A Blast Through Peru!

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Leaving the Galapagos Islands turned out to be a bit more of a struggle than I had anticipated and even though at the time I thought timeframes were tight, I assumed that it would be a weekly occurrence, that boats would dock in time for passengers to board their connecting flight. Obviously I was wrong and turning up 30 minutes before my flight to Guayaquil was not correct procedure for the staff of TAME, who informed me I was too late for my 11:40 flight and would have to pay another $200 in order to guarantee a seat on the flight later that day. After a slightly heated discussion, I managed to speak to the ’manager’, who organised for me to be on the next flight to Quito, which left at the same time as my original flight, so why I was allowed on this one and not the other remains a mystery! After a non eventful flight, I landed back in Quito and began my journey to Huacachina in Peru, where I was to meet up with Myles, Andrew and their friend from Melbourne, Shannon, who they had met in Lima. I had told them I would be with them by Friday lunch time, which tied in nicely with their plans, and left Quito bus station about 20:00. The trip from Galapagos to Huacachina would consist of 1 flight, 4 bus journeys, 2 taxi rides, an F1 experience in a minibus and a 5 minute stint in a tuk tuk, taking just over 2 days!

From Quito I took an overnight bus to the border at Tumbes on the Peruvian side, which was where I (consciously) came across my first (second and third) stitch ups of the trip. As I was dropped off at the Ecuador/Peru border to obtain my exit stamp from Ecuador, I was approached by a guy who told me he worked for the bus company I had travelled with and would escort me to the immigration office and then show me where the border was located and help me into Peru. I didn’t buy everything he said, but after successfully showing me the immigration office and getting me to the frontier, things turned a little bit pear shaped. Firstly he said that Peruvian officials would want to see proof of their currency and $100 would suffice. I explained I had no Peruvian currency on me and he showed me where I could withdraw dollars and then change them with one of the many money changers plying their ‘trade’ at the border. I was sceptical, but had changed money on the Colombian border and everything had worked out alright, so tentatively handed over my $100 and received 300 Peruvian soles in return (in three 100 peso notes). I walked over the border and got into a taxi who took me to get an entry stamp into Peru and then continue my journey to the nearest town where I could get another bus. The taxi driver told me I needed $200 in cash to show Peruvian authorities if we got stopped and his story seemed to be corroborated by the Ecuadorian who produced the said amount of cash. I then withdrew $200 from an ATM and a further 400 Peruvian soles. All seemed ok until I was dropped at the bus companies office and the taxi driver tried to charge me the equivalent of £100 for the 30 minute ride. I told him he was having a laugh if he thought he was getting that sort of cash and eventually ‘agreed‘ on the equivalent of £30, which was still farcical, but as that was the smallest denomination of note, I knew I would be getting no change - stitch up number one.

I booked a ticket from Tumbes to Piura and within an hour I was on the bus and heading in the right direction, looking forward to meeting up with the boys at some point tomorrow. About 2 hours into this trip some commotion from the back of the bus caught my attention. Somebody had noticed something wrong with the bus, which pulled over to be assessed, only to be condemned by the driver, leaving me to assume I was in for a lengthy wait! That was until a minibus pulled up alongside the bus and offered to take anybody the remainder of the journey for a small fee. Being the only tourist on the bus, and presumably in quite a strong financial situation compared to the other locals, I managed to scrape together the £4 the driver was asking for and squeezed myself into the seat available in the minibus. I’m not sure what the hurry was for the driver, but he got me to Piura in double quick time, which was scary in places but turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it enabled me to board a bus bound for Lima with only 20 minutes to spare. If I had waited with the bus there is no way I would have made this connection! The overnight service with Cruz del Sur was fine, getting me to Lima in enough time to book the onward leg to Ica, a mere 5 hours away. I managed to board the service after being told that the three 100 peso notes I had changed at the border were actually fake, made only of paper. The attendant showed me how I could tell they were false and returned them to me, allowing me to try to think of ways I could offload them. Stitch up number 2...bollocks! I eventually arrived in Ica around 11:30 and took a tuk tuk the remaining 5 minutes to Huacachina, where I was to check my emails and find out which hostel the lads were staying in. I found them easily enough and within an hour, was checked into a relatively plush hotel and was tucking into my lunch, when I heard the Australian twang of Myles from the poolside. It was good to see them again, especially Andrew who I had not seen since Cartegena and to meet Shannon who I had heard much about.

That afternoon we did what most tourist go to Huacachina for and booked onto a Sand Dune and Sandboarding tour, starting at 16:00. We piled into a dune buggy and then drove around the surrounding sand dunes at break-neck speed, which was hell of an adrenaline rush. We reckoned we got up to speeds of around 65 mph, which when travelling in an open buggy is bloody quick! Hurtling up and down sand dunes is a lot of fun, however you wouldn’t want anything to go wrong as the consequences don’t bare thinking about…easy to say with hindsight I guess! The crazy driving was interrupted by an hour of trying to stand up on a plank of wood and sandboard down the dunes. Apparently it is very similar to snowboarding, which was of no consequence to me as I have never snowboarded before either…and is fair to say I probably wont bother with now, if my sand boarding efforts were anything to go by! I couldn’t stand up for toffee, which was very frustrating, and decided to go down on my belly for the last 2 runs, the last of which was a massive dune that the others were very excited by. Trying to control a sandboard whilst standing on it appears to be hard enough, so you can imagine how hard it is when 14 stone of man is lying along one! The ride down started off fine, until about a third of the way down when the board turned slightly, meaning I was now hurtling down more sideways than front on and was only a matter of time before the edge caught, sending me into a tumbling mess of limbs, sandboard and copious amount of sand…which I am still washing from parts of my body I didn’t know existed. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but provided a good laugh for those at the top!

The next morning, the 24th April, we set off in a taxi for Nazca, which is 2 hours from Huacachina and a place famed for shapes drawn into the ground, similar to the crop circles constructed in the UK. Nobody knows exactly how they got there, but the best place to view them is from the sky, so we arranged a 30 minute flight in a 6-seat aircraft, directly from the airstrip in Nazca. The flight cost the equivalent of $70 dollars and you could pay in either currency. As I had withdrawn dollars the previous morning and had not needed them, I decided to pay in dollars, only for the sales lady to inform me that they too were fake! I was gutted, especially as I had taken them from an ATM and couldn’t believe I had been stitched up 3 times in less than 24 hours! She checked all $200 worth and told me they were all fake, which meant I had to pay in Peruvian soles, where I cheekily managed to drop in one of the dodgy hundreds - I guess she thought I wouldn’t have the gall to do that after explaining my misfortune, but I got away with it, which left me with one more dodgy hundred, after I had managed to offload one at dinner the previous night.

The flight itself was pretty cool, the first time I had been in an aircraft that size and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the experience, considering I am not a major fan of flying. The surrounding views were spectacular and the lines were incredible, even though I don’t know what the meanings are, it was still interesting to see, especially considering their size. Nazca itself had nothing else of interest to offer me and best thing that happened that day was receiving a text from Dad telling me West Ham would be in the Prem next year! We spent the majority of the remaining time spent in an internet café and had lunch and dinner in the same restaurant before taking an overnight bus to Arequipa, arriving early on the Sunday morning.

I spent my time in Arequipa catching up with emails etc and making the most of the hostel, which had an awesome TV room. We stayed one night and left for Chivay, a town 5 hours away and that is the base point for trips to Colca Canyon, the worlds second deepest. The bus took 5 hours and was the most uncomfortable ride I’ve had in SA - the road was bumpy almost the whole way and I was squeezed into a seat alongside a local and a larger than average Australian. We arrived and checked into a basic but comfortable room for the night, before walking an hour to the hot springs for which the area is famous. The springs are just a heated swimming pool and I was not overly impressed with them, especially considering the walk…and the cold!

We had to be on the bus at 04:30 the next morning for the 2 hour journey to Colca Canyon, where from view points you can see the famous condor bird of prey, gliding majestically on the early morning thermals. The views were incredible and well worth the effort, although it took a little while for the condors to wake up…but when they did, they didn’t let us down. The way they glide is effortless and it was easy spending a couple of hours watching them search for food on the ground hundreds of metres below. Just another amazing experience from this continent.

The rest of the day was spent hiking down into the canyon, taking a mixture of official and unofficial paths. The views from inside the canyon are breathtaking and we were all stopping every few hundred metres for photos. It was a long way down, about 1700 metres, which took us about 3.5 hours and by the bottom we were all feeling pretty tired. A lady approached us and said she would cook us some lunch at her restaurant, so we followed her up the other side of the canyon. Her restaurant was only a 15 minute walk away, but it was mainly uphill and I really struggled for breath! It was the first time I felt that the altitude was affecting me, but by the time I reached the restaurant, all I wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep…I was buggered! Anyway, we ate a decent lunch and continued on our was, which took us uphill initially but then flattened out for the majority of the rest of the walk, allowing us to enjoy and soak up the surroundings, which provided some of the most spectacular views I have seen on the trip so far.

We reached a place called the Oasis (a couple of hostels and restaurants at the base of the canyon, both of which have swimming pools filled with water from the nearby river) and checked into the most basic accommodation I have experienced thus far - a bed of sticks in a barn - and got straight into the pool. It was bloody freezing, and I turned into a woman almost straight away, although I imagine my leg muscles appreciated the coolness. We were in bed, fully clothed, by 08:00 as there was no electricity and nothing else to do, aiming to get on the trail by 06:00 before the sun came up. I was a bit sceptical as my knee problem had flared up slightly and after the altitude problems the day before, thought I might be in for a gruelling few hours. The average time to climb up the 1200 metres to the top is 3 hours, however the 4 other guys in our group did it in 2, with me following 15 minutes later. It was by far the hardest trek of my trip so far - I really struggled for breath and my legs just wouldn’t work. It was the first time I had actually though, f*** this and really wanted to give up, but there’s little point in doing that as I’d just be stuck halfway up a canyon wall with nobody prepared to carry me. Anyway, I made it eventually and was pretty ecstatic to get to a restaurant for some hard earned breakfast! I slept on the bus back to Chivay!

We got back to Arequipa later that day and booked ourselves straight onto a bus to Cusco, where the Australian boys needed to be a few days later in order to trek the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I was planning to do an alternative trek that doesn’t need to be organised months in advance, but decided against it after the problems with me knee. I didn’t want to get halfway through and then have to be carried back by donkey if the knee gave up altogether, especially without seeing Machu Picchu! We strolled around town the morning we got there and familiarised ourselves with the town. There was a massive procession going on in the main square, where a lot of the local school children were involved. I have no idea what the significance was, but it was still impressive to see everybody looking so smart and acting very formally. For lunch we ate guinea pig, a local speciality, served whole on the plate, complete with teeth and claws. Not a great deal of meat on the little rodent and I’m not sure I’ll bother again, but was an interesting lunch all the same!

The next day Myles and I went to the viewpoint over the town and were approached by a guy who was selling horse rides. We bartered hard and got him to drop the price, before jumping in the saddle for a 2 hour ’ride’ around the local countryside, where our 8 year old guide pointed out various points of interest along the way. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t worth the money and I am unsure how significant the points of interest were, but it was nice to get out of the main town, which is over run with tourists and hawkers, and get into the countryside. That night we decided to have our first big night out for a while and after a few vodkas in the hostel, hit one of the bars where ’Los Beetles’ tribute band where playing. They were actually very good and provided us with a lot of laughs if nothing else. Very funny listening to a Spanish fella belting out Hey Jude…but he still managed to get the place pumping. From there we went to another club filled to packed with Dutch travellers celebrating their Queens birthday - any excuse for a piss up. We did our best to help out with the celebrations and caught up with Jan, the guy who had tagged along with us on the Colca Canyon trek. The highlight of our time in this bar was watch the behaviour of Myles and his technique adopted in seducing a member of the fairer sex, who just happened to be from Essex. It was gut wrenchingly painful to watch, but the delicate touches to the face and little nibbles on her neck eventually worked, with the rest of the team having to leave him to it. He eventually returned ’home’ around 08:00 that morning!

The boys left for Machu Picchu a day later leaving me to explore more of the town on my own. I wasn’t a massive fan of Cusco, not so much because of the setting, but more because of the number of tourists and the number of people trying to sell you junk, get you into their restaurants or offering a massage. I didn’t realise I was in Thailand!

I had organise my visit to Machu Picchu through one of the numerous operators in town and was picked up in a mini bus late afternoon on the XX April. We were taken to the train station a couple of hours away and then after an hours wait, took the train for just over an hour to Olayantambo, the main town that serves the trips to Machu Picchu. I arrived at my ‘hotel’ at 21:00 and after a shower and quick bite to eat, was in bed with the alarm set for 04:00. Buses leave the town at 05:00 but in order to be on one of the first few, it is recommended to get in the queue around 04:15 onwards…especially if you want to climb Wayna Picchu which opens at 07:00 and only permits 400 people to the top daily.

I got on the second bus of the day and arrived at the entrance just before 06:00. I made it clear that I wanted to climb Wayna Picchu and received the necessary stamp to do so, then paid the entrance fee and made my way to the entrance gate for Wayna Picchu. Walking through the first part of the site of Machu Picchu was incredible. I have seen so many pictures of it throughout my research of the trip and have mates who have already been there, but seeing it for myself was amazing and everything I was hoping it would be. I had a stupid grin on my face for the first half hour I was there, trying to soak up the surroundings. It is most definitely a must see place!

Wayna Picchu is another mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu and because I hadn’t hiked the Inca Trail I wanted to get to the top of this and see the sun come up over the old Incan City. I was first to the top that morning, much to the disappointment of a French guy who was up second, but still had to wait for an hour and a half before the sun was strong enough to burn the cloud away…but when it did, the wait and the view was well worth it! It is hard to put into words the feeling at the time, but actually being there and experiencing one of the new 7 wonders of the world is something that will stay with me for a long time to come! I hope you get a better idea from the pictures!

I was booked on a guided tour at 10:30 so had to make my way back down for that and for the next 2 hours was shown around the ancient site and explained to wait certain things were, where certain things used to be and the reasons why they are still there/now not there. It was very interesting, but again the number of tourists was incredible, although nothing like the levels they get in high season, which was a bit concerning! I preferred it when I was able to go off on my own and look at things at my own speed, taking photos of the views and just enjoying being there. I managed to find a terrace level all on my own and I thoroughly enjoyed chilling there for an hour, overlooking the site. Very peaceful…until I was joined by the 3 aussie boys who had made it from their hike on the same day. They told me all about the hike, what they had seen and how it had gone and must admit to being slightly jealous that I hadn’t been able to do it. Oh well...next time! We then had a bit more of a walk around before heading down to the town for some food and a beer, getting the train back to Cusco for around midnight. We left Cusco the next day and my short time in Peru was now done. Next stop…Bolivia!

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