Back to the Rio and Out

The trip back to Canada was a little less strenuous than our trip to Chile and Peru but we figure we slept in as many different beds during our trip home, as we had so many of our friends and family opening their arms and homes to us for a fun but short visit. Cheryl figures that she slept in over 10 beds, including her trip to Edmonton. Karen fell behind by at least 1 bed! It truly was great to catch up with everyone.
We also did the Doctor ‘thing’ and found that we are aging well!
So back to the boat. We arrived back with 4 bags each around 50 pounds and our backpacks as carry on. The marina picked us up and dropped us by the boat so it was easier to put the bags on board. HOME!!
We didn’t unpack as there was work to be done in the V-birth. We had had a leaky new fibreglass water tank and had bought this new product called Brew Coat, a rubberized paint to seal it (it was like painting with candy floss). Once it was painted we had to wait the 7 days for full cure, then we could seal things up and Cheryl emptied the bags and found places to hide all our new treasures. Probably never to be found again. It is always like Christmas when you open the bags as you never remember all the treasures that you brought back. Karen is still wondering what all we brought back. It will be a surprise for us both as Cheryl probably doesn’t remember where she put it.
We had had other things shipped in, which Jonsey on Niki Wiki took care of getting and kept on their boat (thank you Jonsey!) So now we have to install all our new goodies that we bought. A new radio with MMSI and AIS, which meant running new wires, what fun. You have to be a small malleable monkey to install new things on an old boat. We opened the Xantrex battery charger and we found that we needed items we couldn’t get here to install it. Luckily another cruiser had friends coming down and could bring us some parts. Cruiser guests are wonderful, after all GUESTS really means: Get Urgent Essentials Sent To Sailors. After the paint has been applied everywhere down below include some in Cheryl’s hair and the floor with new coats of non-skid and the new baby Bruce anchor for the dinghy has been stored as have the dozen fuel filters which are a necessity for every boater! The boat almost looks liveable.
No more leaky hatches as we have replaced all the gaskets and Karen has been sewing up a storm, mostly fixing things, but also building a hanging closet and a cover for the 4 HP outboard engine. Karen and Lynn (High States) also did some repairs to the UV on the head sail.
Then we hauled out. As we approached the yard we radioed and called on the phone, but no one answered! We saw the guys on the dock and drove right into the slings. For the first time the lifts scales works and so we know our weight, 24,000 pounds! With an empty diesel and low water tanks and very little wine on board! Oops, that is a lot more than we thought. Once we were chocked and power washed we inspected the bottom. We had blisters, but only in the bottom paint. So they had to do some extra poking and sanding and they raised our boot stipe another 2 inches! The first time they painted the boot strip they used the wrong colour paint and it was runny, but they fixed all the next day and it is perfect. While the boys were working below we replaced the fresh water hose for the aft head, Cheryl sanded the prop to 1500 grit, so it was very shiny! (Cheryl got into a contest with another boat called At Last, to see who had the shiniest prop. I think that Cheryl won, but credit to Mike on At Last as he has two props! By the way, sanding the prop seems to be the only way to keep barnacles and ick off it.) We also put 6 layers of varnish on the stairs, handrails, drawer fronts and oven handle. And 4 layers of varnish on the table. So we sparkle!
We launched without paying! As the yard did not have our bill ready and was not concerned if we didn’t pay right away. Only in the Rio! The boat yard work was amazing, we would highly recommended Abel’s for their professionalism and workmanship. We stopped at the fuel dock to fill up the new now non-leaky diesel tank. A bit of a problem as the inspection port was not closed, but Cheryl caught any spills in the diapers and we are fine. Back to the dock!
Then we went off to Guatemala City with 6 other boats to go to the Kite festival on the day of the dead. We overnighted in Guatemala City at the Biltmore, we stayed in one of the newly renovated rooms, which are nice. But to have a warm shower in the morning it was necessary to phone the front desk and have the hot water turned on. The next day we were off to Sumpango just 45 minutes from Guatemala City for the Kite festival. The kites were amazing, up to 13 metres across and they were works of art. The kites were on bamboo supports, the front a collage made of tissue paper telling the stories of the village all supported by a plastic backing. Starting at 4pm they flew them, which was also amazing. Most got up for a short bit, then came crashing down. But a few were up and stayed up. (The next day in Antigua we met a tourist who was at the kite festival and broke his arm when he was hit by a falling kite.) Cheryl , Kathy and Tom from Jumbie had time to fly their own kite meanwhile Karen got to entertain kids with her bubbles she bought, to be kids again all was good. Well, all was good until the corn field ate Cheryl’s kite! Then back to the city.
We left the next morning for Antigua with Tom and Kathy on Jumbie. We walked around the city visiting various shops, saw some amazing art work and ate well! Kathy and Cheryl rearranged the furniture at the hotel so that we had a table looking out at the volcano while we had our wine and nibbles. We climbed the hill to the cross overlooking the city and boy was it a great view. We had breakfast at the monastery and toured it the next day. It really is an amazing ruin. One thing they have done at the monastery that is really impressive is that they had modern art from around the world done and set beside similar themed works of the Mayans. Very interesting.
Then we went to Lake Atitlan. In a word, beautiful! Or two works, beautiful and peaceful. We stayed in a Hotel called Casa Lola, it turned out to be 100Q a night ($13US) with a lovely view of the Lake. We sat on the veranda each night with a bottle of wine and enjoyed the amazing view. We walked to the next town, San Jaun, which was very quiet. Many of the local ladies still follow the old ways of making dyes out of plants and still make the beautiful coloured clothes that they wear and sell. We took a launcha to San Marco to see what is there, the answer is not much, unless you are into yoga or massage, we walked the town in about 3 minutes and that was at a slow pace. We did have an excellent conversation and Mojito with the owner of one resort. He was able to fill us in on what is happening to the lake. The water level has risen net 4 metres last year and another metre this year. There is no natural egress from the lake, it empties by evaporation and they have been having too much rain. So many houses and businesses are literally underwater. We went to Santiago, the largest city on the lake and we have to say that it is very touristy. We overheard a guide pointing out were the water level was in 1950, which was another 10 meters above todays level. Which means a lot more business could lose their land! Lastly we went to Chichicastanegro, a town known for its Sunday market. While there was a lot for sale we didn’t buy much. It was interesting to see all the ‘hand made’ stuff with not only Guatemala printed on it but Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador. Did we take a wrong turn somewhere….we thought we are still in Guatemala, so it appears you don’t have to leave one country to get the lastest tourist trinkets from another.
Back to the boat to see if we can get done what needs to be done before we leave the river. The SSB we ordered came in, in about 2 ½ weeks, which is amazingly fast. We took this as a sign the we should cast off and make the high tide. Cheryl wanted to clean the anchor locker, good thing, as we found that the ‘I’ beam that supports the forestay was VERY badly rusted. Karen called Abel’s and they would have a place for us the next day. They replaced the ‘I’ beam with a much heavier one and then again it was back to Mario’s. A last taco night, a last pot luck, and then good byes to some truly amazing people at Mario’s. We will see many of the cruisers again, but as we are heading south we may not see the staff again. This is the hard part of cruising.
We crossed on the high tide on the 22nd of November, Enchantment (Michelle and Vern) went first as they only draw 5 ½ feet. Michelle quietly called the depths they were seeing, her voice didn’t even go up when they saw 6 feet. (We draw 6 feet 1 inch or so and have new bottom paint!) Our path was a little further south and we didn’t see less than 9 inches under our bottom, so the paint stayed were it should be! High States (Lynn and Randy) crossed last. We anchored for the night at Tres Puntas and had a great sleep. Lynn radioed us all that it was time to leave, at 9 a.m. the 3 of us where off to Roatan. While we could have hoped for more wind, we had to settle for motoring all the way (we did put sails up for a couple of hours, but only as an assist or least to see if they really work). We are always happy to make east by motoring! We had to slow down after midnight or we would have been in too early and we really wanted the light and we had to wait until the 2 cruise ship got out of our way, we could smell the bacon and the coffee as the cruise ships made their way into Roatan. So by 7:30 a.m. we had all picked up our mooring balls and by 8 a.m. we were napping!

Early morning wine tour…. wine not??

We left Nasca at 7:30 a.m. for a 2 hours ride on a local bus to the wine region of Peru, Ica. We dumped our bags at Cruz de Sur in Inca as we were taking the 2:30 bus to Lima that day. After negotiating with a cab drive we were off in search of a winery or 2. First stop Tacama, we have been enjoying their wines while we were in Peru. The winery was a beautiful restored monastery where we got to try some new wines and of course the famous Pisco. Then off again; this time it was the cab driver choice for a winery and he took us to an artisanal Pisco winery, it was a great choice. We learned how Pisco was originally made plus this particular winery still stomps it grapes by foot..yup by feet power. Back to the bus station and a quick lunch and off we went on our 5 hour bus ride to Lima.
We stayed once again in a Pirwa hostel in Miraflores a suburb of Lima. First day we decided to go to downtown Lima and take a free walking tour of the historic center. Free really means they work for tips. The tour was 90 minutes long and gave us tidbits about Lima’s historical centre and of course more info about the Inkas. Next day we hiked around Miraflores and went for a relatively expensive lunch on the water front at La Rosa Nautica. (We found out afterwards that this is one of their premier restaurants.) As we were sitting there watch the surfers and the waves coming in we felt a slight movement in the restaurant thinking it was just the waves hitting the pillions we continued on with our appetizer seafood lunch. Later that day we learned that we had experience a little earthquake.
We woke up to a beautiful sunny day which is not normal for Lima this time of the year and took a bus tour around Miraflores and just enjoyed the last day in Lima/Miraflores before our flight back to Canada the next day. We had planned to do some shopping for final souvenirs but Lima was at least twice as expensive as anywhere else and at the airport 5 times more.
Next stop Canada via San Salvador El Salvador then Toronto. While we left Lima 30 minutes late (and we only had 50 minutes to connect in El Salvador) we had no problems and arrived early in Toronto. Karen’s brother Bruce was waiting for us at the airport and whisked us off to Niagara Falls. It has been a while since we have experienced traffic jams, and at 10pm you really don’t expect them. We guess it was Toronto’s way of saying “Welcome home”!

Little Green Men made the Nasca lines Right???

As we arrived in Nasca at 8 a.m. having taken the overnight bus from Cusco were our hostel host picked us up and took us to her family run hostel called Nasca Trails. Not only is it a hostel but is also a travel agent so we checked in and started to arrange our tours for the day and our flight over the Nasca lines. As we went wondering around town to find breakfast and to book our bus ticket to Ica and Lima we noticed that every second street was under construction and most of the street are made of sand and dirt. After the spectacular cities like Cusco and Arequipa, Nasca was just a little town with no architectural history but it certainly has other claims of fame to bring in the tourist. So after paying a small fortune for breakfast, $8US, shopping for food for dinner and booking bus tickets we spent the day relaxing and having a glass of wine in the garden at the hostel. That evening we went off to the planetarium named after Maria Reiche who spent 50 years of her life studying the Nasca lines. We got to see Jupiter again thru a telescope and saw a 45 minute slide show on the Nasca lines and learned about all the theories of how and why they were made. Just in case you want know the number one theory, much to Cheryl’s chagrin(she liked the theory of little green men making them) is that the lines were made by the Nasca Indians to identify where water was….yup it is a desert. Okay why is there a spaceman in the lines Cheryl asks??? Cheryl will have to wait and see the next day if it really a spaceman.
Up early for our flight over the lines, after we got weighed in and received our safe briefing off we went. First stop a whale, then it was the little spaceman…but the locals believe the spaceman really represents a shaman…okay but Cheryl still like her theory that little green men made the lines therefore it must be a spaceman. It seems since we went early in the morning the ride was not that bumpy and it was well worth the $120 per person. It is still amazing that they; whoever they are, made the lines in the first place let alone that they are still here.
After a quick lunch we were off to see an aqua duct (not what we expect) basically a round well in the desert, generally the water table is about 10 meters down. Then a 45 minute drive into the desert to see some more pre-inka ruins. Yup we think we are ruined out. Next morning Ica, some wineries, then Lima.

Legs and Lungs Don't Fail Me Now!!

At 3:30 a.m. we heard our wake up knock on the wall from Mark and Deb, our signal that today was the start of our trek. Our guide Miguel was at the hostel at 3:45 waiting for us and to tell us a little bit about our day and our next 4 day adventure. First words, okay the second words out of his mouth was this was not that easy of a trek ….gasp….no problem we have an emergency donkey to ride if we need to… can we get 4???? We thought we signed up for the easy trek but apparently the little villages along the way do not want trekkers camping near them because some trek operators have been leaving garbage so we are going a different way and it is not easy…..okay lets go back to bed and re think this one…but we are up anyways and the words “not easy” had not sunk in, probably because we hadn’t had coffee yet, so off we go. We stopped in a little village so our cook and assistant cook could pick-up some last minute provisions and fresh buns and we ended up picking up some candy for the kids which we would apparently we will meet along the way. We opted not to pick-up a coffee as Nescafe is not high on our coffee list. Where is a good cup of coffee when you need it? As we drove through some beautiful valleys, our guide and van driver stopped along the way to give some buns and candy to some of the mountain kids who were tending their herds (sheep, cows and alpacas), the smiles on the kid’s faces and big wave gave you such a warm feeling.
We arrived at our start point at 3700m to wait for our donkeys and to re-pack our day packs. As we said goodbye to our van driver and said hello to: our new 4 legged vans (the donkeys) and their handlers Humberto and his 9 year old son Moises. Our cook Isidro and assistant cook Rony had come with us from Cusco, prepared our first coca tea and our snack package (fruit and chocolate bar)for the first day trek. As we were getting our psyche ready for the first climb to 4600m; yup up a mountain 4 hours UP…UP UP and yes UP and 2 hours down. No problem. So off we went. Okay we got about 20 minutes into the trek and we had to stop and start to strip off the layers….really it was an excuse to have a rest. As our lungs started to scream and we then realized what the guide meant by not easy, boy it is going to be tough day….By the way the first day was supposed to be the easiest.
For the most part of the trek you are looking at your feet, so as we made our way up, we stop every 20 or so minutes to look at the amazing valleys and mountains with a few lagoons thrown in for colour, at least that was our excuse for now. Oh, look snow up there in the hills!…..Oh, look Karen is about to throw a snow ball! Yup we walked throw snow and ice. As the donkeys, and our team, passed us our guide Miquel kept offering encouragement saying the “top is just around the bend”. Okay the next bend. After 4 hours we final made it to the top, with high 5’s all around and a few pictures, we started our way down. After an hour we stopped for lunch by a river where our crew had set up the dinning tent for a lovey meal starting off with guacamole with wonton wrappers for an appetizer, then followed by an amazing soup. We thought that was it, then came port chops, fried potatoes and fresh veggies all cooked in garlic. Wow. We could not eat it all …we then said that we need to have smaller portions in the future because the meals are huge. So after our lunch we rolled off our stools and continued our trek. A couple hours later and 12 km we finally saw our camp site. There were 2 other trek groups there, they had walked the road from Lares after a dip in the hot springs, now why did we not do that! As our crew set up our tents and the cook and his assistant started our dinner, we hid from the light drizzle and wondered how our legs were going to feel tomorrow. We had a 1 hour before dinner so we got our stuff ready in our tents so after dinner we could collapse. A huge and amazing dinner then it was off to our tents and bundled up for the night.
Next morning as we stuck our noses out and could see our breath. Moises and Rony delivered coca tea and a hot water wash basin outside our tent door. Room service, who would have thought! Breakfast of pancakes and hot chocolate and we were off with our snack pack to climb to 5000m only an 8 hour day today. About an hour into our trek we see this young girl sprint pass us with a full load on her back and what do we see at the first mountain pass about 3 hours later the girl selling water, beer and souvenirs. So we bought a little figure puppet and gave her some fruit and candy. We climbed/crawled/panted our way over the 5000m mountain. 6 hours up and 4 hours down. One hour before we hit the top we were greeted with a little snow storm, yup snow. Just for fun, at the top, it changed to hail. Our emergency donkey and 9 year old Moises stayed with us for the climb and when he got to the top even the donkey looked tired, but we all made it on our own two wobbly legs. At the top we didn’t even stop for the “I made it pictures” we just started down in 2 inches of snow on our trail. (Yup we all had running shoes on except for our guide) It would make a great running shoe ad. “Yes these shoes can go through anything”. An hour and half from the top we spotted the dinning tent and our crew at a creek (they had passed us about 4 hours earlier). Once we got there, lunch was served. Once again appetizers, soup and full course meal (Cheryl is now thinking of marrying either the cook or his assistant). As we left the crew to take down the dinning tent and cleanup we looked around to see the mountain that we had gone over and realized for the past 6 hours we were the only one around and what a feeling….beside the feeling in your lungs and legs. As we made our way down the valley we passed streams, wild horse, alpacas and llamas it was just truly amazing. We kept wondering where our crew was as they had not passed us yet, at 3:30 p.m. we saw our crew coming along the narrow path behind us. Miguel asked us if we want to keep going and have a shorter day the next day, so we all agreed a shorter day would be great, what is an extra hour after you have climbed Mount Everest. As we continued on the hour turned into 2 and it was starting to become dusk we wondered when we would see our camp, but finally we spied our tents all set up and our gang waiting for us at a beautiful waterfall in a valley surrounded by mountains and picturesque hills. Just us, awesome. You could not pay enough for this view. After 22 km we crawled into camp at 5:45 p.m. It was pure determination that got us through the day or logic as there really was no turning back.
Day 3 room service delivery was at 5:00 a.m. and a great breakfast and we were off by 6:30 we had a van and train to catch at 12:50 p.m. to Aquas Calinetes (now called Machu Picchu Village). It truly was short hike and all downhill to a little village where once again our cooks wiped up an amazing last lunch in the front yard of a B&B. As our van driver drove us away to the train station we waved goodbye to our houseman and his son even though they didn’t speak much, the smiles from both sides said it all. They were super. At the train station in Urubamba we said goodbye to our two cooks, Cheryl was still torn between which cook to propose marriage too but she was more interested in the real bed and hot shower waiting for her at in the Inka Town Hostel in Machu Picchu. After standing in the shower for ages we put on somewhat clean clothes and went out on the town….we really are back in civilization with tons of restaurants and souvenir shops. Miguel joined us for dinner and a celebratory drink and made plans for the next day, when we would finally see Machu Picchu.
We arrived at the bus station at 7:30 a.m. to line up for the hair raising bus ride to Machu Picchu. These bus drivers are nuts. Miguel gave us a history lesson and tour around the highlights of Machu Picchu and after 3 hours we said farewell to our new friend. He was an amazing guide, he loves the mountains and it certainly showed. With some tears and a wave we were on our own to explore this amazing site. We can’t imagine living there but we can certainly see that they knew how to adapt to their environment. We had a 3 p.m.??? train to Poroy (just outside Cusco) so we had lunch back in Machu Picchu Village picked up packs and we were off on a 4 hour train ride. As we arrived just outside of Poroy we got picked up by our van driver who left us the day before and he drove us back to our hostel in Cusco.
We did it and we are glad we did and yes we have bragging rights but we do know that we will not try Mount Everest. Climbing a mountain was not on our bucket list so I guess we are one ahead now. Apparently the Lares trek is harder than the Inka trail.
Would we do it again NO. But we are glad we did it. The views where spectacular you could say figuratively and literally breathtaking. Our lungs are now recovering and so are our muscles. Now we are looking for flat land for a while.
The next day after a great meal of Roast Beef and all the fixin’s at the Real McCory, Cheryl and Karen hopped on the 6 p.m. bus to Nazca leaving Mark and Deb until we meet again in Panama. We miss them already.
Tidbits
Cost for the trek including: 5 donkies, 2 handlers, 2 cooks, 1 guide, all the food tents, van start and finish, train from Urubamba to Machu Picchu and from Machu Picchu to Poroy, bus round trip up to Machu Picchu ($15.50), entrance into Machu Picchu ($47.00) and one night stay at Inka Town Hostel(a double was 90US). The train from Ollantaytambo to Agua Caliente was $35US and the train from Agua Caliente to Poroy was just over $50US. All of these items were included in our price $480 per person plus $25 for sleeping bags. We rented 2 hiking poles for $5. While this trek was on the expensive end of the scale, we would recommend it highly. From those that we have talked to who paid less they got a lot less!
Day 1: We started the trek in Quishuarani 3700 m, climbed over Abra Hulliquikasa Pass at 4600m, first night at Cuncani 3780 m. 12 km, 6 hours
Day 2: 22 km, 8 hours over the Nevado Pumahuaca pass at 5000m and camped at Chapasonco Orgo 4851 valley overlooking the Scared Valley.
Day 3 – Down 4 hours to the Pumahuanca Valley then to village of Ahuamarca where we said goodbye to horseman. We picked up our van which drove us to Ollataytambo to take the train to Aguas Calientes town (Machu Picchu village). Stayed in Inka Town Hostel.
Day 4 – Caught the 7:30 a.m. bus to Machu Picchu spent the morning then train back to Poroy (just outside Cusco).

Cusco wow

We took a whirl wind tour from Puno to Cusco called the Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun). Our $40US bus trip of 10 hours started at 7:30 a.m. on Inka Express with our first stop at Pukara an archaeological site in a pre-Hispanic city. It is known for its statues and monuments. Then off to La Raya the highest point along the way at 4335 m to view the snowy Andes reaching for the heavens, and to have the opportunity to buy more ‘precious stuff’, yup for a “good price” too. Of course one always needs food along the way so we visited the town of Sicuani and had a Buffet lunch where we got to try all kinds of traditional dishes. After filling our stomachs and looking at more “precious stuff” we got back in the bus to go to the Temple of the supreme God of the Inka at Radchi, here we only had 7 minutes to wonder around after the site had been explained to us, and this was definitely a place you could spend an hour or so….oh well next time?? Last on the list was the church de Andahuaylillas (the “Sistine Chapel” of the Americas). They are restoring the church but you can still see the amazing paintings and of course the glitz of all the gold.
Finally we arrived in Cusco at 5:30 p.m., where we were picked up by our hostel representative (Pirwa) and as we made our turn towards the main square, the Plaza de Armas all we could say was WOW, the building and setting is just WOW… the buildings and the setting is amazing.
Our first hostel was on the Plaza de Armas, it was okay but noisy. We met up with our trek operator (Qente Adventure Trips) the next day and made arrangement for our briefing with our guide. We wondered around town for the first couple of days, scouting out warm clothes and places to visit. After two nights we moved around the corner to our new hostel another Pirwa and settled in. The new hostel is clean and confortable but there is disco 2 doors away which starts at 10 p.m. and go until 5 am every night, so ear plugs are in order.
The main square (Plaza de Armas) is bustling with activity day and night and is completely surrounded by beautiful churches, cathedrals and old style buildings. As you wonder around the city you will be approached about every 5 minutes by someone who is trying to get you to go for a massage or to their restaurant. If you want a retreat from having someone bothering you, the municipal police patrol the main square and do not allow anyone to solicit for anything. One thing we notice as we walked around is that if someone is physical challenged or begging, the locals, even if they don’t look like they can afford to give anything, will give something.
Cheryl was down for the count as a cold and altitude caught up to her so much so that the Karen called a doctor. A doctor came to the hostel and 2 days later Cheryl was somewhat up and around and went to the clinic for a follow-up visit, the total cost was $40 US. Cheryl had a week to recover enough to hike the Lares Valley.
While Cheryl was laid up Karen, Deb and Mark toured Cusco. We went on a walking tour one day, it was supposed to be 90 minutes, but turned out it was 4.5 hours and fantastic. While we did go to the main square we also went to several other areas, San Pedro and San Blas being the two most important. San Blas is a rich, touristy area, on the hill, with great old buildings and amazing views. San Blas houses a great French style bakery, which makes amazing sandwiches; we had lunch there while on the tour and went back several times. We also tried fermented Chicha, a corn beer, which I would seriously NOT recommend! San Pedro on the other hand is not touristy. It houses the local market and many, many street vendors. In the market they had about 4 rows of ladies making real fruit slushies and another 4 rows of men and ladies serving a variety of soups. The locals just pull up a stool and enjoy. The Spanish tore down many Inka structures and used the stones to build their own buildings. The Peruvians call the Spanish the destroyers, not just the conquerors.
If you are in Cusco you really must visit the remains of the Sun gods temple. The Spaniards raped the site, but you can still get an idea of its glory. A gentleman approached wanting to guide us, as it turned out he had come to Cusco to study the Inka and as Mark asked him more and more questions he got more and more excited. We had a great tour! We now know how to find the black Llama in the sky, the secret is that the Inka look for the dark (black), were as we look for the stars . The Inka had been great builders; they knew the secrets to earthquake proof their buildings, something that was lost for centuries.
We tried to meet up with our friends Mark and Sam (who we met in Chile) who had just finished the trek but we missed them by a couple of hours. Through e-mail we got some little tidbits on what it was like t and what not to take. Then we met up with our friends Harry and Karen (The Kiwis) who had just got off the Trek that day and had dinner and picked their brains for some more survival tips. Armed with our new found information and questions, the next day we had our trek briefing, our guide was still on a trek so another guide gave us the low down. His enthusiasm added to our excitement. So off we went to buy our last bits of whatever and to pack our 6 lbs worth of “got to have stuff” and the rest of our gear we stored at the hostel.
To continue our training we took a tour to the Scared Valley to see Moray and Maras. Moray looks like a coliseum of walls or spiraling terraces but it was in actual fact a Inka biosphere, where the Inka’s built circular terraces to determine the best crops to grow at various altitudes and temperatures. As the terraces spiral down the temperature difference from the top to the bottom is 15 degrees C. Then we were off to see the salt terraces in Maras, a working salt field where salt creeks feed the terrace ponds and the workers, by hand, skim off the salt that the sun has dried. We were late leaving Maras, so the driver and guide decided to try a short cut. That was working quite well until we arrived at the spot that the road was washed out! The guide got out to walk the route we would take with the bus, he was smart! It was not an easy cross country trek in a 45 passenger bus, but we made it!
On the Sunday it was an early night as our van was going to pick us at 4 a.m. the next day. Legs and lungs look-out !

Disneyworld in Peru

Disney would be proud of Puno Peru…. sort of. We arrived down at the pier in Puno at 8:30 a.m. to set off to see Lake Titicaca, famous for being the highest navigable waterway in the world. So off we ventured to the pier where there where hundreds of boats waiting to take the next batch of tourist to Uros, the famous reed floating islands on Lake Titicaca. Off we went with 16 other tourists armed with warm clothes and our cameras. As they pushed and poled the boat away from the pier….we thought that was not a good sign and we were wondering if we had to row our way to the islands but they soon started the engine with a big puff of blue, black and white smoke, nope the boat wasn’t named Sleepy or Dopey but it could have been name Smoky. Mark and Cheryl climbed up onto the roof of the boat to get a better view of the traffic jam of boats heading to the reed islands. As all the boats formed a single file though the canal, it looked like they were being pulled on an underwater cable. As we headed toward the islands yup we passed through a ticket booth where the first mate threw a roll of coins at what we guess was the toll collector, of course dressed in traditional Peruvian attire. We have paid the toll and now we really have entered Disney World.
There where over 50 floating reed islands complete with men, women and children beckoning you to come to their island. As each boat pulled up to their respective reed island we were greeted with a big smile and a little song from the women (We sort of were waiting for them to break out into the song “IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL”). We were led to a seat made of reeds to learn about the people and how to make a reed island, it was good thing that there wasn’t a test as we know for sure we would have wet feet trying. After our lesson we were separated into small groups and shown by an island family their home and of course some of their local treasures of which were all available for a “good price”. Cheryl wandered around and looked into some of the homes that were not on our tour looking to find their food stash or even their cooking stuff, but no luck. It appears that they don’t live there; they probably have a place on the mainland and just commute to the island to entertain the tourists. For $5 US a person you could get a ride in the luxury reed boats (they called it Mercedes Benz as it has 2 pontoons) but being cheap we opted to stay put and wait for our “Smoky” boat. We hopped on “Smoky”, and headed to another island called Taquile, this time the island was made of rocks but had 500 steps to climb in order to get to the town square…okay this is the training part of the trip for our hike up to Machu Picchu. As we climbed up the 500 steps to the top of the hill to see the ceremonial dances, have a great local fish lunch (apparently some of the trout in Lake Titicaca came from Canada around 80 years ago) and of course look at more “most buy” souvenirs we met up with 2 Kiwis (Karen and Harry) who hopped on our old boat “Smokey” and we struck up a friendship instantly with plans to meet up in Cusco Peru and New Zealand when we get over there. As we left Lake Titicaca what can we was say, it was a must see, an opportunity to try to understand their way of life and to realize that it was the Spanish who drove them off the main land and to build the floating islands. As for building a floating reed island, maybe, but we think we will stick to floating on our boats instead.
So what do you do in Puno besides visiting islands in Lake Titicaca? Being sailors you go and visit an old steamship called Yavari built in 1862. This beautifully restored steamship, was brought in pieces over land from Arica Chile by donkey and man power which took 6 years to do and then reassembled on the Lake were it sailed around for over 150 years and now it is a B&B. The brass is so shiny you can see yourself and you can tell that tender loving hands have been hard at work. Now that Mark has his new watch cap (with Yavari ensign on the front) he said his life is complete!
Next on your Puno tour, you go to some pre-Inka and Inka graves, rather funeral towers, in Silluastani and listen to the ancient spirits in the winds. The towers were built on high ground, so that the spirits would be closer to heaven. You could almost hear them talk to you, but we are not sure what they are saying as we don’t speak their language. The towers were a minimum of 500 years old and still in amazing shape. On the way back we stopped at a local farmstead and had a tour of their home, plus had the opportunity to try several local dishes: fried corn, fresh made cheese and potatoes dipped in a clay ‘Ketchup’ made from silt at the bottom of the river (Heinz you don’t not need to worry!). It was amazing how warm the adobe homes were, but we would still love a good electric heater!
And just for fun you go and watch a local Alpaca wool spin-off. What is a spin-off, well you start off by taking a handful of Coca leaves (the leaves you and the locals chew to prevent altitude sickness) and start chewing, and then you take your pile of Alpaca wool and wrap it around your arm and then test your wooden spinner. The rules are simple; you must spin the raw wool into a thin tread in 20 minutes. The winner is the one with the right thickness and the most tread on their spinner. Simple? Yes….well we picked our favorite right from start and we think she won but Mark had had so much excitement watching we had to leave before the winner was crowned. Between chewing and spinning the contestants worked up a thirst so they all received a free bottle of coke which by the way, originally had Coca leaves it, but Coke stopped using the leaves a number of years ago as the leaves have .4% cocaine in them. This tidbit was learned at the Coca museum in Puno where we had the opportunity to learn all the things Coca is good for besides a cocaine buzz like altitude sickness, circulation and stomach problems.
In Puno we stayed at Vargas Inn the first three nights, as Edison’s cousin owned it. That was a mistake, it was not clean and it was cold. They ran out of diesel, so we couldn’t even have a hot shower. Mark and Deb couldn’t even get towels. We tried 3 heaters the first night, the first didn’t work, the second went up in smoke, but the third was just right! All for 70 Soles a night, $25US. Next we moved to Posada Luna Azul, which was lovely and only 80 Soles a night $27 a night. We had a clean, large room with a heater, hot showers, rooms cleaned each day and Raul to help us plan our days.
Puno has some exceptional restaurants and as we did not have cooking in either hotel, we tried many of them. We had pizza (of course) and the fixed menus, often including Alpaca. But most memorable was the restaurant Colours. Colours had a beautiful Greek salad, were they made their own feta and an amazing beef dish with mushrooms and a balsamic vinegar sauce. We ate there twice, Deb, Cheryl and Karen all ordered the beef the second time, on Cheryl’s suggestion.
Mark determined the price of the restaurants by the price of ‘the girls’ wine! And then it was obvious that a bottle was cheaper than buying by the glass, so we bought by the bottle. Someone had to do it!
Cheryl was sick, so Deb and I followed Mark to the Dreyer museum, not our best plan. The sign for the museum was only visible if you walked backwards, so we climbed hill and dale before we made it. It did mean that we said “hello’ to the 9th Inka King whose statue overlooks the city. The highlight of the museum would be the mommies, preserved in the fetal position (which Cheryl says is because they are so stooped from carrying too much weight) but experts says is because they are waiting to be reborn in the next life. We also got to see a display of pottery from various pre-Inka Indians showing a variety of patterns and styles used by different tribes.
Well it time to head to the next adventure, Cusco. This time we are taking a tour type bus for 10 hours with 5 tourist stops along the way to Cusco… yes to see more Inka ruins and a few churches.

Peru or Bust!

Yup we on the road again, heading north to Peru for some warmer weather and to meet up with our friends Mark and Deb from Seacycle. Being Canadian it seems weird to head north for warmth. We left Arica Chile at 9:00 am via a local bus to cross the board. We could have taken a taxi for the 20km at $8 but the local bus was only $3 so off we went. At the boarder we had to get out of the bus and go through immigration and our worry of bring in food was all for nothing as they didn’t check our bags there…yup we had some food (which you are not allowed to bring any food into Peru).. but stay tuned. We arrived in Tacna, the first little town in Peru, where we are to catch our bus to Arequipa. As we wondered around the bus terminal we found our bus line where we checked in bags and they showed us where to exchange our Chilean money. There are 2 bus terminals in Tacna an international and local terminal, so off we wondered around the 2 terminals. In the international terminal we could not believe the number of little shops that the main item for sale was rolls of toilet paper or paper towels, not tourist stuff like t-shirts. We are not kidding when we say there were 1000’s of rolls. It seem that the women from Chile come over on the same bus as we took to buy toilet paper, broom handles and Peruvian pop then head back the same day, they sell them on the streets in Chile for 3 to 4 times the price they pay in Peru. The local terminal is where you can exchange money and buy everything from shoes to cookies all for a “good price”. We went to pick up our bags and the guy from the international terminal had picked up our ticket and then walked us over to the local terminal, showed us where we had to pay the local departure tax and then checked us in. We had to chase him down to give him a tip, first experience in Peru amazing. Okay we are now on our new bus line Cruz de Sur after having our hand luggage checked and our picture taken in our seat. After our bus driver had a breathalyzer test we are off for a 6 hour bus ride. Two police spot inspections and one security check for the driver later, we were then stopped once again, this time we had to get off the bus and go into a gated area and our entire luggage was taken off the bus. They searched our hand luggage and then they check the bus. In Peru they certainly like police checks, “Okay we are not in Kansas anymore Dorothy”. We are not sure what they were looking for, but it seemed our food was safe. We finally arrived into Arequipa about 2 hours late. We got to our hotel and meet up with Mark and Deb and then crashed for the night.
Arequipa is the white city and the second largest city of Peru and it really is beautiful with all the old buildings which have been immaculately kept or restored.
We wondered the city, partly to get our bearings, partly to buy the last things we think we need for the trek to the Inca ruins. We had lunch in a Peruvian restaurant, and we have to say that Peruvian food is much better than Chilean, more flavor, more spice. After lunch we meet with Edison, a Peruvian who sells tours, which Mark and Deb met at the bus station when they came in. With Edison we arranged to change hotels (as our first hotel, Hotel Viza was a dive, despite it’s 3 star rating), we stayed the Tierra Mistica at same price ($33 US), and it was amazing. The rooms were all built around a courtyard, the floors were old wood and the breakfast was fantastic, not just buns, but eggs and fruit.
Edison arranged a trip to Colca canyon, thought to be the deepest Canyon in the world. On the way we saw Vicuna, Llamas and Alpaca, the camels of South America. We also saw ducks (potential l’orange) and birds. Our tour guide showed how to chew coca leaves which the locals use to reduce the effects of altitude sickness. So with a wad in our checks, we passed through an area just under 5000 meters. Mark and Deb where really breathless, had headaches and felt dizzy. While being blond, I must say that while I didn’t really feel breathless, I was dizzy. With Cheryl, the altitude had no effect. So the jury is still out on whether the coca leaves work. We went to our hotel in Chivay, the largest town in the Colca valley. We had a buffet lunch as a large group, an amazing assortment of traditional Peruvian food. Once we were settled we were picked up to go to the hot springs. Awesome! The water was 39 degrees Celsius (or so they said), the setting was amazing, nestled into the valley.
The next day we were picked up at 6 am to drive down the valley to see the Condors. We stopped at several lookouts to take tooooooooo many pictures, but each spot was so different and spectacular. A large portion of the valley is terraced, actually terracing set up by the Incas and previous indigenous tribes, 400 years ago! They are currently only using 39% of the terracing. They grow a large variety of grains, fruits and veggies in the valley. We hiked about an hour to the Condors. Karen had some problems with the height, walking along the edge of the Canyon, but once you saw a Condor flying, soaring, just working the thermals, it was all worth it! They were close enough that you could see the wind gusts rippling their feathers. Once back in the bus we had another scenic stop, then lunch. A similar Peruvian buffet to the day before, but with many different dishes (one was particularly different, a dried potato, rehydrated and served with an egg and cheese sauce, this dish came from the highlands of the Colca Canyon).
After a couple of stops for pictures on our way back to Arequipa, we arrived at our new hotel, Hotel Casa Consuela (also $33 US a night). Cheryl and I lucked out; we had a massive room, with a queen and two single beds, even a table to have dinner on, although we did not have cooking facilities. We had dinner just half a block away, a Quinoa soup, a main course and tea for 6 Soles, just over $2!
The next day found Mark having succumbed either to altitude sickness or the flu. So he slept and Deb, Cheryl and Karen toured for the day. The morning was really about shopping, arranging our trip to Puno with Edison and then a bus trip through the city in the afternoon. Arequipa is a beautiful city, because of its setting, nestled amongst 3 volcanoes, also because of its buildings, made from sillar, volcanic ash stones. We went and picked up a rotisserie chicken and fries and Chinese vegetables and ate, and ate and ate in our palatial room. Needless to say the portions were not small.
Next day, after breakfast on the top floor of our hotel, which had an awesome view of the volcanoes, we went off to the Santa Catalina Monastery. It was founded in the late 16th century, while it has been rebuilt many times due to earthquakes and time, it was huge. It is 5 acres, a city within a city, with street names, a cemetery, churches, courtyards and 2 storey homes for the nuns.
Mark wanted to shop, so we did. Then back to the hotel after a stop at the supermarket for dinner and wine, of course. As we had eaten lunch out, this included lomo saltado, a local specialty of beef, onions and french fries with some veggies all piled on top of each other so needless to say we were not that hungry for dinner.
Our last night in Arequipa we went out for dinner and Cheryl dinned on one of the local specialties Cuy aka a guinea pig, not much meat on a Guinea pig so Cheryl was still hungry after dinner. Karen and Deb tried another specialty Alpaca, while Mark had Pisco Sour a local drink with lime juice, pisco wine and an egg, it sound weird but it is good and some food. The origin of Pisco Sour’s bragging rights is an ongoing debate between Chile and Peru but we happy to try it in either country.
Now we are on the bus to Puno, which is on Lake Titicaca, the claim to fame is it is the highest navigable lake in the world, plus it has reed islands.