wind down after all the journeying.
Before signing off I just wanted to mention one observation made of Peru. Much like the folks, they love UB40. During one meal in Cusco we were treated to a UB40/Bob Marley mixtape, with an impressive collection of their old numbers. They are also on the radio everywhere, and twice on buses they played the video of Kingston Town in between films, the only music video they showed. I didn´t bank on that before I came out, but I am fairly unshockable now.
Sorry it has taken so long for me to get this done, as you can probably tell it has been hectic. Less than two weeks left so this is in all likelihood the penulimate blog.
See you all soon,
Az
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Noran
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not long to go!
just wondering how you are going to settle down to life in Birmingham on your return........it will all seem pretty tame!Sorry to hear Sam has been ill but at least it was an opportunity for you to take some time out!Your blog makes fantastic reading.......I don't know what I will reda when you return!Have a safe journey home.