15 posts tagged “peru”

Today we got the early morning bus to the border.  After three hours on the bus, we arrived.  We got off the bus, got our exit stamps for Peru, and walked across the border to Bolivia.  On our short walk across the border we bumped into an Australian guy who we had met on the boat from Belem to Manaus, in Brazil, which was unexpected.  He was telling us how he had been up Machu Picchu yesterday, and the weather was glorious.. I told him to shut up.  At least we had a stamp in our passports, saying we had been to Machu Picchu.  I am not sure if we were supposed to stamp our passports but I didn´t care... I wanted proof and had no photos.  He had also got a stomach infection and was ill for 10 days!!!!!

We entered Bolivia and went to Copacobana... in Bolivia, not Brazil.

We got a gorgeous hotel which looked over Lake Titicaca, all for a cost of 2.50 each a night.  It is so cheap here....

We booked a trip, an hour before it began, to the Island of the Sun.  This is where the Incas are supposed to have originated from.

The boat took 1 and half hours, but it didn´t matter because the scenery was stunning.  This side of the lake was a dark turquoisy blue with mountains surrounding it, some snow capped, some sun capped.

We arrived at the most doddgy looking jetty in the world and got off the boat to find we had to walk up to the top of the mountain on the island to get to where everything was.

This is hard work with the altitude.  We walked to the top, avoiding donkeys, sheep and llamas coming down the hill in the opposite direction.  By the time we had reached the top where the main village was, it was time to run back down the hill to the boat.

It was beautiful here.  It was hot and you could sit with a beer in your hand, watch the villagers and the view of the lake from the mountain top.  I wish we had stayed the night, as everybody else had planned, but we went back to Copacobana, passing some more Inca ruins on the way.

Today we left Cuzco disheartened, still dissapointed about Machu Picchu.

Cuzco was a lovely little city.  It had shoe shiners on every corner and all the women carried Blankets on their back with their life in, they even had Babys on their back, in little bundles.  They all wore traditional dress, of little shoes, leg warmers, puffy out skirts and a blanket wrapped round them, usually with a straw hat.

We got on the bus to Puno, early in the morning and arrived in the afternoon.  I love how here you have the ability to book a trip, five minutes before it starts... and so we did.

We got a minibus to the shore and jumped on a boat which took us to the floating villages on Lake Titicaca.  On our way to the villages, smoke started billowing out of the engine, from beneath our feet.  It was only the tourists who seemed concerned, so the guide took us to the top of the boat, so we couldn´t smell the engine overheating.  After a bucket of water from the lake, we were on our way again, and arrived at the floating villages.

Tradition states that in Colonial times, when the Spanish got all the Peruvians to work on the Silver mines, to escape, people started sleeping in the reeds in the lake.  They soon started cutting the reeds and laying them down for more comfort and eventually they made islands out of these reeds. 

Today there are over 40 islands, with people still living how they used to.  The group of islands we visited was called Uros.  The islands are 4 meters deep of reed.  They last for about 10 years and take 6 months to build.  The houses and boats are also made out of the same reeds.  We went on one of the reed boats, with thankfully, are very bouyant.

Lake Titicaca is the world´s highest Navigable lake.

After watching the sunset on the floating islands, we returned to Puno to sleep the night.

We woke up at 4.30am to start climbing to the top of the mountain.  After 2050 steps, we reached the top, to find we were engulfed by a rain cloud.  We had a tour around the ruins and still the weather did not pass.  We waited for 6 hours, and still no joy.  We could not see 10 ft in front of us.  We couldn´t see anything.  We were gutted.

Machu Picchu must be the most amazing place when you can see it.  It was discovered in 1913 when some archeologist came across it.  It was said that the Incas knew the Spanish were invading, so moved to the river at the bottom of the mountain, so when they found them, the city would not be found.  Others say they died of disease which the Spanish brought over.  Who knows.  All that we know is that the City was found fully in tact, with nothing disturberd, derelict or moved.  Every stone was in the same place it was placed when the Incas put them there.  The view would have been astounding (if we could see).  The clouds move so quickly, they could engulf a whole mountain within minutes.

The rain or clouds did not pass.  We had a train to catch, so we trundled back down the mountain and caught the train (in the middle of the street), back to Ollantaytambo, then caught a bus back to Cusco.  Apparently previous days had been clear as a bell up there.... grrrr.....

Oh well, an excuse to come again perhaps?

Well today we set off to join Colin on the tour (or so the travel agent said).  After a relaxing full body massage yesterday, I felt well enough to travel again.  They massaged everything, even my boobs which was strange, obviously not other areas but I have heard you can pay extra for that in Thailand!!!

We got picked up from our hotel and realised we were on a bus with lots of old people.  It was like being on a Saga holiday.  Our bus trip was through the Sacred valley of the Incas and our first stop was Pisac, where we visited the market there, and then went to see the Inca ruins which consisted of Temples on top of a big mountain, which still had examples of their water systems and ability to build earthquake proof structures.  They lay the stones in a particular way, so when the building shakes, the stones fall back into their origional position.

We then got back on the bus and went to another Inca site, in Ollantaytambo, which consisted of more ruins on top of a mountain, which we had to walk up.  I tell you what, the Incas had magnificent views!!!!

We then had to wait for four hours until the train left for the small town of Machu Picchu.  When we arrived, we were taken to a hotel where we went to sleep, ready for the ascent in the morning.

Sick of being in the hotel room, I was determined to get out of there.  We walked slowly to the centre of town, stopping quite frequently but as the day went on I got better and better.

So much so that I invested in a tatoo of my own :)

Ok, not quite in the hospital, still bed ridden but I Think Ian would appreciate another Manics title for my blog.

The cleaners brought me a TV to watch today, which was cool as I got crap American TV to watch.  Still feeling terrible.

Tony came back with a Tatoo today, with an Inca desgin on his chest.  It is quite nice.  Still not eating....

After a night of shivering non stop, no matter how many clothes I put on, and having a really bad stomach, I tried getting up for breakfast.  Everytime I stood up I went dizzy and fell back into bed.

Tony called the local doctor to the hotel, who came and confirmed I had an infection in my stomach due to something I had eaten.  She gave me a prescription of antibiotics and panadol, and told me I couldn´t eat fruit, vegetables, salad or anything off the street (I don´t know where she thought I normally ate...).  I spent the rest of the day in bed, while Tony cancelled our trek and went shopping for elligable food.

He cooked lunch and tea for me as he was determined everything I ate was cooked properly.  I managed a few bites of every meal and that was me done.  Everything I ate gave me cramps in my stomach so I gave up after a while.

The workers in the hotel were nice and gave us some leaves to make tea out of to help my stomach.

We arrived in Cuzco and went straight to bed.  It was a really uncomfortable bus and none of us got any sleep.

We got up for lunch and looked round Cuzco.  It has lots of lovely little streets and squares, with old buildings.  There are fountains and waterfalls everywhere.  It is very pretty here.  We booked to go on a treck to Macchu Picchu.  It was not the original Inca trail as you have to book about a month in advance and us being organised, we didn´t.  I also blame the Lonely Planet for lack of useful information.  The trail we booked was up the other side of the mountain for five days and four nights but you still arrive at Macchu Picchu but don´t see Incary type things along the way.

I was feeling a little sick and had a bad stomach.  Thinking it may be a bit of altitude sickness, I went to bed.

Today we all went white water rafting on the river Chile.  The water was cold but the weather was hot so it kinda balanced out.  The rapids were mainly grade three but we did get to do a grade four.

The rafting was good but it was difficult to concentrate on what we were doing as we were too busy looking at the scenery and mountains.  We didn´t have any shoes to wear while rafting so we decided to wear our flip flops.  Luckily an English guy had brought some Gaffar Tape with him so we taped the flip flops to our feet and set off rafting.

After lunch we went off roading on the bikes.  We arrived at the guides house in a Taxi, and chose which bikes we wanted.  Tony got a 2 stroke Kawasaki 250 and I had a Honda 250.  We were all ready to load the bikes onto a trailer when the guide give us the keys.  we weren´t expecting to have to ride the bikes on road to get to the off road bit.  The guide hadn´t even asked if we could ride, let alone have a lisence.

We set off well, apart from the fact the bikes had no mirrors or indicators, Tony´s front brake didn´t work and we were riding on the wrong side of the road.  We eventually got to the off road bit where we went down sandy country lanes, where we got chased by numerous visious dogs and at one point we helped a farmer herd cows down the lane.  We went through someones garden and they ran out of their house screaming at us... it´s ok, we don´t understand Spanish.  We thn got to a rocky path which had been blocked so we had to slide the bikes down this sand dune effort thing... all in all it was fun and the important thing is we survived (although I did slightly sprain my ankle but that was from jumping off a bridge and landing funny, nothing to do with the bike).

After a long day we took the night bus to Cuzco.

Today we got up early to go to Colca Canyon.  Colca Canyon is supposed to be deeper than the Grand Canyon at an average of 3400 meters deep.  I can tell you, the views are breathtaking.  You can either look up into the snow capped mountains or down to the river.  I have never seen anything like it in my life, it really was stunning and peaceful, once you wandered away from the other tourists.

We were at the canyon for about three hours, waiting to see the Condors.  As Condors are such huge birds (the Andean Condor has a wing span of over three meters), it is difficult for the birds to take off, so they have to wait for the correct temperature so they can catch the thermals. (This information on Condors was brought to you by Tony as the guide was absolutely useless!!!).  We waited and waited and just as we were about to leave, they all started taking off.  I think we saw about 10 of them, take off from their nest.  It was amazing to watch.  These birds were huge but extremely graceful.  It was quite a sight to see.  Definitely worth the wait.

After seeing the Condors, we made our way back down the mountain, in a really uncomfortable bus, to Arequipa.