Hi Guys, For maybe the last time......
Since Cusco, Peru it has been none stop overnight bus journeys (mainly uncomfortable). First went to Arequipa home to the 2 deepest canyons in the world, then up the Peruvian coast to Nasca, Lima and Trujillo and then into Ecuador to Guayaquil, Banos, into the jungle in the NE of the country and then to Quito, the capital, virtually on the Equator and the end of this six month trip.
Highs First for a change....
- The Nasca lines are a massive mess of lines drawn in the desert containing huge pictures of animals and other shapes. The lines were drawn about 1,500 years ago and are only visible from the air so we had to take a flight over them. The largest animal is a bird 285m long although some of the smaller ones (around 50m long) are better drawings. Why they were drawn is still a matter of great debate ranging from a map of where to find water, a map of the stars, solstice lines to pictures to appease the gods. How they did it is another matter. The lines themselves were made simply by removing dark stones to reveal the lighter desert stone beneath. How they achieved the accuracy of patterns is not so easy to explain. Some people claim they must have been able to see them from the air by using a primative hot air balloon, or perhaps they were geometrically advanced and had inveted a method of enlarging small pictures. Unfortunately even if they were advanced they (like all other Andean tribes prior to arrival of the Spanish in 1532) had no system of writing and so we know little about them.
- In Trujillo, Chan Chan is the largest mud city in the world and the largest pre Spanish city in the Americas was built around 1300AD and housed 55,000 people. They simply moulded mud into brick shapes without baking them and built a city. The advantage they had was that it can go for decades without raining here although even in those days the odd El Nino did a lot of damage. There are still many walls left although the water damage is obvious. Amazing that something so basic could last so long and that a civilisation advanced and organised enough to organise 55,000 people did not want (or maybe didnt need) to use more advanced methods of building.
- The 5 day trip into Ecuadors rainforest was a great experience - well at least it was when it wasnt raining.
Two things should ye know about the rainforest before ye enter. Firstly, it is a FOREST.
Secondly, it RAINS.
This may seem rather obvious but I have met people on trips into Rainforest who express surprise that it rains. That is rather like going to London and being surprised that the River Thames is a river! I know there are exceptions - like Panama hats being made in Ecuador and the Hundred Years war lasting 126 years , BUT some things are obvious and rain in a Rainforest
is surely one of them.
When it wasnt raining we say loadsa monkeys, birds, butterflys and a few mammals. We slept in mossie nets on a covered wooden platform in the middle of nowhere - there is nothing like going to sleep and waking up to the sounds of the jungle. No electrity or showers but we had candles and a river to swim in and it was just perfect. Perfect except for the mossies that is, they took a liking to my feet for some reason and my insteps did a fair impression of a relief map of the Andes.
A few LOWS
- Lima in Peru. A large costal city not far from the Equator. Rio is further from the equator and has fantastic water and beaches so I was hoping for something similar here. But.... to start with the sky was the most dowdy shade of grey imaginable as if it was just off to a particularly large
and important funeral. The sea was pretty much the same colour, as was the beach (just pebbles) and not only was it cold but there was a cold wind blowing. Just to top it off there was a small pier and a single mad local swimming. Yes I was actually in Brighton on a summer weekend ....... and the water temperature ... I didnt get close enough to find out !
- Rice, Rice, Rice. Dry, Dry, Dry. At every meal in this part of the world they serve rice .... with everything! Even ordering a portion of chips guarantees an accompanying mountain of rice sufficient to keep a large Asian family for a week. Whoever first introduced it here didnt actually tell the locals how to serve it properly ..... Dry chicken, dry chips and dry rice.
Of course hardly anyone actually eats the rice ... even the locals who you would of thought must be used to it by now are adept at pushing it towards the edge of the plate as if saving it for last .. and then just as they are about to start the arduous and painful process of consumption, they declare they are already full.
- Endless overnight bus journeys. Compared to most of SAm Peru does not look that big .... but it is enormous and many of the roads are not the best, and neither are the buses. Plus the people here are fairly short and so they design buses without legroom. Apart from that its great - what I mean is - they are cheap !
The Rest
- The Equator - The thing itself is hardly a highlight - I mean it is just a line (about 6cm wide in this case) and its yellow - Amazing that on all maps its always black but in reality its yellow ! How did the cartographers get that wrong?
But getting there (and having the usual crap picture taken) means the end of this journey. In the past 20 months I have been to 31 countries including almost every meaningful country in the southern hemisphere, across 6 continents (Antartica will have to wait for next time or when I have some money). I have spent far too long on buses but even though I never got travel sick , maybe now I am sick of travelling and want to sit in the same place for more than a couple of days.
Of course the trip would not be complete without a few Awards so here are a few random samples ........
Hottest place - Yangon and Bangkok just before the monsoons. Nobody did anything cos it was very hot and 100% humidity.
Coldest Place - My parents house near London
Most expensive place - London
Cheapest Place - Sumatra, Indonesia (For what a pint of beer costs in London you could live here for a day including accomodation, decent food and a beer !)
Cheapest Beer - Hanoi, Vietnam (Beer Hoi on the street cost 10 US cents (7p) a glass and it was pretty good. We still haggled over the price though!!!!)
Worst Food - Lao and Easter Island
Best Food - Argentina
Highest (Legal) Adrenalin sport - Skydiving, NZ
Highest (Legal) Adrenalin sport that I would actually do again - White water rafting down the Zambezi, Zimbabwe.
Best Man made wonder - Cities and temples at Angkor, Cambodia (Absolutely stunning)
Best Natural wonder - View of Southen Ice Field and glaciers, Torres del Paine, Chile
Although notable runners up include
- Mount Bromo at Sunrise, Java, Indonesia
- Iguassu Falls, Argentina/Brasil
- Moreno Glacier, Argentina
Favorite country - Myanmar (Burma)
Most played record worldwide - YMCA by Village People. That just proves it is a really sad world we live in!
I will be back in England on 19 July and will be staying at my parents as I cant afford to get my house back until I have a job ......
Several people have asked me what I intend to do when I get back - as if after 20 months I havent thought about it. I know exactly what I will do..... I will sit on my sofa at my parents house and think What the hell am I going to do now!
Thanks to all the people I have travelled with for making this such a great experience - if youre still on my email list then it cant have been that bad !
See you soon
Love
Pete
The End (?)
Showing posts with label Peru. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peru. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 July 2002
Sunday, 30 June 2002
Where 19 - Cusco, Peru --OR-- Inca Trail and the Most Dangerous Road in the World
Hi Peeps,
Last time I was in the middle of Bolivia in Santa Cruz. From there I got a bus to the border with Brazil and crossed over to see the Pantanal (large wet area!). Then to La Paz (the highest capital city in the world at 3,600m), followed by Corioco, Lake Titicaca, then into Peru to Puno and then Cusco, the capital of the old Inca Empire and the start of the Inca trail to Machu Piccu.
The lows first because I´m sure that you find them more entertaining !
Remember that bus to Santa Cruz, Bolivia which arrived 74 huors late - well things didnt get much better after that. After only 1 night in a normal bed it was back to the bus for a 19 hour journey to the Brazilian border - unfortunately the bus was pre war (pre any war you would care to mention) and it was not only late leaving it broke down within half an hour and we
waited 1.5 hours for them to fix it. The ´road´ if that be the correct name was sometimes rubble, sometimes sand and at other times just plain bad. It didn´t help that I was feeling really ill with Parasitic diahorrea (although I didnt know what it was for another week+). To say it was uncomfortable was an understatement and with breakdowns punctures etc it arrived 11 hours
late (total 30 hours). Actually it never arrived at the destination - Just to cap it all the road was blockaded (by taxi drivers it seems ) a few miles short of the destination - so we had to .... take a taxi !!! the rest of the way at our own expense ! Cos we got there so late the border was closed and we had to stay in Bolivia another night.
- After that I had to traverse the whole length of the country agan but decided there was no way I was going to go by bus and flew to La Paz for US$150 - and who said Bolivia was a cheap country?
- My travelling schedule being completely screwed up by the strikes and of course the football! What a silly time to be travelling without much time......
- Having to get up at stupid times to go and watch the football. In the early stages in Bolivia it ran from 2.30am to 9.30am and later on in Peru, 1.30am to 8.30am. I have got used to hauling myself out of bed at ridiculous times of the night after 2 or 3 hours sleep and immediately
immersing myself in a beer. I do not necessarily think this is a habit I will keep up now the footy is over ! (I did miss a few matches by oversleeping - but I missed more by not being able find a TV showing it in the towns I was staying in - caught all the biggies though!)
The floating islands in Puno, Peru - The Uros people have lived on island made of reeds for over 1,000 years. They still live their today and still practice their traditional skills of fishing, bird catching and maintaining the islands so they dont sink. However most of the time they sell stuff to the tourists who turn up to see them. Proabbly the most touristy place I have been anywhere. They now have solar panels, TVs etc and stay there cos (according to the tour guide) they have an easy life. Tourism has changed so much about their way of life - but hopefully for the better. Although I have my doubts. These people are now just a tourist attraction ...... but
as I was told by another traveller ..... ´there is a reason for that !´
And just a few highs
- The Pantanal in Brazil. If I ignore the angony of the journey and the wasted week I spent getting there (from Sucre it took almost exactly 7 days) and the expense of the flight back to La Paz, then I can be positive about the experience. I spent 4 night in a hammock (surprisingly comfortable) and the days spotting alligators (over 2m long), capybarras (the worlds largest
rodent - at 80cm long they looked like extremely large guinea pigs), deer, howler monkeys, a large anteater and birds (Macaws/parrots, herons, black vultures, toucans (yes the ones from the old Guinness ads), and the 1.5m wingspan Jabiru stork).
Also went pirhana fishing (although I was slightly hesitant about wading into the water to fish) and caught two, each 30 cm long. Ate them for lunch - very tasty but a lot of bones.
The most dangerous road in the world! - About 1 truck every 2 weeks falls off this narrow ledge carved into the mountain down a 300m+ vertical drop.
So the best thing is to go down it by bike! OK maybe not the best idea ever but its nearly all downhill - imagine going 63km and dropping 3,500m in height at speeds of up to of 60kph. Just try and keep an eye out for trucks coming the other way as there is no room to pass them on most of the road.
The prison in La Paz. This may be one of the worlds oddest tourism attractions but guided tours (by a New Yorker imprisoned for drug smuggling) are available. The prison is a whole series of little communities where prisoners have to buy or rent their own cells (top penthouse cost $15,000 to buy). Whether they get to live in a 5* part, a 3* part or a no star part entirely depends on how much money they have. To occupy themselves and to earn money there are hundreds of businesses inside from shoe shine, fresh veg stalls to restaurants - for prisoners who do not want to eat the prison food with possible sedatives etc in it. And of course the 3 things that keep a prison running - drugs, sex and alcohol are all available. You can have a woman stay over for $4 a night (note : this does not include the cost of the woman) so many prisoners have their girlfriends/wives stay over. And one more oddity - once sentanced the prisoners must pay a $4 entrance fee to the prison - if they can´t they have to work for 30 days in the kitchens (not a nice place).
England v Argentina - Whilst it must have been fantastic to watch it in London it was altogether a different experience getting up at 2.15am and spending all night watching the football in a La Paz bar. I knew I was in SAmerica but I didn´t expect everyone in the bar to be supporting Argentina (I mean how many people in England wanted Germany to win the final just because they are European !?). But there I was, 7.30am in the morning the bar was full of 300 pro Argentine supporters and 3 England fans. I´m pleased to say I made more noise than the 300 put together! - and only got a few dirty looks - and we won!!
Five minutes after the finish I was out on the La Paz streets where it was if nothing had happened. Did we really win or had I been dreaming .......
Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca - the Incas believe that this is where the sun was born. There is a rock at one end of the island with a orange patch where it was actually born - and it has a lovely big smile! How nice is that!
The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (MP) - There is actually a stone trail (mainly stairs) that the Incas built for the several hundred people a day who undertake the 4 day trial - now that is far sighted eco-tourism! OK so maybe they actually built it for important Incas to undertake pilgrimages to MP - either way it is still there today as are many of the Inca built earthquake proof buildings despite a huge number of earthquakes in the area (all the Spanish colonial stuff regularly falls down). Actually the Incas are hardly an ancient civilisation - they existed for a few hundred years but are only really important from 1430 (when they started to expand their
empire) to 1532 when the Spanish arrived. MP was built from 1450 to 1532 when building of the incomplete structure was stopped in favour of fighting the Spanish (in a few years the Spanish won but it is thought never found MP).
It actually wasn´t too difficult to do the trail although we had to climb to 4,200m above sea level at one point - it really is a case of the top seeming further away after every step due to the altitude. The worst part was actually having to get up at 2.45am on the final morning to trek the 3 hours mainly on the dark to see the sun rise on MP. Worth getting up for though. MP itself is not the most wonderful collection of buildings however -some (badly restored) nice close fitting Inca stonework of course - but it is the very spectacular setting amongst near vertical peaks and deep valleys and the views from above which make it easily worthwhile.
Anyway off to see the Nasca Lines, Lima and then into Ecuador for a few days in the Galapagos (if I can afford it) before heading home in just a few weeks.........
Love
Pete
Last time I was in the middle of Bolivia in Santa Cruz. From there I got a bus to the border with Brazil and crossed over to see the Pantanal (large wet area!). Then to La Paz (the highest capital city in the world at 3,600m), followed by Corioco, Lake Titicaca, then into Peru to Puno and then Cusco, the capital of the old Inca Empire and the start of the Inca trail to Machu Piccu.
The lows first because I´m sure that you find them more entertaining !
Remember that bus to Santa Cruz, Bolivia which arrived 74 huors late - well things didnt get much better after that. After only 1 night in a normal bed it was back to the bus for a 19 hour journey to the Brazilian border - unfortunately the bus was pre war (pre any war you would care to mention) and it was not only late leaving it broke down within half an hour and we
waited 1.5 hours for them to fix it. The ´road´ if that be the correct name was sometimes rubble, sometimes sand and at other times just plain bad. It didn´t help that I was feeling really ill with Parasitic diahorrea (although I didnt know what it was for another week+). To say it was uncomfortable was an understatement and with breakdowns punctures etc it arrived 11 hours
late (total 30 hours). Actually it never arrived at the destination - Just to cap it all the road was blockaded (by taxi drivers it seems ) a few miles short of the destination - so we had to .... take a taxi !!! the rest of the way at our own expense ! Cos we got there so late the border was closed and we had to stay in Bolivia another night.
- After that I had to traverse the whole length of the country agan but decided there was no way I was going to go by bus and flew to La Paz for US$150 - and who said Bolivia was a cheap country?
- My travelling schedule being completely screwed up by the strikes and of course the football! What a silly time to be travelling without much time......
- Having to get up at stupid times to go and watch the football. In the early stages in Bolivia it ran from 2.30am to 9.30am and later on in Peru, 1.30am to 8.30am. I have got used to hauling myself out of bed at ridiculous times of the night after 2 or 3 hours sleep and immediately
immersing myself in a beer. I do not necessarily think this is a habit I will keep up now the footy is over ! (I did miss a few matches by oversleeping - but I missed more by not being able find a TV showing it in the towns I was staying in - caught all the biggies though!)
The floating islands in Puno, Peru - The Uros people have lived on island made of reeds for over 1,000 years. They still live their today and still practice their traditional skills of fishing, bird catching and maintaining the islands so they dont sink. However most of the time they sell stuff to the tourists who turn up to see them. Proabbly the most touristy place I have been anywhere. They now have solar panels, TVs etc and stay there cos (according to the tour guide) they have an easy life. Tourism has changed so much about their way of life - but hopefully for the better. Although I have my doubts. These people are now just a tourist attraction ...... but
as I was told by another traveller ..... ´there is a reason for that !´
And just a few highs
- The Pantanal in Brazil. If I ignore the angony of the journey and the wasted week I spent getting there (from Sucre it took almost exactly 7 days) and the expense of the flight back to La Paz, then I can be positive about the experience. I spent 4 night in a hammock (surprisingly comfortable) and the days spotting alligators (over 2m long), capybarras (the worlds largest
rodent - at 80cm long they looked like extremely large guinea pigs), deer, howler monkeys, a large anteater and birds (Macaws/parrots, herons, black vultures, toucans (yes the ones from the old Guinness ads), and the 1.5m wingspan Jabiru stork).
Also went pirhana fishing (although I was slightly hesitant about wading into the water to fish) and caught two, each 30 cm long. Ate them for lunch - very tasty but a lot of bones.
The most dangerous road in the world! - About 1 truck every 2 weeks falls off this narrow ledge carved into the mountain down a 300m+ vertical drop.
So the best thing is to go down it by bike! OK maybe not the best idea ever but its nearly all downhill - imagine going 63km and dropping 3,500m in height at speeds of up to of 60kph. Just try and keep an eye out for trucks coming the other way as there is no room to pass them on most of the road.
The prison in La Paz. This may be one of the worlds oddest tourism attractions but guided tours (by a New Yorker imprisoned for drug smuggling) are available. The prison is a whole series of little communities where prisoners have to buy or rent their own cells (top penthouse cost $15,000 to buy). Whether they get to live in a 5* part, a 3* part or a no star part entirely depends on how much money they have. To occupy themselves and to earn money there are hundreds of businesses inside from shoe shine, fresh veg stalls to restaurants - for prisoners who do not want to eat the prison food with possible sedatives etc in it. And of course the 3 things that keep a prison running - drugs, sex and alcohol are all available. You can have a woman stay over for $4 a night (note : this does not include the cost of the woman) so many prisoners have their girlfriends/wives stay over. And one more oddity - once sentanced the prisoners must pay a $4 entrance fee to the prison - if they can´t they have to work for 30 days in the kitchens (not a nice place).
England v Argentina - Whilst it must have been fantastic to watch it in London it was altogether a different experience getting up at 2.15am and spending all night watching the football in a La Paz bar. I knew I was in SAmerica but I didn´t expect everyone in the bar to be supporting Argentina (I mean how many people in England wanted Germany to win the final just because they are European !?). But there I was, 7.30am in the morning the bar was full of 300 pro Argentine supporters and 3 England fans. I´m pleased to say I made more noise than the 300 put together! - and only got a few dirty looks - and we won!!
Five minutes after the finish I was out on the La Paz streets where it was if nothing had happened. Did we really win or had I been dreaming .......
Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca - the Incas believe that this is where the sun was born. There is a rock at one end of the island with a orange patch where it was actually born - and it has a lovely big smile! How nice is that!
The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (MP) - There is actually a stone trail (mainly stairs) that the Incas built for the several hundred people a day who undertake the 4 day trial - now that is far sighted eco-tourism! OK so maybe they actually built it for important Incas to undertake pilgrimages to MP - either way it is still there today as are many of the Inca built earthquake proof buildings despite a huge number of earthquakes in the area (all the Spanish colonial stuff regularly falls down). Actually the Incas are hardly an ancient civilisation - they existed for a few hundred years but are only really important from 1430 (when they started to expand their
empire) to 1532 when the Spanish arrived. MP was built from 1450 to 1532 when building of the incomplete structure was stopped in favour of fighting the Spanish (in a few years the Spanish won but it is thought never found MP).
It actually wasn´t too difficult to do the trail although we had to climb to 4,200m above sea level at one point - it really is a case of the top seeming further away after every step due to the altitude. The worst part was actually having to get up at 2.45am on the final morning to trek the 3 hours mainly on the dark to see the sun rise on MP. Worth getting up for though. MP itself is not the most wonderful collection of buildings however -some (badly restored) nice close fitting Inca stonework of course - but it is the very spectacular setting amongst near vertical peaks and deep valleys and the views from above which make it easily worthwhile.
Anyway off to see the Nasca Lines, Lima and then into Ecuador for a few days in the Galapagos (if I can afford it) before heading home in just a few weeks.........
Love
Pete
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