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Hello friends and family,
We are currently sitting on the beach in Equador, after making our way through Northern Peru. However, I must start where I left off........The Bolivian/Peru border.
We thought some trouble might arise as we were 10 days over our visa, but thanks to the Custom officers poor math skills and Alanas tears, we were able to cross without issues. We travelled down to Arequipa, Perus second largest city (Sits at the base of Mt Misti, a snow capped volcanoe). After of few days of relaxing by the pool and eating nice foods we were off again. Onto ANOTHER bus and back up into high altitudes. This time to the famous city of Cusco. Insert small history lesson>>>> There are sooooo many churches in Cusco because when the spanish destroyed an Inca 'temple' they rebuild a church in its place. Still the peruvian/Inca culture seems to be strong but because thousands of people from around the world come to see Machu Picchu every year, Cusco has become a multicultural city. Our week was spent checking out the sites, drinking red wine and eating popcorn by the fire and organising our
trek to Machu Piccu.
We had formulated a large crew by this stage and were able to organise an Inca jungle trek with all of us.
ENGLISH: Pete, Charles, Franchesca, Laura, Rob
GERMAN: Hugo
ARGENTINA: Nacho
DUTCH: Rose, Giji
AUSTRALIA: Paul, Ian, Alana, Francis
Our trek was a 3 night 4 day jungle adventure trek. The first day involved a 3hr downhill mountain bike ride, descending from 4300m to 1200m. The boys got into a slip stream racing line and raced down the mountain. I'm glad to say that no one was hurt during this display of male testosterone and downhill prowess. There were some great views and like Death Road in Bolivia, it was amazing to see the vegetation structure change as we decended 3000m. From freezing cold to boiling hot. At the bottom of our ride some of the group did a white water rafting trip as the others started our climb up through the jungle towards our jungle shack. We passed coffee, banana and coca plantations that grew to the sides of the steep rugged mountain side. We were rewarded with a great view,
passion fruit and fresh peruvian coffe.
Day two started with some traditional Inca face paint and again some fresh coffee. We set out from our jungle shack and started walking along a 500 year old traditional Inca trail. This trail hugged the side of a cliff, 500m from the ground below. We walked up and down this trail for half the day and then decended to the river below. We tackled a range of river crossings and basic bridges. On one of the crossings you had to get into a little bucket and then get winched across the river by a peruvian. The day ended with a swim in the thermal pools, which helped relax our muscles (just walked 16km).
Day three started with a zip line activity. It turns out that these 6 ziplines run across a valley and some are about 200 meters above the ground. We had an amazing time and got some great photos!!!! After ziplining, it was another hike. This time following the trainline to the base of Machu Picchu (12km). From this hike you could see up to Machu Picchu and get glimpses of
Zipline
Spot the person in the clouds!!! the stones shimmering in the afternoon light. No one spoke as we crossed the final frontier and the last two kilometers were a time of reflection and personal discovery.
Day four. We woke up at four am so that we could get to the gates before the masses. Some people catch buses and others climb up. 1800 stone stairs in the darkness!!! It turned out to be like a race and as Alana and Paul were the first into the National Park that day, it was Rose and Giji who made it to the top first! It was an amazing experience tackling the mountain in the mornings darkness and it felt deeply spiritual as we sat there, soaked it sweat, watching the sunrise peak over the mountains and illuminate the ancient ruins below us. We spent the day exploring and learning about this historical site. It was amazing!!! (Ian and paul just got deep during this paragraph...ha ha ha).
After Cusco we took the 22hr bus back down to sea level and into Lima. Paul bought a surf board and we teamed up with Jezlin, the frenchman. We
all jumped on another 20hr bus and boosted it up the coast of peru to the beach town of Mancora. A week of sun, surf and beers!!!!!! It was what we needed. It was an interesting beach town. It did seem a little sus and we did hear some horror stories. One English guy was grabbed (for no reason......however he had just got money from an ATM) by the police, taken in a car, had a gun put to his head and made to give over all his money!! We have had no real problems!! A bus into peru brough us to where we are now, Montinita.
Until next time...............
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Gijs
non-member comment
Who is Giji? Nice blog, thanks for the good times. I would have shared our blog, but its written in Dutchiness so you probably won´t like it ;) Take care and enjoy!