We landed in Lima, Peru, late at night and in a disorientated whirl managed to make our way to our rest stop for the night, the Parawana Hostel in the Milaflores district of the city.
The following day, Anita and I, along with another guy we had met at breakfast called Sam decided to go and explore the city. It was quickly apparent that to get anywhere you would need to take a taxi as the city is quite disjointed and full of highways, there is not a tree in sight and endless walls of concrete everywhere. The cars all push and shuffle and funnel through the streets like cattle into a pen and most are about the size of a Smart car but look like they have been put together with plastic and duct tape. In the centre of town there was an interesting cathedral and main square. We then walked three blocks on a road that looked scarily like Walthamstow market in London, then back down another three blocks on different street, arriving back in the main square. We all stood there quietly in a circle for about 20 seconds before Anita picked up the courage to say what we were all thinking: "right.... soooo that was Lima then, anyone fancy going to the bar?".
The following day we had an hour flight over to Cusco. To my mind we were running late and I was practically having a nervous breakdown and panic attack simultaneously in the taxi when the flight was due to take off in an hour and a half and we were at least an hour away, while Anita was happily looking out the window and totally chilled. From then on we decided that I need to call the shots on getting us out the door for deadlines as my heart cannot take the pressure!
We both immediately loved Cusco. It is an extremely pretty city, and it is certainly the setting that makes it so impressive. Brown stone houses are nestled up and away into the distant Peruvian foothills, eventually fading into the distance where only imposing mountains remain. The streets are clean and pedestrian friendly, covered walkways are created by wonderfully ornate pillars and there are plenty of squares with well maintained gardens, fountains and border flowers. Peruvian women with their coloured fabrics, raven black pigtails and top hats sit quietly in these squares and along the cobbled streets and watch the world go by. Anita and I spent around 5 days in Cusco and did very little touristy activity but simply enjoyed walking around and soaking up the atmosphere of the city, and we don´t regret it one bit.
We stayed in the Wildrover hostel in a 10 bed dorm and shared with a 24 year old guy from Australia called Dave, a forthright, jokey and uncompromising character, three 22 year old British guys called Ross, Rob and Francis who had been friends since secondary school and had hilarious banter. There was also an Irish guy called Conor who seemed to sleep about 22 hours a day, but the times he did prop himself up in bed to talk to us he was such an entertaining shambles. When we were feeling sociable, we spent most of our few days in Cusco with these guys. We also discovered a place called Jack´s cafe, which we went to every day for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner as the portions were stellar and the food was so tasty. We also spent a lot of time out shopping like all the other tourists for clothes/bags/souveniers made from alpaca clothing. The alpaca is a kind of herd animal that is bred specifically for its fibre at height in Peru and northern Bolivia. Travellers in Peru absolutely love it and I noticed one day going into the hostal bar that everyone was wearing a cardigan in exactly the same alpaca design. If that happened in a bar in the UK the victims would most likely slink out in embarrassment. For some reason all rules of individuality and personal expression go out the window for travellers! I have succumbed myself and now rock an alpaca poncho and far too many fabric friendship bands.
When we had been in Brazil we had met a couple of girls on Ilha Grande who had done the 5 day, 4 night Salkantay Trek to Macchu Picchu and who told us it had been the highlight of their trip in South America. Since then we had heard similar stories from various other travellers and had decided that we wanted to give it a go, even though it is renowed for being the hardest of the Inca treks. It did take some time to convince Anita but she decided to go along with it in the end. I must admit when the bus came to collect us at 4.45am on the first day I was feeling very nervous about the whole thing and wondered if I would actually be able to cover so much steep ground for such an extended period of time.
Luckily we had some very interesting people on our trek. Most fascinating of all was an Indian man called Malli who was travelling with his partner Jessica. Malli was the first Indian man to climb the seven highest mountain summits of all the continents of the world, including of course Mount Everest. He also did it in a shorter time than any other person in the world, making the Guiness Book of Records in 2009. He had an incredible passion for mountaineering and trekking but was also patient man and as it turns out it was great having him there for morale boosting and trekking tips as we were going. We also had a couple of Brazilian on our trek called Erik and Angelo who were friends from school and holidaying together, and Argentinian couple who were strangely enough on their honeymoon.
The first days walk started at a town called Mollepata at a height above sea level of 2,900 meters. The morning trek took around 4 hours and was pleasant and warm. The landscape alternated between a zero gradient meander to a downright scramble up dry dirt hills. We spent time getting to know our trekking group and enjoyed the scenery, which was quite similar to the mediterranean. Lunch was taken overlooking green valleys and we had a peak through the hills of the snowcapped mountain Soraypampa next to our destination mountain of Salkantay, this would be the base of first night´s camp.
The afternoon of the first day I found a real stuggle. Although it was not difficult, I had been suffering from a cold for the few days before and it was starting to run me down and I lagged right at the back of the group, struggling to breath at the altitude and fending off a headache. Toward evening the temperature really started to drop as we approached the base of the first snowcapped mountain at a height of 3,900 meters above sea level. Each step I could feel draining the energy out of me, and after another 4 hours walking I was ready to just collapse.
When we got to out camp at Soraypampa a freezing wind howled across the expansive open land and our flimsy tent quivered under its force. There was no electricity and we would have our dinner in a broken down 2-room mudhut that was the size of a hobbit hole but terribly maintained, there were open sections all over the hay roof and the walls were crumbling. I asked our guide where the facilities were and he pointed to a bamboo hut on a mound that looked miles away. The door was made out of taupaulin and it flapped furiously in the wind. No flush of course. "Ok..." I said, "so...is there anywhere else?" and was told that there was a toilet behind our dining mud hut, which sounded promising. I walked round and round the area but couldn´t see a thing. In the end he had to show me, and before my eyes a right-angled 3 foot high wall which had a scattering of toilet paper within it. I honestly had to control my laughter when I showed Anita and her face looked completely mortified. The poor cooks beavered away with their headtorches on portable gas cookers while we all sat at a rickety wooden table in silence, totally exhausted, cold, and contemplating the next day, supposedly the hardest of all the days. Anita´s only few sentences for the evening had been over and over "this is just... HORRENDOUS..." before she put her head into her hands.
The night sleep actually went well for me, Anita not so well. When the cooks woke us up at 5:30am with a coca tea we both sat up in a groggy stooper, Anita looked so pissed off and her first words before anything were "this is the most HORRENDOUS experience of my entire life", after she brushed her teeth next to the 3 foot high toilet-wall and combed her hair looking in a 1 inch square mirror she continued to mumble "this is just... HORRENDOUS". Much laughter was suppressed on my part but Anita would have her comeuppance over the next few days!
The guide debated with a few from the group over breakfast whether to get me a horse to go up the mountain as I had fared so terribly the day before and lagged behind everyone. This really got my rag up and I threw a bit of a hissy fit and said "NO! I´m bloody well walking it!", Malli however was sticking up for me and said I could do it. This discussion certainly got my motivation at an all time high to prove the guide wrong!
The second morning´s walk from camp at Soraypama was undulating and pleasant under the shadow of the mountain. The temperature was chilly and the views started to become craggy and more and more dramatic as we proceeded to the base of the Salkantay mountain. After a short rest once we entered the sunshine we started on the hardest section: a 3 hour consistenty upward trek toward the Salkantaypampa mountain pass at 4,650 meters. I got into a rhythm and actually found this section grueling but enjoyable. Anita however had was really struggling with this section, finding it extremely difficult to breathe at the altitude and also lacking in energy from a bad night´s sleep. She hitched a ride on a horse for some of the way to ease the strain. When we finally made it to the highest point of the trek, the views of the Salkantay mountain were imposing and breathtaking and we made an offering to the mountain as was tradition and enjoyed the exhilarating feeling. We then started for a further 2 hour walk downhill to our lunchpoint at Andenes Arayaniyoc. I really peaked at this point and were practically running down the mountain!
The lunchpoint was very odd, and not unlike an poor mountain farm. Anita was feeling run down and in a terrible mood at this point, she asked the guide where the toilet was and he pointed to an oversized boulder in the distance. Exhausted, she then found the only place to lie down which was a rock and after a brief snooze woke up to find herself surrounded by half-starved chickens, ducks, horses, cat, dogs cows and piles of animal poo everywhere, it was another "this is HORRENDOUS" moment. It was down, down, down-hill in the afternoon as Salkantay disappeared behind us and we started to enter lush jungle and it would spit rain through the intermittent clouds. Anita and I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the afternoon for the first couple of hours and Anita stormed ahead, but when it turned into 3 hours, then 4 hours of downhill our knees were both just aching to get to camp!
Our second night´s camp was at a place called Chaullay, 2.900 meters above sea level and set by a waterfall in a jungly mountainpass. While Anita had a nap in the tent I headed down to the waterfall and had a refreshing shower there as the sunset through the mountains thinking idly how I could SO be a good wife to Mowgli if it ever came to that.
Over dinner Malli told stories about his expeditions in the Antarctic and how he would chuck boiling water into the air and watch it freeze and turn to snow within a matter of seconds! The evening was cut short by a very treatening and aggressive thunderstorm, Anita and I dashed to our tent only to find it leaking all over our sleeping bags, Anita didn´t have the energy for a "this is HORRENDOUS" and we both actually went to sleep quite quickly and soundly.
The third day was both of our favourite day of the trip. We spent time chatting as we trekked through lush and rolling and open jungle and the sun shone down on us. A river raged alongside and every now and again we passed pretty waterfalls and flowers. It was a non-stop 6 hour walk this morning but we both had the energy for it. It was a free afternoon at our third campsite and we both laughed with happiness when we saw it had an actual flushing toilet with a door. We repeated to each other, "simple pleasures, my friend, simple pleasures!". That night I tried to close the zips of the tent door but realised they were broken and it wouldn´t work no matter what I did with them. I pretty much lost it in frustration, the same way you would when you just can´t unwrap christmas lights no matter how patient you try to be. A whole manner of curse words came out of my mouth while I smacked at the tent door and pouted like a 5 year old. Anita told me to calm down, tried her damndest to hold in hysterics at my girly spack out, and helped me close the tent door with safety pins.
The following morning on the fourth day at the 6:30 wake up call I had calmed down and sat quietly in my tent with a coca tea and looked out at the rising sun of the jungle campsite in a daydream. Then out of nowhere a chicken came into view, casually strolled across from left to right of my tent and back out of view again. There was a pause and I suddenly just burst into laughter as it suddenly registered just how different my life had become in a matter of weeks.
We took a bus this morning to a place called Hidroelectrica then took a 3 hour walk by the railway line to the base town of Machu Picchu, a place called Aguas Calientes, 2,000 meters above sea level. Anita and I had a great time this morning chatting and laughing and debating life and acting as though we were were in the "Stand By Me" movie. When we got to our guesthouse and realised we had a private ensuite with a hot shower we literally jumped for joy and screaming and hugging each other in elation as though we had both won the lottery. Anita had her first actual wash in 4 days and she was repeating over and over in the shower "Oh my GOD...this is AMAZING!!".
The following morning was an early start at 4.30am as we were to do the one hour walk up the Inca steps to watch the sunrise over Macchu Picchu before the first buses with tourists arrived. This was a very difficult walk after an already difficult 5 day trek, but it was completely worth it. As we entered the site we were astounded by what we saw, it was quiet, humbling and did have a near tangible sense of spirituality about it. As the sun rose, the sky turned an intense shade of of pink and blue behind the rich green mountains to the fore. Anita and I were genuinely in awe of the entire ancient city. I was amazed that we had free reign over the site and we weaved and wandered around the ruins, exploring every nook and cranny for several hours in peace before settling on some grass on a mountain face overlooking the site and just took in the view. Around midday we headed down the mountain on the bus and discussed how it was one of the few tourist attractions we had ever been to that really lived up to the hype. That evening we took the train back to Cusco and a well deserved rest.
It was soon time to move on as we were getting itchy feet now for a new place. We decided to head on the overnight bus to a place called Puno, next to the highest navagable lake in the world: Lake Titicaca. Our hostal was on the ourskirts of town and looked like it was in a war torn part of the world with garbage everywhere, no real roads or pavements and stray dogs wandering the streets. We did a two day tour of the lake, starting with the floating islands of Uros. The Uru people are pre-incan people who live on forty-two self fashioned floating islands on Lake Titicaca. Not really knowing what that meant as such, when we arrvied at the islands Anita and I sat down to hear the stories of the island came to be from the president. Feeling a bit disorientated and not really listening I said to Anita "I SWEAR the ground is moving...", to which she responded "I don´t think so, it must be like... perspective or something". But sure enough the president opened a hole in the ground and the whole island undulated. He put a pole through the hole and it disppeared for a couple of seconds before popping back up again from the bouyancy of the water! It was all very impressive.
From here we headed on a 3 hour boat ride over to the island Alamantani where we would be spending the night with a local family. We were greeted at the port by about a dozen Peruvian women dressed in traditional clothing of bright pinks and greens with flower prints and a thick black headscarf. Our host for the evening Martina was 26 but looked easily about 36, and walked uphill through the village very very slowly, she also spoke very slowly and had a measured look about her. We figured it must be the high altitude and laid back way of life that makes them so lethargic. We were surprised by how well the people of the island lived, the house was planned around a pretty courtyard with pink climbing flowers growing all over the walls. All the people on the island are vegetarian so we ate our meal of tomatoes, potatoes and fried cheese before going for the half hour walk to the top of the island, which had stunning views across the lake and the yellowy brushland of the island.
In the evening Martina dressed Anita and I in the local clothing and took us to the town hall where they hosted a traditional Peruvian fiesta for us. We walked into a echoing concrete hall with plastic garden chairs around the outside, men on one side and women on the other. A group of Peruvian teenagers from the town then played some upbeat music for us on their windpipes and drums and everyone got up and began doing energetic dances around the hall holding hands and jumping around. I actually felt more like I was at a kids party playing "ring a ring of roses"! After the exhausting antics of the evening we headed to our host family and to bed.
The following day we took the boat to the nearby island of Taquile. The sun was beating down on us, the lake was a rich azul blue against the sunflower yellows and forest greens of the island´s shrubbery, we had a tasty lunch of locally caught trout and soaked up the lazy, hazy atmosphere of the island before heading back in the early afternoon for Puno. When we got back, we booked a coach for La Paz in Bolivia for the following morning.
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