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The road to Cuzco
18 hour bus trip winding through the mountains. Breathtaking stuff but impossible to catch on camera.Hello everyone,
We have been terrible over the last few weeks with keeping up this blog. We have a million excuses (none which hold much water) but our main reason has been our paranoia over our ipod and not wanting to flash it around anywhere remotely public!! But now we are in a lovely little hostel in Chile (La Serena) and it has internet in the hostel so we can ipod to our hearts content and you guys will finally get to see some photo´s.
Ok, so where we left off.... Cuzco.
We didn't initially spend too much time in Cuzco as it was just our base for exploring the Sacred Valley and Macchu Picchu. After our last blog entry we just had a a quiet but freezing night - gosh it can get so so so cold up there at night, unless of course you are huddled under an alpaca blanket (or four) - and prepared ourselves for the 8am start to the Sacred Valley adventure.
We had decided to book a package for Macchu Picchu as there is so many small parts to organise - accommodation, train and bus tickets, entry tickets, English guides.. etc
Lunch in Sacred Valley
We had a delicious buffet lunch as part of our tour, in this cute little spot outside Pisac. - that it is just easier to book it as one and pay a small premium for your guide to organise it all. So we started off with a day tour of the Valley including the ruins of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. It was here that Renya had her first real experience of Altitude Sickness! We weren´t actually sick - all that happened was that you get so exhausted from the slightest physical exertion - and when you are climbing 100 or so steep steps up to a ruin your heart feels as if it is jumping out of your chest.... it makes it even worse when bloody Luke doesn't get affected at all and is jumping up the steps like a mountain goat!! The ruins themselves are amazing especially Ollantaytambo, it just takes your breath away at how imposing it is - those Inca´s had to be crazy to want to build such structures at such heights!
One other interesting fact about the Sacred Valley to all those Aussies back home is that the entire valley is just covered in... Eucalypt Trees! They imported them from Australia because Eucalypts have deep roots and so they plant them on the
Luke at Ollantaytambo
Tough climb but well worth the views. hillsides to minimise erosion and prevent landslides. Turns out here in Chile they do the same and use them as a fast growing wood resource. It feels very strange as an Aussie to see the trees from home in such far-away places!
During this tour we teamed up with an American Couple - Dave and Sydney - who had booked the same package as us and hence were doing the exact same route. We became friends instantly because Dave recognised Luke´s ´nudie hat´ as he had lived in Sydney Australia all last year (go the nudie hat!! It was also recognised by an Australian couple yesterday here in La Serena). So together we made our way from Ollantaytambo to the beautiful town of Aguas Calientes via train. Then we had an early night to get up at 5am for the trip to Macchu Picchu, which turned out to be easy due to our excitement at finally going!
So we got to Macchu Picchu and perched ourselves on a nice high spot by 6:30am to watch the sunrise over the Andes mountains. It was an amazing experience to be in these peaceful ruins, with nothing but the sound of
Sunrise at Macchu Picchu
We sit and wait for the sun to rise. the river in the valley below and birds and to feel the warmth come over you as the sun rose and streaked over the mountains. It sounds terribly cliched but the place is as amazing as we hoped it would be and definitely worth all the emotions and work we´ve gone through to get there. Nothing will prepare you for the place, couldn't recommend it more!!! This was followed by a 2 hour guided tour of the site where learned so much, the guy was great value and had even written a book on the place. He related everything back to the Inca culture really well, answered all our questions and even kept pushing for us to get involved in the conversation of the area. Believe it or not, circa 1978 the Peruvian army decided they need to use the main plaza as helicopter landing spot and someone in the 'military intelligence' ordered the large obelisk to the Sun, which was the centre of all the rituals, to be crushed and buried so they could land 2 helicopters in the plaza at a time! A classic example of the effects of Peruvian bureaucracy, we also learnt that the site rakes
Sunlight creeps across the ruins.
Now we could feel the sun slowly warming us and our surroundings. in over US$25 million a year yet most of that is never spent on the site or the surrounding areas.
Anyway, rant over. So we decided to climb the ´Death Hike´ and climb Wayna Picchu mountain, the large mountain in the background. 5 people died last year climbing the mountain, 1 from heart attack, 1 from poisonous snake bite, 2 from falling off and 1 got struck by lightning at the summit! Obviously we made it there and back, but it was a difficult climb due to the steep ascent and slippery steps. But it was definitely worth the effort as the views were magnificent and on the small summit you felt as if you were on top of the world.
The round trip took us about 3 hours (a bit shorter for Luke as he had to run down the mountain looking for a private place to ´meet nature´ and afterwards we were pretty destroyed so we just wandered around, took in the magnificent views and prepared ourselves for the steep ascent down Maccu Picchu (our bus ticket was only one way and we didn't take enough cash for the trip back!!) It ended up working out all
The classic shot.
The larger mountain in the background is Wayna Picchu aka the ´Death Hike´. Beautiful huh? right because even though it was tough on our tired bodies the scenery was amazing and we also got to see the amazing kids who get money by beating the bus down the hill.
These kids tell all the tourists who get on the bus that they can beat them down the hill by foot. They then run down these steep steps like lightning and yell at the bus at every junction to prove that they got there first. These kids make serious money but you wonder whether they really should be in school (and what their knees will be like when they are older!!!)
Ok, Macchu over and done with - very tiring but worth every little ounce of pain. We had a an early night (again) and a early 5.45am train out of Aguas Calientes back to Ollyantambo and then a taxi to Cuzco. We were ready to sleep all day to recover but had previously organised a ´Cuzco City Tour´ so we spent the rest of the day visiting more ruins and museums. A quick note to those who follow our steps - do this first because after Macchu Picchu nothing else is nearly as
´Death Hike´
This is the standard climbing method. Scrambling with hands and knees and holding on for dear life! impressive!!
The next day we caught a bus to Puno with Dave and Sydney. Which was really nice but even colder than Cuzco. We visited the Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca, which are islands made entirely out of woven totora reeds (really springy to walk on). Our trip took a little longer than expected though as we got caught in the ´Bermuda Triangle of Lake Titacaca and broke down twice in the same place and had to wait a good hour or so for a new boat battery to arrive. But we were with a group of Brits as well so we had plenty of time to talk and trade stories and tips.
After Puno we said goodbye to Dave and Sydney as they were heading to Bolivia (just like every other single backpacker that we have met) and we headed to Arequipa - a town that we just fell in love with! This was the most European city we found in Peru and it had a beautiful central plaza surrounded by a massive church and pillared shopping arcades, all with the backdrop of 3 imposing snow capped mountains. We went to the University Museum in Arequipa and
View from Wayna Picchu
The magnificent view. To the left is the road from Aguas Calientes to Macchu Picchu. Also our walking trail back cut rights down the middle. saw the frozen mummy of Juanita, who was a willing child sacrifice at the time of the Incas. She was amazingly well preserved, by virtue of the fact she was ceremonially wrapped and left on the mountain top to be with the gods. This meant she was frozen very quickly and remained there for hundreds of years until she was exposed when a nearby volcano erupted and the warm ashes melted the snow on her mountain. It was fascinating to learn that she was destined to be a sacrifice from the moment she was born. She was raised in this knowledge and it seems to have been an honour for she was sacrificed not only to appease, but also to be with the gods as an eternal semi-god herself. Which ironically has occurred in the present day as she is now eternally sustained in a special museum dedicated to her. Another amazing aspect of this was the Inca´s ability to scale mountains, centuries before anyone in Europe was recorded as having done so. Juanita was found at an altitude of around 6000m! They have found evidence of permanent Inca base camps, special sandals and at the summit an entire ceremonial
Hanging with the llamas.
Nature´s lawnmowers were really tame and so damn cute! Big thanks to Corey for taking our photo. area was created. Juanita would have fasted for the entire journey, then fed an alcholic drink to make her dozy. The sacrifices were then struck near the temple by the priest and she would of died instantly, only 12 years old.
But it wasn´t all history and tourism in Arequipa. We decided to have a pub day and went to an Irish bar, yes it seems they are everywhere, for a boozy lunch and to watch the Champions League final - screened at the lovely time of 1pm 😊 Beer and cocktails are so cheap here, we had 2 pizzas and beer after beer - all for under $20. We also went and had the best breakfast so far at the Alliance Francaise cafe - fresh ham and cheese croissants, banana pancakes, real coffee and real strawberry juice. Not very Peruvian but it was so damn good and cheap we didn´t care.
We wrapped up all our ´Peruvian´ business in Arequipa, like buying ourselves Inca Cola t-shirts and prepared for the border crossing with Chile. Saying that, there was really nothing we could do to prepare ourselves. The whole process was so utterly bewildering and we had absolutely
Santo Domingo church.
Built on top of the old Inca Sun temple (hence the black wall from the original temple). Cuzco has 15 churches, the Spanish legacy to convert the population to Catholicism. no idea of the best way to do it. When you arrive at the bus station of Tacna you are instantly surrounded by about 4 guys trying to convince you to travel with them and take you to their taxi´s. We ended up finding some policemen and asking them which was the best way to cross. They led us to a taxi counter and we just did everything that the lovely taxi driver told us to do. You have to go through so many steps to cross over and we were so confused the entire time - but when we finally arrived in Arica in Chile it was all worth the confusion.
Chile is so different to Peru. First of all it is much cleaner, you don´t get mobbed in the street for being a tourist (actually their aren't even many tourists here), the food is delicious, the water is drinkable, everyone follows the road rules, the buses are on time.... i know what you are thinking... there has to be a catch right???
Well there is. We can´t understand Chileans at all. Their Spanish is so fast and so slang that we have absolutely no understanding of
Islas Flotantes on Lake Titicaca
Really strange to walk on but ingenious nonetheless. what is going on. We have ended up in some hilarious situations because of it too - we got on the wrong bus and were trying to ask a Chilean couple why they were sitting in our seats. We went to a restaurant and ordered - two hamburgers, a coffee and a glass of coke and instead we got two hotdogs smothered in avocado (which Luke doesn't eat), a banana milkshake and a glass of coke - we still have no idea how this happened.
But nonetheless we love Chile, although it is more expensive so we intend to do a whistlestop tour and get back to cheaper prices in Argentina. However since we have landed in La Serena that has kind of gone out of the window because we absolutely have fallen in love with the place and never ever want to leave. Yesterday we did a tour of the Valley de Elqui, the main Pisco and wine growing valley in Chile and it was absolutely sumptuous. Tasted a lot of Pisco as well. There is actually a bit of competition between Chile and Peru about Pisco as Peru claims to have invented it but the Chileans have
Real breakfast at last!
Renya enjoys some of the first food she´s managed to keep down on holiday. Plus real coffee! You know what I´m talking about Roger :) the patent!!
So anyway here we are up to date. We are staying one more night in La Serena and getting the bus to Santiago tomorrow morning, but we aren't planning to stay too long in Santiago so we should be in Argentina by the weekend.
Ok big loves to all - hope all in Perth is going well for everyone!!
Lots of love
Luke and Ren
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Steve (Dad)
non-member comment
This is exceptional Ren and Luke!
The best blog todate with the most information (much of it amusing)and some excellent photos. Almost felt like I had been there myself after reading the last line and enlarging the last photo. Some moments and times have been tough but the majority of your travels in South America sound like fun. You will be season travellers by the time you fly out to London. Looking forward to hearing even more when we catchup then. Much love Dad xx