Dia fifteen through twenty
After Puno, we boarded a bus to Arequipa. The bus broke down within minutes of leaving the city. The driver and his helper ran all around inside and outside of the bus, opening and closing compartments, never saying a word to the passengers. Eventually a fellow tourist got off the bus and asked, turns out we had a flat tire but no spare, but the company was bringing another bus from Puno. And that´s what happened. The strangest part of the ride were the traveling salesmen who got on at one stop, stood in the center of the aisle pitching herbal remedies (one even using a microphone) for about an hour or so and then getting off the bus after their pitch. It was strange.
Once in Arequipa, we promptly made plans to head out to Colca Canyon to frolic with vicunas, llamas, alpacas, condors, and other creatures. Colca Canyon was thought to be the deepest canyon in the world, until a neighboring canyon took over the honors. It is also a fabulous spot to find condors. The area looks a lot like the desert SW of the USA only the mountains are higher and their are llamas and alpacas everywhere. A big highlight for me. We also got to see vicunas driving out to the canyon which are an endangered relative of the llama and also quite cute.
Jimmy and I were very confused on this tour of Colca, as we seemed to get the best of everything out of the group. We ended up with the suite at the hotel we stayed at, especially cool as it has a gigantic boulder across as one of its walls. A very Jimmy-like decoration. I think the others were most jealous of our air mattresses in the tent, when all they got was a little sleeping pad. We started wonder if we paid more than every one else or it was because we were married... who knows.
After returning from 3 days in the Colca Canyon, we went on a mission to eat at a typical Peruvian fast food joint in Arequipa. We noticed on our first day there, that there was a Peruvian fast food joint the specialized in a dish that consisted of "German" hot dogs on top of french fries. The locals also were drinking a local cola. We had to try it. We were successful and full after the endeavor. We also explored Arequipa and were struck by how modern it was. It is very dramatic when you move from the culture/history/touristy region to the metropolitan areas of Peru.
We also visited Mundo Alpaca were we got to feed alpacas and llamas and the caretaker even let me hold a baby alpaca. It was awesome and I definitely want to take an alpaca home with me... I wonder what Skidaway would think of that addition.
Before leaving Arequipa, we had one more adventure- whitewater rafting.(jimmy writing now) Our rafting trip was supposed to last 2 hours and with in the first 5 minutes we were stuck on a rock for over 5 minutes. This did not bode well for the excellence of our skipper and crew. It turned out the the rifer was about 10 ft below its highest point and there were 6 people weighing this raft down a bunch. In the end it was very fun and the one class 4 we did was awesome, even if it just involved us hiding in the raft as we dropped 9 feet.
Rafting built up a bit of a hunger and we headed over to a Turkish restaurant. Within minutes of arriving all the power went out. This set us up for a bit of a candle lit dinner. I ordered my 3rd hamburger of the trip here and have continued to be disappointed by every restaurants attempt to add crazy seasoning to their hamburgers. Eventually the lights came back on and I got some pop corn from a street vendor for about 20 cents.
We now sit in the Lima airport, awaiting our flight to Iquitos to the rain forest. We will be waiting for about 18 hrs and saving over $200 by not staying at the nearest hotel. A long day to night in the airport.
http://www.sleepinginairports.net/casa/lima.htm
5.08.2008
5.02.2008
Birthplace of the Inca
According to legend, the Incans believed that they emerged from Lake Titicaca and where told to go find the belly button of the world (Cusco). This is our journey to Puno and Lake Titicaca.
Dia twelve
jimmy starting this one...
We have essentially completed the first main adventure of our expedition and a brief coll down in Cusco. This brings us to our second main adventure. We decided to use the same tour company as the Inca Trail, since they did not let us down last time. We woke up early on the twelth day to catch a bus to Puno, the biggest city on the Peru banks of Lake Titicaca. It started looking like it was just me, Jenny and a guy from the UK going on this trip. Then the tour company dropped us off at the bus station and thus ended our continued experience with SAS Adventures. Now that we realized that this entire trip had been pawned off on other companies, the real adventure can begin.
We found ourselves on an all day bus trip from Cusco to Puno, which included three stops. The first stop was at a little church somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It was covered in beautiful paintings and a lot of 24 karat gold... Yes pure gold on everything. Now I see what the Spanish were after. Outside the church was an adorable little golden haired puppy, yes everything in Peru is made of gold. This was my favorite random street dog of Peru so far. There will be more about random Peru street dogs after we return. The next stop was pre-Incan ruin site that had some unbelieably high walls and some beautiful scenery. The final stop was a museum that I found less than spectacular, but the guide did manage to contradict some facts we learned during our Machu Pichu hike. In general the bus ride was well organized and went smoothly. We were met by a taxi driver at the bus station and then swept away to the El Buho hotel, which had a lobby fulln of motorcycles.
Just before Puno, we past through Julieca. This is the headquarters for the Peru-Bolivia black market. This was the typ of city that I was afraid all of Peru might look like. I was quite pleased to just pass on through. Puno was much better than there but was clearly not the tourist center that Miraflores and Cusco are.
Dia thirteen
So this is the heart of the matter and the reason why I am writing this portion. Hi, my name is Jimmy and I hate embarrassing awkward situation. Nice to meet you.
The next stage of our adventure is to go explore Lake Titicaca. We hopped on a boat early in the morning and went out to visit some people that live on floating read islands. It was a nice chance to explore a different culture and learn about them in a somewhat structured manner. We were not entirely delighted with our guide for this portion of the trip, but it was not horrible. At times the islands seemed like they should be in in some war movie or maybe Waterworld. This was a very touristy place to go. Most of the people do not even live on the islands anymore, they just go there to work during the day, but it was educational. After these islands we sailed off to a "land" island.
On this island we were paired up with a local mother/wife/person who was going to take car of us for the the next day. This means she is going to introduce us to her family, give us a room to sleep in, cook us food, and show us some of her culture. I get nervous staying over at a friends house, and they speak English. I quickly tried to convey to this person that I only speak a little spanish and Jenny does not speak any (I do not know how to type apostrophies on this keyboard). She seemed fine with this, and since she does this every day, I guess it will be ok.
We arrive at her house and are shown our room. It is small but very luxurious compared to the rest of the house. Let me interupt myself now to point out that this place is amazing. There are patchworked fields overlooking a giant lake with the snowcapped mountains of La Paz on the horizon. Tourist would die for a hotel on this island. After unpacking and having not eaten since morning (8 hours ago), we head to their littl courtyard and meet 3 kids (7, 3, and 1 years old). Jenny and I used them as a coping mechanism for an uncomfortable situation. At one point Jenny thought I should ask about food, but I don{t know how to do this politely in Spanish. So we ate some cliff bars. About a half hour later we were told it was lunch time (4:00 pm). I hate fish, I cannot eat fish, and the though of fish makes me a little sick. We are on an island! Out comes a bowl of potato soup and a plate full of potatoes. I love this place. We also had some Muña tea which helps with altitude sickness. This island is about 13000 feet above sea level. After lunch I somehow figure out that our host will show us to our group so we can go watch the sunset.
We arrive at the local meeting place. The groups decide to play some futball. Local kids vs tourists. A solid 4-0 victory for the adult tourist. Ok the other team had a couple adults. I did get one goal! Then we went to the top of the island and watched the sunset, which will be documented in beautiful Jenny-pictures later. After this we walk back to the meeting place and have no clue where we should go next. We wander around aimlessly until we find out guide who shows us a boy who can take us home. This is followed by another quite edible but large dinner and a lot of talking. I guess I will say that they were speaking Quechian and not Spanish. This made me nervous scared and awkward. I didn{t know what to do and everyone once and awhile they would look at us. Eventually our host said we could wait in our room, which was awesome. Now to make up for me being worried about not speaking spanish , everyone thought is would be fair to dress Jenny up like a local in three layers of skirts and other air restricting clothings and then to make her go dance. I like Peruvian dancing. It involves holding hands and shaking your arms a lot. After dining, dressing, and dancing we went o bed in the frigid frigid night.
Dia twelve
jimmy starting this one...
We have essentially completed the first main adventure of our expedition and a brief coll down in Cusco. This brings us to our second main adventure. We decided to use the same tour company as the Inca Trail, since they did not let us down last time. We woke up early on the twelth day to catch a bus to Puno, the biggest city on the Peru banks of Lake Titicaca. It started looking like it was just me, Jenny and a guy from the UK going on this trip. Then the tour company dropped us off at the bus station and thus ended our continued experience with SAS Adventures. Now that we realized that this entire trip had been pawned off on other companies, the real adventure can begin.
We found ourselves on an all day bus trip from Cusco to Puno, which included three stops. The first stop was at a little church somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It was covered in beautiful paintings and a lot of 24 karat gold... Yes pure gold on everything. Now I see what the Spanish were after. Outside the church was an adorable little golden haired puppy, yes everything in Peru is made of gold. This was my favorite random street dog of Peru so far. There will be more about random Peru street dogs after we return. The next stop was pre-Incan ruin site that had some unbelieably high walls and some beautiful scenery. The final stop was a museum that I found less than spectacular, but the guide did manage to contradict some facts we learned during our Machu Pichu hike. In general the bus ride was well organized and went smoothly. We were met by a taxi driver at the bus station and then swept away to the El Buho hotel, which had a lobby fulln of motorcycles.
Just before Puno, we past through Julieca. This is the headquarters for the Peru-Bolivia black market. This was the typ of city that I was afraid all of Peru might look like. I was quite pleased to just pass on through. Puno was much better than there but was clearly not the tourist center that Miraflores and Cusco are.
Dia thirteen
So this is the heart of the matter and the reason why I am writing this portion. Hi, my name is Jimmy and I hate embarrassing awkward situation. Nice to meet you.
The next stage of our adventure is to go explore Lake Titicaca. We hopped on a boat early in the morning and went out to visit some people that live on floating read islands. It was a nice chance to explore a different culture and learn about them in a somewhat structured manner. We were not entirely delighted with our guide for this portion of the trip, but it was not horrible. At times the islands seemed like they should be in in some war movie or maybe Waterworld. This was a very touristy place to go. Most of the people do not even live on the islands anymore, they just go there to work during the day, but it was educational. After these islands we sailed off to a "land" island.
On this island we were paired up with a local mother/wife/person who was going to take car of us for the the next day. This means she is going to introduce us to her family, give us a room to sleep in, cook us food, and show us some of her culture. I get nervous staying over at a friends house, and they speak English. I quickly tried to convey to this person that I only speak a little spanish and Jenny does not speak any (I do not know how to type apostrophies on this keyboard). She seemed fine with this, and since she does this every day, I guess it will be ok.
We arrive at her house and are shown our room. It is small but very luxurious compared to the rest of the house. Let me interupt myself now to point out that this place is amazing. There are patchworked fields overlooking a giant lake with the snowcapped mountains of La Paz on the horizon. Tourist would die for a hotel on this island. After unpacking and having not eaten since morning (8 hours ago), we head to their littl courtyard and meet 3 kids (7, 3, and 1 years old). Jenny and I used them as a coping mechanism for an uncomfortable situation. At one point Jenny thought I should ask about food, but I don{t know how to do this politely in Spanish. So we ate some cliff bars. About a half hour later we were told it was lunch time (4:00 pm). I hate fish, I cannot eat fish, and the though of fish makes me a little sick. We are on an island! Out comes a bowl of potato soup and a plate full of potatoes. I love this place. We also had some Muña tea which helps with altitude sickness. This island is about 13000 feet above sea level. After lunch I somehow figure out that our host will show us to our group so we can go watch the sunset.
We arrive at the local meeting place. The groups decide to play some futball. Local kids vs tourists. A solid 4-0 victory for the adult tourist. Ok the other team had a couple adults. I did get one goal! Then we went to the top of the island and watched the sunset, which will be documented in beautiful Jenny-pictures later. After this we walk back to the meeting place and have no clue where we should go next. We wander around aimlessly until we find out guide who shows us a boy who can take us home. This is followed by another quite edible but large dinner and a lot of talking. I guess I will say that they were speaking Quechian and not Spanish. This made me nervous scared and awkward. I didn{t know what to do and everyone once and awhile they would look at us. Eventually our host said we could wait in our room, which was awesome. Now to make up for me being worried about not speaking spanish , everyone thought is would be fair to dress Jenny up like a local in three layers of skirts and other air restricting clothings and then to make her go dance. I like Peruvian dancing. It involves holding hands and shaking your arms a lot. After dining, dressing, and dancing we went o bed in the frigid frigid night.
Dias 14
jenny now writing...
We awoke to a morning of pancakes and fear that we were going to be fed more food - our host mother liked to keep us well-fed. She then walked us down to the docks and we headed to another island in Lake Titicaca called Tequile. I honestly felt like we were walking along the mediterrean as the community was what I picures Greece and Italy to look like, except for the snow-capped mountains in the distance. We spent the day walking around the island and perusing the local woven goods. A relaxing day in all regards. We arrived back in Puno with time to walk around the city, which is definitely poorer than either Cusco or Miraflores, and book a bus to Arequipa with hopes of spotting condors and seeing the Colca Canyon. Today was my medical school^s graduation ceremony, so I can be counted as being an official doctor as of today, although I missed the pomp and circumstance. Signing off for now.
4.30.2008
the belly button of the world
Dia Nine through Eleven
Cusco, the belly button of the world according to the Incans, is where we spent our last few days. Both Jimmy and I were surprised by the city as it was not what we expected Peru to be like. It was a beautiful city with many plazas, shops, restaurants, and native Incan architecture. The Spanish used the Incan stonework that was left after their conquest as the base for their cathedrals, convents, and other important buildings. All which make Cusco a fascinating city to wander around. The inside of the cathedrals is another story. I have never seen so much gold in my life and according to tour groups it is all 18-22 karat gold leaf. Gold covered almost every object on every wall in the entire 2 main cathedrals.
My favorite part of Cusco was the hillside wandering that we did on our last day. We hiked up to Sacsayhuaman, site of one of the largest battles between the Incans and the Spanish, but did not feel like paying the enterance fee, so we looked at the outer walls and marveled at the tourists who snapped pictures at every native Peruvian that they could see. Not sure how I feel about this, although most of the subjects had dressed up for the occasions, llamas in tow in hopes of getting money from the tourists. We continued through the foothills to the giant Jesus statue that lights up the Cusco night sky and onto other less seen ruins, before heading back down to Cusco.
Jimmy in his attempts to try new foods, dined on an alpaca fillet one night and LOVED it.
We also took time to plan the next portion of our trip during these days in Cusco. We are going to Puno, Lake Titicaca, and Arequipa on our next leg and then onto the Amazon.
Cusco, the belly button of the world according to the Incans, is where we spent our last few days. Both Jimmy and I were surprised by the city as it was not what we expected Peru to be like. It was a beautiful city with many plazas, shops, restaurants, and native Incan architecture. The Spanish used the Incan stonework that was left after their conquest as the base for their cathedrals, convents, and other important buildings. All which make Cusco a fascinating city to wander around. The inside of the cathedrals is another story. I have never seen so much gold in my life and according to tour groups it is all 18-22 karat gold leaf. Gold covered almost every object on every wall in the entire 2 main cathedrals.
My favorite part of Cusco was the hillside wandering that we did on our last day. We hiked up to Sacsayhuaman, site of one of the largest battles between the Incans and the Spanish, but did not feel like paying the enterance fee, so we looked at the outer walls and marveled at the tourists who snapped pictures at every native Peruvian that they could see. Not sure how I feel about this, although most of the subjects had dressed up for the occasions, llamas in tow in hopes of getting money from the tourists. We continued through the foothills to the giant Jesus statue that lights up the Cusco night sky and onto other less seen ruins, before heading back down to Cusco.
Jimmy in his attempts to try new foods, dined on an alpaca fillet one night and LOVED it.
We also took time to plan the next portion of our trip during these days in Cusco. We are going to Puno, Lake Titicaca, and Arequipa on our next leg and then onto the Amazon.
4.29.2008
Superchachacos
(or superhikers for those of you who were wondering)
Dia Five
Early morning bus ride through gorgeous mountain scenery that we missed out on because of foggy windows and sleepy eyes. We stopped to have breakfast before heading on to Ollantaytambo to pick up the other group and then take the narrow, boulder ridden "road" to KM 82 and the start of the Inca Trail. The drive seemed to involve almost as much driving backwards as forwards as we met buses, trucks, etc. We were greeted at the drop off point by locals hawking hats, water bottle carriers, and of course walking sticks. After some organization our hike began under the leadership of our guides Reuben and Elvis and the help of 16 porters and 2 chefs. The first day was slow paced and we passed by many local huts where locals sold cool drinks and food to hikers. At lunch we became acquainted with our 3 course meals - you definitely don´t go hungry on the Inca Trail. We passed by ruins that were the supply center for Machu Pichu: The scenery was superb - steep Andean glacier covered peaks (the main peak being Veronica), rivers, and the occasional llama and donkey. We camped away from the masses as our tour hiked further up the mountain for our first night where the porters had everything set up for us and locals where present selling beer and coke.
Dia Six
Jimmy typing now...
Day 2 of the Inca Trek started at 6 am with hot tea delivered to out tent door, a daily occurrence.of course. This was followed by a multi course breakfast with some coca leaf tea. Let me clarify that although cocaine and coca do have some basic origins in common they are by no means the same thing. Now all hopped up on coca, we begin what many (just me) call the death march. This is also the day where the 9 hikers who have porters carrying all their stuff could go ahead and hire more porters to carry even their day hiking bag, but we figured it was more fun to carry stuff and keep our money. It begins with the basic concept of walking forward and going up and repeat. This went on for a couple hours and about 2,500 vertical feet. We stopped and had a nice little break to enjoy the view. This was followed by roughly the same actions as stated before. This went on for about another hour and a half and took us up an additional 1,000 feet. Much like the destructive capabilities of the lines at Disney World this portion of the Inca Trail has only one goal, basically to torture tourists. From what I saw it was extremely successful. At the top of the 14,000+ foot high pass we took in the awe inspiring view of the clouds and fog. We do have some pictures of us celebrating up there. Now with the hardest part over, the rest of the day will just go by nice and smoothly. Jenny not being much for up hills exuberated in the wonder of a 2,000 foot downhill and I believe was once found skipping down stairs at full speed (see picture some day in the future). After this little decent we stopped for a lite 3 course lunch extravaganza and a bit of a siesta. Apparently most other tour agencies consider this an ideal breaking point for the day and are letting there regularchacos end their day here. Ahh but Reuben had grander ideas for his superchacos. We were going to go up over a 13,000 foot pass to get a head start on the crowd.
Jenny not feeling in the best of condition after the altitude changes of the first half of the day was more in the mood to nap then hike, but she moved on. This is where things began to go awry. A little bit of a stomach issue began to appear and a little bit of overheating and maybe some chills and maybe some other things. Jenny was not doing well as we attempted to surmount this pass. Already not being a fan of uphills and now getting sick, this was not looking good. We stopped by some Incan ruins, which are apparently just lying around all over the place here, I asked the guides if they had anything for Jenny´s sickness. They thought the best cure for this would be to take her pack and let her walk the trail. Jenny does not seem to believe this is the best of ideas, because Jennys don´t give up there packs to anyone, even Jimmys. So things moved slowly and we took it about 3 to 10 steps at a time, but we found the top of that peak. Now awaiting the grandeur of Jenny skipping down the hill was probably not the best idea, but I could hope. So we fought our back down an other 1,000 feet and things just seemed to be getting worse. At one point I did sneak off and explore some more unbelievable ruins off to the side of the trail. As the sun set we found our way through the rain forest and into our final location. Jenny quickly found a comfy spot in the tent and I headed over to hustle some hikers at cards and eat a couple plates of popcorn. We ate, we laughed, we waited for Jenny to get better. Eventually the best idea seemed like to sleep amidst the mountains and the rain forest noises and to put day two to bed with no dessert.
Dia Seven (Day 3 of trek)
Jenny back in charge...
I awoke feeling much better and ready to face another day on the trail. The valley we camped in was surrounded by mountain peaks, and breathtaking. It rained most of the night which meant that the porters and our guides who had forgotten ground clothes spent the night soaked. The hardest part of the day was a gradual hike at the beginning. After that the trail remained level and completely set in Incan Stone (as the Incans laid stone 1-2 meters deep all along the trail). We went through several tunnels and again walked through ruins. Clouds however set in during the day and obstructed most of the mountain scenery. We made it to the last campsite before lunch. This last campsite is crazy as everyone camps here the night before heading to Machu Piccu. Tourists are everywhere and there is a main lodge that served snacks, coca-cola and alcohol. Most of our group opted to pay for warm showers and clean clothes but Jimmy and I took our chances with the ice cold shower and put back on our filthy clothes. In the afternoon we went to Wiñay Wayna a ruin 5 minutes from the campsite, which was spectacular. Here Reuben went off on one of what some in our group called "insanologues" telling us how this site reflected the rainbow and how everything was divided by 7 when in fact nothing was. Entertaining nonetheless. That evening we thanked the porters and retired to bed in order to wake up at 4:30 am.
Dia Eight (Day 4 of trek)
We awoke bright and early and went to a "light breakfast" which seemed to have just as much food as previous days. We hiked to the checkpoint in the dawn light and then waited in line, which seemed rather like a Disney World experience. We arrived at the Gate of the Sun within an hour and half and watched the sun hit Machu Pichu. We then headed down to the sight, quickly distracted by the resident llamas, especially the mother and her day-old baby. After getting rid of our packs, we followed Reuben around and listened to explanations about the various sites. Our attention span quickly waned and we round ourselves starring off into the mountain scenery, which in some respects is even more remarkable than the ruins themselves. We hiked toward Wayna Pichu were found that we could still scale its peak as the 400 person limit has not been met. Seven of us decided to make a go of it. At the bottom we ran into Nate Scott and his dad and arranged to have dinner when we got back - stange place to run into people from MN. Anyway, the hike up Wayna was more like a climb, and I believe in the US it would either be off limits, completely rebuilt to meet safety standards (and covering the Incan work) or you would need a mountaineering guide with you. It was scary to say the least, especially as people were going up and down narrow stairs that had shear dropoffs. At the top Jimmy and I mistook the exact route to the top and hence missed the climb through a cave to the tip-top. The view was spectacular, though, and worth the trip.
After our climb we made our way out of the ruins, but not before spotting hidden llamas who were chomping on dirt. We took the bus to Aquas Caliente, we we spent the afternoon exploring. Jimmy and I made acquaintances with the local kids and puppy dogs. Jimmy even got involved in a "heated" game of futball with two 5 year old kids. It basically involved the kids trying to kick the ball down a hill that lead to the train tracks while Jimmy ran after it.
That was the end of our Incan Trail adventure. We of course have more detailed stories and hundreds of pictures.
Dia Five
Early morning bus ride through gorgeous mountain scenery that we missed out on because of foggy windows and sleepy eyes. We stopped to have breakfast before heading on to Ollantaytambo to pick up the other group and then take the narrow, boulder ridden "road" to KM 82 and the start of the Inca Trail. The drive seemed to involve almost as much driving backwards as forwards as we met buses, trucks, etc. We were greeted at the drop off point by locals hawking hats, water bottle carriers, and of course walking sticks. After some organization our hike began under the leadership of our guides Reuben and Elvis and the help of 16 porters and 2 chefs. The first day was slow paced and we passed by many local huts where locals sold cool drinks and food to hikers. At lunch we became acquainted with our 3 course meals - you definitely don´t go hungry on the Inca Trail. We passed by ruins that were the supply center for Machu Pichu: The scenery was superb - steep Andean glacier covered peaks (the main peak being Veronica), rivers, and the occasional llama and donkey. We camped away from the masses as our tour hiked further up the mountain for our first night where the porters had everything set up for us and locals where present selling beer and coke.
Dia Six
Jimmy typing now...
Day 2 of the Inca Trek started at 6 am with hot tea delivered to out tent door, a daily occurrence.of course. This was followed by a multi course breakfast with some coca leaf tea. Let me clarify that although cocaine and coca do have some basic origins in common they are by no means the same thing. Now all hopped up on coca, we begin what many (just me) call the death march. This is also the day where the 9 hikers who have porters carrying all their stuff could go ahead and hire more porters to carry even their day hiking bag, but we figured it was more fun to carry stuff and keep our money. It begins with the basic concept of walking forward and going up and repeat. This went on for a couple hours and about 2,500 vertical feet. We stopped and had a nice little break to enjoy the view. This was followed by roughly the same actions as stated before. This went on for about another hour and a half and took us up an additional 1,000 feet. Much like the destructive capabilities of the lines at Disney World this portion of the Inca Trail has only one goal, basically to torture tourists. From what I saw it was extremely successful. At the top of the 14,000+ foot high pass we took in the awe inspiring view of the clouds and fog. We do have some pictures of us celebrating up there. Now with the hardest part over, the rest of the day will just go by nice and smoothly. Jenny not being much for up hills exuberated in the wonder of a 2,000 foot downhill and I believe was once found skipping down stairs at full speed (see picture some day in the future). After this little decent we stopped for a lite 3 course lunch extravaganza and a bit of a siesta. Apparently most other tour agencies consider this an ideal breaking point for the day and are letting there regularchacos end their day here. Ahh but Reuben had grander ideas for his superchacos. We were going to go up over a 13,000 foot pass to get a head start on the crowd.
Jenny not feeling in the best of condition after the altitude changes of the first half of the day was more in the mood to nap then hike, but she moved on. This is where things began to go awry. A little bit of a stomach issue began to appear and a little bit of overheating and maybe some chills and maybe some other things. Jenny was not doing well as we attempted to surmount this pass. Already not being a fan of uphills and now getting sick, this was not looking good. We stopped by some Incan ruins, which are apparently just lying around all over the place here, I asked the guides if they had anything for Jenny´s sickness. They thought the best cure for this would be to take her pack and let her walk the trail. Jenny does not seem to believe this is the best of ideas, because Jennys don´t give up there packs to anyone, even Jimmys. So things moved slowly and we took it about 3 to 10 steps at a time, but we found the top of that peak. Now awaiting the grandeur of Jenny skipping down the hill was probably not the best idea, but I could hope. So we fought our back down an other 1,000 feet and things just seemed to be getting worse. At one point I did sneak off and explore some more unbelievable ruins off to the side of the trail. As the sun set we found our way through the rain forest and into our final location. Jenny quickly found a comfy spot in the tent and I headed over to hustle some hikers at cards and eat a couple plates of popcorn. We ate, we laughed, we waited for Jenny to get better. Eventually the best idea seemed like to sleep amidst the mountains and the rain forest noises and to put day two to bed with no dessert.
Dia Seven (Day 3 of trek)
Jenny back in charge...
I awoke feeling much better and ready to face another day on the trail. The valley we camped in was surrounded by mountain peaks, and breathtaking. It rained most of the night which meant that the porters and our guides who had forgotten ground clothes spent the night soaked. The hardest part of the day was a gradual hike at the beginning. After that the trail remained level and completely set in Incan Stone (as the Incans laid stone 1-2 meters deep all along the trail). We went through several tunnels and again walked through ruins. Clouds however set in during the day and obstructed most of the mountain scenery. We made it to the last campsite before lunch. This last campsite is crazy as everyone camps here the night before heading to Machu Piccu. Tourists are everywhere and there is a main lodge that served snacks, coca-cola and alcohol. Most of our group opted to pay for warm showers and clean clothes but Jimmy and I took our chances with the ice cold shower and put back on our filthy clothes. In the afternoon we went to Wiñay Wayna a ruin 5 minutes from the campsite, which was spectacular. Here Reuben went off on one of what some in our group called "insanologues" telling us how this site reflected the rainbow and how everything was divided by 7 when in fact nothing was. Entertaining nonetheless. That evening we thanked the porters and retired to bed in order to wake up at 4:30 am.
Dia Eight (Day 4 of trek)
We awoke bright and early and went to a "light breakfast" which seemed to have just as much food as previous days. We hiked to the checkpoint in the dawn light and then waited in line, which seemed rather like a Disney World experience. We arrived at the Gate of the Sun within an hour and half and watched the sun hit Machu Pichu. We then headed down to the sight, quickly distracted by the resident llamas, especially the mother and her day-old baby. After getting rid of our packs, we followed Reuben around and listened to explanations about the various sites. Our attention span quickly waned and we round ourselves starring off into the mountain scenery, which in some respects is even more remarkable than the ruins themselves. We hiked toward Wayna Pichu were found that we could still scale its peak as the 400 person limit has not been met. Seven of us decided to make a go of it. At the bottom we ran into Nate Scott and his dad and arranged to have dinner when we got back - stange place to run into people from MN. Anyway, the hike up Wayna was more like a climb, and I believe in the US it would either be off limits, completely rebuilt to meet safety standards (and covering the Incan work) or you would need a mountaineering guide with you. It was scary to say the least, especially as people were going up and down narrow stairs that had shear dropoffs. At the top Jimmy and I mistook the exact route to the top and hence missed the climb through a cave to the tip-top. The view was spectacular, though, and worth the trip.
After our climb we made our way out of the ruins, but not before spotting hidden llamas who were chomping on dirt. We took the bus to Aquas Caliente, we we spent the afternoon exploring. Jimmy and I made acquaintances with the local kids and puppy dogs. Jimmy even got involved in a "heated" game of futball with two 5 year old kids. It basically involved the kids trying to kick the ball down a hill that lead to the train tracks while Jimmy ran after it.
That was the end of our Incan Trail adventure. We of course have more detailed stories and hundreds of pictures.
4.28.2008
Getting to the Inca Trail
Dia One
Our flight to Miami went well, besides the sad and confused look on Skidaway´s face when we jumped out of my parent´s van and left her behind. Once in Miami it got a little hairy. Jimmy called up our hotel for the night to get the shuttled and was told that his reservation had been for the night before. A flurry of anger ensued as this was not a smooth start to a 6 week long trek. We decided to treat the event like a regular airport mishap and sleep in MIA overnight. After bumming around the airport for 3 hours, we came across a helpful information attendant who informed us that we could take the local bus to Miami Beach. So off we went luggage in hand to walk up and down the boardwalk, nap in the sand, and watch a crazy bird lady shotgun a drink with a straw, parakeet in cage on hand,and scattering hundreds of bread crumbs the local birds.
We returned to MIA where Jenny slept awhile and Jimmy underwent his "punishment" as night watchman.
Dia Two
We flew Aviança airline to Bogota, without incidence and then onto Lima. Customs in Lima took forever, but went without incident. We spent our time in line "people watching" a modeling agency and others. From Lima we took a taxi to Miraflores, a richer suburb of Lima which has a very European feel. We went to dinner were Jimmy enjoyed his first Peruvian meal while Jenny was stuck with cold fish and corn-not a very appetizing experience. After dinner. we wandered about town coming across an impromptu dance session in small amphitheater and a large outdoor photography exhibit in the plaza.
Dia Three
jimmy typing now...
We spent this day wandering around Miraflores. We visited the food market, where Jenny ogled all the fresh produce and I stared at what appeared to be some sort of brain. We walked away with some random fruit of the day at a very decent price. Then we moved on to the craft market. we perused many shops full of what is stated to be llama and alpaca wool garments (for now we will just assume that they are). Jenny found a nice sweater and I got some llama toesy socks. We also found some ancient ruins in Miraflores. They predated the Incan Empire by over a thousand years. They were so well ingrained in the city that most of them had been built over with houses and other developments. We also spent sometime relaxing in various parks waiting for our Machu Pichu adventure to begin.
Dia Four
We woke up bright and early and took a taxi back to the airport. We were met with some sort of "problema". Through my excellent abilities in Spanish, I was able to get the airport personal to talk in English. At this point I was told the horrifying news that we were on a different flight that left 20 minutes later and would somehow get in at the same time as our original flight. With this catastrophe well under hand, we moved on to Cusco (many different acceptable spellings for this city). For the first time in both our lives, we arrived to an airport to be met with a man with a sign with our names on it. He promptly delivered us to our hotel and notified us that we owed our travel agency a couple hundred dollars and that they would like to see that money sometime soon. We stayed at "Niños Hotel", where a portion of our payment goes to taking care of the children of Cusco. We even saw some kids knock on the door and receive free bread. The hotel was very charming and offered us free coca tea while our room was being cleaned.
After settling in, we went to SAS and paid the aforementioned pile of money. They were pleased. then we moved on to the local market and had some sort of random pile of fried street food as a test to our gastrointestinal fortitude. We won this battle. After some more exploring, we met up with our tour group and guides, Reuben and Elvis. We were informed of the struggles ahead of us, and by "us" I mean the porters who carry everything for "us". Jenny and I elected to carry as much stuff as they would allow, including their monstrous sleeping pads. A good night sleep, some altitude medication, and off we go on the next stage in our Peruvian expedition...
Our flight to Miami went well, besides the sad and confused look on Skidaway´s face when we jumped out of my parent´s van and left her behind. Once in Miami it got a little hairy. Jimmy called up our hotel for the night to get the shuttled and was told that his reservation had been for the night before. A flurry of anger ensued as this was not a smooth start to a 6 week long trek. We decided to treat the event like a regular airport mishap and sleep in MIA overnight. After bumming around the airport for 3 hours, we came across a helpful information attendant who informed us that we could take the local bus to Miami Beach. So off we went luggage in hand to walk up and down the boardwalk, nap in the sand, and watch a crazy bird lady shotgun a drink with a straw, parakeet in cage on hand,and scattering hundreds of bread crumbs the local birds.
We returned to MIA where Jenny slept awhile and Jimmy underwent his "punishment" as night watchman.
Dia Two
We flew Aviança airline to Bogota, without incidence and then onto Lima. Customs in Lima took forever, but went without incident. We spent our time in line "people watching" a modeling agency and others. From Lima we took a taxi to Miraflores, a richer suburb of Lima which has a very European feel. We went to dinner were Jimmy enjoyed his first Peruvian meal while Jenny was stuck with cold fish and corn-not a very appetizing experience. After dinner. we wandered about town coming across an impromptu dance session in small amphitheater and a large outdoor photography exhibit in the plaza.
Dia Three
jimmy typing now...
We spent this day wandering around Miraflores. We visited the food market, where Jenny ogled all the fresh produce and I stared at what appeared to be some sort of brain. We walked away with some random fruit of the day at a very decent price. Then we moved on to the craft market. we perused many shops full of what is stated to be llama and alpaca wool garments (for now we will just assume that they are). Jenny found a nice sweater and I got some llama toesy socks. We also found some ancient ruins in Miraflores. They predated the Incan Empire by over a thousand years. They were so well ingrained in the city that most of them had been built over with houses and other developments. We also spent sometime relaxing in various parks waiting for our Machu Pichu adventure to begin.
Dia Four
We woke up bright and early and took a taxi back to the airport. We were met with some sort of "problema". Through my excellent abilities in Spanish, I was able to get the airport personal to talk in English. At this point I was told the horrifying news that we were on a different flight that left 20 minutes later and would somehow get in at the same time as our original flight. With this catastrophe well under hand, we moved on to Cusco (many different acceptable spellings for this city). For the first time in both our lives, we arrived to an airport to be met with a man with a sign with our names on it. He promptly delivered us to our hotel and notified us that we owed our travel agency a couple hundred dollars and that they would like to see that money sometime soon. We stayed at "Niños Hotel", where a portion of our payment goes to taking care of the children of Cusco. We even saw some kids knock on the door and receive free bread. The hotel was very charming and offered us free coca tea while our room was being cleaned.
After settling in, we went to SAS and paid the aforementioned pile of money. They were pleased. then we moved on to the local market and had some sort of random pile of fried street food as a test to our gastrointestinal fortitude. We won this battle. After some more exploring, we met up with our tour group and guides, Reuben and Elvis. We were informed of the struggles ahead of us, and by "us" I mean the porters who carry everything for "us". Jenny and I elected to carry as much stuff as they would allow, including their monstrous sleeping pads. A good night sleep, some altitude medication, and off we go on the next stage in our Peruvian expedition...
4.18.2008
flying off to peru
Jimmy and I leave tomorrow morning for Peru. We will try to write when we get a chance, but I am not sure when that will be. Here's to the next few months of adventures.
3.04.2008
Pictures
Here's a link to pictures from my trip. The other students who were there with me should also be posting. Enjoy.
http://picasaweb.google.com/belize.feb
http://picasaweb.google.com/belize.feb
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