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It´s now been two weeks since our last post, but it feels like much longer considering all that´we´ve done.
After flying from San Jose up to Miami, then back down to Lima, Peru (bad for our carbon footprint but better for our wallets than a direct flight), we had two days in the Peruvian capital. The first day was spent recovering from our overnight flight from Miami (luckily the hotel let us check in at 7am), and exploring a bit of the city. First impressions were really positive: prices were much better than Costa Rica, less tourists, and there was a fabulous supermarket just down from our hotel where we bought passionfruit and non-sweet bread (difficult to find in latin america) and olives...
Walking down the main pedestrianised street, we got approached by about 15 guys working for tattoo parlours, which was something new. I´m not sure what kind of tourist decides to get a tattoo a matter of hours after arriving in South America, but it wasn´t us. When one of these "tattoo" people then offered us weed or cocaine, I decided maybe it was all an elaborate front... but a lot of Peruvians do have tattoos, so I don´t know.
Lima has a few really nice plazas, with amazing churches and colonial buildings, lots of ornate balconies and Peruvian flags... it´s a pretty cool city to walk around, and not that dodgy at all... though maybe we´re pretty well acclimatised by now.
Our tour started in earnest the day we left Lima and flew to Puerto Maldonado, which is a port town at the confluence of two rivers which are tribuaries of the Amazon. Despite the fact we were flying into the jungle, our plane was a fairly new Airbus A320 (loaded mostly with tourists). From the airport we were collected by a truck owned by the lodge at which we would be staying and taken to the market to buy snacks and plastic ponchos (it´s the rainy season). We then droped off our big bags at their office, before jumping on board a motorised canoe for an hour and a half up the Rio Madre de Dios to the Eco Amazionas Lodge. The lodge was a pretty sweet affair, with about 40 cabins, a swimming pool, bar, pool table and ping pong. All the meals while we were there were also included, and were always interesting, mixing Peruvian cuisine with jungle ingredients.
As part of our stay, we also had organised excursions. On the first day we went to Isla Monky, which the lodge owns and has repopulated with four species of monkey (saddleback tamarin, 2 types of capuchin, and black spider monkeys). On the walk to the feeding area, we had to trek through pools of water which challenged the height of our gumboots (supplied by the lodge), and there were a lot of mosquitos, but it was awesome once we were surrounded by lots of hungry monkeys. On the way back it started raining, and rain in the Amazon Jungle is unlike rain anywhere else. Suddenly the massive amounts of water in all those rivers made sense. That was the last time we forgot to take our ponchos!
The next day we went for a walk into the jungle for about 3 kms to a lake with a viewing platform. On the way we saw millipedes and centipedes, more tarantulas (smaller and less colourful than in Costa Rica, but here Marisa was allowed to be the one luring the spider out of its hole with a twig!), giant snails, army ants, ocelot tracks (the closest we came to seeing a cat, or any mammal that day), lizards, salamanders, frogs, the most colourful moth I´ve ever seen, and the odd bird. At the viewing platform we found a baby boa constrictor asleep in the rafters, and he/she didn´t seem bothered by the ten of us stamping around with our binoculars. At the lake we saw more birds and insects, and a turtle. On the way back to the lodge we found a termite colony and Ronal, our guide told us they were a good source of protein, especially if you´re lost in the jungle, then asked who wanted to try. Both Marisa and I stuck our fingers against the termite mound until a few crawled on and then stuck the tiny insects in our mouths... they tasted a bit minty, a bit like menthol. You´d have to eat a lot to make a meal, but if you´re stuck in the jungle, I guess you have the time. The paths on the way back were covered in waste high pools of water, but there were no leeches (phew) and no anacondas (aw).
In the afternoon we went fishing for piranas up a smaller (less brown) river that feeds into the Madre de Dios. Only one girl on our boat caught anything (a baby catfish), but it was fun. After that, most of us went for a swim in the same river! It was a bit freaky considering a few minutes before we´d been trying to land piranas, but our guides assured us these were only small, vegetarian piranas, and came swimming as well, so it was pretty safe...
All in all, our time in the jungle was wet but memorable, and a great way to kick off our South American adventure. Looking forward to the Pantanal in Brazil, which we´ll do on our own.
We then flew from Puerto Maldonado to Cusco, the old Inca Capital, now a thriving tourist town with a population of 400,000. Cusco is at an altitude of around 3300m, and it was odd being short of breath after only a few steps. Our hotel had an endless supply of coca tea (supposed to help with altitude sickmess / increase the oxygenation of the blood), though I´m not sure if it had much of an effect on me. Mostly it just took time to adjust. Like Lima, Cusco has some pretty cool plazas and colonial architecture, but it has the added element of some remnants of inca walls which have been incorporated into other buildings.
In Cusco we expanded our culinary horizons further, trying alpaca (okay, a cross between lamb and beef, though our steaks were overcooked) and guinea pig ("cuy") - - sorry Mum. Guinea pig wasn´t even that tasty, but when in Rome...
From Cusco we did a day tour of the sacred valley, which got off to a rough start when just passed Saqsaywaman (inca ruins near Cusco) the road was blocked by a procession of people from nearby Calca, on their way to Cusco to protest some administrative matter. Protests, or strikes as they call them here, regularly involve placing large boulders on main roads and causing havoc. We ended up driving back to Cusco and taking another route to Chichero and Ollantaytambo, which were both cool, but it meant we missed Calca and Pisac.
The next morning we left for the Lares Trek, and ended up stopping in Calca for breakfast (hot chocolates at the market made with milk fresh from the cow). We made it to Lares about 11am, and another 20mins up the unsealed road our van pulled over and we met our porters and the horses that would be carrying our gear for the next two and a half days. Our first day of trekking was about 11kms and 6 hours of walking, and for about 5 of those hours it rained. Turns out our plastic ponchos weren´t completely waterproof... And as for our shoes, well, there were enough stream/river/waterfall crossings to ensure they were soaked, too.
But despite the weather (or perhaps because of the wildness of it all), it was an amazing day.
Our camp for the first night was at 4200m, which is the highest point on the famous (but closed in February) Inca Trail, though for Lares it´s nothing special. The rain and the altitude meant sleeping was difficult, but it was a nice surprise to emerge from our tents the next morning to find the mountains covered in snow and a light sprinkling covering our tents...
Unfortunately I was running a fever and had vomiting and diarrhea the whole day, meaning I couldn´t keep any food down and had zero energy. I think it was another tummy bug like in Egypt (though not nearly as bad), though the effects of altitude made things all the more difficult. But I struggled through the 17kms / 9 hours of walking, including making it to the first pass at just under 4600m (highest point on the track). Fortunately, Marisa was fine (and able to take photos), and helped spur me on, and Ray our guide helped with some traditional and not-so-traditional remedies.
Anyway, I felt a bit better by the evening and was almost back to normal for the final day of the trek.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the Lares Trek was the remoteness. We were the only tourists on the trek (8 plus our guide, our tour leader, 2 cooks and 2 porters, though those 4 were always ahead of us, setting up camp). We passed through a couple of communities each day, giving the kids bread and the adults coca leaves as goodwill gestures (and compensation for being in photos). The kids were all very cute. A lot more reserved than the kids in Africa, but just as grateful for the attention and keen to see themselves on the camera screen. We´d seen people wearing "traditional dress" (brightly coloured ponchos and funny upside-downy hats, etc) in Lima and Cusco, but they were always trying to sell something. On the trek the people weren´t playing any gimmicks, this was life as it´s still lived up there. Amazing.
We arrived in Ollantaytambo in the early afternoon of the third day, then caught the train to Aguas Calientes, a very touristy down at the base of Machu Picchu mountain. The next day we got up early (in the 4´s) to line up for the bus to Machu Picchu. Time was of the essence as only so many people are allowed in at any one time, and only 200 are allowed to climb Huayna Picchu, the peak from which to get the best views of the citadel. The sun kind of rose without fanfare somewhere between the half hour bus ride up to M.P. and waiting in line at the entrance, but it was still pretty amazing to walk into Machu Picchu as the clouds rolled across it. After getting our tickets to climb Huaynapicchu, Ray gaves us an in depth tour, building on the little bits of Inca knowledge we´d gained from previous excursions in the sacred valley and Lares.
In all we stayed about five hours up there, with the visibility ranging from pretty good (though never completely cloudless) to foggy & drizzling. When it came to our one hour window 10-11am to climb Huaynapicchu it was raining and Ray recommended it not to climb as the steps can be slippery and you wouldn´t see much from the top. So that was a bit disappointing, but still managed to get some good photos from the guard tower and with the grazing llamas. It also afforded us the time to check out the Inca bridge, which was cool because of the sheer cliffs and the fact there was no one else around (rare for Machu Picchu).
In the afternoon we took the train, then a private bus back to Cusco.
Yesterday was a free day in Cusco, which was definately needed after the previous few days. Washing, internet, restocking our first aid kit... All riveting stuff.
This morning our tour group doubled in size (from 8 to 16) as we merged with a group who´re doing the same itinerary as us, they just skipped the Lares Trek (fools!). We caught a comfy public bus to Puno (about 7 hours), which is on the shore of Lake Titicaca (still in Peru, though). We´ve just been around town, checking out the markets and it seems a cool place. Unfortunately my shoes are the worse for wear after the trek, but I can´t find anywhere that sells shoes bigger than 9US. Oh well. We´ll see what happens in Bolivia.
Tomorrow we´re going on a tour of some of the islands in the lake, and having a homestay with local families on Amantani Island, including a soccer game with the locals and a barn dance (local variant thereof) with all of us in local dress. Should be interesting, especially as each dance lasts 15minutes, and we´re up at nearly 4000m again!
Okay, that´s about it. As always, I´ve forgotten things and failed to capture the coolness of this particular chapter (there´s something stifling about internet cafes...), but I guess that means there´ll still be things to tell you all when we catch up in person.
Craig
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