Roo suggested we went on a 4 day trek to Macchu Picchu whilst still recovering from giardia. I said she was off her head mad and we should get the train, but she insisted and if you know Roo, persistence (not to be confused with stubborness) is a fine character trait of hers, along with patience (HA!)
We just got back from Macchu Picchu yesterday. It was increible. We started off at 4,000 meters in the snow and mountain biked into the jungle at 1200 meters on the first day. All the food and accomodation was included, but we had to carry water and all our clothes and given that we really did experience 4 seasons in one day, that was quite a lot! The accomodation - oh my days - basic doesn´t do it justice. The first night we shared with 3 computer programmers (all male), two from Holland and one from India, who had lived in LA since he was 19. All tremendously sweet people, except for their snoring, which was EPIC! No sleep at all. They remain sweet people, but I´d rather share a room with a herd of elephants!
The 2nd day started early, up at 6.30, to a breakfast of banana pancakes, which was delicious and off walking by 7.30. When Ebid (our guide) said we would be walking for 9 hours, I just assumed he was exaggerating, so in this mistaken belief, we all dorbed war paint from a plant used for dying alpaca wool (it´s just come off my face) and started enthusiastically up the track. We mananged to leave Ed a postman from England behind and had to go back for him: For Ed, the whole experience must have been a busman´s holiday as we walked and we walked, first through the jungle, then through the jungle up a moauntain, then down the mountain through the jungle and across a number of Indiana Jones style precarious bridges. Roo said she wanted to throw herself off the edge on a number of occassions as she was so tired, it would have a been easy to do, as health and safety regulations have yet to reach Peru, but thankfully she didn´t and we stuck together through it all.
Finally we reached the river and as the shadows lengthened and the end came mericfully in to view, we were taken literally (and metaphorically) for a ride across the river on a cable car, pulled by hand (uno sole por favor!), then on to the hot springs,changing behind and hut (losing our dignity for the 2nd time in a fortnight) - but it was worth it. Roo was in a really bad way - walking isn´t her thing. Hurting people on a rugby pitch is her thing - it doesn´t really transfer as a skill in this situation. We arrived in Santa Teresa and were delighted to find we had a room to ourselves and the door in the room, which I assuned to be a cupboard, was in fact a bathroom! Oh the JOY! The water, alas was cold, but we braved a shower anyway. Dinner was a subduded affair, which was enlivened when the two auusies, two scots, two Beligians all ordered Pisco Sours and went to the discotechque. Roo was still on anti-biotics, and as I get drunk on a rum truffle we decided to retire to our salubrious accomodation and we were in bed by 9pm. At 2am, we were awoken to a rendition of Oasis Wonderwall, followed by a romp through hits of the ´80´s and ´90´s by the kids returning from the club!
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| Maybe we should have trained for this! |
Day 3, another pancacke breakfast and a short taxi ride to the zip line station, zip lining down 6 cables along the canyon, which I´m gutted to say we didn´t do because Roo was poorly, but it looked amazing, with each cable being 2000 ft in the air. This was followed by another 3 hour trek along the river around Macchu Picchu mountain. Roo by this time had lost all feeling in her legs and feet, so marched on, shut off from the world by her ipod like a woman possessed. I couldn´t keep up with her. We arrived in Aguas Callientus at 3pm. The sole purpose of this town is to support the tourist trade of Macchu Picchu, every shop is geared to sell things for toursits, you even have to walk a secretious route through the covered market to get to the train station. They even have a special tax, just for tourists! The day we arrived was the 100th anniversary of Hiram Bingham ´discovering´ Macchu Picchu, even though there were indigenous families living there already! There was a huge celebration in the town and at Macchu Picchu and according to Ebid, Lady Gaga and Chakira where performing there. We never found out of this was true, but there was certainly a big party going down up there! The accomodation was the worst yet. It´s hard to express in words, except to say that the only saving grace was that there was a hot shower. We hung the wet towels out to dry overnight and in the morning, they were more wet than they had been. The whole room was damp beyond belief and by all accounts, we were really lucky with the room we were given. Some of our fellow travellers had a window, with no glass, which is actually just a hole in the wall and froze all night.
Day 4: up at 2.45 am to get the 5.30 bus to Macchu Picchu. Most of the group walked the 2000 steps to the top of Macchu Picchu mountain, and we take our collective hats off to them but by now, we were both so tired and Roo was stiill recovering from Gairdia that so we elected to take the bus. We arrived at Macchu Picchu at 6am, queued to get tickets to Wynapicchu, the mountain that overlooks Macchu Picchu, but the allocation of 400 had mercifully gone before we got to the front of the queue. We had a tour of the site until 9.15ish and fell asleep in the sun until 11.30 - BIG mistake! Dazed from sunstroke, we had a little more wandering left in our legs and negotiated the hundreds of steps over this incredible site. Exhausted, we got the bus back down the mountain, ready to catch the 6.15 train to Ollyatatambo, before finding Bus Pedro to get us back to Cusco for 11pm. It was the most brilliant and exhausting thing we´ve ever done and apart from the organisation and awful accomodation I wouldn´t change a thing (I´m not sure Roo would agree however!)
What we have learnt during our time in Peru
The spanish are disliked here, a abit like the English are disliked by the Scots ;). The Quechua are very bitter about the invasion 500 years ago, and haven´t got over it at all. Everyone claims to be a Quechuan which infers they are related to the lost incas (Kings of the inca culture), in a similar way that some people in England like to think they are a direct decendant of King Arthur!
Apparently there are 3 ways to get rich in Peru, become a drug dealer - coca plant is everywhere and farmers make a lot of more money selling it to the drug manufactures than the government. Number two, become a politician. The police and government are completely corrupt and if you´re in charge you can do anything. Everyone is open to a bribe and it´s part of the way things get done, or not as the case may be. And finally, find Inca gold. The museum here is full of enormous pots which were filled with gold, made as offerings to the gods by the incas. The pots are there, but the gold is gone. All the kids want to become archeologists or anthropolgists so they can excavate and take what they find. There are stories everywhere of porters and tour guides becoming wealthy having found Inca gold in the jungle and selling it on the black market. Who knows if any of this is true, but there were 32 candidates for the local mayor elections in Cuzco and coca plants are everywhere, and there isn´t a single piece of gold in the inca musem (I checked!)
Never the less, Peru has character, a bit like a wayward child has character. I like it here and would come back again definitely.
On to volunteer placement number 3!
Vamos Amigos!
Loads of love to all,
Emma and Roo xxx
Hi ladies,
ReplyDeleteWow, what an interesting and informative posting. I'm very excited by your adventure and the photos of Macchu Picchu are quite simply, breathtaking. Thanks for sharing this. Seems you are having a very inspirational and profound time, just like I recently had.
Take care and all the very best, Gary xx