Archive for the ‘Peru’ Category
Final Day in Lima
Today is my final day in Lima (and South America until my planned return to Brazil in October). I’ve had some time to post photos to Flickr and you can see a slideshow of the Inca Trail photos I’ve posted so far. The slideshow will update automatically as I add new photos.
My hotel is in the Miraflores section of Lima which is on the beach and has lots of hotels, casinos and shopping. I’ve spent the last two days exploring, wandering about and catching up on email. The most interesting spot in Miraflores is the Larcomar mall which is on a cliff and overlooks the beach.
I’ve been thinking about the last 6 weeks I’ve spent in South America and it would be hard to say what I enjoyed most — what comes to mind though is the natural beauty of Patagonia, the experience of living and teaching in Santiago and the challenge and fun of the Inca Trail.
My flight for Atlanta leaves at midnight and I’ll arrive in Auckland on Sunday morning to begin the next phase of the trip: 6 weeks in New Zealand and Australia. After being with groups for much of the time I’ve spent in South America, I’m looking forward to traveling on my own in New Zealand. The plan is to rent a car, spend about 5 days on the North Island, take the ferry across to the South Island, and then spend 8 days there before leaving from Christchurch to go to Sydney. My next group trip is in May to travel the Australian Outback.
Inca Trail & Machu Picchu
Wednesday
On our way to Ollantaytambo we stopped at a small village and met the families of our porters. The women were weaving cloth from fiber sheared from alpacas and llamas. They showed us the entire process from shearing the fiber from the animal to the weaving and dyeing of the fabric. I bought a pair of alpaca wool gloves for the trail.
In Ollantaymbo we walked up to the unfinished sun temple which overlooks the town. Ossie, our tour leader has Incan roots and knows a great deal about Incan history. He is always enthusiastic about sharing what he knows and we feel lucky to have him as our guide. We did our final shopping for supplies which included walking stick, rain poncho and coca leaves for the trail.
Day 1 – Inca Trail
We enjoyed our final night in a hotel and took a group photo as we departed from Ollantaytambo. Two Norwegians in our group just made it in time to join us as we were leaving. They had been in Brazil and one of them was robbed of his backpack with passport, so he wasn’t able to leave the country. It took him a few days to get a temporary one and they just made it in time to start the Inca Trail with our group.
There are 14 in our group, 9 from Scandinavia: 4 from Norway, 2 from Sweden, 2 from Finland, and 1 from Denmark. The rest of the group is made up of 3 Canadians and a woman from the UK. I’m the lone American.
Day 1 of hiking was relatively easy: 13 km of hiking. We passed many Inca ruins along the way.
At one of our rest stops, Ossie showed us the proper way to chew coca leaves. Llijta, an agent made up of quinoa and plantain is rolled into a large leaf to maximize the effect of the coca. Then more coca leaves are rolled around that leaf. You put the bunch of leaves in the side of your mouth, sucking out the flavor as the leaves dissolve in your mouth for about 20 minutes. A slight numbing feeling can be felt in your mouth after chewing. The Quechuas and other indigenous groups in the Andes believe that chewing the leaves help with altitude sickness; provide energy and aids in digestion. I found that the headaches I had been having since arriving in Cuzco disappeared after chewing the leaves. Our porters chewed several times a day and always appreciated when you shared leaves with them on the trail.
All along the trail, the porters ran ahead of us to set up camp and prepare our meals. They made us breakfast lunch and dinner. Our first lunch was a delicious trout dish with a sauce of onion and local spices. The tents at Camp 1 were as comfortable as tents can be and the views of the mountains around us were stunning.
Day 2 -Inca Trail
Today was the most challenging day. From camp we ascended over 4,000 feet to Dead Woman´s Pass. Walking uphill the entire time was gruelling. The cold and constant rain didn’t stop the entire trek up the mountain. At the rest stops nobody talked to each other since we were all suffering underneath our rain ponchos. In spite of the conditions the scenery was amazing as we went through the lush cloud forest. We saw a huge variety of wild flowers all along the route including wild orchids. The group had split into a faster and slower group. When the faster group arrived at the top of Dead Woman´s Pass after a 5 hour climb we were supposed to wait for the slower group for a group photo. The conditions were just too bad and there was no visibility so we took the photo of just our half of the group and started to descend without waiting for the rest.
Going downhill on the trail can be treacherous, especially since the well worn rocks of the Incan-built steps can be slippery from the rain, but as I realized in Patagonia, it is much easier and I think safer to go downhill quickly. Going quickly, your foot is in contact with the ground for a shorter period of time, making a slip less likely. I find that going downhill too cautiously increases the likelihood of slipping. So I pretty much ran downhill to the camp with the Norwegians, arriving a couple hours ahead of the last ones to arrive. After the difficult hike, I took a nice long nap as soon as the porters pitched my tent.
Day 3 – Inca Trail
Today was an easier hiking day, but much longer. The trail was undulating. The weather was misty but no rain like yesterday. I decided to go with the slower group today since I didn´t want to be the first one to camp and have nothing to do while waiting for the others. I thought I´d enjoy the trail and the scenery since there was no rain and get some photos along the way. At some point on the trail, you get to spend some time and chat with all members of the group. There was definitely some good conversation with this group. The people are all interesting and at different places in their lives.
We arrived at the large camp late today which was like a city of tents right before the checkpoint into Machu Picchu. There were hundreds of campers with many different groups. There was a hot shower which I thoroughly enjoyed. There was also a restaurant where we had a couple of beers before dinner. We had a nice coriander vegetable soup before our alpaca steak. I enjoyed the soups more than anything along the trail.
Day 4 – Inca Trail & Machu Picchu
We got up at 3:30 AM so that we could be the first at the check point to finish up the final stretch of the trail. It didn´t open until 5:30 AM and there were 500 (the number of daily permits issued) people at the camp outside the checkpoint waiting to get on the trail as well. We sent down a few members of our group early and we made it to be the first in line. Then we switched off so that people could go up to the tents for a quick breakfast of toast and coca tea that the porters prepared.
At 5:30, we started for the hour and half trek to the Sun Gate where you get the first view of the ancient city of Machu Picchu as the sun rises. It was rainy and foggy and we hiked in the dark with our flashlights. It was like a race because everyone wanted to be the first to arrive at the Sun Gate. Since our group was at the front we had the advantage, but when we finally got to the Sun Gate we were in the clouds and there was zero visibility. We decided to continue on down to where the guard house overlooking Machu Picchu was and even there we saw nothing. At the bottom, we began to see the tourists who took the train or were bused in and it sort of seemed unfair that they were there after all the work we did to get there. We decided to do a group photo when suddenly the clouds opened for a brief moment and we saw the city below and then the Machu Picchu mountain. It really was as spectacular as I had imagined. Then just as quickly, the clouds rolled in again.
We hiked down to the entrance to the city, got some coffee and waited for the weather to improve. We were all pretty disappointed after our long journey to finally be at the end of the trail and to be completely fogged in. We tried to make each other feel better by saying how it was all worth it anyway since we had so much fun hiking and camping…but we were disappointed.
After about an hour or so the sun started coming through and we walked back up to the guard house and saw the magnificent views of the city. The mood changed and we went down into the city to explore. Then Ossie took us around showing us the highlights and sharing his knowledge of Machu Picchu and Inca history. It really is amazing how large the Incan Empire was. Machu Picchu was the capital of an empire covering what is now Peru, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia. Equally as interesting is how the city was abandoned, never found by the Spaniards after they conquered the Incas and was overgrown by the jungle until it was discovered in1911.
We explored for several hours and then took a short bus ride to Aguas Calientes (Hot Springs) the tourist town outside of Machu Picchu. We had lunch and then some of us walked up the hill to the hot springs where we soaked in the supposedly medicinal waters. It felt great after so many days on the trail and we were served Pisco Sours (Peru´s national drink which tastes like a Margarita) poolside. A nice end to the journey.
We took a scenic train back to Ollantaytambo where we passed some high peaks covered in snow. Then a bus back to Cuzco. Being in a hotel room with a bed and a warm shower seemed like such a luxury after the past few days. We met for dinner and it was agreed by the group that I had the best dinner: a local pizza with sausage, ham, banana and egg. Afterwards most of us went out dancing for a few hours at some clubs on Cuzco´s main square to celebrate our last night together.
Monday, April 7, 2008
About half the group left for their next destinations this morning. The rest of us are spending the day exploring Cuzco some more, shopping and catching up on email. We´ll meet for dinner in the evening. I leave for Lima tomorrow morning and have a few days there where I plan to do some research on New Zealand where I begin traveling to on Thursday evening. I´m going to Auckland via Atlanta and Seoul, travelling over 16,000 air miles in three days to go a distance which is about 6,700 miles as the crow flies…but you don´t complain when you´re traveling on frequent flier miles.
Cuzco
I arrived in Lima early on Sunday morning and everyone was talking about the two earthquakes they had the day before. The strongest was 5.4 and supposedly lasted for quite a while. It would have been interesting to be in Lima for that.
The group met at the hotel and we had some time to explore the city. Lima isn´t the safest of cities. Two woman from our group had their suitcases stolen out of the trunk of the taxi on the ride from the airport to the hotel at a red light. They were only able to get one back from the thieves.
We arrived at Cuzco (elevation 10,800 feet) yesterday morning and all felt the altitude to some degree since we flew in from Lima which is at sea level. Fortunately I brought a supply of Diamox which I think helped. Cuzco is a fascinating city since many buildings were built before the Spaniards arrived – Cuzco was the Inca capital from the 1200s through 1532 when it fell to the Spaniards. Mixed with the 16th century Spanish buildings and churches, it´s unusual to be in a city in the Americas that is this old.
I´ve really enjoyed the Peruvian food so far.We had dinner on a balcony of one of the many restaurants overlooking Cuzco´s main square. Choclo, which is corn with exceptionally large kernels, covered in a cheese sauce is a favorite so far. One of the Canadian guys in our group was brave enough to get the guinea pig, which is a typical food here in Peru. It didn´t look like there was much meat on it and the teeth coming out of its skull freaked us all out a bit.
We had a meeting to prep us for the hike on the Incan Trail. Elevation of our 3 camps will be 9800 ft, 11800 ft, and 10500 ft. The highest pass we´ll cross will be at Dead Woman´s Pass – 13,800 ft. Our guide assured us that the name comes from the shape of the mountain. We´re limited to 6 kilograms in a duffel bag for the 4 days (including sleeping bag and mattress) since the porters will be carrying up our supplies along with the camp equipment which they´ll set up for us each evening and the food and cooking supplies. We are told that the meals at camp are very good. So with the porters, we´re being a spoiled a little bit. Today before we head out to the Sacred Valley of the Incas we´ll stop by a village and meet the families our porters. Tonight we´ll have our last night in a hotel and last shower for several days in Ollayantambo. In the morning we head out from there to the trail to Machu Picchu.
Santiago → Lima
I leave early tomorrow for Lima and will have a free day before meeting the new group on Monday. This will be an 8 day tour called Inca Discovery that begins in Lima and ends in Cuzco. I’m looking forward to the hike to Machu Picchu. The biggest challenge I think will be the elevation. The description from the trip dossier:
- The 4-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is physically challenging but worthwhile, and the excursion is within the ability of most reasonably fit. It is a 40-km (25 mile) hike, with 3 high passes to be crossed, one of which reaches an elevation of 4200m (13776 ft). The trail is often steep, and it may rain even during the dry season. The temperatures at night may fall below zero, so it is important to come prepared.
The physical exercise will be good, especially since I’ve been enjoying some of my favorite not-so-healthy Chilean foods on my last day here. For lunch today I had chorrillana, which is a plate of french fries covered in chopped beef, sauteed onions and a fried egg. Claudia came by the language school yesterday and brought me a box of alfajores, a gift from Carmen, the director at St. Paul’s. An alfajor is two cookies with dulce de leche in the middle and dipped in chocolate. Claudia makes them and I’ve had one too many during my stay here…so I’ll be more than ready to hike the Inca Trail.
One Chilean food item that I didn’t quite appreciate was the “completo”. It´s a hotdog with avocado and tomato covered with an obscene amount of mayonnaise and ketchup. With all the junk on it, the hotdog is nowhere to be seen. I thought it was kind of gross and there was a row of stands selling them just outside my hotel. The first time I saw one I wondered how somebody could even get it in their mouth to eat…but they manage somehow. Anyway, in the two weeks I´ve been in Santiago I couldn’t bring myself to try one even though people who I met here rave about them.
