The business end of Peru

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I have been getting stuck into the big ticket items during my last few weeks in Peru - Colca Canyon, Cusco, Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca.

The clouds cleared the day we left Arequipa, so there was a stunning view across the city to Mt Misti and other snow capped volcanos. The drive to Colca Canyon was great, finally no more desert. We made our way through the hills, tussock and other grasses with mountains peeking through. Then we hit the snow covered mountains, driving through a high pass of 4800m. Since we all sampled the Coco tea there were multiple loo stops in the snow, yes there was actually snow! The Coco leaf is supposed to assist with altitude sickness… they are very bitter, so I went straight on to the western meds. I tell you it was VERY cold up in the mountains, but on a happier note there were lots of llamas and alpacas roaming around. We learnt the difference between these find beasts. The llama is more sturdy, carry loads of up to 50kg (thus I can’t ride one, damn it), thus are bigger and have longer necks, plus sticky up tails. The alpaca are the cuter animal and mainly used for jumpers, scarves, etc. We wound down into the Colca Valley; it was very pretty and bumpy. It was really a dirt road and we crossed a couple of rivers, very close to the edge as we made our way up the valley. The canyon was stunning, very deep the highest point over 3000m, it was a very dramatic outlook. We walked a bit along the canyon edge before spotting our first condor; they are very graceful birds with a wing span of 2.5 - 3.1m, huge creatures. They glided and swooped through the valley, we were right at the back of the group and at one stage the giant bird was only 20m above us, of course no one had their cameras ready! After lunch we headed for Chivay (3600m) a little town in Colca Valley that houses most of the tourists. It was a very traditional Andes town, all the women were dressed in big bright full skirts, white embroider shirts, wonderful to watch them getting on with their daily lives. Poor Jonson started feeling decidedly sick from this point, it started with appeared to be a common cold.

The following morning was another crazy early start, 6am, our destination was Cusco. It had been raining all night, and there was a rumour that it was snowing in the pass we had to cross back through. Those rumours soon proved to be correct, and it was snowing rather hard to be honest. We came across a truck stuck and in trouble so we all had to get out and push the snow aside then we slowly wound our way down, pretty hairy situation since we didn’t have chains. Then we were on our way to Cusco, the scenery changed again, I think it looked a lot like Scotland; rolling hills, tussock, rather barren with some lakes, all very pretty. Then it changed again to green pastures. Jonson continued to deteriorate on this trip so a doctor was lined up for our arrival. The drive up Cusco Valley was also spectacular, mountains on either side, little houses in the valley with a river running through the middle, standard valley description, but it was dusk so look even more prettier. We set out on our Cusco walking tour rather late, but it was good, even though the town is VERY westernized, but it is of course the kick off point for the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu. On the walk we went past the 12 sided stone, which made up part of a building, amazing given the tools the Incas were working with. We also saw how they had created animal figures in the stone work; condor (gods), puma (life on earth - humans and animals) and snake (spirits). It is truly fascinating they managed to design this into the wall of a building given the trouble generally building this perfect structure. On an aside, my room mate at the time had brought 40 pairs of underwear as she though there were no washing facilities on the trip, i.e. a laundry. AND she also bought and extra bag full of toilet paper as she thought she couldn’t get any over here… cracking stuff, I laughed for hours, of course not too her face. The next day poor Jonson ended up in hospital with Altitude Sickness, I went to the hospital with Kara, and he had an oxygen tank taller than me. He was in a specialized clinic so had the best care. Sadly, but for the best, Jonson and Kara left the trip, yes they left me on the crazy tour (just joking the new people on the group have been good to hang with). Luckily they did get to see Machi Picchu and then were airlifted to Lima with another girl from the tour, dropping like flies really. Understandably I was rather upset to say goodbye, but I will see them in a few months back in London. On Kara´s last evening in Cusco we went into a restaurant and who should I see but Hilda a girl from the Indian volunteer programme, such a small world!

The following day we did a tour of the Scared Valley. First stop was Saqsaywaman (usually pronounced for the gringo - sexywomen), it had a fantastic view of Cusco, it was the main temple for the city in Inca times. There were some massive stones in the structure, again you have to wonder how the hell they got them up there… given they had no wheel. We drove over the mountain range into the next valley, they valley that leads to Machu Picchu, for our second stop - Pisca. The ruins were on top of the hill looking down the valley there were lots of terraces leading to living areas for the wealthy Incas. I finally got to taste some local Peruvian food for lunch, it was so lovely - soups and stews, lots of pumpkin and corns, all very good. God knows why you can only get Italian food everywhere! We wandered around the markets for a bit I ended up buying a bronzed llama and alpaca, hmmm tat. It was then a few hours on to Ollantaytambo our overnight destination. It is a beautiful Inca village, most of the buildings are still standing, of course not the roofs. We climbed up to the ruins, and had a beautiful view across to various peeks and down the valley. There were some gigantic stones, and I have to repeat myself, how did they get those up there??? Apparently there was an experiment done on a average sized stone used in Inca constructions, it took 500 men to move the stone 3m! Back down in the village I bought a walking stick hoping that would get my up and down the stairs, the Incas were not into the concept of zig-zag, they preferred straight up and over. Apparently the fastest anyone has ever completed the Inca Trail was 3hr 45mins, that is 27miles, in altitude… cricky, obviously our group would not be breaking any records. Our hostel for the evening was very sweet, lovely flower garden owned by a lovely family. Before dinner we wandered around the village looking at the trapezoid doors.

First day on the Inca Trail
We set off to our start and check point, it was called 82km, and we all got through without hassle. It was a very gradual walking day through a beautiful valley. What I have noticed about the Andes in this region, is that they valleys are in a very tight ´V´ rather than being very wide, and of course they are very tall. They mostly grow corn down the middle of the valleys near the rivers. I have to say the toilet facilities on the Inca Trail were very impressive; clean and frequent. We past one ruin then it was on for lunch. Good lord, lunch was amazing and it set a standard for things to come. There was a cook tent, plus a dinning tent, we were served 3 course meals!!! Soup followed by a main and then tea, I wondered if it was possible to gain weight on the Inca Trail?? After that huge lunch it was only a 2hr walk to the camp site (Wayllabamba), on arrival everything was already set up for us. We had a glorious view down the valley to a snow capped peak. It was soon time for tea, yes biscuits, popcorn, cheesy-puffs, tea… very English explorer, what, what. Dinner soon followed, another 3 courses. I had a good night sleep in a tent, on a slight slope, so woke once or twice to crawl back up to the other end of the tent, but the slope is good for altitude.

Second day on the Inca Trail
There was a bit of a who-ha the previous evening as the experienced guide sad we should leave at 5am, a few people complained including the Toucan guide. He ended up over ruling the EXPERIENCED guide and we got up at 6am. So everyone was slightly annoyed with the Toucan guide for his approach and manor. But moving forward, we were awoken to a cup of tea on our tents… how delightful! Breakfast consisted of; fruit, cereal, porridge, and then cake, lordly it there was so much food. We got introduced to all the porters. There was over 30, no wonder, with all that food! Today was the day we attempted Dead Women´s Pass, it was a beautiful clear day so we were very lucky, it was a hard up hill slog to the top 4200m. I enjoyed the walk, and it was good to be doing it feeling well for once. We passed through some jungle type bits with a rushing river, ferns, dripping trees. The view down the valley from the top was great, we waited around for a few others to make it, but the clouds started to roll in and it got cold so we headed down. The path down was very slippery, especially when it started to rain, yeeha, I got to use my water proofs! Yellow poncho and blue bottoms, stunning look. I managed to twinge my knee on the way down, really being to not like my right knee, and it doesn’t like down hills. I got into camp around noon (Paqaymayu), so it was a long afternoon hanging around. It was an interesting toilet situation, we had to cross 2 other camp sights, jump a small river and cross a bridge to get there … very interesting late at night.

Third day on the Inca Trail
It rained most of the evening, (no leaks, hooray!) and woke up to drizzle. More crazy amounts of food for breakfast, but I held back as we struck straight into the second pass at 3900m first thing, but it was a bit more gradual then the previous day. There were some ruins half way up, but I didn’t hang about as it was pissing down. After summiting this pass the trail now turned into the ´real´ Inca Trail, previously it was reconstructed; the real pass was destroyed by the Incas so the Spanish didn’t follow them. My knee held together on the way down, I think this was due to my tube sock knee brace, brilliant idea on my part I may add! We took a wee break then we started up the third pass at 3200m. This section was very mellow through jungle, trees dripping with vines, red and white moss. On the top of this pass we had lunch; lasagna was on the menu. The walk down was crazy, very, very steep and the porters were absolutely caning it, a little frightening. We arrived at our last camp (Wiñay Wayna) late afternoon and got robbed buying water (5soles) and a Gatorade (7soles). We visited the Wiñay Wayna ruins, they were picture perfect. Mountains in the back ground, waterfalls, lots of terraces and stairs down to various rooms, all very beautiful at dusk. Dinner was late and long, there was a thank you to all the porters, where we had to sing! Some of the people in the group had made up some words to ´She’ll be coming around the mountain´, I refused to sing the last chores as they used the F word which I thought was rude given they had carried all our stuff!

Final walk into Machu Piccu
Woke up to rain at 4am and some very stinky toilets, someone had completely missed during the night, some humans are just filthy! We all queued to get on to the final stretch of the trail, they don’t open it till light, good idea as there were some extreme drops on the trail. It was a good walk, one vertical climb … a good scramble and then a few more ups and downs before reaching the sun gate. The view … mist, mist, mist, to be expected. So we made out way down and for a brief 5mins it cleared it was an amazing sight to see the place revel itself then disappear again just as quickly. On arrival we stood under shelter while it continued to rain, they don’t call it the rainy season for nothing! During the tour of Machu Picchu it started to clear, great. A few of us decided to climb the mountain that towers above the ruins and features in all the classic shots of the sight, Wayna Picchu. It was a complete slog, I had to use my hands to drag myself up at stages, it was very steep. It was tough but all worth it, at the top we waited around 20mins and the mist cleared and we got a breathtaking view down on to the ruins. On our way down it cleared even more, so I went up to the other vantage point for some more photography. The bus ride down to where we would get the train was interesting a little kid chased us all the way down screaming another ploy to get cash from tourists, it was a little weird. The river through the valley was so angry, I have never seen such a violent river, must be due to wet season. The train ride back got a little tense as the usual suspects started drinking heavily and really annoying some people and others on the train, all very embarrassing really. Words were said so things were bad. But that aside the valley we traveled through was pretty and on our return we had a lovely Japanese dinner… who would have thought in the middle of Peru, a good Japanese restaurant!

We had two more days in Cusco before moving on. The first day I visit the local modern art museum which had some interesting pieces but was rather small, then I headed to the Inca museum, very interesting with women weaving in the court yard. There was a very interesting photo of Machu Picchu when it was first discovered; they have done a lot of restoration work. That after was all about pampering; I got a massage and pedicure, those poor women having to deal with my feet! On my last day in Cusco a few of us headed for the hills! We did a walk along the top of the peak, it was fab with views down into both valleys. It was pretty and all rather funny as we took some wrong turns and ended up off roading through tussock. There were lots of llamas around and farm lands, really nice relaxing walk. I spent that afternoon and evening doing admin; flights, emails, photos, etc. So that was Cusco.

Puno, on Lake Titicaca was our last stop on my Peru visit. It was a big drive, the group leader banned drinking on the bus, this lead to some tears. But I had a great journey, 4 of us embarked on a 5.5hr game of 500, this passed the time very well. We made one stop on the way - Sillustani - it was a cemetery type place. It was a very pretty setting, lots of llamas and a huge lake, mountains in the distance. The walking tour in Puno was short since we were only staying one night. Due to strikes in Bolivia we had to travel straight there after our visit to Lake Titicaca. The following morning managed a good jog in the altitude down to the shores of the lake and around a wee track that had been built, there were lots of locals out which was cool. We rode by rickshaw type things down to the lake edge, before boarding our boat we bought little gifts for our host families; pasta, rice and canned goods. It was a beautiful ride out to the first stop - Isla Taquile, most of the team was sleeping since they went out boozing the previous evening, crazy! The Island was great, it had a med feel to it; bright blue waters and rocky terrain. They inhabitants all lived a very basic lifestyle, they type of hats they wore determined if they were married or not, men knitted and the major was elected by a show of hands in the town square. Our Mama´s for the evening met us on the shore of the next Island - Amantari. My Mama was called Norma, we later found out her husband had left to go to Lima for work and never returned, so she was effectively a solo mum. But of course there was a large family. The walk up the house was a real struggle in the altitude, over 4000m! Our room was basic and clean. We got given identification hats and then headed back to meet the others for the climb up to watch sunset. It was a wonderful view of the lake and surrounding islands and mainland. Plus we could see the snow capped peaks of Bolivia. Our dinner was nice, soup and potatoe and rice, there was no electricity. Staying here reminded me of how fortunate I am and how thankful I am for the opportunities I have. After dinner we got dressed up into the traditional dress, it was quite a sight… billowing purple skirt, white embroidered top, colourful belt and black shawl headdress. We then headed down to the local hall for dancing and generally looking stupid, great fun! When we were preparing for bed we saw some amazing lightening cracking over the Bolivian mountains. Early the next morning we were up, had a pancake for breakfast, then since we were slightly late, we marched down to the dock. Said good bye then we were on our way to the reed Islands, basically Island made from reeds. I thought it was a bit of a tourist trap, which was sad since we had turned them to this way of living. That said Lake Titicaca was a highlight of Peru. When we arrived back to Puno it was straight onto the bus and we raced for the boarder. The boarded crossing was very simple.

Photo Link

WELCOME TO BOLIVIA!

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