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Hi All!
Well as we mentioned last time, our latest destination has been Cuzco, Peru and the surrounding area. We arrived, very very tired at 7 am on a Sunday morning after an over night bus ride which involved listening to the driver's choice in bad Peruvian music ALL night! It was nice however to see the city when it was nice and quiet from the back of the cab as we headed to our hostel. A quick word on Cusco- it was initially a royal city in Incan times and is surrounded by many sacred sites for many miles. Even in the city itself, remnants of the Incan empire remain such as some walls and foundations (which, very interestingly, form the shape of a puma!). Of course in the 1500s the Incas were conquered by the Spanish and the result is an incredibly beautiful colonial city which retains a huge amount of significance in Incan history and the still practiced Andean religions. Naturally as soon as we arrived we immediately went to sleep until it was time to meet up with some of our the friends we had made while trekking the Colca Canyon. We were all headed to Cuzco and all wanted to do some more trekking so we figured there's power in numbers and we should try to use our group power to negotiate a good price for the trip. So we wandered around Cuzco for a while exploring various options- we knew we wanted to end up at Machu Picchu however the classic Inca trail which everyone has heard about is booked out months ahead and also notoriously crowded. Of course there are alternatives and we ended up choosing the Lares Trek. This would involved trekking through an area called the Lares Valley and is referred to as the cultural trek as it involves visiting many local communities and meeting the people who live there. It sounded perfect for us! However we put off booking for one more night so we could check out the reputedly best company for this trek and check their prices. So the next morning we met with David, Estella and Laura and David let us know he had met up with some friends who had just finished the Lares trek with a company called Peru Treks and loved it. We've found on this trip that word of mouth is often the best kind of recommendations so we headed to the agency. Everything looked great and we were eager to book but there was one little problem. We were informed that the next day the union for transport workers and taxi drivers was striking and blockading all roads out of Cuzco. The only way to begin the trek tomorrow would be to leave that night which wasn't an option as we had all booked and paid for our respective hostels. So we reluctantly decided to leave a day later than intended which unfortunately meant our Italian friend Laura couldn't join us as she was on a very tight schedule. Of course there were further complications (as always!) Technically tourists should book train tickets for the Machu Picchu/Sacred Valley area (which we would need for part of our trip) several days in advance and as we only had a short time before we left, the agency suggested we would probably have more luck as four tourists buying the tickets directly from the Peru Rail office as opposed to the agency buying them for us as they usually would. So we headed down to the rail offices to find a full waiting room and a 40 person wait as well as Laura waiting for her own chance to buy a ticket and see Machu Picchu the next day independently. Unfortunately she had been given the wrong info at the tourist office and hadn't realized she needed her passport in order to buy a ticket and had to make an emergency dash back to her hostel, returning just in time to sweet talk her way into the line right behind us. Phew! We spent the next couple of days getting organized, buying head lamps, canteens and snacks, hiring walking poles etc. We changed hostels as the bed we had at our first one was literally as hard as stone (no exaggeration!) and we decided we needed a good nights sleep before camping for the next few nights. We ended up at a place half the price with beds twice as comfortable- score! It was also in a beautiful area called San Blas which we got to explore- many beautiful little plazas, alleyways and nice restaurants. On the last afternoon before the big hike we visited a place called Qorikancha, which is the sight of the most important Incan foundations in the city - the Sun Temple. Of course when the Spanish conquered Cuzco they built a Dominican church over the top. The result is an interesting museum with intact Inca stonework inside surrounded by a still functioning Catholic church. It also has some great views of the city. Another quick note on Cuzco- more than any other city we've visited so far this one is FILLED with gringos. Many people seem to come on holiday only to Peru so sometimes it seemed like we only saw other Westerners. Of course the city has changed as a result and you can buy as many pizzas, Machu Picchu caps and fake Ray Bans as your heart desires. Having said that I still really love the city- it is truly beautiful with its huge churches and terracotta rooftops and has an immense sense of history.
Our final duty before departing was to attend a briefing on the Lares Trek. We met our guide Juan and our final group member Max, a British guy. We were a nice small group of 5 people, the two Frenchies David and Estella, us and Max. After Juan had explained some things about the trek we gladly went home to bed as we were being picked up by our bus at 5.30 am the next morning.
It was a 2 hour trip before we reached our first destination and while the others fell asleep I watched several little towns and Inca sites go by such as Saqsaywaman and Pisac. Soon we reached a small village where we had some breakfast and much needed coffee at the market. Juan had let us know we would be meeting many kids from the local villages along the trek so we decided to buy some note books, pencils, marbles, balloons etc for them- no candies because they rot their teeth and can litter the local area (ok sometimes we broke this rule- the kids were just so cute!) Soon we were back on the bus and arriving at the beginning of our trek. We began by climbing for about half an hour and saw some local women selling many things including Chicha- the local fermented alcohol drink, made from corn. We also passed a beautiful blue lake (the weather was really warm this day but we had been warned about the Andean 4 seasons in one day- accurately as you will find out!) Then we were faced with our first challenge- a mountain pass of 4250 metres. Phew! It was quite a difficult climb and Estella had it especially bad because she had had a throat infection recently and was left with a persistent cough : ( However we felt quite triumphant when we finally got to the top, even though we were faced with the prospect of two more passes like this in the next two days. The views were always worth it though! We began our descent towards our camp site stopping briefly near a pretty water fall for what we presumed was lunch ( bread, fruit, biscuits) but we were told " Oh no, your real lunch is waiting at the camp site" (the incredible food was one of the big pluses of this trip!) As we approached the small village where we would be camping for the night some boys came running up and as soon as we could we dropped our bags and started blowing up balloons for them to play with. Of course they were only about 4 or so and kept losing the balloons so I came up with the idea of tying them to sticks. They loved this and played with them happily for about an hour at which point they (with concentrated intent) popped them all. Little boys are the same everywhere! The thing to remember with all these communities we visited and locals we met on the trek is that they all still speak the native language of Quechua and only a few words of Spanish usually. It was a very strange feeling to really not be able to communicate much at all though luckily our guide was of Quechua descent and fluent in the language so he could translate for us (we even managed to learn a few phrases by our last day!). He also let us know that though 20 years ago Quechua was practically a dying language, there was now a requirement that all teachers learn Quechua so they can teach kids in the language and preserve it for future generations. Lunch was soup and delicious pasta ( Peruvians have soup with every meal!) and then some R and R time (we learnt some new card games including one with sudden hand slapping, causing me to squeal frequently to the slight concern of our guide and cooks : P) Dinner was delicious trout with a sauce made of local berries, potatoes and rice. It must be mentioned that we had three wonderful hot meals everyday thanks to our cooks Braulio and Percy, who cooked for us then packed everything up onto donkeys, including our tents and the cooking tents and they always, always beat us to the next location for lunch or dinner. Amazing! As always when trekking and camping we were asleep by about 8.30 that night!
The next morning our first stop after breakfast (quinua (a local grain) porridge and a delicious kind of potato pancake with cheese) was a house in the village where we met a whole family- Nana and Pop, Mum and Dad, two daughters and baby son. There Juan showed us a little about how they live, we saw how they cook (using rabbit poop as fuel!) and the different hats and garments everyone wears, Outside one of the daughter was weaving a blanket from alpaca fleece, on a traditional device with tools made of llama bone which was apparently going to take her two months to complete. Juan explained how we could see that Quechua people were descendants of the Incas as some of the building techniques remain the same such as binding the thatched roofs with a waterproof substance- llama tendons! The hiking had to start eventually so we said good bye (tu panaches cama (definite sp?) or see you in the next life in Quechua) We began hiking up (more gradually than the day before, yay!) and as we approached the pass we met up with two little boys and their dog who were looking after their near by sheep. We gave them some pencils and note books and one little boy demonstrated his sheep catching skills with a rope. They then joined as at the mirador to share our morning tea and the boys asked us questions via Juan like where we're from etc. It was very fun to interact a bit with them, though soon they wandered off into the distance towards the sheep who they had to guard till 2 that afternoon. Our meetings were not over yet however- further down the trail Juan began speaking Quechua with a man outside his small mud brick dwelling and he invited us inside out of the cold (it had been cold and misty this whole day) We entered the small hut which was home to a whole family during the day and the grandfather of the family at night. Three little girls ran in and out constantly along with their pet lamb. There Juan chatted to us about the community as well as doing some business- the younger man had been working as a horse man for GAP adventures, an international/Canadian run trekking company but wanted to start working for Peru Treks as they're Peruvian run and donate money to the local communities. We also took some great pictures with the little girls who couldn't stop smiling and checking out their pictures on the screen- cute! We soon said goodbye and headed down to the valley and our lunch spot and as we approached it began to rain. It continued on and off for the rest of the day as we pressed on and headed for the hardest part and climax of our Lares trek - a hike up to a pass of 4400mts above sea level. Here we basically put our heads down and powered forward for a couple of hours, with the air at altitude becoming a little thinner and more difficult to breathe. A few of us had been chewing wads of coca leaves which helped a lot with the symptoms of being at such a high level, and continued to do so, especially as we were approaching the highest point of our journey. Reaching the summit as rain turned to sleet and sleet to a light sprinkling of snow was an awesome feeling and there were excited congratulations all round. After a few minutes of taking in the views from the high pass, Juan treated us to a brief education on his religion, traditional amongst the Incan/Quechuan peoples, as well as a ceremony in which he made an offering to his 'Apu' (an apu is a mountain or high area which is a kind of representation of a deity, and usually is the closest mountain to where you are born. Mountains are particularly sacred in Andean religion) and to Pachamama ('Mother Earth') to keep us safe and protect our health throughout our lives. It was all very nice and very interesting as well; we all closed our eyes, Juan said a few words in Quechua and he made an offering of coca leaves (the most sacred plant) and some Sprite (because Pachamama likes sweet drinks!). After a few moments for reflection we were on our way again, trekking down to our last campsite, everyone rather tired, but with a general feeling of accomplishment at the same time. We stopped briefly to buy a well earned bottle of rum to keep us warm that night, as we had been told that this would be a very, very cold night of maybe around minus 10 degrees Celsius. Once at camp, we again played with some of the local kids, bought some drinks from the local women with all their wares spread out on blankets near our tents, and took some photos of the beautiful surrounds. More awesome dinner, cards and a little rum ensued, before we went to bed absolutely knackered!
During the night it was incredibly cold, and a little difficult to sleep. When it was light, we could here a strange crunching of footsteps outside our tent and when we overheard someone talking about snow, we unzipped our tent to have a look. Outside everything was completely white, with at least 5cms of snow blanketing the ground! We quickly got up, very cold, but eager to explore the area around camp which now looked completely alien to us. After lots of photos, we wolfed down our breakfasts and prepared to head of on the last little bit of our trek, an easy 2 hours of mostly downhill through the freshly fallen snow. The walk to our next stop, a tiny little town, was largely uneventful (except for a couple of games of noughts and crosses played in the snow with our walking sticks) and once we arrived, we soon met up with the team again for our final amazing lunch (soup followed by chicken curry) which we ate in a small house with guinea pigs running all over the floor! Shortly afterwards, we said our goodbyes and thanks to our chef and his assistants, as well as the Lares Valley and we all boarded a bus which was to take us a little closer to our final goal - Machu Picchu!
After about an hours bus ride, we arrived at the Incan town of Ollantaytambo, where we were to catch a train to Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu. Here we relaxed for a little while at a restaurant, amusing our selves with something called 'The Frog Game' (essentially a box with small circular holes in it and a brass frog mounted on top - the object was to throw metal discs at the box and into the holes, with each hole corresponding to a different score. The hole in the frogs mouth (an impossible shot) held the highest points). After killing a little time with the game, Juan called us into the restaurant and said he had a 'surprise' for us. As soon as he said this, I knew he could only be talking about one thing - guinea pig! Yes, the cute little things we had seen running around on floors in the previous days were about to be served up to us on a platter, with peppers sticking out of their tiny mouths, as a Peruvian delicacy. We were all a little apprehensive about taking the first piece, but soon got stuck in and all made light work of the two fairly large beasts (for what they were) that were prepared for us. And the verdict? Delicious! Tasting surprisingly a lot like chicken, I would compare cuy (as it is known in Latin America) to the piranhas we ate in Bolivia, in that they had a very small amound of meat on their bones, but were very tasty just the same. Hayley was not too keen on the cuy so she happily sampled the accompaniments- local potatoes, sweet potatoes and a stuffed peppers. Unfortunately she made the mistake of snacking on a piece of "capsicum" decorating the plate which turned out to be a spicy, spicy chilli. Much fun was had by the rest of the table watching Hayley gasp for water and run around the restaurant trying to find some. Thouroughly entertaining! (No painful! H) After this little afternoon snack, we explored the town a little, which was very charming albeit touristy and soon afterwards, made our way down to the train station, where we said goodbye to Juan until later that night (as he was on a different train) and made our way to Aguas Calientes. The train was expensive and filled with tourists and we were rewarded with pan pipe cpvers of all the worst songs of the 70s.
Soon after arriving in Aguas Calientes, we quickly checked into our hostel and all hurried to make our way to the hot springs. After our tough trek, we had all been hanging out for a nice relaxing soak, and what better place to do so than a town whose name literally translates to Hot Waters. We arrived at the hot springs shortly after dark, and paid our 10 soles admission. A little walk from the ticket booth, we soon arrived at the pools. To our dismay, however, the main pool was absolutely packed, with people jammed in like sardines, the water murky and a scent in the air something akin to chicken soup. We reluctantly joined this mass of grimey backpackers, feeling however more dirty than relaxed upon entering the waters. Soon feeling that things were just as bad as we had anticipated and were showing no signs of improving, we all shot out of the primordial soup, scared of contracting some unimaginable contagious tropical virus and rushed back to our hostel for simultaneous hot showers, with much soap and scrubbing involved! Later that night, we met up with Juan, had a nice dinner at a restaurant and planned our attack for the next morning - the journey's climax of Machu Picchu.
The night before, we had resolved to get up at the ridiculous our of 3:30am to begin our trek up to the most famous archaeological ruins in South America. And so we did, incredibly tired, but at the same time eager for what lay ahead of us that day. Why 3:30am you may be asking yourselves? Well, aside from being masochistic, our reasoning was this: only 400 people a day are permitted to climb Waynapicchu, the iconic steep mountain which is situated next to Machu Picchu (from the former, views of the latter are spectacular), and we were determined to go up that mountain! There are buses that can take you to Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes as well, but aside from being the soft option, they don't leave until almost 6am, so leaving early and walking up to MP effectively guaranteed our spot to go up Waynapicchu. And boy was it tough! A series of steps took us up the side of the mountain about 400mts up to MP in bout one hour and twenty minutes, which we walked up in the rain. Hayley and I both agreed that it was one of the most strenuously difficult things we have ever done. Added to the physicality, was the mental aspect of the climb. We knew we were effectively racing others up the mountain, potentially for a spot to climb Waynapicchu. There were definitely competitive thoughts of I can't rest, I can't let anyone pass me and this helped us surge to the top. When we saw the lights of the entrance to MP, we started running up the steps and discovered we had been in about the first 50 people there. There were high fives all and congratulations all round as we knew all we had to do was wait until the gates opened, make our way quickly to the Waynapicchu sign up gate and then relax and enjoy the fact we had finally made it to Machu Picchu. It was really incredible to step through the entrance gate and see the ruins for the first time after seeing so many pictures over the years. We were especially lucky I think because we had a glimpse of the ruins almost completely deserted (apart from some llamas grazing!) before the hordes of tourists descended in just a few minutes.
After doing the above, we had a quick snack and then began a great tour of MP with Juan. We began by climbing up to the area from where you can see the classic postcard view of the ruins. There we sat for a while and watched as the clouds and mist rolled in and completely obscured the site before rolling away again in a matter of minutes. It was a great time to reflect on what a surreal experience it was to actually be there, a place so iconic and represented - to finally be looking out over the place was almost dreamlike. Here, Juan also gave us a detailed history on the discovery of the site by Hiram Bingham in 1911 as well as this pre-discovery history, and theories on what MP was actually used for which is really quite fascinating if you have the chance to look into it. Afterwards, we made our way back down amongst the ruins where Juan explained their significance and he also pointed out some really interesting quirks about the ruins, including slabs of stone which created almost perfect silhouettes of the surrounding mountains, a rock with four points which perfectly point north, south, east and west as well as a sundial which was very sadly cracked during the making of a beer commercial a few years ago (don't worry, the people responsible are now in prison and the sundial has been restored!). All in all, a thoroughly fascinating tour of an amazing site. Soon after, Juan made his way back to Aguas Calientes where we would later meet with him for our final goodbyes. He had left us to begin our final climb, the last and arguably toughest part of our trek - climbing Waynapicchu!
We joined the line for the 10 am entrance to Wayna Picchu. Initially we took some steep stairs down (why do you always seem to have to go down to go up again?) and looked up in wonder at the tiny people climbing up the path carved into the side of the mountain. Soon the climbing began- huge stairs which required all our effort to climb (for those of you familiar with it, each step was like one of the biiig ones on the 1000 steps back home). We all tackled the challenge at our own pace and it took about 1.5 hours to finally get to the top. There are further ruins on the top of this mountain (how the Incas managed to cart enormous stones up here, I'll never know!) and incredible views of a tiny Machu Picchu filled with tiny bright poncho wearing tourists. We could even saw, with some amazement, the steep mountainside we had climbed up early that morning. Unfortunately Ryan was over come with a sense of vertigo very close to the summit and didn't quite make it to the highest point, which was probably for the best as this is just a series of boulders you can hop around on (albeit with amazing views!) That's another note on Machu Picchu- you can really see how it might have stayed hidden for so many years (the Spanish conquerers of the 1500s were never aware of the presence of MP)- tall, jungle covered mountains surround it for miles which is a beautiful sight to see in it's own right. Soon we began the precarious journey down and had one final walk through the ruins before catching a bus back down to the town of Aguas Calientes. There we met with Juan for one last time and wished him all the best with his future endeavours. Before we knew it we were on a train back to Cuzco and the incredible Lares Trek/ Machu Picchu part of our tip was over- what a milestone!
Love to all and a very happy birthday to Kasmin for a few days ago too!!
Love Hayley and Ryan
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