Apr 1 Ollantaytambo

I just arrived in Aguas Calientes, the tiny tourist town below Machu Picchu . It's an odd place crammed in laterally between mtns and class V river. I can't really evaluate it because I arrived after dark and half the power is out. 

It was an interesting journey getting here. I took a collectivo to Ollyantaytambo, checked out the ruins, and caught the train from there.  Colectivo is not my fav mode of transport. They are like cabs but have fixed destinations and charge a flat rate. They leave from a set point once the car is full (random people). Since price is fixed and they make more money for doing more trips, they drive at lightening speed. You have to hold on to the seats in front around the hairpins to keep from tipping over on the other people. The roads are windy, exposed (think cliffs), and often bumpy.  No car in front remains there long; they pass around curves too.  It's not for the light of stomach. I pre medicated with sedatives and could barely tolerate.  The alternative is the bus which takes 3 times as long. 

The ruins at Ollantaytambo were beautiful. I decided to pay a guide so I could learn something. He showed me how everything was constructed. He also pointed put that the entire settlement was built in the shape of a llama (see below) and only on winter solstice the sun enters the eyes of the llama. Cool. 

The train ride went thru some stunning landscapes along a raging river.  I was saddened by the powerlines marring the view and the subsequent hydroelectric facility. 

Archaelogist I met on the trail; for some reason, everyone wants to take there picture with me.

Site is in the shape of a llama

Llama image for comparison

Stone work is very precise; this is a door for nobility only

Look closely and you can see the granaries for storing food on the opposing peak

I am the only one at my hostel which is a little strange. I paid a tour company a pittance to organize my logistics and saved some $$$.  My guia for tomorrow cost $7.50 USD for the day. The hostel is above a restaurant, but is quiet and clean. 

I went to Indo Feliz, a restaurant recommended by an amigo in Cusco.  Both service and food were excellent.  It was a little pricey by Peruano standards, but for the US it was good value.  I had chicken and mango which came with a hot apple compote in a carved ut passion fruit, a side dish of veg including stuffed tomato with herbs and garlic, asparagus, and potatoes, there was yet another side dish of rice with a tomato salsa, and a plate of homemade garlic and herb potato chips warm from the oven.  With two glasses of red wine (Chileno) and my 10% SAE discount, the dinner cost S51 or $18 USD.  I will go back tomorrow night.

Mar-31 Cusco sites

Big agenda for today that includes 4 museums on my tourist ticket, ruins above Cusco, and making travel arrangements for Machu Picchu

I walked up to Saqsaywaman (pronounced Sexy Woman, but means means Satiate Falcon) and toured the ruins early this morning because it was sunny.     The directions I was given were make a left out the front door, take the set of stairs to another set of stairs, take more stairs and more stairs, when you hit a road go left, detour at Christo Blanco (white Jesus) for the view, continue to ruins.  Christo Blanco was hideous, but the view was indeed good.  The Saqsaywaman site was built as a fortress over 77 years with 3-tiered defense walls.  The walls were built with cyclopean stone masonry arranged in zigzag.  Dont ask me what that means.

Saqsaywaman

Appreciate the cyclopean stone masonry in zigzag

Llama and Cusco city vista near White Jesus

.The 4 museums were largely uninteresting.  I did a turbo round and walked through all 4, but didnt really glean much.

Mar-30 Chinchero

Ryan and I caught a bus to see the ruins at Chinchero.  The walk and the scenery were pleasant, but not as dramatic as Pisac yesterday.  We ambled through the terraces for 2 hours before returning to the town to browse the textiles.  Ryan had to be back at 5:00 for a training so we returned early to Cusco.

Interesting rocks and ruins at Chinchero

Sheep graze on the Inca terraces

Bouldering opportunities abound at the ruins!

SAE hosted "Ask a Guide" where local guides came to share info on treks.  There was a gentleman from Fairbanks, AK who is a historian/explorer of lost civilizations who has been coming to Cusco since 1974.  Paolo was a wealth of information.  He has written lots of Machu Picchu.  With Paolo's help, I constructed an itinerary for the next few days.  Tomorrow, I will hit all the sites in town.  I will skip the trek I wanted to do and head towards Machu Picchu on Friday stopping at ruins along the way.

Mar-29 Pisaq

I woke up early after a well-needed 12 hour nap, packed my bags, and moved in to South America Explorers.  For half the price, I have a nice bedroom with private bath and a shared kitchen.  It's funky, but the people are cool.

At the advice of SAE, I did my first solo venture in Peru.  I took a bus to Pisaq to see the Inca ruins.  There is a tourist "boleto" you can purchase for $130 soles ($45 USD) that gives you access to 14 different sites (ruins and museums) for 10 days.  I decided to buy it and do day trips from Cusco while waiting to find a trekking partner to hike 8 days in to Machu Picchu via Choquechirao.  The 1 hour bus ride up the windy roads to Pisac was uneventful.  I disembarked and headed for the town plaza de armas.  Since I had little info and no map, I stopped at the municipal office and the man was extremely helpful and pointed me in the right direction.

I hiked up to the ruins which took about an hour to cover 300m at this altitude huffing and puffing more than I would have liked.  The skies were overcast, but thankfully the weather held.

Inca Terraces at Pisaq

 The Inca terraces were dramatic as I ascended the stone steps.  I wished I had a guide or a brochure or at least some info.  Since I didn't plan my trip to Peru, I hadnt done any background reading.

Ruins at Pisaq and Inca terraces

Ruins at Pisaq

 The ruins were quite extensive and there was a large reconstruction effort underway.  I was one of very few people visiting that day, and I seemed to provide welcome respite to the workers moving stones to reconstruct the ruins.  The blonde and blue gringa.  All were very friendly.

Aerial view of some of the ruins at Pisac

 I took every trail I could find (no map) and once I felt that I had explored the site adequately, I descended back to town.  There is a large artist fair in town with lots of fun textiles.  I bought some gifts and some treats for me (alpaca scarves, hats, sweater, ring, necklace, and med duffel bag.  I think I spent $60 USD!  Ill be mailing another package home soon!

Vibrant textiles at the market in Pisac

I returned to Cusco and met up with Ryan, my neighbor from Kansas City at SAE.  We had a good 2 course dinner for $17 soles (wish I could do that at home!) and went to a reggae bar.  Reggae is huge in South America.  We returned reasonably early and dug thru the movie collection at SAE.  I unearthed a copy of El Padrino (the Godfather).  It was so nice to kick back and watch a movie, even though I only made it through the first third of it.

28-Mar Cusco first impressions

My day started off rough.  I was deposited in Cusco at 6:30 am and took a taxi to my hostal.  I was wweary from travelling and was not at all impressed with the service at the hostal, in fact, they were rude.  So I asked them to call a taxi and I went to a slightly more upscale hostal that had excellent reviews.  For $25 USD a night (expensive) I had the nicest room, the nicest views, the biggest windows, and the best shower.  It felt like being pampered.

Fountain in Plaza de Armas

Iglesia in Plaza de Armas

After an hour nap and full appreciation of the incredible shower pressure, I set about finding the office of South American Explorers (SAE), essentially a hiking club with lots of unbiased info, maps, books, and clubroom facilities.  I joined their club and will move into one of their apartments tomorrow.  I ate lunch at a place recommended by Celine at SAE called 7 Soles.  I ordered the beef and thought it was a mistake when they brought me out a huge bowl of soup then a side dish of potatoes.  These were appetizers.  I got my main beef dish with rice and veg, fruit dessert and juice for 7 soles (2.50 USD).  I dined with another guy who has been staying at SAE and he showed me the sights in Cusco for the rest of the afternoon.  It was mighty nice not having to think for a little while.

I went back to SAE to ask more questions and look at the maps.  They are a nice bunch of people and I ended up having dinner and drinks with their circle of ex pat friends.  I felt much more at ease than in Arequipa where I didn´t meet anyone.

27-Mar Final day in Arequipa

I woke up groggy after a 12 hour nap and never really quite got up on step.  I began packing my stuff and cleaning gear.  I took a break at 9:00 a.m. to go back to the plaza to see the desamiento de la bandera ceremony (raising of the flag).  Afterwards, I put my luggage in storage and checked out of the hotel.

My mission for the day was to hit some of the museums.  I started with the Monasterio of Santa Catalina.  It is a full city block and is composed of catacombs, courtyards, and religious art.  Being tired, I didn´t have a high tolerance for observing and learning about the religious history of the convent.  So, I went to lunch.  Afterwards, I decided to go to the museum of Juanita, the Ice Princess.  It sounded kind of cool and really it was.  Since it was 2:35 and the museum was closing at 3:00, I was the only person there and got a private showing of the movie and a private tour of the museum.  It was the story of how mummified (frozen) children sacrifices were found in some high volcanoes.  The museum featured all of the artwork buried with the sacrificial children; most was ornate and in tact.  The crowning piece in the museum was a frozen ice princess on display.

A sample of the religious art at the monastery

Sitting in a courtyard in the monastery

I could not resist snapping a photo of yellow santa

I spent the remainder of the afternoon reserving an appropriate hostal for Cusco, beacuse I was taking the red eye bus there and it is much easier to have a place to go to.  I got on the bus at 8:00 pm, which was comfy and safe.  However, the warm temps inside the bus combined with windy, rough roads prevented me from sleeping.

Mar 25-26 Nevado Chachani 6075m

There are 2 large volcanoes that tower over Arequipa, Nevado Chachani (6075 m) and Volcan El Mistí (5822); both are popular non-technical climbs.  Since I have never been at altitude and I have a good guide, I thought that one of these peaks would make an excellent test piece. Julver, my guide, suggested Chachani because there is more snow which is generally preferrable to crappy volcanic rock.

We departed at 9:00 on Friday morning and I was functioning, unfortunately, on little sleep owing to intestinal cramps and paper thin wallsin the hostel.  It is about a 2.5 hour drive to the trailhead.  The last hour and a half of the drive is on rough 4WD track that gets progressivey worse the more we ascend.  By rough, I mean barely passable.  The road ends at 4900 meters (16,076 feet).  For comparison, there are 3 or 4 camps on Mt McKinley to acclimatize before getting to this altitude. I have been staying in Arequipa at 2400 m and have taken a few day trips to over 4000m, but have not really acclimatized properly.  Hence, this is an experiment.

View on the approach trail

The trail was relatively benign with the exception of some talus hopping.  The guide set a slow pace because of the altitude.  I was carrying 6.5 liters of water (13 pounds) because there was no water in camp.  I can´t really complain about this because Julver is carrying the tent (VE 25), stove, and fuel in addition to his 6 liters of water.  Thankfully, it was cloudy because I struggle in direct sunlight and don´t want to overheat on the approach.  Soon grauppel (small snow balls) began to fall which added to the splendor of the area.  The landscape is mainly red rocks, green lichen covered rocks (only found above 4500m), and large mountains.  There is no vegetation, but there are vizcacha (rabbit) and vicuñas. 

We reached basecamp in 2.5 hours and were all set up and resting by 3:00 p.m.  I ate jamon y queso and drank some coco tea when we arrived, but about 2 hours later I developed a headache.  I think it was dehydration rather than the altitude.  When I ascend quickly, my blood wants to be thicker and one quick way for my body to adjust this is to bail out water; I seem to pee a lot.  I think the other reason I was feeling crappy was stress from not being able to breath.  The air is so thin that your heart rate and breath is very fast.  Against my wishes, Julver encouraged me to get up and walk.  It is much easier to oxygenate when you are moving than sitting in a tent.  Indeed I felt better.  I paced back and forth for an hour or so on the only patch of flat ground while sipping coco tea.  Feeling better, I retreated to the tent, but sleep did not come.

At 12:50, my alarm went off.  Julver started heating water for tea and water for the climb.  This is one of the advantages of having a guide- I don´t need to cook!  I choked down a piece of cake and a gu and we set off at 2:00 a.m.  I was thankful for the cool temps, but it still was a little too warm for me at around 0 degrees C.  Julver set an excruciatingly slow pace.  Even though my body is trained to move much much faster, indeed a slow pace was all I could manage without getting winded.  My goal was to move slow enough to breath through my nose.  I was still skeptical as to whether I would reach the summit given the lack of sleep, lack of food (not hungry), intestinal cramps, and headache the previous night.  Still I plodded along quietly under the stars.  Every 20-30 minutes Julver would ask how I was doing.  Headache? No, surprisingly.

After about 2 hours it got really windy and really cold.  We put on all our layers and I used hand warmers for the first time since I left AK.  We stopped once an hour and I drank as much as I could, but wasnt very hungry.  I started to move more slowly.  My feet felt so heavy and my legs were aching and not recovering in between steps- the effects of low oxygen.  I felt drained of all energy mostly likely because I had only eaten 2 gus and a tiny piece of cake.  I was asking a lot of my body.  I was so drained that I started to think about turning around.  I knew that I didn´t really want to, but I didn´t have much to give.  It became too windy and cold to want to take breaks (eat and drink); it is very difficult to warm up when you are moving so slowly.  It took all of my resolve to keep moving.  One foot, other foot- I could hear my father´s voice say.  I thought about the stupid Everest movie when Arecelli Segara talks about how hard it is to move at altitude.   I secretly hoped for bad weather because I could not accept whimping out but wanted to turn back.  I kept going.  We decided not to use crampons as the small party ahead of us had.  It took all of my concentration to maintain my footing, though mostly the snow was good, but variable, the run out was not so good. 

At one point I sat down on a rock.  I told Julver that I needed water.  He tried to get me to walk another 50 m up into the sun.  No, I said.  Ok, we stay here.  I drank a half a liter, while Julver helped me fish out my sunglasses.  I felt like a baby.  More than anything I was sleepy.  I continued.  The sun wasn´t really warm because the winds were stronger on the ridge, but I could see the summit and that gave me energy.  Julver said 40 minutes more.  It was hard for me to hear, because it seemed so close, but at this elevation you move so slowly.  Julver stopped to talk to the other guide returning from the summit an I picked up the pace.  Can´t believe I made it!  Aside from intestinal cramps and being sleepy, I actually feel pretty darn good.  No headache!

Views from summit

self portrait with my guía, Julver

posing with the summit marker

 It took only an hour to descend.  There was a coulior that ran directly to camp that was mostly filled with soft snow.  I was so happy to plunge step down and immediately needed to strip off all my insulating layers.  We packed up camp quickly, and like all guides, Julver had the barn door syndrome- once the climb is complete they want to go home asap.  I should have insisted on a 10 minute break because I still hadnt eaten.  I bonked hard on the hour plus hike back tot he truck.  Julver set a fast pace, but we still were at over 16,000 feet and I had no fuel left in the tank.  All and all it was nice to know that I could accomplish all of this on little sleep, little food, and virtually no acclimitization.  I was pretty pleased with myself.

looking up from basecamp

I made it back to town, showered, sent clothes to the laundry, then napped.  I set an alarm for dinner and treated myself to some Peruano classics Cuy and chocto relleno (sp?).  The guinea pig was far from satisfying.  It took me a while to figure out how to eat it since I was the only one in the restaurant at 6:00 pm.  I ate it like a piece of fried chicken only there was very little meat.

23-March Cañon de Colca to Arequipa

Today was a little bit easier for me.  The guide let me ascend the cañon at my pace.  I was able to hike up 990m in under 2 hours.  I passed everyone I saw on the trail.  It felt so good to move even though my intestines were non cooperative.  Once on the cañon rim, I walked to the pueblo Cabana Conde to wait for my group to arrive for over an hour.

One of the few condors I saw was this statue in the plaza in CabanaConde

 From Cabana Conde, we drove back towards Chivay stopping at a mirador to admire the Andean terraces.  They were stunning.  It is what i picture when I think of Peru and I was completely enraptured for the 10 minutes we were permitted there to snap photos.


Beautiful Incan terraces

 We stopped in 3 more places on the way back:  Chivay for hot springs and lunch, the town of Maca, and a Llama reserve.

Inca woman in the publo of Maca.  She earns money by modelling!  She sells photo opportunities to tourists for 1 sole (.33 cents) with her llamas and Andean Eagle.

Llamas at a reserve at 4900 meters

We arrived in Arequipa at 5:30.  I settled in, checked email, and did a little shopping.  I met Alejandro for dinner at ZigZag a restaurant known for its meat platter.  After 3 days on a vegetarian tour, I was starving for protein.  He was kind enough to walk me back to my hostel and chided me for staying in a place on a side street.  Tomorrow I look for a different hostel.  Too bad because the owners are so nice and have been so kind to me.  It is a delicate balance finding a place that is central enough to be safe, but not too central to be loud during the evenings.

22-Mar Cañon de Colca day 2

There isnt a lot to be said for today.  We hiked a grand total of 6km over 4 hours.  Painfully slow.  We arrived in the next pueblo called Oasis for the 5 swimming pools it boasts.  I was bored and restless.  We had pasta for lunch which immediately upset my innards adding further to my irritation.  I felt despondent.  How can I find a way to be happier in Peru?  I cannot take another tour. Yet, I am in a country that it is not safe to travel alone.  On Sunday night, the owner of the hostel had encouraged me to take a taxi rather than walk 6 blocks to the restaurant for my safety.  Really?  I was starting to feel hemmed in like an animal in a cage.

The best that can be said for today is that Alejandro bounced back from his heat exhaustion and was able to continue with us.

typical vegetation

The pueblo of Oasis, route out of the cañon is on left

Waterfall

March 21 Cañon de Colca day 1

I woke up at 2:30am to get ready for the 3:00 am pick up.  This is my first trekking tour and I am very skeptical about being on a tour and being on someone else´s time schedule.  My concerns, as it would turn out, were well founded.

The bus driver skillfully whipped around curves on the 3.5 hour drive that wound through the mountains to a max elevation of 4900 m (16k feet).  Our first stop was breakfast in the town of Chivay, followed by another hour long drive to Mirador de los Condores.  The scenery was amazing and unlike any other I had seen before.  The 1200 meter deep Cañon de Colca is flanked by Incan terraces carved into the hillslope.  Parts are verdant green, wile the uppermost sections resemble desert in character with prickly pear and other types of cacti.  Along the roadsides, many Inca women were selling there wares or going about their daily chores in full traditional dress.  It was really neat and I wished I could have spent more time admiring the scenery, but we were only allotted 25 min to look at the condores, of which, I saw only one.

Mirador de los condores

Incan Señora sells her wares at a mirador

Cañon de Colca

Next, we broke into groups and descended into the cañon.  I was immediately crabby because my group was going so slowly.  The guide said it would take us 4 hours hiking to descend 1200m and hike up another 150m.  Normally, I would cover this terrain in 1.25 hours.  My patience was challenged.  Equally difficult was the long hours spent in direct sun that could have been avoided by a faster pace.  The guide let me go ahead with directions to wait at the river.  I sped down hill and hid in a little patch of shade to wait 45 mintues for the group to arrive.  It was going to be a long couple of days.

We arrived at the hostel around 2:00 at which point we were fed lunch.  Our guide said goodbye for the day and there was nothing to do except nap or read for the remainder of the day.  I napped.

Our rustic accomodations

At dinner, my roommate, a Peruvian expat living in Germany, felt sick.  He was rather ill prepared for the trip (jeans and heavy sweater, no hat).  He had a headache, then began vomitting, and had below avg temp.  I knew immediately that it was heat exhaustion or heat stroke.  In my naivete, I had assumed that the guide service would have some medical supplies and some training.  They use the same hostels everyday for this tour, but have no supplies or knowledge.  The guide called an ex-girlfriend on his cell who is a nurse.  Great!  I found the whole situation scary.  What if it was me?  I later found out that the patient had taken a 2 hour nap in the sun (while I napped inside) after consuming a beer.  Definitely heat exhaustion.

March 20 Arequipa

Today is my dad´s 72nd birthday.  ¡Felíz cumpleaños papá! 

Arequipa is often called the white city for all of its buildings constructed from volcanic rock called sillar.  It is quite beautiful.  I learned that Arequipa is an Inca word meaning "yes, Ill stay."

I started the day out by searching for a hostel close to the center (for safety purposes) but not close to any of the raucous nightlife.  Last night I slept in a hotel ($15 USD) complete with cable tv, but I prefer the social atmosphere of a hostel over a hotel which can be isolating.  I wandered past the plaza at 9:00 am where there were hoards of people dressed in full regalia.  As it turns out, it was the desamiento de la bandera (raising of the flag) which evidently is a big deal here.  There were people from all branches of government (airforce, navy, marines, health care, etc.).  They fired off rifles, the band played, everyone sang the national anthem and it concluded with a resounding ´Viva la Perú!

Rainsing of the flag

Church constructed from volcanic material. 

At Mirador Carmen with Inca agricultural terraces

Old school water filter using porous volcanic rock

Volcan El Mistí (5822m) emerging from the clouds

I am now staying at Arequipa Backpacker´s hostel with my own room sans baño for $8 USD.  It is much much cheaper here than Chile or Argentina.  Once I got everything moved into my new digs, I set about organizing a tour to Cañon de Colca.  I detest taking tours, but it is simply not safe to do it yourself here.  The tour is for 3 days, 2 nights and includes transport, food, and basic lodging for $150s or $55 USD.   Since it is Sunday, virtually everything is closed, so I decided to play tourist and hopped aboard one of the bus tours of the city.  The hostel owner said it was a good idea, because I would never feel safe going to these places solo.  This is the first time I´ve sat atop one of those open air buses and listened to someone explain the sights over a microphone.  It was basically ok and the people on board were really cool.  And I think it was a good thing to do on a cloudy Sunday.

Tomorrow my tour starts at 3:00 a.m.; I'm still trying to adjust to the idea of being on a tour for a simple 3-day hike.  Why did I ever leave Bariloche?

I will likely not post again until Thursday.