So it turns out writing blogs whilst having the time of your life
is extremely difficult. I could barely find time to breathe let alone write down
my adventures! So, now I am bored back in the UK
here goes...
3 weeks wasn't enough time to get a proper feel for Peru, so my opinions on it are very
limited. We arrived in Cusco at 5am and booked
in to "Niños Hotel". This was a really cool place
whose purpose was to help the children of Cusco.
A portion of the money we paid (it was a lot) went to helping the kids. It was extremely
luxurious compared to what had been used to in Bolivia and I was delighted at the
hot, running water and amazing breakfasts. We found a trek to Machu Picchu after a lot of research. Cusco is strange city. On one hand it is beautiful, rich
and is a really interesting city. On the other, it is full of rich tourists,
people hounding you (with massages, tours, meals and jewellery to name a few)
and it was really expensive. It is a classic example of how tourism can spoil a
place. It is real shame and I felt guilty about adding to it. At the same time,
Peru
has suffered a lot due to corruption, external debt and much more, but it is
now considered an emerging market and perhaps, in a way, money they receive
from tourism might be helping. I really have no idea though!
We spent two days in total looking around Cusco.
The second night we stayed in cool hostel with a parrot.
The inca ruins, that were all over the city, were amazing.
The Incas were the best stonemasons in history. Some of the buildings they made
were so perfect that you can't even fit a blade of grass in between the bricks.
The most architecturally interesting structure in the city of Cusco has to be the Qorikancha. The
Qorikancha (also called Intiwasa or Sun
Temple) was said to have been built by
Manco Capac; but certainly it was built before 1438 when it was enlarged by
Pachacuti, who also built Machu Picchu.
In the sixteenth century, the Spanish destroyed the Qorikancha and built the
Santo Domingo Convent and Church on the ruins, but the smooth basalt
foundations, typical of Inca architecture, are still in existence.
Here is the 12 sided stone:
Our 5 day "Salkantay" trek began at 4am. We got a bus to a town 2
hours outside of Cusco and then we didn't see
another bus for 5 days! We walked a total of 80km at altitudes of above 3000m,
reaching a high of 4600m (15,000 feet). Every day I felt like I wasn't going to
be able to walk the next, but every day I managed to get there without need of
a horse. Some days we walked for 10 hours and I felt like my legs were going to
fall off. We saw lots of amazing scenery and it was well worth the 3-4am
starts.
The last day brought us to Aguas Calientes (yes it means hot
water!). Here we had a hot shower and a Pisco Sour before getting up at 3am the
next morning to start the ascent to Machu
Picchu. Nothing prepared me physically or mentally for
climbing the stairs to Machu Picchu.
It took over an hour and a half to get to the lost city of the Incas. The
stairs were varying in size, but all were equally grueling to climb at 4am on one
cheese roll. I could not believe that the Incas were shorter than me! Mind you,
they were probably also a 100 times fitter! The sweat was absolutely pouring
off me at the top and I wished so hard that I had brought some clean clothes to
change in to. We arrived at 6am just in time to get tickets to climb Huayna Picchu. Walking in to Machu Picchu whilst the fog was still drifting over the mountains was thrilling.
We had a guided tour for the first hour from a lady who seemed to know nothing about anything. She said that there were an average of 2,000 people visiting Machu Picchu per day and consequently 20,000 per year!!! I think her maths is a little off. In 2003, 400,000 people visited and this number has been increasing. Perhaps her maths can be forgiven, but she also said that the Incas did not have slaves and their average life expectancy of the Incas was 130-140 years old! I am a little skeptical.
Slowly the place started filling up with tourists and we were let loose to explore. I was so tired and had a really bad headache, but was determined to climb yet more stairs to Huayna Picchu (the big mountain in all the pictures of the city). This wasn’t as bad as I thought; the last 5 days had obviously prepared me well. The summit was amazing. There were even more structures and we were able to get a really good view of Machu Picchu. Some people say that the shape of Machu Picchu is like a Condor. I fail to see the similarity!
After that, we were so exhausted and decided to skip the Inca bridge and the Sun Temple. We also got the bus back down to Aguas Calientes! Our train/bus to Cusco didn’t leave until 7pm so we found a pizza restaurant, watched Spain win the World Cup and wandered around until the train left. We had to spend one more day in Cusco so we could rest a bit, so I took the opportunity to buy some souvenirs and Chris decided to get another tattoo.
The night bus got us in to Arequipa at 6am. We found a hostel and worked out how to get to Colca Canyon, the Andean Condor hangout. It turned out it was going to be a long and difficult journey and we didn’t have much time. We also found out that the chances of seeing a Condor are fairly slim. Since we had seen some near Salkantay mountain we decided to save our time and energy for the roads that lay ahead. The bus to Huacachina, our next stop, was another night bus so we decided to spend the day in Arequipa and leave that same night! The hostel owners must have thought we were crazy. Oh well, it was worth the money for the shower and the convenience of leaving our luggage somewhere safe. We walked around a lot, ate crepes and Chris went to a museum. Arequipa is a beautiful city! The surrounding landscapes I am told are also very beautiful, but unfortunately we were on a very tight itinerary.
We arrived in the oasis town of Huacachina by means of a taxi from Ica, the nearby city where our bus arrived. It is gorgeous! Our hostel was modest, but also had an outdoor swimming pool. The staff were extremely lovely and when we couldn’t make breakfast and when our hot water didn’t work, they gave us most of our money back. We went to a nearby outdoor restaurant for breakfast. They had 24 day old puppies “perritos”! They were the cutest things I have ever seen. I spent most of the afternoon playing with them. Their mother apparently doesn’t like them very much. I couldn’t have been happier than when I was with them. The owner asked if I wanted to take one back to Scotland; I wish!!
In the afternoon we went on a sand-buggy/sand-boarding sunset tour. Sand buggies are insane. The foreign office website warns Brits of their dangers, as there are many crashes where people die. The drivers are crazy and take a lot of risks. We decided to give it a bash! It was a terrifying and exhilarating ride through gorgeous sand dunes.
When we reached a huge hill, we all got off, waxed our boards and slid down the warm, silky smooth slopes. Chris couldn’t go because of his tattoo, which was a shame. We sand-boarded for an hour or so and I tried using my feet. Apart from a few falls and ‘sand-in-face’ moments, I did alright. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! The sun set over the dunes and we got back in our buggy ready for the terrifying journey home.
The next day we had a ridiculously early start for a boat trip to the Ballestas Islands to do some bird watching. On the islands there are pelicans, penguins, cormorants, Peruvian boobies, and Inca terns. There are also sea lions, turtles, dolphins, and whales. It was really cool.
The area within the Reserve
played an important role in the Peruvian economy during the mid-nineteenth
century. Vast quantities of 'guano' (birds' droppings) produced by the seabirds
was exported to Europe for use as fertilizer.
For many decades this industry was Peru's most important source of
revenue. They still extract guano every few years from the islands, so needless
to say it was a bit smelly. In the afternoon I went back to play with the
puppies for a little while longer and then we went in a pedal boat.
The next day we travelled to
Lima and then onwards to Huaraz, the popular base for exploring the Cordillera
Blanca.
This range is the highest
mountain range in the world outside of the Himalayas. We booked a mountaineering
expedition leaving the next morning to climb Vallunaraju mountain in two days
using ropes, ice axes and crampons. There were another 3 people in our group, a
German woman and a French couple. The first day was fairly easy. We took a bus
to the National Park and then climbed for 3 hours to base camp.
By the time we got there, it
was snowing heavily. We lay huddled in our tents for a couple of hours trying
to stay warm, had dinner at 7pm and went to bed at 8pm. We were to wake up at
12.30am, but we woke up at 11.30pm and couldn’t get back to sleep. It turned
out we didn’t leave till 2am and we were told that the other 3 weren’t coming!
They had chickened out. I really didn’t blame them, I felt like doing the exact
same. I was exhausted and cold. We were above 17,000 feet and every time I took
a step I was out of breath. The snow was so deep and my ice axe was doing
little to stop me from sliding. I took one step forward and slid two steps
back. It was dark, cold and so difficult. After a couple of hours I did the
unthinkable and gave up!
Unfortunately because we only
had one guide with us my decision also affected Chris, who was tired but
probably could have made it to the summit. I felt so guilty, but at the same
time couldn’t face taking more steps forward when I knew that the way back was
so long and hard. I was in pain, but I regret my decision to give up. I am
almost certain it wouldn’t have killed me (which is what I thought at the
time!) and it would have been worth it to see the view from 18, 700 feet. I
think I need a little more practice and acclimatization before I tackle
anything like that again. The others back at camp were impressed that we even
made it out of bed, as it was more than they could manage!
The rest of the afternoon
Chris and I played cards (shithead is my new favourite card game), drank beer
and then met up with the others to have dinner. Later that evening we took a
night bus back to Lima.
My last day in Peru we walked
around a bit, and then went to the cinema. Chris came with me to the airport to
put me on my flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! His flight left the next day.
Peru is so diverse and it was
crazy that one day we were in the desert and the next day in the snowy
mountains. The Peruvian people were very friendly. I wish I could have got to
know them a lot better. The only bad things I found about Peru were the amount
of tourists everywhere, it was expensive and I didn’t enjoy the food as much as
in Bolivia. This is probably just my opinion and I am sure that everyone else
will probably think the opposite. With regards to food, I didn’t even try Ceviche
(raw fish) or Cuy (roasted guinea pig), the national dishes of Peru so I
shouldn’t really comment. Anyone who has tried them let me know what they
thought. I was too scared!
I will definitely go back to
Peru in the future, if not only just to climb the mountain that defeated me!
