Peru Trekked

Word passes from porter to porter that the crows have beaten the power in the showdown, causing Brett to drop to one knee to give the traditional Adelaide salute.........

Hola Amigos!

Once again, it has been far too long since the last blog entry, so this is likely to be another monster. Thanks for everyone that has emailed asking if we are OK after the Peru earthquakes, yes we are fine.

Thanks also to everyone that emailed me in the lead up to the showdown reminding me of the differences in ladder positions between the respective teams. I enjoyed reading them after hearing the results, didnt get any messages in the week after though.... funny that.

Last time we left the blog we had just travelled from America to Lima in Peru. We landed in Lima at the friendly hour of 1 in the morning - Lonely Planetless. Ignoring all warnings that the strets of Lima are "muy peligrosso" we ventured out to catch a cheap local cab. We realized this may not have been the best idea as we sped thru deserted backstreets ignoring all red lights as stopping was likely to have us carjacked. A few chuckles and smiles were soon wiped from our face as what could only be a gunshot went off as our car sped past, im sure it was not aimed at us, but after 9 hours on a plane and wearing shorts and thongs in near freezing weather our sense of humour was not at its highest. Needless to say we survived the night OK and went on to stay another couple of days in Lima. Lima is an interesting city, nowhere near as dangerous as people will tell you, but there is still massive amounts of poverty. The town has a population of over 10 million people many of whom live in powerless, waterless shantys on the outskirts.

From Lima we ventured south to the town of Pisco, extremely sadly we have now heard that Pisco has been hit the hardest by the recent earthquake with almost 80% of the town completely destroyed and many people killed. It is a sobering thought that we were there only 2 short weeks ago. The highlight of the region is the national park of Paracas. We had arrived in Peru with images of towering jungle covered mountains and grassy Patagonian plains. Paracas could not be further from this! It is a barren desert with the most amazing colours of red and brown sand, towering dunes and rugged coast that reminded Carrie and I alot of Kangaroo Island.

We took a tour of the national park, home to abundant sea and birdlife. It is also home to Peru´s richest area of natural resources. Believe it or not many wars have been fought over this patch of land all in the name of guano, ie bird shit. The other attraction of the area is the ever so mysterious candleabra, a massive image that suddenly appeared in the sand in around 1925... some say it was created by aliens, some say by mystyerious salt erosion, others (myself included) say by many tour operators each morning with big rakes drumming up business after falls in guano prices. It would seem that the major export of the region has turned from birdshit to bullshit.

From Pisco we headed further south, along the well trodden gringo trail to the small town of Nazca. Made famous by dozens of mazzive incan shapes and symbols marked into the desert that can only be seen by aeroplane. First discovered in the early 20th century they gained world wide fame when aclaimed UFO researcher (and aclaimed nutcase) Eric Von Danikan featured these in his book Chariots of the Gods as conculsive proof of alien landings. Not so sure about the aliens, but our flight over them was terrific. The airport was an impressive experience in itself, filled with top gun wannabees wandering around in leather bomber jackets, aviator sunglasses, with the "right stuff" coursing through their veins.... well not really, just a couple of blokes asleep on deck chairs and an arrival/departure white board updated every copuple of hours or so....

We departed Nazca, only slightly air sick, on our first night bus in the region. A casual 10 hour bus ride to the colonial town of Arequipa. Arequipa is yet another beautiful town with towering snowcapped volcanoes in the distance and stunning stone cathedrals built before young Australia was even a glint in Englands eyes. We spent an enjoyable couple of days there before heading off into the regions main attraction, Canyon del Colca, at 3200m deep it is the second deepest Canyon in the world (pipped by a measley 100m by a neighbouring one). The canyon is a magic place where Condors soar on thermal currents above your head, mules ferry locals from town to town and cactuses and dust are everywhere.... It was here we decided to start the first of our treks here in Peru, a casual 3 day affair that would take us to the bottom and then the top then the bottom again, described to us as moderately easy by the travell company we set off, spirits high, a little worse for wear from a big night on the cocktails, thinking that all this acclimitizing to altitude was just a bit of fancy rubbish for selling tablets back in Australia. Well we soon found out that this wasnt exactly the case. Our guide a 50 yr old Peruvian man set us off at a cracking pace and never let up for the rest of the day. The descent into the Canyon was fine but with around half an hour to go (we had already walked around 7 hours 4 uphill) things went a little pear shaped for me with a racing heartbeat and struggling to draw breath. It is strange the way the altitude affects you, you breath air, but it feels like it isnt doing anything for you. It was here that i made my stand, ignoring the cries of vamos from our guide i collapsed on the path and stayed put for the next hour.... not altogother proud of my actions, but desperate times.....

The next day of the trek was taken at a much more leisurely pace and things all went well, we took a mule ride from the bottom of the canyon to the top which was also great fun, our guide jogged up the mountain behind us the entire way without breaking a sweat, to see these guys in action is truly impressive.

From Arequipa it was onto yet another night bus for the ancient Incan town of Cuzco, the oldest surviving town from the Incan empire. An amazing place of ancient Incan stonework and roads, newer Spanish cathedrals and a massage parlour and pizza shop at every corner. It is fair to say that this town is the mecca for Gringo travellers and although beautiful it was a little overrun. But Cuzco is the launching point for the Incan trail to Machu Picchu. Carrie and I took an alternative trek to the traditional trail as it had been booked solid for months, opting for the Salkantay trek. A 5 day trek around one of the highest peaks in the region then thru jungle and farmlands to the town of Aguas Calientes before walking up to the ruins of Machu Picchu. Joining us on our trek was an American family of four. "Dont worry we are not obnoxious Americans" was the first line as we got onto the bus together, it is fair to say that danger bells started ringing immediately but they truly were a great family, and trekking with them was great fun.

The first day of the trek took us from the small town of Mollepata up around a thousand metres to the grassy plains of Soraypampa where we pitched tent and slept for the night. With temperatures near freezing we looked forward immensely to our tent and "muy caliente" (very warm) sleeping bags promised us by the agency. Bad news as we found that the zips did not work, and a cold nights sleep lay ahead, fits of giggles ensued as Carrie devised different ways of warming the tent, all to no avail though, so by morning we were ready and raring to get walking again to warm up again and get some heat into body parts that were very close to dropping off throughout the night.... (my toes). The second day of the trek saw the hardest walking of all. We gained around 1300m in altitude in the morning reaching the Salkantay pass at around 4600m. The stunning snow capped mountains were truly breathtaking and a sight we will never forget. It wasnt hard to spot the 2 Australians on the mountain, as we were the only ones getting excited by the miniscule amounts of snow on the path, Carrie was so excited that she made her very first snowman, whilst it was a little pathetic scale wise it was made with love and received approving nods from our (snow experienced) American comrades.

The third day of the trek saw us droping a fair amount of altitude, reaching warmer climbs and jungle terrain. It is amazing how fast the temperature and the landscape could change, only 45 minutes down the path and it was like we were in a completely different country. The night of the third day saw us coming together with a few other trekking groups where a few beers, bit of dancing and general loud french behaviour ensued.... The fourth day was another stunning day as we followed train tracks for around 7 hours thru lush jungle alongside the stunning rio urumbamba. The night left us in the over touristy town of Aguas Calientes where at 4 the next morning we would make our accent on Machu Picchu.

The climb was a steep one, one and half hours of Incan stairs. They completey ignored the 2r+g rule (theres one for the architects out there) when constructing these babies, you need long legs, good aerobic capacity and will power to get up these things, unfortunately i have neither so it was tough going, but at the top we were awarded with one of the most spectacular sights we have ever seen. The ruins of Machu Picchu have to be experienced to be be believed, they are sited on top of a mountain inbetween two larger mountains, machu picchu (old man mountain), waynu picchu (young mountain) with Salkantay (bloody large mountain covered in snow) looking on in the distance. The sunrise was spectacular and our guide was very passionate about showing us the treasures of the site.

The site is famous for massive terraces and some of the finest stone work anywhere in the world. How they managed to build these walls is beyond me, they carved massive stones with no metal tools or animal help into shapes that interlocked with the natural bedrock of the mountains and eachother. They used no mortar or cement, relying purely on the connection of the blocks. Each stone would have taken years to manually carve and then grind into shape, and they have certainly stood the test of time, Machu Picchu has survived several earthquakes and thousands of years and most of the site is still in pristene condition.

It was with a sad heart that we left Machu Picchu feeling much richer for the experience. It was then onto sorting out some dodgy train tickets back to Cuzco. Our guide had supposedly left our tickets with a hotel owner in town, but after tracking him down, then being shoved off to various other restaraunts to search for alternative tickets we finally caught up with a friend of a friend who secured us 2 tickets for the direct train, the only problem being that carrie and I had to assume the identity of two American women for the trip, Carrie pulled this off with remarkable ease but anytime a conducter came near me i broke out in a sweat. Regardless we made it in to Cuzco, albeit with a new feminine nickname and after breaking into the office at late night to retrieve our packs were off early the next morning on another train bound for the town of Puno nestled on the shores of Lake Titikaka (hee hee hee).

The train trip was absolutely stunning, crossing the snow capped Andes, more grassy plains where wild Alpacca and Llama roam free, it truly is one of the most spectacular cross country experiences i have ever had, and train really is the best way to travel!

It was in Puno that i decided it was high time to round out the gringo trail by helping myself to the local specialty, Broaster Cuy (Roast Guinea Pig). I shook off the tsk, tsk looks from the other more ´bona fide´travellers who would never stoop to such outward displays of gringo-ism and tucked in heartily. There is not a lot of meat on the things, but i still enjoyed it, tasted like chicken funnily enough. It is fair to say though, that to truly appreciate the delights of the Cuy, you would need to have the skill of a surgeon and the appetite of a sparrow.

Well anyway, like i said this one was a monster and i apologise, so much has happened here in Peru, and internet access hasnt always been easy! We have currently just crossed the border into Bolivia, sadly leaving Peru. Peru is one of the greatest countries we have visited so far, the people are amazingly friendly, funny, curious and polite. They are some of the strongest people i have ever seen and everyone should try to get here at some stage, there is so much to see and do!

Carrie and I have done a double blog entry, we managed to find a few photos taken at our going away party which gave us a bit of a laugh... so keep scanning thru if you still have the time!

Miss you all lots

Brett and Carrie