Alright so with the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu over and done with we don’t have any time to relax or anything like that. The next morning it’s up and off to the Sacred Valley to visit a number of Inca sites. Now this should really be done before the Inca Trail but because of some time issues on our tickets we had no choice. It’s a good day out but it’s long and most of the bus are shattered. We have four new people that day, Mick and Kathleen from Northern Island and Brenda and Colin from England. The day isn’t bad but all of the sites pale in comparison to what we have seen over the past few days and it’s a shame we couldn’t have had them as the buildup towards Machu Picchu.
That night though we head to the pub and have a nice few pints. The next morning we loose Conor and Andrea and Maree which is a great shame as I had been really enjoying their company but with no time to waste we are off to the Amazon jungle!
It’s a quick flight out of Cusco to Puerto Maldonado and then a while on a bus before we transfer into a boat for about a 90 minute cruise up to a proper jungle lodge. It’s lovely lovely stuff and looks like it’ll be a good few days. We have some lunch and then it’s off to Monkey Island which is just like it says on the tin. We spent about an hour there and then it’s back to the lodge for some down time. Downtime in the jungle involves beers and card games and there are a couple of great nights entertainment there.
The first night though we take a boat out in the dark and head up river with the guide shining a torch along the bank in places spotting crocodiles.It’s excellent stuff but the best is yet to come. We have gone about 20 minutes against the current with the motor running and then we drift back.
So there we are in this little canoe in the Amazon Basin with nothing but the sound of the jungle and we drift for 10-15 minutes back to the lodge. There is the hint of a distant sunset, there are glorious stars and there is just the sound of the water and the jungle and it’s perfect. Everyone in the boat is on the same page and it’s just perfect, great stuff.
The next day we go for a walk, 12km through the jungle around a lake and things like that that and it’s good fun…but with one added complication. We are taking a less trodden path because we as a group decided that we didn’t want to do the same 5km in and 5km back and that we’d rather walk a little further and take two different paths. This is all good until we find out, the hard way, that because the path is less trodden there are a number of wasps nests along the way. Of course the first to find this out is the 10 year old Robin who we actually thought was being eaten by a snake from the sounds coming out of him. Shortly we’d almost all get a turn and well it wasn’t fun. Luckily these wasps won’t follow you, so at a command from our guide…or a scream from someone in the group we run and make it through them. Two stings, another first for me, but it wasn’t so bad. Our guide had some cream and after about an hour I never noticed them again. We spot some tarantulas, some deer and a hint of an anaconda. One early highlight are termites which we are amazed to discover have a minty fresh taste to them!
So we take a canoe through a little “lost” lake and spot some tortoises and things like that and we climb a viewing point. The viewing point involves some wooden steps nailed into a large tree. It is rickety as hell and would not be allowed in most countries in the world but it has to be done. The views are okay and then a march back and we spent the rest of the day in the bar drinking and playing cards and it’s good fun, proper jungle life!
The next day it’s back to Cusco and time to catchup on some stuff. That night we head to Paddys for some pints and it just gets silly. There’s two random English girls who start playing a version of charades with us and the rest of the night descends into madness. There’s some Guinness early on and then some local beer and I distinctly remember exclaiming to Mick that if I’m to carry on with this shit there better be some whiskey and lo and behold there’s some Jameson.
The next day I am hungover and we head to Puno on what seems to be a neverending bus ride…
Peru October 30th - November 2nd
Okay so, Machu Picchu.
So we’ve arrived around 7am and we are waiting for the checkpoint to open at 07.30. We gather without realising we are already inside the city and we are at the “classic spot for photos” but of course it’s cloudy. There are many unhappy people but as I may have mentioned I don’t care! The city drifts in and out of view through the clouds and it’s huge. Piece by piece it appears and you start to get a sense of the scale. It’s awesome, it’s beyond awesome.
We head down to the checkpoint and we are in! Now the peak above the city is called Waynapicchu and only a limited number of people are allowed climb it each day. A few of us want to do it and so we rush, at times running, across the entire site to the base of the mountain to get our tickets. It’s awesome, it’s maybe 15 minutes to get over to there and the city is just breathtaking. We get our tickets and then head back to the other side to meet up with our guide (more on him in a bit) and then we have our tour of the city. It’s excellent, the whole thing is just. It’s beyond words and to be honest the photos don’t do it justice either. We spent so much to get there over the past few days and to be rewarded like this is everything you could hope for. Can you tell that I really really loved it?
So we go through the tour for about 2 hours and by then the weather is all over the place. We have moments of sunshine and more moments of mist and of rain. As our slot to climb Waynapicchu comes around, most have decided not to bother and it’s left to just Maree and myself. And so we climb…again. More steps and more steps and more steps and more steps and of course it’s uphill. We start to get rewarded about halfway up with little glimpses of the city below. We also start to get wet as the sky opens up. It’s back to ponchos and to full weather gear. This makes the climb tougher, the steps are bad, there’s a safety rope (which should give you an idea of bad it is, there is no such thing as health and safety in Peru!) and there are times that it’s scrabbling up with your hands. Anyway we make it to the top and we can’t see a thing, it’s cloudy and it’s lashing. So there’s only one thing for it…we finish the scotch!
Then it’s a slow climb down in pouring rain with slippery steps and flowing mud in places. A quick run around the site again for a few more photos and that’s it, the adventure is over and it’s off to Aguas Calientes for some food, some drink and some hot springs. Well I say hot springs but we’ll go with slightly warm springs but if you wave your hands they bring you beer.
Then it’s the train back to Cusco where again if you wave your hand they bring you beer. It was a most excellent train journey and just what we needed. It’s into the hotel and sleep sleep sleep.
I had just come back from the pub with the intent of typing however I have just watched (thanks Ted!) the trailer for 24 season 7 and I’m now totally distracted!!
I’m trying to figure out a few things but foremost (well almost) is when to finish travelling. I had been thinking mid to late December but the idea of being in DC (where my ticket ends anyway) for the Obama inauguration is hugely appealing. I wonder if Mary would mind me living in her basement for a month or so…
Hmmm, okay I shall sleep now and type more in the morning.
Oh I forgot. Inca Trail photos and Machu Picchu photos are up!
00.46 Sucre Bolivia Sunday November 16th.
Today is Saturday and there is *nothing* going on. It’s an entirely free day and this of course means only one thing.
We went out last night.
I woke up about 30 minutes ago and felt pretty good…that’s now changing. I was surprised to be hangover free but it’s slowly catching up.
We went to the Joy Ride Cafe which is a fairly famous travellers bar but is now popular with locals after a statement in the senate(?) from the president who said it’s “no solo para gringos” - not just for tourists! Anyways a most excellent night with a whole shitload of cocktails and vodka (I’m really not in the mood for beer these days) and good solid fun.
I do recall declaring to the room sometime in the early hours that I was going to be gay for a while now because it had to be easier than dealing with women. It was one of those nights.
I just googled the spelling of Jägermeister. They sponsored the party last night and there was a substantial amount of it going around, free shots, Jager bombs etc etc. I can’t stand the stuff so mine found happy homes fairly easily. But anyway if you do google Jägermeister, the first snippet on it’s website says
Jägermeister promotes responsible drinking
which is plainly one of the most ludicrous things ever written down.
Anyways a most excellent night and so a promised shout out to Mick, Kathleen, Kelly, Gemma, Karla and Louise who came out for the whole night!!
Later more ramblings and photos!
11.20 Sucre, Bolivia Saturday November 15th
Alright so when I last sat down to type we were heading towards Cuzco. We flew there from Arequipa getting us into the hotel around 10. I took a quick wander around to get my bearings and was hugely impressed. It’s a beautiful city. The main squares are absolutely gorgeous and for once the churches actually work and just add to the beauty. It is perhaps the prettiest city centre that I have seen. So I wander for a bit and then we do a brief tour and all is good.
The highest Irish owned bar in the world is there and they have Guinness and so we get stuck in. They do a decent lunch (an all day breakfast roll) and I have three cans of Guinness.
It’s lashing rain and we spend a while chatting away in there before splitting off for the afternoon. Aside from wanting to do some tourist stuff, we are starting the Inca trail the next day and there are things we all need to buy. Now one of the most spectacular things about Cuzco is that it’s a colonial town but it’s built on Inca ruins/foundations. It’s very clear to see throughout and there are some noteable sights (more about them when the photos go up later today).
Anyway so I spend a rushed but enjoyable afternoon seeing things and getting my bits and pieces (waterproof trousers, spare batteries etc) and then at 7pm we meet with our guides for the trail.
Now I was of course a little worried about the trail. It’s a tough few days with the second day being notorious. That day is only about 5km but you have to climb over 1200 metres and so at the top of that pass altitude can be a serious issue. Now I had talked to people who had done it before and I was never in doubt that I was going to finish it but I was like I say a little worried. So we have our meeting and the guides talk us through the few days and show us a map and talk about the pass and the altitude and give us some idea of what we’ll be going through. They are keen to explain that it is not a “professional walk” and that most people can do it but and this is very much out of character for me, the briefing just leads me straight into an actual panic attack. I was outside of the hotel hyperventilating trying to calm myself down. It really got to me and in fact that evening I didn’t manage to have any good (always good before setting off on a long walk) and I just felt like shit. I worked myself up into quite a state.
There’s now a common joke within the group, blame it on the altitude and I have mentioned this before so I’m going to talk about it a bit more. Cuzco is high, it’s about 4000 M.A.S.L (Metres Above Sea Level) and for a few days before that we had been doing a bit at altitude but nothing too heavy, two 45 minute walks at say 3600-3900 M.A.S.L. Easy enough stuff but lets be very clear here, you feel the altitude. I’d never done anything like it before. You are over 4 kilometers above sea level and above most of your experience to date and your brain is missing some oxygen. You might not even notice for a while but some little things can start to be obvious. For me it’s dreaming, I’ve had some of the most lucid dreams ever during time at altitude over the past few weeks. Now the other thing is of course your breathing, you are getting less oxygen and you won’t notice it until the second you start doing something and then boom, you can be out of breath in seconds rather than the many minutes it might take to get you going.
So we had been warned a fair few times to take it easy on the booze and to not have a big night out. Aside from having the trail coming up, booze can have some strong effects at altitude. Now bringing us back to that briefing, I don’t really have an explanation. Three cans of Guinness shouldn’t have an affect on me, especially not 6 hours later on but they certainly did and combined with the altiude and the anticipation, it just pushed me over that little edge. It was not a good night to say the least.
Inca Trail Day 1.
Anyway the next day rolls around and its off. We have all been given rucksacks which we can fill to a max of 5 kilos. So for me that’s my sleeping bag and a few bits of clothes. The porters are now limited in what they can carry (which from the sounds of it is a very good thing) and so we spend some time running to the scales in reception to make sure things are all okay. Of course you can carry as much as you like in your own daypack. So mine has waterproofs, water, gatorade, coke, snacks, medical kit, camera and misc crap. It’s heavy but it’s okay.
So we pile into a bus and we drive for about 90 minutes to a little village that works as a staging point for walkers. Here i get a walking stick, a whole four pounds for one for my height and we get some last minute bits and pieces and then we drive for about 45 minutes or so until we reach KM82, the traditional starting point for our “Classic Inca Trek”. Off the bus and we bundle up our bags and we apply our suncream and heft our bags and we queue up for the first checkpoint.
There is a very noticeable sense of anticipation. There’s excitement and there’s nerves but on the whole once we cross that first bridge and get onto the Inca Trail, the nerves start to fly and there is almost a giddy sense of excitement. For many of us this is the culmination of our travels. Almost everyone there has come not just to Peru but to South America to do this trek and to walk to Macchu Picchu.
So we have three guides, one at the front, on in the middle and one at the back. There are 19 of us doing the walk and we have 23 porters, 2 chefs and the three guides. So our group is 47 people. The most allowed on the trail per day is 500. The first day is about 11km and it’s mainly flat and easy going. We have to walk together so that we can acclimatise a bit more and I think so that our guides can get a view on how we’ll do. So we walk and it’s a bit slow but it’s okay. We chat and every few minutes someone expresses wonder at being there and there are smiles all around the group. Our porters catchup and overtake us after a short while. There’d be a call of “porters!” and you move to one side (stop if needs be) and let them pass. Dave and Suze were telling me way back when about the Sherpa’s they’d seen and used in Nepal and now I understand about them overtaking and laughing at the slow tourists. Anyway it’s all good. There are some small ruins dotted along the way and it really gets us going to see these small farm house ruins. It’s building the sense of anticipation for the lost city every step along the way.
Then we come to what is the hard part for day 1. We have to climb about 200 metres up some steps. Now this is a good place to just clarify, when I say steps don’t imagine steps. I’ll post some photos to give you a better idea but don’t think steps! Anyway we get up this 200 metres and it’s not tough going but it is at altitude and so it’s certainly leaving us short of breath.
On that actually, about 30 minutes into the walk there was a sorta group revelation that there’s no point in trying to hide the fact you are short of breath. No-one wanted to be the first to be actually working or like that but it’s quite simple, you are not getting enough oxygen so it’s actually better to try and breath heavily and deeply even if you are not out of breath! Anyway we get to the top of this and we come to the first significant ruins along the way and they are breathtaking. We are maybe 3 or 4 hours into the Inca Trail and you reach this little plateau and below us is are the Patallacta (or Llaqtapata) ruins. We sit down for a half hour or so and our head guide, Reuben starts to tell us about Inca history and it’s all fascinating stuff as we stare down over this beautiful view.
After that it’s onwards towards lunch and it’s amazing. The food is miles and miles above anything we were expecting and there is cutlery and tablecloths and a three course meal! We spend about an hour eating and sitting and taking it easy and then we head off towards the campsite. Of course it starts lashing rain as we get close and we are all into our waterproofs and ponchos and there’s even an umbrella or two. It is however all good and we get to camp and the tents have been setup and we eat another amazing meal and knowing we have an early start the next day we have an early early night. There is a joke about a light a little bit up the hill being the pub but no-one really wants to go and find out. So we sleep and we sleep pretty well.
Inca Trail Day 2.
it’s an early start with breakfast around 5am and then a small ceremony to meet our porters and cooks and all that.
Then it’s a short but steep climb to the checkpoint and the light *was* a pub!! Once we are through that everyone is free to walk at their own pace. We have one of the guides in front and he sets off pretty quickly. Feeling pretty good I set off at a decent enough pace, probably around the tail end of the first group. I cover the “first hour” in 35 minutes and after a quick bottle of gatorade, I start off on the second section of the day. It’s easy enough going. The next part is meant to be two hours and takes you to the last point that you can buy water etc. That part goes pretty well and I’m done in around 90 minutes I’d say. Now alot of this is uphill but it’s easy going. This is probably around the 3700 metre mark and it’s been fairly easy going, but of course this is not to last. The next 500 metres up to Warmiwañusca (Dead Woman’s Pass) is tough, extremely tough. It probably takes me three hours and it’s tough tough tough. I reckon that 3800 is the magic number, that’s when the altirude really really kicks in. The steps are tough but not stupidly so, at sea level I’d not be running up them but I’d be fairly moving along. Going up that height you can literally have to take 10 paces, stop, 10 paces, stop and continue. By the second hour I was looking for markers ahead on the track, a certain bush or stone and forcing myself to keep going till there. You can’t really walk with anyone here, you don’t have breath to talk, you can’t listen to any music, it distracts you and you don’t have the breath to sing along which you’ll end up trying and you have to just stick with your pace to get going. It’s a bit of a lonely couple of hours, it’s you versus the trail and there’s nothing else.
Eventually I reach the top and I’ve dropped back quite a bit behind the first group but it’s all good. Just a few minutes ahead of me at the top are Andrea, Robin and Maree and then shortly after me are Louise and Rebecca and Leah and then Angela and Jim. There’s a chance for some silly photos and luckily the view clears up a bit and we get some photos. There’s water and snacks and photos of us all at the pass and at the high point sign (you have to touch it when you reach the top) and well it’s a great feeling. That’s the hard part done and dusted and the back of the trail is broken. So there is only one thing to be done; whisky! Reading between the lines of the what to bring guidelines I had thrown in a couple of miniatures for keeping warm and so we sit at the top of Dead Woman’s Pass at 4215 M.A.S.L drinking Johnny Walker. It was perfect!
After maybe a half an hour break we get going again and it’s all downhill. It’s not easy going but it’s by no means as tough as the past bit as been (for me anyway) but the walking stick comes in pretty handy! Maree and I walk together for the next couple of hours and it’s nice to have some breath for some banter for a bit. We rock up into camp as the first of the second group around 2.30 I think. We were shocked to discover that the first group had been there since shortly after 11 that morning! However they simply hadn’t stopped as it turned out. The didn’t quite run the whole thing but we stopped for water and food and pictures and for a rest and they just paced it onwards. Some impressive stuff out of them!
The rest of the day is free, we wait for folks to arrive and everyone gets clapped and cheered and it’s a good feeling to get into camp and put your stuff down and just relax. We play some cards (21 (not the 21 we know and love) and shithead) for hours and hours leading to much good natured abuse (the highlight being Gemma calling Rebecca who wasn’t even playing a wench!) and it’s a good end to the day. Suffice it to say that people sleep pretty well that night.
Inca Trail Day 3
Now it gets bad. The walk is easy enough but the morning starts with another bit uphill and I’m not feeling good at all. I make it up the hill but I’m last for a while. I don’t know what it is, I feel okay in myself but my stomach is all over the place. We take a look at Runkuraqay, the first ruin along the way.
Then I have to leave the trail to throwup. Not fun especially as I hadn’t had any breakfast. However this does me the world of good and shortly after I’m good to go and I catchup with the group and stick close to the front for the rest of the day. I had been a bit annoyed with how day 2 had went, I didn’t think I’d struggle as much with the hill and it pissed me off to slip back to the second group (it’s not a competition of course but still) and so I wanted to prove something and pushed on for the day. It was pretty good, it was a long enough day and we had some horrible weather towards the end with lashings and lashings of rain making some of the downhill quite tricky.
But all is well and on day three we are just a few km from the city and in fact there is a glorious moment where we round a corner and in front of us is Macchu Picchu!
Now lets sidestep for a moment. Macchu Picchu is not the name of the city, it’s the name of the mountain that the city is beside. So we round a corner and our guide points out this triangle shape mountain and it’s just awesome. It’s the first payoff for the past few days and you can taste the excitement in the air. Okay, that’s not true, most people are miserable and cranky but I’m loving every second of it!
Now the good thing about the third night is quite simply the pub! We camp at Wiñay Wayna and there is a single pub with contains proper toilets (until it runs out of water) and hot showers! I’m really not feeling good and I’ve not eaten all day but once I get into the pub and I get a coke, (’sir would you prefer a cold one from the ice chest?’) and I get that into me and I have a hot shower then it’s most certainly beer o’clock and it’s up there as one of the best tasting beers I’ve ever had in my life. Back to the camp for dinner and a ceremony with the porters etc (this involves us thanking and tipping them!) and then it’s back to the pub for a couple more beers with most of the crew rocking up and it’s a good night. I head to bed around 10 I’d say and I sleep so well.
Inca Trail Day 4.
Now I’ve already mentioned some of this so I’m going to repeat myself a bit through the miracle of copy and paste and expand a bit too. So final day, and we get up at 4am. It´s dark, of course, and it´s lashing rain and I mean lashing rain. I´ve been ill for a couple of days, I´m not keeping down food and I´m starving. So, it´s dark and cold and wet and most people are miserable.
I on the otherhand have already decided that this is going to be one of the best days of my life and nothing can get me down. Repeated abuse from most of the camp about my cheerfulness and optimism (yeah I know, shocking huh?) just makes me feel better. It is the perfect way to start the day. Maree is the only person who is on the same wavelength and so we set off sneakily calling out “porters” to get the slower folks out of the way so we could overtake.
So we power on non-stop mainly in silence, lost in thought, anticipation, adrenalin and indeed exhaustion. We reach the steps below the Sun Gate. 50 steep steps and let me tell you you ain´t seen steep till you have seen these. We scramble up and the rain stops…but the mist remains. So slightly disappointing that we don´t get a first view down over the city. It doesn’t matter though. It’s still great. I’m on a total high, the walk has been beautiful and I’m standing at the Sun Gate above the Lost City of the Incas. Nothing can get me down here, nothing. So there are some photos and then a fast pace down into the city.
Not even an hour later and we are in the city before we even realise. We pause at some terraces waiting for our guide to catchup with the tickets from the last checkpoint and for the city to open. It’s misty misty misty. We are stood on the terraces where the “classic photo” looking down over the city is taken and we can’t see shit. But it doesn’t matter, at least not to me. As we wait there for 30 minutes or so the mist drifts and you start to get glimpses of the central city and then it clears and there before you is the whole city and it’s just breathtaking. It is every single thing you could hope for and more.
So that’s the end of the Inca Trail and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I will do it again sometime down the line. Next up, the city itself!
Cusco & and the Inca Trail Peru, 25 - 29 October
Wordpress has the lovely feature to allow me to backdate posts so I’ve put in a few posts from back in October when I had a few saved on my desktop waiting for net access. This means the feed goes a little screwey and not everything makes it through to LJ either.
My sister informs me that they did come through on RSS (and would like me to point out that she was drunk with *my* friends) but other than that there is probably no harm in checking http://www.davebushe.net/words/ just in case. My sister has now just suggested (surprisingly smartly too) that when I’m done I just make a new post with links to what I’ve slotted in so I may well to that.
Anyways, there ya go. The first photos from the Inca Trail are uploading now!
09.39 Potsi, Bolivia Friday November 14th.
Alright, I’m so far behind in everything that it’s not funny. I am pleased to report that I do not have any broken bones (so far). I have net access for the next couple of days and I hope to get photos and blogging up to date. I’ve got some photos up today but I have so many more to go. Also I have not read emails/blogs/LJ for about two or three weeks so if you are waiting to hear from me or if I have missed anything I shall try and get to it tomorrow or so.
I am alive and mainly well. I have net access for the next few days so mucho updates to follow.
I was knocked off a bike by a car…another new experience for me this year.
16.54 Potsi, Bolivia Wednesday whatever day it is.