Lifetimes

Upwards to Peru!

marie-danielle — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:35:00 GMT

Compartively flying into Peru was easy coming from Costa Rica, where the winds shake the plane from side to side even on take off!

We spent one night in Lima, Miraflores, before we were due to fly out to Cuzco the next day. Looking down over Lima is crazy maze of industrial blocks and billowing dark smoke. There is brown haze that hangs over the city and a stench that reminds me of rotting possoms (which i've smelt on occasions bush walks in nz).

The next day we were excited to get to Cuzco. The trip is quick ascent up to above the Andes and then likewise a quick descent down into Cuzco. Consequently you're left short of breath and suffering the effects of altitude sickness.

On the way to the airport we'd made friends with an australian couple who shared a taxi with us and that we caught up with that night for a couple of drinks. I'd been feeling ill with the altitude, racing heart, restricted breathing and slowed down thinking, but it seemed the alcohol helped me to feel normal (this is not something that the guide books tell you fixes altitude sickness, but then it did help me).

It took 4 days to come right. In that time we just took it easy exploring the gorgeous city of Cuzco. Cuzco is a city of both colonial and Inca influence. It has an old town, Plaza de Armas and cobble stone streets, and everywhere you look you can see the Andes incasing the city walls.

We spent 2 days traveling to outer Cuzco to visit the archealogical sites, both saksaywaman and the Sacred Valley. Both are amazing for the size of the stones rolled there by the Incas to build their temples and fortresses. The thought and engineering used to create these sites is amazing.

The whole culture itself is amazing as the people are strong in spirit and stick to their roots. In Cuzco you frequently see women and children dressed in their typical costume walking around with a lama for the tourists to take a photo. When you look beyond those people though, you actually see some of the locals dressed similarly with material bags tied on the back and babies hanging out the side of them.

Finally the day had come for the start of the Inca trail. We had been eagerly waiting for this adventure during the whole of our trip! It was a bright and early start when the guide came to pick us up to take us to the bus. We had one hour on the bus cruising the Sacred valley before we got Ollantayamba. We were to have a last bought breakfast out and to have our first breaky with our new adventure team.

There was 1e people in this adventure team, all a mix of different nationalities. The first day of the hike was used as our training day, as it was a relatively short walk (only 12km long) without too much incline. That night we camped at the foot of the Andes cliffs with mules who roamed freely around our tents. We were all presently surprised with the quality of the food made for us.

The porters who ran the majority of the Inca trail were constantly a marvel to us all. Legally they could only carry 25kgs, but in the old days of no rules they would carry up to 6okg each and they would still run the Inca trail!

The next morning we were woken by the 2nd guide and 2 porters who brought us our morning coffee in bed - such service! That day was the beginning of the hardest walk of all. We walked to the highest point at 4200m. My stomach would often feel nautious and both Darren and i were short of breath occasionally, but i'd been instructed to buy coca lollies to combat the effects of altitude sickness and they did work to settle the stomach.

Unfortunately for the rest of the group they seemed to get the worst of altitude sickness. There weren't many that could pass Darren and I. Many suffered from soar knees due to the steep and narrow inca stairs.

Once at the highest point it started to rain and rain and rain. So we spent the next 2 hours walking down the steep stairs soaking wet and feeling very sorry for ourselves. Darren thought he'd rush down, until he slipped on his back and put himself off rushing for the rest of the trip. Luckily he was not hurt because the backpack saved his fall.

That night we were all soggy and damp. Darren had brought a sleeping bag made for summer weather, so was not in the best of moods when he realised he had no dry clothes to layer on for the cold night.

We survived that night though and we were all revived the next day to start again on our longest walk yet at 18kms. Our soggy clothes had not dried much over night, but after an hour or so all of the soggy clothes started to steam and we warmed up in no time.

Having made it almost to the end we were ready to finish. In the last 30 minutes though, we were given the chance to go the short way to find camp or go the long way to see the archaelogical ruins of another trail. So Darren and I felt compelled to take the long route. Lucky we did because it was one of the most profound experiences for us.

One of the biggest complaints on the Inca trail is that there are too many people and you never get a moments peace to yourself. Well Darren and I had this whole trail to ourselves. Then after 20mins we found ourselves at the most massive archaelogical site that we'd seen yet. A fort sprawled the size of a steep cliff ending at the top with palace top architecture.

Darren and I climbed the steep stairs and then sat on the top wall looking down the valley of the cloud covered Andes and the Amazon below. On our way back down to camp I came across a guy who had fallen down 2 flights of Inca stairs and taken off all of the skin on his shins and elbows. He was fortunate to have not broken a bone, let alone not died after that fall.

We were all so happy to have it to camp that we cracked open Inca spirits sold to us before the trail (tastes like aniseed) and had a celebratory shot to warm our bellies. Next thing we know we are all in the bar having a wine and a beer to unwind. That sent us all off to sleepy mood and everyone was back to camp and to sleep.

The next morning was the earliest yet. We were woken up at 4am to get to Machu Picchu before anybody else. I wasn't ready to wake up and i'd pushed myself too much the day before on the long walk that i could've slept all day, but rise we must, so off we went.

We got to the sun temple and unfortunatly couldn't see Machu Picchu from that point. We were all so disappointed but it was all made up for when actually reached the grounds down below. The first half an hour Machu Picchu was clothed in cloud and then miraculously the cloud just disappeared, leaving us with the clearest picture.

The green of the Amazon against the clifftops and the white fluffy mist in the background makes for the most beautiful picture as you stand amongst the ruins.

We were given a 2 hour trek of the wonder of the world. Half way through the tour we saw a lama give birth and then proceeded to see the baby take her first steps. I think it added to whole experience of making the Inca trail and Machu Picchu a very special and enlightening spiritual journey.

Malpais to the Carribean

marie-danielle — Sat, 2 Feb 2008 12:48:00 GMT

Malpais is the surfers paradise of Costa Rica. I can understand why too. It´s a beautiful long white sandy beach with big waves rolling in. The road to Malpais is dusty and covered with pot holes, so i guess this stops the average tourist coming by and taking the waves off the pro´s.

That being said though, Darren and I did have a few waves to ourselves whilst we were there. We decided to take a surf lesson as Darren had never tried it before. I´ve done it alot, but haven´t practiced for 3 years, so thought i´d benefit from a lesson too. Both of us managed to get up on our first wave and by the end of the lesson the instructor said we didn´t need anymore lessons!

Malpais had this great spit roast chicken restaurant that was run by 2 Italian guys. That was our haunt for the whole time we were there.

Once the dust started to get on our nerves we packed up our stuff and moved on to Manuel Antonio, splashing out on a transfer by boat via Jaco.

Manuel Antonio didn´t strike any connection with us at all. We did spend one fantastic day in the reserve there, watching the animals with a guide and exploring the secret beach. When we weren´t there though, we had to spend time in the weirdest town we´ve experienced in all of C.R. Some how the ´sheriff´of Dallas befriended us and came to sit with us every meal time and would tell us all about his rescues as playing the sheriff in Manuel Antonio. (I´m sure the locals appreciated him just as much as we did!)

Basically after 2 nights there in the worst accommodation we´d had so far we were running away as fast as we could! This time we hired a car for a resonable price and managed to explore down South a bit and then on to the Carribean.

The drive to Dominical was fairly short, but of course a terrible dirt road to get there. Dominical is another laid back surfer town. The beach there is darker sand, but has rainforest hugging the coastline for as far as the eye can see. At sunset, also like Malpais, everyone would come out to the beach to say goodbye to the sun. We had such a nice time there, that i was disappointed to find i was sick the next day due to a tofu and vegetable meal.

Sickness aside i was able to jump in the car and make the 8 hour drive to the carribean. The roads there were all pretty good, just slow because you are stuck behind massive trucks on there way to the port of Limon. During one point of the drive you are on top of high mountains looking down to where the rainforest should be and all you can see is marshmellow type clouds thickly stuck in the valley. So so pretty.

Once we got to the carribean, of course it had to rain, the reason we´d avoided going earlier! We stayed in a fantastic accommodation called Jacaranda with its own rainforest garden inside and hammocks to chill in.

I loved the carribean side. It was so much more laidback from the pacific side. Many Europeans were there and a lot more backpackers too. I was most surprised to see that there was also surf rolling in on that side! We spent a day in our car exploring the south coastline. On our drives we had to stop several times to see sloths hanging from leaf-less trees and howler monkeys causing a racket in the forest.

I got some fantastic photos, especially of the sloth, but later that night we took our camera to a shop to download the photos to a disk and the guy managed to wipe the whole sim card!!! No more photos left at all! We couldn´t believe it, we wanted to cry. It made Darren dislike the Carriben even more.

Thankfully we´d pre-booked a tour to Tortuguero to float round the rivers and watch more wildlife. Tortuguero is known for having hundreds of turtles (3 different species) lay there eggs in the sand there, but it was not the right time of year.

Despite not seeing this phenomenon, we did manage to see many different animals and birds like; crocodiles, monkeys, turtles, lizards, snakes, frogs and the tucan! The list goes on...

Most of all, we enjoyed just chilling out in a family run hostel. The environment was mellow and we appreciated the change in scenery.

Unfortunately the trip home was not so chill. We were meant to be dropped at our car and to drive it back to the Carribean. The bus stopped several km´s away from the car and there was no connecting bus. It started to rain and we had to call a taxi. The taxi took a long time to show and when he did, i asked him to put on his meter (a common practise). He pretended not to understand the spanish i spoke to him and replied that he didn´t speak Spanish!

On the drive we realised he was drunk and we decided not to provoke him about the meter. I had only the equilvalent of US $20 or US $4 in change on me. $4 would have been more than enough if the meter was running, but of course he didn´t run it so he could charge what he liked. I ended up giving him the $4 and he complained about it, in perfect spanish i might add! As we were leaving with the car i was having images of him following us and doing something silly, but all was ok.

Once we were back in the south of the Carribean we thought we´d have missed all the bad weather, but it did cloud over for the whole time we were there again and then came out the same hour we had to leave! We spent our last days with me sick and Darren thoroughly sick of the place. I got so sick i had to go to the doctor to get antibiotics. Thankfully they worked a treat and i was able to catch the plane the next day.

Dropping the car back to San Jose took at least 10 years off our life. We were trying to avoid the middle of San Jose because the streets are notorious for chopping and changing sides of the road with no warning. There was no signage for our turn off, so we found ourselves in the middle of the city!

Children play on the side of the road and there is barely enough room for the cars and trucks that plow down the road at high speeds. On numerous occasions we found ourselves dogging the soccer balls that had rolled on to the road. Scary drive, but with Darrens careful driving we made it safely!

Gallery: Costa Rica

marie-danielle — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:27:00 GMT

So far the North and Central regions

Exploring Nicoya

marie-danielle — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:36:00 GMT

After a shoddy bus trip packed to the gunnels with people, babies being passed from person to person, as elders took their rightful seat on the bus and Mothers gave their tired arms a rest, we finally made it to Puntareanas.

Puntareanas is the port town that has a ferry connecting the Central coast to the Nicoya Pennisula. The ferry passed a very scenic route gliding past white sand islands and tropical rainforest on the shoreline. Just as the ferry was about to pull into the dock we could not believe the one shop port town was bigger enough to support our massive ferry. At that moment, i was reminded of taking the dodgy ferry in Indonesia, that went out against all odds and low and behold sunk 2 wks later taking with it the lives of 200 people.

We made it to the otherside though! We made friends with 2 Canadians in Monteverde who shared a cab with us all the way to Montezuma.

Montezuma is a special little hippy like town with cute shops and handmade jewellery markets lining the streets. The beaches are fluffy golden sand and a steady beach break rolling in.

Unfortunately Montezuma did live up to its name with an attack of Montuzemas revenge for Darren.

We did manage to see some beautiful waterfalls which entailed a steep rockclimb to get to the top and nothing but a rope to break your fall on the way down. The next day we were on the beach taking photos and a man informed us that we shouldnt be seen with our cameras at the waterfall because there had been a mugging at knife point the day before. So it was a narrow escape for us. On our walk home from the beach we did see a police cornered off area where a guy was being arrested (perhaps for the mugging, as there were a few cameras at their feet).

Coasting Costa

marie-danielle — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 11:01:00 GMT

On a very turbulant night we finally arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica. The clouds were dark and misty, clearing just a little for us to see the last of the sunset.

After 2 nights and a day in San Jose we were ready to leave on our adventure to the north into the mountains.

Today the weather cleared to show Costa Rica in all its glory, we've even had a glimpse of the pacific ocean from the bus ride up into the remote village of Monteverde.

Keen to get into nature as soon as possible we opted for a cable top skyline ride. So before we knew it we were zipping through the rainforest, the clouds and forcing ourselves against the wind. Near to the end the weather got the better of us and we had to quickly finish our ride by going tandemn for us to get down before it became too dangerous.

All in all a nice introduction to Costa Rica!