Thursday 18th Update

Today we are both fairly stiff but have completed the four day Inca trail finishing at Machu Picchu. The walk only covered a distance of around 32 km but took us over four peaks with the highest being 4200 meters above sea level, so some days you dont cover much territory but mother do you cover some pretty steep treks (Emm and Rob “Four Peaks” came to mind often)… the hike was absolutely beautiful and much of it was walked along original Inca trails which consist of stone walkways which ultimately cover thousands of kilometres around the country.

3am in the rain and not loving life

We had an awesome group of 18 people with 18 porters and three guides. The food selection was absolutely amazing for a hiking experience with spreads that were absolutely delicious, I have been working on my garlic tolerance and think there may be a breakthrough, perhaps the altitude and cocoa leaves are helping…   

Machu Picchu - A pile of tourists rocks

Machu Picchu was pretty cool to see but quite frankly not my cup of tea, the place is one massive pile of rocks and has turned into a tourist “rip off” station, yes there is some pretty cool history around but after walking for four days and seeing a crap load of Inca sights I just couldn’t find the huge attraction with MP. We did however also walk Wayna Picchu, this is a steep hill which is part of MP, and has some seriously steep steps in certain areas.

Wayna Piccho 4 Ammi

Unfortunately Clauds really does not do heights and had a bit of an panic attack at the top and we had a few tears of desperation  (Annmarie your friend is going to kill you for making her head up there, as this is an open blog I will not inform you of the choice words you were called yesterday coming down). The weather was a bit misty but the experience was overwhelming.

Dead Women's Pass - 4200m above sea level

Stunning Chick with a view

We spent a few days in Cusco before the hike and will be spending another few here before we head off on our six day jungle tour, hopefully we will get to see some good wildlife and just be able to chill in the rainforest for a while. Cusco has a few historic attractions but it seems to be a large hub for backpackers, every turn you seem to be presented with another hostel. We spent our first few evenings in a hostel called Loki which accommodates 250 people. It was way too hectic for us old bullies as the bar pumps continually and we unfortunately got the room just behind the bar (sometimes we do need to relax and rest up).

Cusco Market

Today we have moved to a very cool little spot called Eco Packers which allows us for the first time to make a home cooked meal tonight and grab a chilled bottle of wine while lounging in the courtyard… Clauds has had a few stomach pains since yesterday so it is really great to just hang out. 

Cusco Main Plaza

   

Huacachina

Yo my home land... so we are here, landed and finally chillin, got rid of my concerns yesterday after stressing about which backpack and why my jeans were soaked in wine.

Lima was cool, but not so much, lots of cathedrals and crappy weather, thoroughly enjoyed my morning run (Nicks, Oscar’s double was running with me) and travelling on the local transport. The weather was overcast and “about to rain” but really doesn’t.  Baracca Backpackers treated us well (we thought Baracca was the name of the owner only to find it is actually a suburb... naive us!) and sent us on our way to Huacachina a little oasis in the middle of the desert. Spent last eve with my stunning wife surfing dunes and having a few drinks, woke up this morning apologising for having a few too many drinks (R 60 all you can drink and eat buffet for 1.5 hours) but ahoy... was informed by Clauds that this will happen again.

Sand boarding in Huacachina

Dune Buggy in Huacachina

 The folks here are very cool but not too much different to the indigenous back home (I need to state that in my writing I do not mean to be racist or demining in any way, just honest...) for instance we sit here on a top storey of the backpackers overlooking the most awesome dunes but if you focus on the detail there is a chair, toilet seat and a bed holding the roof down, not sure if this is meant to be or some drunked Saffa threw them out the window a few years back and just forgotten about (CJ my man you would be doing your nut over the detail).

We spent this morning slightly hungover with our new found friend Manolo he found us while hitching over to Huacachina and is slowly improving his English (our Spanish is less than shocking, but surviving, NO GARLIC has been an issue).

We checked out a few local wineries which we never expected and bought a bottle of Cisco 44% baby!, slightly tequila tasting but better! We requested a local meal and realised how much us tourists are really ripped off (only paid around R20 for soup and  a solid piece of chicken or meat compared to the usual R 70).

Wine farming in Huacachina

This is only our second stop but is seems that loo paper or towels do not come standard in these type of establishment so LU LU (Lucien VV) has become our new password to establishing session time. 

Ok well we have a 16h00 dune buggy organised and its time for a cerveza by the pool, will catch you later when the inspiration hits... swheet like a lemon !!

Chiramoya fruit – pic for Ed!

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End of Day 1

Andrew has soggy jeans due to spilling wine on his centre crotch on the plane and then washing them in the shower, has used up all his clothes, has itchy eyes from something in the air, is frustrated for not bringing his beloved day pack and we’ve blown the daily budget!! Day 1 down......

Ola!

Ola!

We arrived in Lima after a very long, but pleasant journey. We are now 8 hrs behind SA in Lima, after a hair raising taxi ride from the airport.

We are staying at Barranco backpackers, in Barranco, which is on the coastal road and apart from loud motorbikes and the bar downstairs, we managed to get a good night’s sleep and quickly moved into the new time zone.

Today was a wander through the town, some amazing architecture and a picnic in the park to watch the paragliders, which we realized was Love Park as we left – very cute!  

Lima is upmarket and grungy all clumped together, and the coastal road reminded us of San Diego. Plenty of police, shoe shiners and all the retailers seem to be concentrated together, from the printing zone to the optometrist area to the banks.

We have already tried a Pisco Sours and fresh fruit juices of which there are plenty of stalls. 

We are going to make our way to Ica tomorrow which is an oasis where sand boarding, dune buggies and winery tours are offered, on our way to Cusco, which we should reach by Friday.

We have quickly learnt that it may have been important to at least learnt how to politely say that we don’t speak Spanish, as opposed to staring blankly at an enthusiastic Peruvian trying to show us how to catch a bus or explain that the museums are closed on Mondays, but we’ll get there, our little Spanish book has come in serious handy – thanks Hel!!

Travel Safe Mo!

Mo has just been dropped off at GAC so that it can be loaded into the container on Tuesday and onto the ship in Durban on 15th November.

Travel Safe Mo!

Next time we see her will be in Tema.