A 'brief' catch-up...farewell England-La Paz
Trip Start
Jun 23, 2008
1
2
Trip End
Jun 22, 2009
Many, Peru
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I'll give a brief run-down (if possible) up to the present day...this could take a while...I would advise making a pot of strong coffee and wrapping up for the night before starting to read this....let's go!
After an amazing weekend back at the end of June with my family and friends, a really fun party in Camden and a few last fry-ups, how I miss them, it was time to sling (heave) rucksack on back and go and be reunited with Dannyboy.
My bag took a long time to arrive in Lima airport but it was worth the wait as Dan's smiling (and now bearded) face was waiting for me on the other side. Amazing. Enough of the sloppy stuff...since then we travelled north in Peru, went to the beach, did some fishing, went into Ecuador, did some horseriding, walking, saw some awesome nature (including jumping hump-back whales in the wild), back into Peru, northern jungles - pirhanas, crocs, spiders, interesting weeing locations and much more, worked our way south - lots of incredible hiking, nazca lines - fantastic, Trujillo, Lima, Hauraz, Colca Canyon and much more.....Anyway!!! In this blog I really wanted to update about Machu Picchu.....so here goes....
We arrived into Cusco very early in the morning after a night-bus, I didn't sleep on this one...it's hit and miss whether I sleep on them or not....Dan normally doesn't have too much trouble apart from when I'm nudging him next to me..´'Daaaaaaan....I'm so cold, I can't sleeeeeeep....so you want to talk to me instead??' Anyway, I didn't sleep on this one, so on arrival to Cusco and after finding a hostel - I got straight into the first bed i saw, fully clothed and slept until 7.30am.
After this, we got in contact with a family, who are friends with Dad, and they said we could stay in their house for as long as we liked...a welcome change from hostelling!
We spent about a week in Cusco, creating an online photo site http://danstokes.myphotoalbum.com ! and writing emails (and watching America's Next Top Model online....so good!)
After our knees had healed up from trekking in Colca Canyon, we booked our Machu Picchu trek and got ourselves ready to go to one of the new seven wonders of the world!!Yes!!
We chose the Salkantay trek, and it was absolutely amazing. 5 days, 4 nights.
Day one: We met the group at 4am...two Israelis, Idan and Alon, one Canadian, Linda, 3 Italians, Nemo, Paolo and Daniel, and our guide, Kurnal. A wicked group, lots of fun. We took a bus for a couple of hours to the entrance point of Salkantay, got some breakfast, bought a stick for walking (I thought it was ridiculous and for pansies at the time but oh....it became my best friend) and set out, feeling excited, spritely and in high spirits. The group soon clicked and conversations flowed from the start as we started to climb into higher altitude. It got very hot though, and at some points I was so hot and out of breath from the constant uphill, I was wretching as I was walking...nice. The scenery was very pretty though, hills with farms, flowers by the road etc....then by lunchtime we could see the first glimpse of a glacier in the distance - Umantay. The food was far above our expectations - two courses, traditional sopa to start, then classic peruvian dish of lomo saltado for main course, accompanied with equally traditional drink of chicha morada (tastes a bit like blackcurrent, but is made from purple sweetcorn).
After lunch, and Dan getting spiked by a crazy looking massive fly thing, we set off for another 6-7 hours of walking. This got tough as it sure gets cold when the sun goes down! We walked and walked, over one pass on a mountain which was covered with remains of land-slides - an interesting sight for me - and eventually arrived at our first campsite just as dark set in! A quick erection of the tent and the group jumped into the food tent for another tasty meal and a chance to get to know each other a bit better. The sky was also magical, so starry. The skies in Peru are amazing when you get into the wilderness - I've literally never seen skies like them, with constellations such as Scorpio standing out perfectly. What I like about travelling, is I get to learn about so many new random things - like constellations! Anyway, no one got a lot of sleep that night as it was bloody freezing!! However, all were up bright and early the next day to commence day two!
Day two: I skipped breakfast, those who know me well, know my strange feelings towards eggs....too much yolky-ness and I'm gagging like a mad thing for a while afterwards...breakfast today was omelette, and it sure was yolky! So, I necked as much hot choc as I could, grabbed my stick and set off. The morning was basically all uphill...but felt so much easier somehow than the previous day. I was starting to notice that the previous treks we've done have actually made me quite fit - a miracle!!!
For our morning break we stopped at a lake, with the glacier of Salkantay looming above us...very impressive. Lots of group photos were taken! After a rest of half an hour or so, we continued upwards for another hour to the top, until we were right in front of Salkantay. An amazing sight, such a rugged mountain, covered in ice and perfect snow. The Incans used to leave offerings to the spirits of mountains, the Apu, so we did the same. There were hundreds of them - everyone leaves the same thing - essentially a small tower of rocks. Dan was very pleased with his as his was the highest of our group!
Then another extremely long walk, until we would arrive at our next camp. This was a fantastic walk as a few hours after being at the glacier, we entered into rainforest! It was so impressive and all I couild think was, 'Jurassic Park' That's the only way I could describe it - it looked exactly like Jurassic Park. At our camp that night there was beer which sure went down well! And it was warm.....amazing. I think I actually got about 6 hours sleep that night.
Day 3: Today was an exhilirating walk deeper into the rainforest. The look of the jungle was very different from the northern jungle, hard to describe, but a lot fresher. It also rained pretty much all day, but this was actually kinda nice and fun. It was also fun to stop and eat fresh grenadines from the trees, and there were rumours of marujuana plants growing nearby, but I didn't see any!
After another 7 hours or so of trekking we reached our next eating spot and I honestly would have paid a high price for it in a restaurant! I could not believe the food on this trek, it was amazing - we got mashed potato, tuna, pasta and sauce in one dish!!
Then we jumped in a little bus and took a ride to a thermal spa....oh, we were excited! Everybody's feet were aching, hot, swollen and blistered, and we were also obviously pretty filthy by this point too...so getting into 40° natural swimming pools, under another beautiful starry sky, was very very welcome indeed! Afterwards we returned to our camp and had another outstanding meal, joined on other tables with lots of other trekkers in their own groups...our group was very loud, making music with our cutlery like a bunch of two year olds, I'm not sure the others really appreciated it all that much! Anyway, it was a great night.
Day 4: After a more leisurely start to the day, we slept til 8, I awoke sweating profusely and feeling exceptionally claustrophobic! Get me outta this tent!! Pulled some shorts on and hopped outside to what was already a very hot day. I soon realised, the shorts were a terrible terrible mistake. Within ten minutes, my legs were covered, COVERED in bites from sand flies. I would like to take this opportunity to explain my feelings on sand flies. They are the work of the devil. They are spawn from hell. They are evil, disgusting little bastards. I'm sorry I can't find a nicer word for them, I hate them!! They are worse than mosquitos because of the intensely itchy, swollen welts they leave in their wake, which bleed and turn into scabs because it is literally impossible not to scratch them, to gain some small level of relief. To be fair, I think I'm allergic to them. Anway, this meant it was essential not only to cover up, in the hottest day so far, but it was also essential to lather myself in 100 per cent deet. Those familiar with 100 per cent deet will know this is also not a pleasant experience!! It's like a thick, stinking oil that if you get the slightest bit even on your lip is really really horrible. In the northern jungle, just from the extracts remaining on the palms of my hands, it melted the plastic on my torch, it's toxic!
Ok, rant over, t'was a warm day. Was another different terrain again, this time partly through jungle, partly through dusty path, until we reached our lunch spot. By this time, we had joined the railway, that leads between Cusco and Aguas Calientas, the town from where you climb Machu Picchu. Everyone was pretty much done in after we'd eaten and most of the group slept. Paolo had started to lose his mind I think, thanks to the traditional Peruvian music that was being played over lunchtime. It's very repetitive, with a woman with a high pitched voice, much like a strangled cat, sort of whining over the top. It's not the best!
Anyway, after a little snooze and a toilet stop with an actual toilet, obviously it didn't flush but it was still a toilet, we set off for the penultimate section of our trek, following the train tracks all the way to Aguas Calientas.
It was really exciting, we knew we were getting close because the scenery started to resemble what we had seen on postcards. Huge mountains, covered in forest...then Kurnal pointed out some hours later, the mountain of Machu Picchu in the distance!! It was a sweet, sweet sight! Dan even managed to pick off a couple of the ruins on top of Machu Picchu with the swanky zoom on his camera, amazing!
Walking along the train track was a very strange experience. It was four hours I think in total, an easy distance now in comparison, but for me, probably the hardest bit. It started out really fun, walking along the rails, with spectacular views of the forest and the mountains either side, sometimes big flocks of parrots flying overhead. However, after about an hour or so, Dan and I started to feel the strain! It's very difficult to walk either side of the tracks as it was so uneven with only piled up rocks to walk on, so we opted for balancing on the rails as they are smoother, and walking as if on a tight rope. This worked much better, holding hands across the track for balance...however the concentration required for this was unbelievable and we started to lose our minds! It made us so dizzy, as we could only look down the whole time, expending every drop of will power not to slip off the tracks.
We finally arrived at Aguas Calientas though, which was the most welcome sight I have seen in a long time...even better as tonight we were to swap our little tents for wait, a hostel with wait, a shower!!! We were to be up at 3.30am the next morning to commence our climb up Machu Picchu, so intended on grabbing an early night...however, as we were now in civilisation, that meant beer was available and well, we had a couple and went to bed sometime around 11.30. My legs had also developed a nasty rash all over the backs of them. It was like intense sunburn, but cracked and incredibly sore...I have no idea how I got it as I wore the same pair of trousers for the previous four days...anyway, it resulted in pretty much no sleep and a painful 5th day's walking!
Day 5: We leapt out of bed at 3.30, well sort of crawled out groaning, and after I grabbed my stick, love you little stick, started the final day. It was to be all steps, 2,800 in total all the way up. It was very tough I won't lie, a lot of the steps were half the height of my legs. We got there just as it was getting light and the plan was, after waiting in the queue for Machu Picchu town of ruins to open, to race through to be part of the 200 people allowed entry each day into Waynapicchu, Machu Picchu's taller neighbouring mountain, for the view down over the city. Another tough climb up, but when we were there, the heighest point, I knew I had done it, and there would be no more climbing. It was a strange feeling, I was quite elated, I was also the fourth person up and the first girl which made me very happy indeed! And very surprised! The whole trek had become like a pilgrimage and it felt amazing to be stood on the top, knowing I had actually done it. We were in the clouds still so couldn't see anything until about half past nine, when they cleared. It was quite a sight.
I must also add at this point, that after wandering around on my own I had lost Dan. I saw Idan and Alon sitting on the highest rock and shouted up to them, 'have you seen Danny?' Idan's reply in his lilting Israeli accent went, 'I think he's err....how you say...he's taking a...a dump!' Good lord. It was almost true. I found him, sitting in the bushes, sort of muttering and looking a little desperate....are you ok Dan? He had to go! And he did, right there in the bush, on top of Waynapicchu, overlooking one of the seven wonders of the world. Not many have been in his position, and I must say it was a hilarious moment! I'm so proud.
We spent the next few hours walking around Machu Picchu ruins and marvelling at it all. It was so special I don't really know what to write about it. The city is in such good tact and you can easily imagine the Incan civilisation living life there, even in the crazy location that it is. But it was one of those days in my life when I felt so priviliged to be exactly where I was and wanted to remember every detail. Sounds pretty cheesy but it's true.
However, we did have to leave and my body was so done in by this point I could not take another step. I opted for the bus back down and made Dan accompany me. The whole 5 days left me absolutely exhausted and physically ruined, but the feeling of accomplishment was so strong and I was very sad it was over.
After getting a crazy train back to Cusco, we were flipping knackered, but had a quick shower, got tarted up and headed into town to meet the group for a drink, as a final closing moment of our shared experience. The quick drink turned into a massive party in a funky bar in town and we danced like lunatics well into the night! At around 4am we realised how long we had been up and that our bodies were not very happy with us and so after a lot of hugs and kisses, we left the bar and fell into our beds. I awoke the next lunchtime to an intensely aching body!!! I felt so ill, every muscle was screaming out and every patch of skin felt like it was on fire. I was good for nothing.
We spent the next few days updating photos, I watched a whole series of ANTM, love it, and sleeping.
From there we travelled to Puno, a town on the banks of Lake Titicaca and I enjoyed possibly the most romantic evening of my life! We grabbed a couple of beers, a pack of cookies and sat at the end of a dock on our own to watch a very beautiful sunset fall slowly over the lake. Again, an incredible sight and a key moment. Even Danny, who really isn't the slushiest, he's a bit of a man's man, agreed that it was pretty special.
The following days included crossing the border into Bolivia, a strange feeling finally saying goodbye to Peru, which has basically become my home for the past three months, and experiencing more of Titicaca from a Bolivian perspective. This means visiting the bizzare floating islands made entirely of reeds, how they live there I do not know, but it was amazing to witness, and eating a lot of trout!!
Anyway, we are now in La Paz, the highest capital city in the world, and it's cold!! It's an odd place, with dead bably llamas, cats and frogs hanging up for sale in the witches market, massive piles of rubbish in the street at night and packed full of people, scurrying around. Being in the capital means there is a Burger King though, and we both enjoyed a delicious whopper with cheese tonight. Oh...my....days.
So guys, if you've made it to the end and you haven't fallen asleep, committed suicide or decided never to read one of my blogs again, well done!! I promise never to write one as long as this again!! I hope that I have done the trek justice and given a fair description of what happened....take a look at the photos.
Much love and hugs, I miss everybody a lot!
Jo xxx
