La Paz

What an amazing city to explore! Full of hustle and bustle, hundreds of market stalls, dust and car horns and colour and music everywhere, it´s somewhere which demands more than a mere 24 hours. Photos to come.. and we shall have to come back here someday! Off to Uyuni on the night bus tonight to start our 3 day salt flats tour tomorrow, arriving in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile on Wednesday. If we can find internet there, we´ll send on an update!

Magical Isla del Sol

So, from Puno things began to look up. We got a bus to Copacabana early in the morning, crossed the border into Bolivia without any problem at all despite all the warnings we had heard, and made it to Copacabana with time for a swift lunch, a 5 hour boat trip to the Island of the Sun, and an evening bus on to La Paz. Almost caught up on lost time!

Isla del Sol was just breath taking. A fantastic slow sunny boat ride over Lake Titicaca (Jazzchoir memories and Geographical Fugue lyrics flooding back!!), to be greeted by a green landscape of Inca terraces wafting with the scent of herbs and flowers,  streams flowing down the hillside, llamas and donkeys carrying goods in brightly colored saddlebags, and the Isla de la Luna in (appropriate) shade a few miles away over the lake. Llamas aside, we both thought it had rather a Mediterranean feel to it.

On arrival back on dry land, a very decrepit looking bus carried us shakily but surely through the night time countryside to La Paz, and dropped us all in a small unlit side street somewhere in the city – a very odd arrival experience! We jumped in a cab and made it to the rather unmajestic Majestic Hotel, where for 10 quid we got a room, hot water, and breakfast – one can´t complain!

Stranded in Arequipa

Following the day óff´chilling out in Arequipa, we had a bit of a mission on our hands to catch up and get to Bolivia and see Lake Titicaca and La Paz before our booked salt flats tour. So, up at 5am today to head to the bus station and get the first bus out from Arequipa to Puno, on the lake shore.

We arrived shortly after 6, to be told by some very resigned staff members that due to ´strikes´, no buses would be leaving Arequipa to travel East today. Working our way along the line of bus companies offering tours to Puno, we received exactly the same response – it turned out that due to demonstrations along the Arequipa-Puno road, no tourist buses were being permitted to pass.

Possible duration of road block? Weeks. Alternative route? None. Our over zealous guide book did list an alternative road on the Peru map, but according to the confused locals this would apparently not come into existence until 2010, so it seemed we were well and truly stuck…

We ended up FLYING the short distance, on a budget breaking ticket from Arequipa into Juliaca, on the first available flight at 7pm. So, most of the day was spent sitting in a terrace cafe in the airport with all our bags, playing cards and newly acquired ´Vulture / Llama´backgammon, watching the mountains and the occasional flight arrival. A rainy flight later, and an hour long ride into Puno, and by 10.30pm we were finally in a (very cold) hostal, with the promise of more of same for the following day! Ahhhh to be a backpacker….

A day off in Arequipa!

EL  vs  SOUTH AMERICAN BUGLET

FINAL SCORE:     1   :  0

YEAH!

Just to make absolutely sure, we´ve altered plans and will be staying in the lovely Casa de Ana for another night, resting up and enjoying the warm sun and hospitality, before heading off towards Bolivia tomorrow.

We will greatly miss Peru though – definitely a holiday destination to recommend to your best of friends (in spite of the buglets!) – the most amazing landscapes and the friendliest of people… simply magical. Thank you Peru. X

Condors in Colca

We started early today with a 6am trip to the local market. This was a bizarre experience – loud speakers in the middle of the town square, blaring out Peruvian folk music (plus white noise) so loudly it was difficult to hear oneself speak. How the locals ever sleep past 6am is anyone´s guess! We were accosted by a lady carrying a tame bird of prey, and after it tried to eat El´s hair, El made friends with it. Almost.

On from there to try and get a sight of the condors at Cruz del Condor in Colca Canyon, the famous condor spotting point, and the world´s second deepest canyon at 3300m from peak to river (apparently Colorado is third!). We were lucky enough to spot these huge animals within the first 10 minutes, gliding silently past us just below our lookout point. An incredible experience. No pictures though – they move too fast! Lookout point was worthy though:

We did however get some pics of condors sitting on the rocks. For perspective, these birds have wingspans of somewhere round 10 foot.

From there back to Chivay past some more incredible look out points

and lunch (El had her first meal in 3 days and was extremely happy), and the long bus ride back down to Arequipa. The lovely Ana was there to greet us and take us to her B&B appropriately named Casa de Ana, with soft duvets and snuggly warm atmosphere – we´re in love with this place too!!

Colca Canyon and the highest point yet

The Colca Canyon tour was scheduled to begin in Arequipa. This meant we had to brave the night buses again Cusco-Arequipa in order to make it in time, with the only difference that this time El was feeling distinctly like the lurgy was taking hold – a nightbus was not exactly on the wishlist!

Arrival in Arequipa at 7 in the morning was a blessed relief, only to transfer onto a smaller bus crammed with Spanish tourists and a Spanish speaking tour guide (very good practice for us!), and the promise of climbing to an altitude of 4900m. EXCELLENT, thinks El….

On the way up, we were lucky enough to get a peek at a pack of vicuñas, which are a bit like Peruvian gold dust – one kilo of their silky soft hair can be sold for $500!

Continuing up the mountain we reached the highest point of our trip so far. Once at this altitude, the landscape becomes completely barren, like a huge rocky desert with snow capped peaks on every horizon.

 Travelling down again into the town of Chivay brought the promise of a bathe in hot springs, and a traditional dinner with folk dancing – both of which were very much enjoyed by Martial, while El lay curled in the foetal position within arm´s length of a loo!! Ah dear…….

Inca Trail – Day 4

This is it, the reason why we did the Inca trail. Today we walk down to Machu Picchu. And if yesterday was anything to go by … we´re in for a treat.

In order to beat the queues we get up stupidly early and around 4:00 am we´re already at the checkpoint which opens at 5:30 am.  And so we wait.

By the time the gate opens, we´re already with a 100 walkers or so, but our early rise paid off – we´re the first ones through. We´re again accompanied by rain though and we´re a little worried whether we´ll have any good views.

A little over an hour through more beautiful forest we reach another staircase. This one almost vertical. MAD!! But at the top … Intipunku (´Sun Gate´). The spot where, on the 21st of Dec, the sun will pierce through a doorway and hit a window in the temple of our destination; Machu Picchu!

There are clouds. A LOT of clouds. But the effect is enchanting. Slowly swirling mist trickles through ancient streets, snaking over the houses, workshops and temples of this magical Inca stronghold. Wow, wow, wow and more wow!

And the location of the town is even more stunning than the usual pictures give it credit for - Deep forested valleys and steep granite peaks surround Machu Picchu like an aura of Nature´s Best. We couldn´t have imagined it to be more magical …

Inca Trail – Day 3

Feeling decidedly sore after yesterday´s climb, we get up for Day 3. Today will mostly be about descent and Inca Ruins. Total distance to be covered, 17 km.

As a little reminder of yesterday, we start off with a 300 m climb to the second pass of the Trail and the highest point for today (3900 m). It will come as no surprise that this part can be described with ´PAIN´, especially as every crest promised us yet more uphill fun!

After this point though, we look into glorious green cloud-shrouded giants as far as the eye can see – the Andean guards of the Amazon. Stunningly beautiful. 

And so we walk through the high jungle on precarious trails, ultimately descending to a modest 2700 m again. During this walk we encounter a series of imposing silent towns of stone and rock.

The first was Sayacmarca (Quechua for ´Dominant Town´) – A military outpost perched high above the valleys below, with a seriously crazy set of stairs leading up to it. Not for the faint hearted (but that´s kind of becoming a trend here)

The second one was Phuyupatamarca (´Town above the clouds´) – A fog shrouded set of farming platforms, stairs and houses. Evidently not ´above´ the clouds as the name might suggest.

The last one was Wañaywayna (´Forever Young´) – A village of steep farming platforms hugging into the mountain, named after the orchids that grow there in abundance.

Absolutely beautiful.

A day of rest

We´re back in lovely Cuzco after our adventures on the Inca Trail.

Unfortunately, El´s sore muscles have been joined by a fever, congestion and a headache (so most likely a cold). Wet clothes and mountain winds do not mix well.

So not much of an update today … El is resting in the hotel and Martial is running general admin (laundry, booking the next part of the trip and of course updating the blog).

Tonight we´re off on the nightbus to Arequipa, where we´ll join a tour to Colca Canyon for a spot of condor spotting. More news in the days to come as we get to the final leg of our travels in Peru!!

((But what about the second part of the Inca Trail entries I hear you think?? Unfortunately, our cameras also just ran out of batteries, so we have been unable to finish these … drafts are ready, so watch the blog for updates soon!))

Lots of love from Peru

El & Martial

Inca Trail – Day 2

After an early wake-up call it´s time for Day 2. The dreaded Day 2.

We´ve got a monstrous climb to look forward to that will take us from our camp at 3000 m to Dead Woman Pass at 4200 m. Cheerful aye? Fortunately we have 7 km to do this in.

Or … wait a minute … 1200 m elevation in just 7 km? This is going to hurt …

And hurt it did. It´s rather funny looking back at our pictures and seeing only a small handful of them, testimony to the fact that we had other things on our minds, hehe.

We trekked through cloud and cloud forest up insane trails while getting soaked by rain and battered by winds … and slightly embarrassed by the porters who bounded up the mountain like mountain goats strapped to 25 kg of gear. Those guys are dumbfounding. 

El did amazing as well though and could always be found at the head of the pack, while Martial struggled a lot more. But both felt decidedly crazy at times for attempting this.

But crazy pays off sometimes, so after a long few hours of climbing … WE MADE IT!!

But … what goes up … must come down. So the next 5 km were spent descending to 3600 m again as the rain got worse. Yep, this was definitely the hardest day. =)