Dusty Dogs

Kat writes: Having re-read the last blog entry I note we were anxiously awaiting clean clothes. Lesson for the day, never get your hopes up too high. Upon collection of our freshly laundered apparel, a question arose in our minds as to whether in fact the clothes had been washed or just waved around in the air a bit. The real doubt arose when I found one of my fleeces still had hair and dust all over it and smelled like dog (clean dog, but dog nevertheless). Upon further inspection it appeared a number of items smelled of dog. Maybe it´s a new detergeant - Persil, Puppy Pong. Later in the day I noticed my thermal trousers were missing (thankfully retrieved easily) and the next day Dylan noticed his bathers were missing (again, retrieved easily). Having now left Cusco, I am not thinking about what else might be missing.

Anyway, our remaining time in the Cusco area was spent out and about. One day we took a trip to the Sacred Valley (a couple of hours outside Cusco) to check out the ruins there. First we visited Pisac. Apart from the Inca ruins there is a market which for the most part is quite touristy but once you get through that there are the local markets selling veges and all sorts of stuff.

Visions of a very old lady weilding an axe and hacking up a lump of meat will remain with us for a while.

Then it was on to Ollantaytambo where there are more ruins. Amazing structures - it is mind boggling how the Incas (and in some areas, the pre-Incas) built them. Then it was onto Chinchero where there is what looks like a non-descript church (Spanish built). Once inside however, wow. The paintings on the walls and ceilings were amazing. Even the wood beams were painted.

Upon reflection, we should have done this trip ourselves over a couple of days but we thought for convenience and the benefit of a guide to explain everything, we´d go on a tour which was very cheap. BAD IDEA. For the first time, we felt like we were on some package holiday. It was great to have the guide but beyond that, it wasn´t worth it. Oh well, lesson learned.

Dylan adds: I have to agree that this really felt like a Butlins day out for me, and in the future wherever possible we will attempt to do things ourselves. I HATE tourists, and can´t stand listening to them go on about NOTHING for hours in a bus, and then show complete disrespect while the tour guide tries to explain the history of these incredible sites. However we are both quite old.

The next day we went on a white water rafting trip. As we´re both novices, the level 2/3 rapids were just fine by us. It was a fun day and a good intro for beginners. Unfortunately some had paid specifically to go somewhere else for a little more action but were lumped in with us. I
imagine that later that evening a certain tour operater got a bit of an ear full. Dylan adds: I thought it was far too easy and for girls. Next time we will do a proper session, at least a 4-5. That said, the river through the mountain was spectacular.

Having had enough of Cusco, the next day we got a bus to Puno which sits on the shore of Lake Titicaca. It was a fairly non-eventful 6 hour trip although concerns did arise when after about an hour the bus broke down. I don´t know what the driver did but about half an hour later the bus started again. We were fine though as we had a quality American movie being shown on the bus to keep us occupied (Jim Carrey was in it, I really hate Jim Carrey). Dylan adds: Why do they think that they can remake "It´s a wonderful life"? Some things should be left well alone.

Puno is very different to Cusco. It´s a lot smaller and much less touristy. It´s nice when the main "tourist" street is full of local people. We decided today to hang out here. We went to visit an old ship nearby but I´ll get Dylan to tell you about that.

Dylan writes (skip if you are not interested in boats I guess) : The ship is the oldest iron hulled boat still working. She is called the M.S. Yavari and she is amazing. The order was placed in 1861 by the Puruvian government to James Watts Foundry in Birmingham. The order was for two "Gun Ships", that could double as cargo/passenger ships. The truly amazing part of the story is that the ships where not to be assembled in England. The component parts of the ship where crated up and shipped around the Cape Horn to Arica (a Peruvian port). From there they where put on a steam train inland for 40 miles. From that point it was 250 miles and a climb of over 15500 feet over the Andes!! The transportation of the parts took mules and porters SIX YEARS! On Christmas day in 1870 the first ship was fully reassembled and launched, she made her maden voyage in April 1871. Back then she was Steam powered burning dried llama droppings, but as the lake is so high (around 3500 meters) you can imagine that the pressure difference was quite large. It took 6 hours just to build up steam, therefore in 1914 the steam engine was replaced with a huge 4 cylinder diesel from Sweden), the largest of it´s kind still in working order. The original steam engine no longer exists.

Walking around the engine room is a trip back in time with all the parts made all over England. It really is a walk back in time, a time when England was the best at something special. The Yavari has been fully restored and moves under it´s own steam (so to speak). Kat has just told me off for writing so much about the boat, I think I got a bit carried away.... it really is a nice boat though. In the picture below the water is being hammered by HAIL, the size we have never seen, quite moody.

Kat continues: We´ve also put some of our clothes back into a laundry here to try our luck a second time. Maybe it will be Persil Pussy Powder this time?!

Kat

Inca Trail

The next morning, bright and early (as usual) we were picked up to start the Inca Trail. The tour company drives you to the 82km point where you get out and start walking. Our guide was Oscar and the assistant guide Ollie (good Peruvian names). They both spoke very good English which was a bonus. Our group was pretty good too. There was an older Scottish couple (in their 60´s) who are on a 5 month trip - amazing! They were having a ball. They´re used to walking in the Scottish hills so they were pretty fit. Then there were a few Poms, a few Swedish girls (calm down boys) and a few Belgians. Everyone got along well and we had a good laugh.

 

Here´s us at the start

The first day was fairly easy. Gentle ups and downs for around 5 hours which was a nice introduction. All the time you are walking you are constantly being passed by the porters (from ours and other groups) virtually running past you carrying amazing weights. I know that it is a walk in the park to them but jeez it looked hard. They get to the lunch spot and campsite each day way ahead of you so that everything is set up when you get there. Speaking of food, the cook deserves 5 stars. He made really yummy food every lunch and dinner with the most basic of utensils and food. He also made a lot of it. If anyone had hopes of losing weight on the Inca Trail they were seriously mistaken. Even with all the exercise I couldn´t eat everything he made us. He would also carve out of some vegetable all sorts of animals and sit them on top of the rice or whatever else. His most brilliant creation was a bird out of a cucumber. 

Although the mouse out of a carrot was very cute. On the second morning we were awoken at 5.30 by a knock on the tent door and a gentle "buenos dias" and hot coca tea. After breakfast, Oscar introduced all the porters and the cook. He made an effort to point out who was single and asked us to introduce ourselves and do the same (we found out why later). 

Dylan was determined to introduce himself in Spanish, which he did, but instead of saying "I am 34 years old" he said "you have 24 arses". The second day is well known as the "challenge". And that it was. It's about 5 hours up hill, pretty steep uphill too. Still the porters ran past us... I had intended to carry my (big) backpack for the whole trek but after the first day found my shoulders were too wimpy. 

My legs and lungs seemed to cope ok but the shoulders were having none of it. With 5 hours vertical to come, I decided to pay a porter to carry it - yes I know, I´m a wimp. Dylan said to me that if I do that I´ll never know if I could have done it. I told him that that sort of thing doesn't bother me - must be a girl thing. So Dylan still carried his bag and I just had a small day pack. Up we went. Hard work, especially for Dylan. 

The climb is to reach "Dead Woman's Pass" (the top, from a distance, looks like a woman lying down). Dylan and I made good time but not as good as the Belgians who were never far behind the porters. We sat at the top cheering our group on as each one arrived. David and Maureen (the Scottish couple) were very close but looked like they might keel over so lots of extra shouts of encouragement were required. As a result we had David run up the last few steps to overtake a porter.

So after that effort, we had to do a couple of hours of steep downhill to get to the campsite. Oh the knees, again... We got to the camp site around 2pm and had the rest of the afternoon to collapse, which we all did. After a scrumptious dinner the oldest porter known as "Ochos Platos" or "Eight Plates" due to the amount he eats got out his flute and started playing some truly traditional songs and the rest of the porters sang along. The single porters grabbed the single girls to dance which was hilarious as the single girls were the 3 swedish girls and one English girl, all of whom were at least a foot taller than the porters. The third day began in a similar fashion to day 2 with the 5.30 wake up call and coca tea. This day wasn't quite as hard but still not a stroll. More up hill to the second pass with the end of the day being 3 hours steep downhill. In all it was an 8 hour day - phew. It was through different landscape though - through high rain forest and it was beautiful. Lots of pretty orchids and birds to look at. Dylan saw 2 different types of humming birds.

The final morning meant a 3.45 wake up call to get to the gate to enter the final trail to Machu Picchu, which opened at 5.30. For some reason Oscar had put it into our heads that it was important to get to the Sun Gate (about an hour on from the entrance) to look down over Machu Picchu before anyone else. At 4am this made sense although in retrospect was complete nonsense. When we were let through we took off as if we were chasing someone who had just nicked our bag. I was carrying my full backpack this day (the porter carried it the 2nd and 3rd day for me) which was fine initially as the track was pretty flat or only gentle up and down. Then it became quite steep and we were still going at a stupidly fast pace. I have never heard myself breathe that hard - I thought I was going to kark it. I had a fleece on and was boiling hot but for some reason thought I couldn´t stop to take it off. It was daylight and I still had my headtorch on my head, but for some reason thought I couldn´t stop to take it off. There came this vertical wall we had to climb up - that pretty much did me. Fortunately the Sun Gate was just after it. Dylan has a delightful photo of me once I reached the top (in a record 40 minutes) which I am hoping he´ll be kind enough not to put on this blog. Looking back, it is really funny that we all thought we had to run like the wind. It made no difference at all what time we got there. It was a very bizzare experience. So we first saw Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate and it is a truly amazing sight. We then headed down (much slower) to the Watchmans House which is where you can get the "postcard" picture from. We then went down to the site itself and Oscar took us around giving us the history etc. It was a great experience and really interesting. Oscar was great and tried really hard to answer any questions as best he could (given that a lot about Machu Picchu is theory rather than known fact). Dylan says: Anyone who has been to Machu Picchu will know this, but the images in no way reflect the beauty of this sacred place. Not only the amazing fact that this whole city had been built, lost and found, but the location. Standing on the edge of the mountain and looking out at the wallpaper scenery around you, it becomes apparent what the Incas were doing. I can´t find words to try to describe how awe inspiring this place is. Of course it could be the sheer relief that we wouldn´t have to walk up any more steps. That said, strangely enough, not one of the group felt the need to climb Huayna Picchu, the monster that you see in all the pictures. On a rather solomn note however, once the city had been cleared of the trees that hid it in 1915, it started to "slide" from the top of the moutain. Some scientists believe that in 10-15 years it may not be there anymore.

From the trail above Machu Picchu

From the Watchmans house

We made it

After that we went down to the town Aguas Calientes nearby where we decided to stay the night to relax. Aguas Calientes is known for its natural hot springs. We gave those a go the following morning - they were very murky and one had the feeling that one was sitting in 10 day old bath water. Still, it seemed to do the trick and most of my aches and pains settled down. Dylan however has a cold now and that place is the most likely suspect. We are staying at the same hostal as one of the Swedish girls and she now has a stomach bug...hmmm. Then it was the train back to Cusco last night and now we´re awaiting our clean clothes (I can´t wait!). All in all, it was a fabulous trip. Today we´ll be thinking about what to do next but for today, it won´t be much. Kat

Cusco and Ruins

Kat says: We decided to skip the 12 hour bus ride from Arequipa to Cusco and instead treated ourselves to a flight. Well we thought it would be a treat - it was the bumpiest flight I´ve ever been on. I´m normally a very good passenger and turbulence doesn't bother me but I have to admit to being a little nervous on this flight. Nevertheless, a 30 minute flight (bumps and all) compared to a 12 hour bus journey (with only a small cost difference) cannot be complained about. 

Cusco is also a pretty place, although not as pretty as Arequipa. It is very busy with all the tourists here to do the Inca Trail. On our first night we went into a place for dinner and a "traditional" band was playing. I got a bit excited until I realised they were playing "Let It Be" by the Beatles. I have since discovered that you can't go anywhere for lunch or dinner without a similar group coming in and playing the exact same songs. And no, we´re NOT going to by a CD, no matter how many times were asked. Mind you, they are pretty talented people. It would just be a bit nicer if they played traditional stuff. Good ponchos though. The next day we spent time looking around Cusco. The Cathedral and smaller churches are amazing and you´ve got to give the Spanish credit for the constructions. However, they also destroyed all the Inca temples etc so big slap for that one! 

One place - Koricancha, also known as the Temple of the Sun, used to have huge amounts of gold decorating the place but the Spanish put an end to that! Dylan says: Before our trek to Machu Picchu we decided to check out some of the local Inca ruins. We booked a couple of quad bikes through our hotel manager, he was so helpful. "Just leave it all to me" we thought he said. 

Next morning a cab drove us up the valley to get suited up and ready to burn some rubber. For some reason we were dropped off in a paddock full of horses. We both looked at each other, surely it wasn't possible to confuse quad bike for horses? Apparently it is. The last time Kat rode a horse she was 13 and even then she wasn't very good at it. The last time I rode a horse it was a racehorse and I fell off. So things were looking good... It turned out to be a great day. The horses were quite good fun actually, if a little skinny. They knew the way far better than us so we let them show us around.

North of Cusco are some pretty high profile Inca ruins; Sacsayhuaman, Qenko, Puca Pucara and Tambo Machay. The ride lasted most of the morning and I thought it was pretty technical. On several occasions I thought we were goners, for some reason these horses are keen on walking right on the edge of sheer drops, and upon spying tasty grass a hundred meters or so down the track, galloping off to investigate regardless of the helpless human baggage flapping around up top. Yee Haw! For me the most spectacular ruin was Sacsayhuaman (local tour guides like to call it "sexy woman", it sounds almost the same in english). The stonework is really impressive, the Incas really knew how to build walls.

The stone is mostly granite based and they carved the whole lot using nothing more than hammers and other stones. In some places you really can't see where one rock beds into another. For someone who appreciates workmanship this was something special. These walls are over 500 years old and still fresh.

 

Oh, and Kat got a sore bum - she doesn't like horses any more. 

After we peeled our behinds from the saddles we noticed a fairly massive event just over the valley. 

It was a re-enactment of some sort - people dressed as Inca rulers and a number dressed up as Condors (which are sacred here). I'm still not totally sure what it was, but I really felt sorry for the flag bearers who had to stand on the hill for hours while the rest of the locals ate and watched the impressive procession below. 

Then we went home to prepare for the Inca Trail. 

Dylan