South America

29.07.2010

We left this morning from La Paz on a 12h bus to Cusco in Peru. This will be our last new city to visit in Peru before flying to Buenos Aires. We arrived a little after 7 and got a cab immediately to a hostel called Hostel Andrea, about a 10 minute walk from the centre. The place was pretty basic but it was cheap, warmish and even had cable tv. We went straight out to grab some dinner and have a look round the city.

After a short walk it was clear Cusco was not like other cities in Peru. It has obviously had a lot more money pumped into it from tourism but as well as that there are lots of nice, old, well maintained building with a lot of history. On the other hand there is also lots of new buildings, built to look like old ones which gives a kind of fake feel to it but its nice nether the less. Definitely doesn't feel like you gonna get robbed here either which was different to a lot of places we had been.
In the Plaza de Armas the was a band playing to celebrating something, we couldn't quite work out what. Matt got dragged into the crow of dancing Peruvians which was quite funny.

Next Morning

31.07.2010
After booking our train and Machu Pichu ticket (which I managed to get student discount on despite the lack of international card which was a touch) in Cusco we headed to a town called Urubamba. We went via a local bus service which wasn't pleasant but was cheap. I got sat next to some old Peruvian women who had a couple boxed of chickens she couldn't keep hold of and who seemed to think I was her sleeping post. It was ok though as it only took one and a half hours.
Once there we checked in to a Hostel recommended in the lonely planet called Perales, run by an english speaking peruvian and his family. This was a really dilapidated orchard with spare building for travellers to sleep. Although being run down and a little expensive they were really friendly and offered us fruit they have grown, like these weird passion fruit type things which were really nice.
The owner then walked us into town and helped get us a taxi to take us on a tour of the local ruins. Originally we were put in this new, spacious people carrier but got shortly swapped to some ancient saloon that sounded like it was gonna die at any moment.
First up was the Salineras which was an Inca salt mine which was still in use today. This was much bigger than it sound. On the side of a mountain they had built and irrigation system to take the salty water from the mountains and collect it in these pans they had dug out, so they could evaporate the water and extract the salt. This design was really intricate and the amount of salt they produced was insane.

After this it was on to a site called moray. Here there is a massive bowl of Inca agricultural terracing built into the ground. Again this was massive and beautiful to look at from above. Its hard to believe that something like that could be built with such precision that long ago. We walked down to the bottom which took about 10 minute. To get down from each level you had to walk down stairs which had been build into the sides of the walls which was cool. Reminded me of Crash Bandicoot.

We headed back to the hostel where Matt and I stayed, Bigz had decided to go to Ollyantaytambo where we would be heading tomorrow before getting the train to Machu Pichu.

01.08.2010-02.08.2010
Matt and I woke up and had the most awesome breakfast at the hostel then got a combi bus to Ollyantaytambo. This was real cramped, they really pack those thing out but think it cost about 25p so can't really complain. Here there were some ruins built into the hill side, this was one of the last Inca stronghold. The ruins surround the town, to see them you had to have a bolleto turistico which we didn't and was to expensive to buy if you were only gonna see the one site. We just admired them from the ground level and spent the rest of the day on the net and eating.

At 23:00 we took our train to the closest town to Machupicchu, Aguacalientes and arrived a little after 1. We had booked a hostel to come meet us at the station and take us there but we couldn't see them so just went straight to the first one who we could barter down to the same price. The place was a bit of a mess and our room stank of piss but we were only gonna take 2 hours kip before heading to Machupicchu. Thanks to some Peruvian dick outside on a sofa snoring we didn't get these so we headed off with no sleep.

Machu Picchu
Bigz had decided to get the bus up but Matt and I wanted to trek to make sure we could get tickets for Huaynapicchu as they only give out 200 for the morning. We walked for about 20 minutes on flat ground before reaching a set of closed gates. Here we were told that instead of opening at 3:00 like usual they would be open at 5:00 which meant we only had a half hour advantage on the first but to do an hour trek up a really steep hill. Bastards!!!!
We tried to have a little sleep on the road while waiting (or Matt did, I occupied most my time trying to figure out a stealth way across the river) but this didn't work with the rain and noise. At 4:40 the guys opened the gates and everyone rushed to the trail. When we looked behind the 30 or so people we were originally there with had turned into a cue of well over a hundred so the race was really on. This trek was much steeper than I had original expected. 10 minutes in, I was finding it had to breath and was dripping with sweat, despite the freezing temperature. We pressed on and I'm not sure if it got easier or that I managed to block it out my mind but after only 45 minutes we had mad it to the top. I wasn't convince this was it at first as we normally take longer than the guide time plus we had no sleep but no this was definitely it.
We were In the first 20 or 30 people up there and managed to secure our place on Huaynapicchu which was as a very nice feeling. The feeling here was half like being at a theme park early waiting to be let in and half like coming out of a club at 7am dripping with sweat, wondering where the hell you are and how you got there.
Golden Ticket!

The cue behind us

Looking around all we could see was cloud, as daylight started to break we were aloud in and headed straight up a load more stairs to the classic view point to get an early morning picture. From here you can see the whole site. At this time clouds were swamping the site but this in itself was amazing to see.

From there we went to the bottom of Huaynapicchu to start the hour trek up this. Huaynapicchu is the mountain in the back of the classic Machupicchu picture and its not until you have trekked up it that you realise just how high it is. The trek up was pretty hard (maybe more so after the one to Machupicchu), taking you up narrow stairs and at one point through a couple of cave passages. At the top we literally were in the clouds, it was so amazing.
We waited here for the sun to rise fully and clear the clouds so we could see Machupicch from this height. This was spectacular, being this high up and looking down on such a huge place looking so small. Well worth the mission to get here on time (or so we thought until we met a couple who managed to get two of the last passes when taking the bus but oh well).


Down at the bottom we explored the site for a couple of hours before heading back up to the view point to take some more pictures and have a little rest.




The whole time we were keeping our eyes out for Bigz and at one point I was sure I saw him on one side so I missioned it down from really high up and across the site to find someone had left a jumper similar to his on a rock. Matt and I felt we had seen enough now and started the trek back down to Aguacalientes. This took much longer than I though it would as it was all down hill. I couldn't really believe we managed to do it so quickly in the morning as it really was steep.

22.07.2010

On the Peru-Bolivia border

Took an early bus from Puno, Peru to Copacabana, Bolivia to arrive at about 12:00. We book ourselves straight onto a boat to take us to the Isla del Sol as we were going to stay in a hostel on the island. The boat took just over an hour and took us to a town called Yumani. We got off and were greeted by about 30 island children all trying to sell us their hostels.
To get up to the hostels we had to walk up an old Inca stairway. The stairway was incredibly steep and we were each carrying 20kg on our back so it would be difficult anywhere but add that to the 4000m altitude and it became so near impossible.

About halfway up the stairs there is a spring which was made by the Inca's and still serves purpose to the island. We eventually got to the first hostel and just settled for that, none of us could be bothered to go any further.The hostel sat on the side of a hill and had the most amazing view of the lake, such a shame the camera couldn't do it justice. This has have been one of the most beautiful and tranquil places we have been so far.

As soon as we could, we walked to some Inca ruins close by known as Pilko Kaina which were nice. The infrastructure is still pretty sound and a lot of the rooms inter connect though passage ways. There was a doorway which was exactly how you'd imagine an Inca structure to have. The other ruins were mainly in the north so we would explore them the next day. As the sun went away you felt just how cold it gets this high up. The contrast in temperature from day to night was even greater than in Puno.

23.07.2010
Matt and I set out on a 3-4 hour trek today to the north. Bigz had bailed so he stayed round Yumani. We set off to find a set of ruins which were off the beaten track. This was a bit of a detour but the views on the way were truly awesome. The ruins themselves weren't all that. Probably the reason no one really goes there. These were the remains of what must have been a massive block of buildings but all what was left is 1m high walls.We had to then hike up to meet the trail to take us to the next set of ruins from the Chincanas.

These ruins alone were worth the trek. Similar the Inca ruins in the south but much bigger. The doorways lead you though to a courtyard which then stems into even more buildings. From there we headed to the Titikaka rock and then into the town Cha'llapampa.

On route there was a sacrificial stone (or at least that what I took from our spanish conversation with a local).In Cha'llapampa we waited on the beach until it was time for us to jump on a boat back down south to our hostel.

24.07.2010
Sunrise

We left the island at 8:00 and went back to Copacabana. From here we took a bus to La Paz where were gonna stay for a couple of days to chill out. The bus journey was different, at on point everyone has to get off the bus and pile into these tiny boats which take you across a lake. We then sat and watched our bus be floated across on this precarious looking piece of wood that was a ferry.

21.07.2010

We took a 22:00 bus from Araquipa and arrived in Puno around 4:30. Puno is the major Peruvian port for Lake Titikaka, the world highest navigable lake. We wanted to stay here for a day and have a breif tour of some Islands before moving into Bolivia. So we didn't have to pay for 2 night at a hostel we stayed in the bus station cafe till we thought we could get a room. While wait we were approached by a tour guide trying to sell us shit we didn't want(or at least that's what we thought). After speaking to him for a while we managed to get him to give us a hostel to go to right then, Island tour for the afternoon and a bus to Boliva the next day, all for just over £10.

Instantly on arriving we could feel the change in altitude. Although is was only 600m higher than Cabanaconde at 3800m we all felt out of breath after short walks. I think the route we had taken here was the best possible to acclimatise as we had slowly been getting higher and higher over the past week or so.
Once settled and after a nap we had a look round town but it seemed Puno didn't really have much to offer. Just a few shops and restaurants.
Lake Titikaka from Puno

At around 16:00 we were picked up for our island tour. The tour was only visiting the nearby floating islands, which are artificial islands made from a reed that is abundant in the lake. After a 25 minute boat journey we arrived at the first island. Immediately you could see that it had become more of a tourist attraction than an inhabited island. They gave us a brief explanation on how they form the islands and let us have a look round before trying to sell us stuff. We then took a boat ride in their boat made from reed to a second island (which was even more commercialised) before returning to main land. This was interesting to see the islands and the people living there but had definitely been raped by tourism.

15.07.2010

Arrived around 10 after a horrible 12+ hour coach journey where none of us managed to get much sleep. Got a taxi to a hostel called home sweet home. Pretty basic but had the promise of an american breakfast. Weather was really nice just a little cold in the shade as its a little higher in altitude.
Bigz went off to explore on his own so Matt and I went for a look round the city. The central plaza was nice, it has a couple of cathedrals and monasteries based around it. All the building here were traditional built from a volcanic rock which is white, so the building all glimmer in the sun, this where the city gets its nick name Ciudad Blanco (white city).


We headed to the Museo de la Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria. Here they have the frozen body of an inca girl, Juanita the ice princess who was sacrificed to the gods hundreds of years ago. This was pretty interesting although the girl was much smaller than you would expect.
After that we headed to a place where they produce traditional peruvian clothes and wools. I liked it here solely because I'd finally got to see some llamas and got to pet/feed them. I know simple needs.

16.07.2010
We were set to go rafting today but it was now Bigz turn with the illness so we just chilled out. A bit later in the day I headed to the Monasterio Misterioso. This was a little pricey and I couldn't afford the guide but was worth a look. Its like a mini city inside these massive walls. Couldn't really take much in without a guide in terms of the history but its really pretty.

17.07.2010
Took a 5 hour coach journey into a town in the canyons called Cabanaconde. Although it felt quite long the coach journey was really scenic. Took us up into the mountains and alongside canyons. Loads of animals on route to like donkeys, llamas, Alpacas. At one point it reaches 5000m which you can really feel as it got hard to breath and matt went into panic stations being the huge hypochondriac he is.
We arrived around 18:00 and went to the hostel we had been recommended by a belgium guy Thomas, called Pachamama backpacker hostel. We had met Thomas in Ica and he said to come here as it was really nice and there was a fiesta going on. The hostel was actually full as were all the surrounding ones but they managed to switch some rooms around and gave us the storage room to sleep in.
In the town centre there was a lot of people dressed in native clothing dancing to a massive marching band and everyone was drinking. There was a real party atmosphere.

18.07.2010
We were woken up today at 6 by the marching band playing the same one tune as they had been playing the night before, so not the best start. They continued doing this throughout the whole day. As it was the last day of the fiesta there was a massive bull fight 10 minutes outside town which we were going to head down to. All of us were feel a little altitude sickness as the town lies over 3200m but Bigz was bearing the brunt.
The bull fight started around 1 but the matadors didn't come till around 3. There was a massive procession with the bands coming into the ring and the matadors and there families who were apparently mostly spanish . The atmospere there was crazy people come from all over Peru for this festival and they were all so drunk. The funny thing was the festival was to celebrate the virgin Mary but was so un-christian
The bull fight itself was pretty cruel and savage but it was an experience. The matadors would toy with bulls and after a while they would attempt to kill it using a sword to the spine. I saw a few of the killing and only one matador managed to do it first time the rest would just leave it suffering till it collapsed and kill it fully on the floor.

That night there was a fireworks display in the central plaza which was set up on this massive bamboo structure. The band was out playing music and everyone was dancing. At around 9 they set off the fireworks. This was really cool but I don't think would pass any health and safety laws at home. The bamboo tower was like the a giant fire version of mouse trap, it was a sequence of chain reactions. At one point these flying Catherine wheels flew from one tower to another ignited that tower then another flew back to the main structure to ignite more. We stayed out and partied, it was a fun night and the old drunk peruvians were hilarious.

18.07.2010
We set out today on a hike 2000m down into the canyon to and oasis called Sangalle in the Colca Canyon which is the second deepest in the world(the next canyon along from this is the deepest by 150m). Bigz was to ill with altitude sickness so Matt and I headed off with a couple and an America guy we had met earlier in the hostel and were gonna meet Thomas on route. We followed the brief directions we were given and used the advice we were given, which was to follow donkey shit. This lead us into the canyon via a really narrow trail. This trail was covered in the loads of cacti and had the meanest looking wasps I think I've ever seen. As we worked our way down, the trail got smaller and smaller till we reached a point where there was no trail. After Dan the american had a look around we heard a peruvian guy shouting at us to come up, so we had obviously taken a wrong turn. Back at the top the guy lead us in the right direction where we then bumped into Thomas. Thomas and I split from the rest as they were going quite slow. The trek down was really steep and the sun was so intense. In the sun it was probably around 30. There were some amazing view on route and after an hour we could see the oasis at the bottom which looked lush. Another hour and we were at the bottom where headed to one of the pools. These were all man made but used the natural river water 30 minutes later Matt and the others had turned up and we relaxed in and around the pool. We stayed there for an hour then headed back. This was the part I really wasn't looking forward to, the climb was really steep and the sun was relentless and we needed to try and make it back before dark. We set off in a big group but after a while split into smaller groups as we were all going at different paces. Matt and I stayed together and were using sticks which I had found and Matt had fabricated. After 2 hours we had reached the half way point but were running desperatly low on water for the 3.5l we took we had about 500ml left, so we were having to really ration it. It was so hot I ended up using my wet swim short over my head and neck to keep me cooler. Every spot of shade on the way (which wasn't very many) we stopped to take a break and would bump into the same people each time. Another hour and the deceptively far peak was getting closer and the sun had started to go down which helped with the motivation although our water supply was long gone. We had to get some off other trekkers on route. We saw people who had given up on the way and taken a donkey which seemed like such a good idea but we powered on through. After another 30-45 minutes we had made it to the top which was such a good feeling, I think that was probably one of the hardest things I've done but my gross lack of fitness I'm sure didn't help.


After a short walk back to town we eat and as we were walking past the central plaza we saw the bus office was open. We had so many problems trying to book a bus as they were so busy with people leaving from the fiesta and but luckily just at that moment they had added a new bus to the schedule for the next day and we managed to get the last 3 seats. This had lifted a weight off our minds as we were starting to wonder when the fuck we would get out from there. Back at the hostel we were informed that the earlier detour we had taken, someone had died on the year before and not been found for 2 months, so we were felling pretty luck the peruvian had guided us out.


19.07.2010
Took our bus back to Araquipa today. Over the past few week there had been buses which had crashed on this route killing quite a few people and people were quite nervous about travelling. It took ages for the bus to get going but eventually set of into the canyons. As there was such an influx in people using the buses they had got a bus twice the size of the normal ones which meant when we reached a really tight corner the driver would have to go passed the turn and then do a 3 point turn. This would have been ok if it wasn't for the fact we were on a narrow road with a 2000m drop on the other side. Felt like it was going to be a proper italian job moment. Everyone on the bus was absolutely shitting themselves but the driver made it and we pressed on. Made it back to Arequipa around 19:00 and booked our bus to Puno for later that night.

10.07.2010

We headed to pisco from Lima today. After a 4ish hour journey we were dropped of at the side of the highway as the buses don't go into the town. Got a taxi to a hostel recommended called San Isidro. Was pretty nice here although slightly expensive, all the rooms were round a swimming pool and had a pretty nice games room.
The town itself was a bit of a state as it was worse hit by the 2007 earthquake and the government hadn't really helped to rebuild the place. Half built houses and rubble everywhere. The place was really heavily polluted as well. Matt and I went for a jog and it really wasn't pleasant.

12.07.2010
Had to get up early to check out then head off to a tour of the Islas Ballestas and the National park. We were taken to the nearby port where our boat would depart from. This was our first glimpse of how touristy Peru was at this time of year. The place was packed.
We had about a 30 minute boat journey to the first island. On route we saw a load of dolphins swimming along side the boat.

First island was where were could see the Candelabra geoglyph. Similar to the Nazcar line just much smaller. We then went round the Ballestas islands which were full of wildlife. Along the route we got to see Penguins, Sealions and loads of different birds. We were lucky the tour guide spoke good english and was quite helpful in pointing stuff out to us.

Once back on land we got on the bus to the national park. It turned out our guide for this was actually our driver, who didn't actually speak english and didn't really speak at all which was a shame. He took us to all the good spots in the park, first some really nice view points. The park was on the coastline and was a massive desert. We then went to the Playa **red** (red beach) which doesn't have sand but little sediments of iron rich rock from the nearby cliffs. That was pretty wierd as it doesn't hold together like sand as its much bigger and smoother, so your feet go about a foot down each step. After another beach they took us to a place with a few sea food restaurants. There were loads of pelicans all crowded round here try to get some scraps.

We got back to pisco the had to head straight of to our next destination, Huacachina. We had to get a bus to Ica then get a taxi into Huacachina. The town is a desert oasis, with loads of building built around a lagoon. We checked into a hostel we wanted to go to even though the taxi driver was intent on taking us to a hostel he got commission from.
It turned out I had managed to food poisoning from the restaurant earlier and I spent the next night and morning hurling my guts up which was nice.
We just chilled out the next day, Matt rowed us round the lagoon for a bit. The weather here was amazing for winter. Felt like 25-26 when sitting in the sun.

14.07.2010
Checked out and and lounged in the sun until around 4 for our buggy tour. This was nuts. We were sat in these massive buggies and then taken out to the dunes. Like I said the town was just an oasis in the middle of a massive dessert so we on the dunes really quickly. The buddy hurtled us around over massive dude that seemed impossibly sleep. Real stomach churner. As we were turning on a big dune we heard a massive klunk followed by the the driver stopping at the bottom. It turned out bolts on steering system had snapped off so we got out the sand boards and had a little go on some smaller dunes while we waited for a new buggy.
The new buggy never turned up but extra rope did which they were convinced would hold it together.
Headed to four different dune to to go down on the sand boards, progressing in size. The two bigger one, which were 200m-300m we had to go down on our front as they were a bit to dangerous but this was so fun anyway. The speed you would pick up is crazy. On the last one we actually though matt was a gonner for a split second we just saw his board jump and his hat flying in a different direction, he then emerged from this massive cloud of sand safe and sound. Back at the hostel we realised just how far the sand had managed to penetrate. There wasn't an orifice, nook or cranny I didn't make it into.